Patents by Inventor James Dunlavey

James Dunlavey 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).

  • Low dielectric zone for hydrocarbon recovery by dielectric heating
    Patent number: 10704371
    Abstract: Embodiments include drilling a wellbore in a hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and the wellbore includes a radio frequency antenna destination portion that is configured to receive a radio frequency antenna; forming a low dielectric zone in the hydrocarbon-bearing formation proximate to the radio frequency antenna destination portion with a cavity based process or a squeezing based process; positioning the radio frequency antenna into the radio frequency antenna destination portion such that the radio frequency antenna is proximate to the low dielectric zone; dielectric heating the hydrocarbon-bearing formation with the radio frequency antenna such that the low dielectric zone increases dissipation of energy from the radio frequency antenna into the hydrocarbon-bearing formation; and extracting hydrocarbons from the heated hydrocarbon-bearing formation. The material has a dielectric constant of less than or equal to 20, a loss tangent of less than or equal to 0.4, and a porosity of less than or equal to 5%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: CHEVRON U.S.A. INC.
    Inventors: Gunther H. Dieckmann, Michal Mieczyslaw Okoniewski, Cesar Ovalles, Pedro Vaca, James Dunlavey, Donald Kuehne
  • LOW DIELECTRIC ZONE FOR HYDROCARBON RECOVERY BY DIELECTRIC HEATING
    Publication number: 20190112906
    Abstract: Embodiments include drilling a wellbore in a hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and the wellbore includes a radio frequency antenna destination portion that is configured to receive a radio frequency antenna; forming a low dielectric zone in the hydrocarbon-bearing formation proximate to the radio frequency antenna destination portion with a cavity based process or a squeezing based process; positioning the radio frequency antenna into the radio frequency antenna destination portion such that the radio frequency antenna is proximate to the low dielectric zone; dielectric heating the hydrocarbon-bearing formation with the radio frequency antenna such that the low dielectric zone increases dissipation of energy from the radio frequency antenna into the hydrocarbon-bearing formation; and extracting hydrocarbons from the heated hydrocarbon-bearing formation. The material has a dielectric constant of less than or equal to 20, a loss tangent of less than or equal to 0.4, and a porosity of less than or equal to 5%.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2017
    Publication date: April 18, 2019
    Inventors: Gunther H. Dieckmann, Michal Mieczyslaw Okoniewski, Cesar Ovalles, Pedro Vaca, James Dunlavey, Donald Kuehne