Patents by Inventor Wangming Lu

Wangming Lu 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).

  • Publication number: 20250059845
    Abstract: A method for remotely evaluating fatigue damage of a subsea wellhead may include obtaining a plurality of values associated with measurements of a parameter associated with the fatigue damage of the subsea wellhead during field operations, wherein the measurements are measured by a sensor device positioned separately from and adjacent to the subsea wellhead; executing an algorithm using the measurements to generate a result; comparing the result of the algorithm with a range of acceptable values; and determining that the subsea wellhead has a potential failure when the result falls outside the range of acceptable values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2024
    Publication date: February 20, 2025
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, Khiem Nguyen, William Stephen Averill
  • Patent number: 12221860
    Abstract: A wellhead bracing system for a subsea well includes a base plate assembly and a wellhead brace assembly. The base plate assembly comprises a top surface, a bottom surface, a base plate aperture, and a plurality of anchor holes. The wellhead brace assembly comprises a vertical plate assembly having a cylindrical shape, a horizontal plate assembly to which the vertical plate assembly is attached, and a vertical support assembly attached to an outer surface of the vertical plate assembly and attached to the top surface of the horizontal plate assembly. Horizontal plate holes of the horizontal plate assembly are configured to attach to studs on the top surface of the base plate to secure the wellhead brace assembly to the base plate assembly. The wellhead bracing system slides onto a wellhead of the subsea well and braces an exterior of the wellhead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: CHEVRON U.S.A. INC.
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, Khiem Nguyen, Jay Patrick Painter, Caleb Kimbrell Carroll, William Stephen Averill, Deryck Edward Matthew Williams, David Crenshaw Barrow, Michael Ryan Fitzsimmons
  • Publication number: 20240427968
    Abstract: Metocean conditions for a wellhead, such as current profile and wave characteristics, are used to determine wellhead fatigue damage rate for the wellhead. The wellhead fatigue damage rate is determined using an interpolation approach or an extrapolation approach. In the interpolation approach, the metocean conditions of the wellhead are input into one of multiple clustered machine learning models to determine the wellhead fatigue damage rate. In the extrapolation approach, a curve is generated to fit cluster centers of the multiple clustered machine learning models, and the wellhead fatigue damage rate is determined based on the curve and the distance between the metocean conditions of the wellhead and null metocean conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2023
    Publication date: December 26, 2024
    Inventors: Yixiong Ma, Shuxing Cheng, Wangming Lu
  • Publication number: 20240328300
    Abstract: The wave characteristics of the water (e.g., ocean) above a wellhead may be used to determine a wave-induced wellhead fatigue damage rate for the wellhead, and the current profile of water around a riser connected to the wellhead may be used to determine a riser vortex-induced vibration caused fatigue damage rate for the wellhead. The wave-induced wellhead fatigue damage rate and the riser vortex-induced vibration caused fatigue damage rate for the wellhead may be combined to obtain the total wellhead fatigue damage rate for the wellhead, which may be used to make operational decisions, such as connections or disconnections, for the well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2024
    Publication date: October 3, 2024
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, William Stephen Averill
  • Patent number: 12104482
    Abstract: Current profile of water (e.g., ocean) around a riser connected to a wellhead may be measured and used to determine integrated current load on the riser at any given moment in time. The integrated current load may be used to estimate the wellhead fatigue damage rate at that moment in time. The estimated wellhead fatigue damage rate may be used to make operational decisions for the well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
    Inventors: Xiaorui Guan, Wangming Lu
  • Publication number: 20240200631
    Abstract: The present embodiments disclose a device for dampening the lateral vibrations on a blowout preventer (BOP). The device is a cylinder with a support bar and a mass contained within. The mass can move along the support bar and press against springs, thus dampening the vibrations made against a BOP and wellhead.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2022
    Publication date: June 20, 2024
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, David Crenshaw Barrow
  • Publication number: 20240110463
    Abstract: A wellhead bracing system for a subsea well includes a base plate assembly and a wellhead brace assembly. The base plate assembly comprises a top surface, a bottom surface, a base plate aperture, and a plurality of anchor holes. The wellhead brace assembly comprises a vertical plate assembly having a cylindrical shape, a horizontal plate assembly to which the vertical plate assembly is attached, and a vertical support assembly attached to an outer surface of the vertical plate assembly and attached to the top surface of the horizontal plate assembly. Horizontal plate holes of the horizontal plate assembly are configured to attach to studs on the top surface of the base plate to secure the wellhead brace assembly to the base plate assembly. The wellhead bracing system slides onto a wellhead of the subsea well and braces an exterior of the wellhead.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2023
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, Khiem Nguyen, Jay Patrick Painter, Caleb Kimbrell Carroll, William Stephen Averill, Deryck Edward Matthew Williams, David Crenshaw Barrow, Michael Ryan Fitzsimmons
  • Publication number: 20240084692
    Abstract: Current profile of water (e.g., ocean) around a riser connected to a wellhead may be measured and used to determine integrated current load on the riser at any given moment in time. The integrated current load may be used to estimate the wellhead fatigue damage rate at that moment in time. The estimated wellhead fatigue damage rate may be used to make operational decisions for the well.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2022
    Publication date: March 14, 2024
    Inventors: Xiaorui Guan, Wangming Lu
  • Publication number: 20240068356
    Abstract: A computing system, method, and computer-readable medium includes a fatigue tracking service that assists with monitoring fatigue damage in a subsea wellhead system. The fatigue tracking service uses historical environmental data to determine a fatigue damage rate. The fatigue tracking service determines a fatigue allowance based upon the fatigue damage rate, a number of days assigned to a well operation, and a total allowable fatigue damage. The fatigue tracking service compares the fatigue allowance to measurements providing an accumulated fatigue damage to facilitate the monitoring of fatigue damage in the subsea wellhead system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2022
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, William Penaloza, Brian Koons, Thomas Chase
  • Patent number: 11499413
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and storage media for predicting physical changes to a wellhead coupled to a riser in an aquatic volume of interest are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: obtain training data; obtain a machine learning algorithm; generate a riser response model by applying a machine learning algorithm to the training data; store the riser response model, obtain target environmental data, target tension data, and target mud data, generate predicted riser response data, transform predicted riser response data, generate a representation, and display the representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, Wei Wu
  • Publication number: 20200199996
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and storage media for predicting physical changes to a wellhead coupled to a riser in an aquatic volume of interest are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: obtain training data; obtain a machine learning algorithm; generate a riser response model by applying a machine learning algorithm to the training data; store the riser response model, obtain target environmental data, target tension data, and target mud data, generate predicted riser response data, transform predicted riser response data, generate a representation, and display the representation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Publication date: June 25, 2020
    Inventors: Wangming Lu, Wei Wu
  • Patent number: 8505364
    Abstract: A system for use in monitoring operation of a rotor assembly is provided. The system includes a plurality of clearance sensors including at least a first clearance sensor configured to measure a distance between the first sensor and a surface of a lockwire tab, and a monitoring unit coupled to the plurality of clearance sensors, the monitoring unit configured to receive measurements from the plurality of clearance sensors, and determine whether a crack exists in the rotor assembly based on the received measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas James Batzinger, Vivek Venugopal Badami, Wangming Lu, Scott Mordin Hoyte, Mandar Diwakar Godbole, Ravi Yoganatha Babu, Aninda Bhattacharya, Jacob John Kittleson
  • Publication number: 20130111982
    Abstract: A system for use in monitoring operation of a rotor assembly is provided. The system includes a plurality of clearance sensors including at least a first clearance sensor configured to measure a distance between the first sensor and a surface of a lockwire tab, and a monitoring unit coupled to the plurality of clearance sensors, the monitoring unit configured to receive measurements from the plurality of clearance sensors, and determine whether a crack exists in the rotor assembly based on the received measurements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Publication date: May 9, 2013
    Inventors: Thomas James Batzinger, Vivek Venugopal Badami, Wangming Lu, Scott Mordin Hoyte, Mandar Diwakar Godbole, Ravi Yoganatha Babu, Aninda Bhattacharya, Jacob John Kittleson