Did You Know...
...that in the early 1940s GE engineer James Wright was charged with a task of utmost importance to the war effort: develop a cheap substitute for rubber that could be used to produce tires, gas masks and a whole host of military gear. Wright tackled the task diligently -- and wound up inventing Silly Putty.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8064286 | Seismic streamer array Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in w... | 11/22/2011 |
| 7969817 | Ocean bottom seismic station Methods and apparatus for cable termination and sensor integration at a sensor station within an ocean bottom seismic (OBS) cable array are disclosed. The sensor stations include a housing for various sensor components. Additionally, the sensor stations can accommod... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7916303 | Non-uniform sampling to extend dynamic range of interferometric sensors Methods and apparatus for interrogating optical sensors with high slew rates using non-uniform sampling are provided. The transmission of optical signals in a non-uniform pattern is employed to allow for demodulation of fringe rates exceeding the commonly understood... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7715015 | Adaptive mixing for high slew rates A method and apparatus for demodulation of detected fringes from interferometric sensors with high slew rates are provided. A detected interference signal may be mixed with a local oscillator phasor to obtain a mixed signal, the local oscillator being controlled to ... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7688673 | Connector nodes for interrogating optical fiber sensor arrays Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in w... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7679994 | Bi-directional interrogation of optical sensors Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in w... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7679989 | Ocean bottom seismic station Methods and apparatus for cable termination and sensor integration at a sensor station within an ocean bottom seismic (OBS) cable array are disclosed. The sensor stations include a housing for various sensor components. Additionally, the sensor stations can accommod... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7660206 | Ocean bottom seismic station Methods and apparatus for cable termination and sensor integration at a sensor station within an ocean bottom seismic (OBS) cable array are disclosed. The sensor stations include a housing for various sensor components. Additionally, the sensor stations can accommod... | 02/09/2010 |
| 7551517 | Seabed seismic station packaging A seismic sensor station includes a housing containing a fiber optic hydrophone and a fiber optic accelerometer that can both be made from a single length of optical fiber arranged inside the housing. The fiber optic accelerometer is arranged in a liquid/oil filled ... | 06/23/2009 |
| 7539080 | Grating design for use in a seismic sensing system Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in w... | 05/26/2009 |
| 7510349 | Ocean bottom seismic station installation Storage and installation systems used in storage, deployment or retrieval of a seismic cable array include one or more baskets adapted for being stacked. Each basket is dimensioned to allocate, in an ordered arrangement, a number of seismic stations interconnected b... | 03/31/2009 |
| 7480056 | Multi-pulse heterodyne sub-carrier interrogation of interferometric sensors A method for interrogating time-multiplexed interferometric sensors using multiple interrogation pulses so as to increases the allowable interrogation pulse duty-cycle and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. In each TDM repetition period a sequence of multiple interr... | 01/20/2009 |
| 7466422 | Method and apparatus for suppression of crosstalk and noise in time-division multiplexed interferometric sensor systems Unwanted signal components in time-division multiplexed (TDM) systems may lead to crosstalk and noise if these pulses overlap with signal pulses from an interrogated sensor. The crosstalk and noise are dominated by interference between the signal pulses from the int... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7449636 | Cable bend stiffener A bend stiffener includes a first elongate member having a longitudinal conduit and a second elongate member also having a longitudinal conduit connected to an end of the first member thereby effectively extending the length of the bend stiffener. The first member h... | 11/11/2008 |
| 7433045 | Active coherence reduction for interferometer interrogation Methods and apparatus reduce coherence of an optical signal that is used to interrogate optical interferometric sensors. The optical field phasor of the interrogation source is modulated in a controlled manner to produce a broadened optical source power spectrum at ... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7366055 | Ocean bottom seismic sensing system Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in w... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359061 | Method and apparatus for providing polarization insensitive signal processing for interferometric sensors A method and apparatus that uses specific source modulation and detectors to detect a response that carries information about a system response matrix associated with each sensor in a interferometric sensor array and extracting a sensor response in a manner that eli... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7336365 | Method and apparatus for suppression of crosstalk and noise in time-division multiplexed interferometric sensor systems Unwanted signal components in time-division multiplexed (TDM) systems may lead to crosstalk and noise if these pulses overlap with signal pulses from an interrogated sensor. The crosstalk and noise are dominated by interference between the signal pulses from the int... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7268884 | Wavelength reference system for optical measurements Devices and methods of accurately determining optical wavelengths, such as the Bragg wavelengths of an FBG sensor array. Wavelength-swept light having a characteristic spectrum is swept over a bandwidth and is applied to an interference filter. The interference filt... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7243543 | Highly sensitive accelerometer Accelerometers for determining acceleration and methods of fabricating an accelerometer are disclosed. In one embodiment, the accelerometer includes a frame, a mass movably suspended on the frame, a fixed element having a rounded surface that does not move with resp... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7245382 | Downhole optical sensor system with reference Embodiments of the present invention generally provide methods, apparatus, and systems for compensating for frequency fluctuations in source light used to interrogate an optical sensor. The optical sensor may be interrogated to generate a sensor signal. A reference ... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7206075 | Method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk interference in an inline Fabry-Perot sensor array A method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk between sensors in an inline Fabry-Perot (FP) sensor array. The inline FP sensor array comprises a plurality of fiber Bragg gratings arranged periodically along an optical fiber. The sensors are formed between each of th... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7157693 | Optical wavelength interrogator An optical wavelength readout system for application in optical sensing systems is disclosed. The system includes a Master unit including a wavelength swept optical source for launching light into a string of optical sensors, and a detection and processing unit for ... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7113287 | Method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk interference in an inline Fabry-Perot sensor array A method and apparatus for reducing crosstalk between sensors in an inline Fabry-Perot (FP) sensor array. The inline FP sensor array comprises a plurality of fiber Bragg gratings arranged periodically along an optical fiber. The sensors are formed between each of th... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7088878 | Method and apparatus for producing depolarized light A method and apparatus for producing depolarized light that is useful in forming interrogation signals for an optical sensor array and demodulator having reduced polarization-induced fading and phase noise. The depolarized light is produced by splitting a light beam... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7081959 | Method and apparatus for providing polarization insensitive signal processing for interferometric sensors A method and apparatus that uses specific source modulation and detectors to detect a response that carries information about a system response matrix associated with each sensor in a interferometric sensor array and extracting a sensor response in a manner that eli... | 07/25/2006 |
| 7072044 | Apparatus for acoustic detection of particles in a flow using a fiber optic interferometer Fiber optic particle detector for measurements in a fluid flow, comprising an optical fiber (2,3,12) being acoustically coupled to a mechanical element (11,13,14) adapted to be acoustically coupled to the flow, a fiber optic interferometer (54,56 | 07/04/2006 |
| 7060967 | Optical wavelength interrogator An optical wavelength readout system for application in optical sensing systems is disclosed. The system includes a Master unit including a wavelength swept optical source for launching light into a string of optical sensors, and a detection and processing unit for ... | 06/13/2006 |
| 6915686 | Downhole sub for instrumentation A downhole sub for instrumentation, such as a fiber optic sensor. The sub is configured to be connected to a string of pipe, such as a string of tubing. The sub first comprises an essentially concentric tubular body. The tubular body has an inner diameter that gener... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6888125 | Fiber optic sensing systems and method of use thereof A fiber optic sensor system comprises at least one measuring sensor 1 providing an optical output dependent upon one or more parameters to be measured, e.g. temperature, and at least one reference sensor 2 providing a reference output for comparison wi... | 05/03/2005 |
| 6856401 | Elimination of polarization fading in unbalanced optical measuring interferometers Method and assembly for sustained elimination or reduction of polarization induced signal fading in optical interferometer networks comprising at least two optical paths from an input port to an output port, the transmission delays of the paths differing by τ, an i... | 02/15/2005 |
| 6816649 | FBG production system An optical waveguide Bragg grating fabrication apparatus (1) comprises a light source (2) providing ultra-violet (UV) light and optical means (4,5A-B,6A-B,7A-B,9) for adapting the light beam to form an interference pattern i... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6788418 | Method and apparatus for interrogation of birefringent FBG sensors A method for measurements of the orthogonally polarized minimum and maximum Bragg wavelengths of one of several birefringent fiber Bragg grate FBG sensors, and alternatively a method for eliminating errors in FBG sensor measurements caused by undesired grating biref... | 09/07/2004 |
| 6693923 | Waveguide laser source A Bragg Grating optical waveguide laser source comprising at least one Bragg grating in a rare earth doped waveguide and an optical pump source coupled to said doped waveguide, said Bragg gratings having at least two different peak reflection wavelengths ... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6680472 | Device for measuring of optical wavelengths Fibre optic apparatus for accurate and repeatable measurements of light comprising one or more wavelength ranges, and system employing the apparatus. The apparatus according to the invention comprises: a directional coupler adapted to lead the light into ... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6655188 | Method and system for calibrating a conversion unit of a fiber optic sensor head Method and system for obtaining scale factor calibration of a fiber optic sensor head (3, 6) comprising a conversion unit (3) with a conversion element (14) made from a material being subject to changes in its shape or physical dimensions under the influe... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6466726 | Device for fastening optical fibres A combination of an optical fiber, a device for fastening the optical fiber to at least one Bragg grating including a generally cylindrical sleeve through which the fiber passes, and a bond between the fiber and the sleeve at one end thereof. The end of t... | 10/15/2002 |
| 6384404 | Device for measuring a bending load A device is provided for measuring a bending load in mechanical constructions, which device enables measurement over a broad range of stresses with high precision and which simultaneously compensates for deviations caused by temperature fluctuations.... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6343173 | Gold coated signal cable Signal cable for transmission of optical signals, especially in oil and gas wells, includes at least one elongated optical fiber, and an elongated, generally tubular container within which the optical fiber is disposed, the container having an inner wall ... | 01/29/2002 |
| 6321603 | Pressure sensor A device (100) for measurement of pressure in fluids is disclosed that includes a cylindrical housing (101) having a pressure port (103), an inner cavity (102) and an opening (102b). A closed pipe (131) is situated in the cavity (102) and closes the openi... | 11/27/2001 |
