Patents, Licenses & IP Applications
We also take pride in our growing intellectual property portfolio. Our multi level monitoring patents embed over 50 different technologies including electrical and chemical sensors, fiber optic and fiber Bragg sensors, integrated pump and sensor systems called “Intelli-Pumps”, advanced profiling technologies for groundwater production wells as well as cross over applications into environmental monitoring, agriculture, industry and geotechnical applications.
Within our IP portfolio is a relatively new, patented technology entitled “Selective Extraction of Fluids from Subsurface Wells” (US Patent 9,284,722, 2016). This forward thinking, outside the box suite of technologies combines every conceivable form of internal, hydraulic manipulation inside groundwater production wells at multiple depths along the well screen, with any type of groundwater treatment technology. Groundwater is hydraulically remixed or reconstituted inside the well in order to reduce mass transfer before reaching the ground surface.
At this point, reduced treatment is then combined with the hydraulically altered well to make the groundwater compliant.
In the best case scenarios, the change in well hydraulics leads to a more favorable geochemical discharge avoids treatment solutions entirely – saving billions of dollars for our customers as well as their rate payers.
Use of test pumps (as opposed to the well’s primary pump) is avoided in order to reduce testing costs as well as preserve data integrity by testing under operating conditions. Use of the primary pump yields a definitive result as opposed to a less certain simulated result with the test pump, and avoids the costly procedure of removing the primary pump.
Other IP applications include some significant state of the art advancements to existing and patented US Geological Survey technologies that are exclusively licensed to BESST. These new advancements in flow and water chemistry profiling technologies are significant in terms of reduced time to complete down-hole surveys, tighter controls on down-hole data acquisition and state of the art improvements in data resolution and processing! In some cases, the time reduction can be as much as 30%.
Some of our more basic but forward thinking technologies include development of multi level slant wells for both shallow and deep groundwater monitoring applications as well as integration of down-hole real-time sensing technologies.
More advanced areas include development of flow-velocity and chemical sensors using fiber optics and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) to track flow under ambient conditions.
Another exciting area includes development of in-situ VOC sample and capture technologies whereby VOC contaminants are sampled and captured at the pore level, containerized down-hole at actual pressure and temperature conditions and then transported back to ground surface without container transfer prior to and during transit to the laboratory.
BESST also continues to advance its tracer based technologies towards profiling of long screened wells in the municipal, agricultural, industrial and environmental sectors.
Big Data! Selective Extraction Database
