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US 11,112,190 B2Granted
Passive thermal diode for pipelines
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsThibault Tarik Villette, Guillaume Robert Jean-Francois Raynel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for a passive thermal diode (PTD) to be disposed on a pipeline that inhibits heat transfer from the pipeline to the environment below a threshold temperature and promotes heat transfer from the environment to the pipeline above a threshold temperature.
Claims19
A method of operating a passive thermal diode (PTD) disposed on a pipeline, comprising:
- inhibiting, via the PTD, heat transfer from the pipeline to environment in response to an external temperature being below a threshold temperature;
- and
- promoting, via the PTD, heat transfer from the environment to the pipeline in response to the external temperature being above the threshold temperature, wherein promoting the heat transfer comprises placing a heat-transfer material layer in contact with the pipeline via thermal expansion of a control material in the PTD, and wherein the heat transfer from the environment to the pipeline comprises heat transfer from the environment through the heat-transfer material layer to the pipeline.
A method of operating a passive thermal diode (PTD) disposed on a pipeline, comprising:
- inhibiting heat transfer from the pipeline to environment via an insulation material layer in an upper portion of the PTD and via a gap in a lower portion of the PTD;
- and
- placing a heat-transfer material layer of the PTD in contact with the pipeline to provide for heat transfer from the environment through the heat-transfer material layer to the pipeline, wherein the heat-transfer material layer is placed in contact with the pipeline via thermal expansion of a control material in the PTD.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.