Patents by Inventor Franklin M. Orr, Jr.

Franklin M. Orr, Jr. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Inert gas injection to help control or extinguish coal fires
    Patent number: 8770306
    Abstract: A method of locating and controlling subsurface coal fires is provided that includes mapping a subsurface coal bed fire using a magnetometer, where the mapping includes locating a combustion zone and an air inlet to the combustion zone of the coal bed fire, drilling an injection port from the earth surface to a previously burned zone of the combustion zone, where the injection port is disposed between the air inlet and the combustion zone, inserting a tube in the injection port, where the tube has an exterior tube seal disposed around the tube, and the exterior tube seal isolates the earth surface from the combustion zone along an exterior of the tube. The method further includes injecting an inert gas through the tube to the combustion zone, where the inert gas controls the combustion zone of the coal bed fire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignees: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Southern Ute Indian Tribe
    Inventors: Suguru T. Ide, Franklin M. Orr, Jr., Kyle G. Siesser, William B. Flint, Jr.
  • Inert gas injection to help control or extinguish coal fires
    Publication number: 20120018151
    Abstract: A method of locating and controlling subsurface coal fires is provided that includes mapping a subsurface coal bed fire using a magnetometer, where the mapping includes locating a combustion zone and an air inlet to the combustion zone of the coal bed fire, drilling an injection port from the earth surface to a previously burned zone of the combustion zone, where the injection port is disposed between the air inlet and the combustion zone, inserting a tube in the injection port, where the tube has an exterior tube seal disposed around the tube, and the exterior tube seal isolates the earth surface from the combustion zone along an exterior of the tube. The method further includes injecting an inert gas through the tube to the combustion zone, where the inert gas controls the combustion zone of the coal bed fire.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2011
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Inventors: Suguru T. Ide, Franklin M. Orr, JR., Kyle G. Siesser, William B. Flint, JR.
  • Method of assisting the recovery of petroleum in vertically fractured formations utilizing carbon dioxide gas to establish gravity drainage
    Patent number: 5314017
    Abstract: The invention relates to assisting the recovery of petroleum from vertically fractured formations utilizing carbon dioxide gas to lower the interfacial tension between the gas and the petroleum in the vertical fractures and in the formation matrix adjacent the vertical fractures to cause vertical drainage of the petroleum down the fracture system. The invention also includes a method for identifying vertically fractured formations which may be particularly susceptible to such recovery with carbon dioxide gas using the capillary to gravity ratio (1/N.sub.B) to select formations having a value for such ratio of 0.2 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 24, 1994
    Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: David S. Schechter, Dengen Zhou, Franklin M. Orr, Jr.