Active isolation apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9170342-B2
Application number	US-201313874000-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2013
Priority date	Apr 30, 2012
Publication date	Oct 27, 2015
Grant date	Oct 27, 2015

Abstract

The invention is an electric sweep type seismic vibrator source of the type used in seismic prospecting for hydrocarbons. The source uses an engine and generator combination to create electric power for all systems on the source such as driving a frame of linear electric motors that direct a rod or piston to contact the ground in a recurring fashion along with driving the source from location to location through a survey area. The seismic source further includes an active isolation system that provides for significant weight on the ground through the rods of the linear electric motors, but protects the vehicle body and the remainder of the systems on the seismic source to be insulated from the harshest vibration related to the acoustic energy being applied to the ground. The active isolation system may include reactive elements such as pneumatic and hydraulic shock absorbers, but also includes active elements such as linear motors operated to counteract the impulsive forces from conveying through the frame of the seismic source.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vibratory seismic source for delivering acoustic energy into the ground for seismic prospecting, the source comprising:
a) a chassis;
b) a generator for creating electric power mounted to the chassis;
c) about 100 to 5,000 linear motors arranged in a grid, carried by a frame, and positioned to depend from the chassis and wherein each linear motor includes a rod that is arranged to move generally vertically to contact the ground with a lower end o…

Assignees

• Conocophillips Co

Inventors

• Eick Peter M
• Brewer Joel D
• Shan Shan

Classifications

• G01V1/02 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01V1/145 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic