Methods to harvest electromagnetic energy during subsurface high power laser transmission
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorDamian Pablo San Roman Alerigi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical fiber includes an optical fiber core for high-power laser transmission, an optical cladding disposed radially around the optical fiber core, and at least one harvesting cell disposed axially along the optical fiber core, the harvesting cell including an anode surrounding the optical cladding, a photovoltaic layer having a polymer-based photovoltaic material disposed radially around and electrically connected to the anode, and a cathode disposed radially around the photovoltaic layer and electrically connected to the photovoltaic layer.
Claims20
An optical fiber, comprising:
- an optical fiber core for high-power laser transmission;
- an optical cladding disposed radially around the optical fiber core;
- and
- at least one harvesting cell disposed axially along the optical fiber core, the harvesting cell comprising:
- an anode surrounding the optical cladding;
- an photovoltaic layer comprising a polymer-based photovoltaic material disposed radially around and electrically connected to the anode;
- and
- a cathode disposed radially around the photovoltaic layer and electrically connected to the photovoltaic layer.
A system, comprising:
- a high-power laser surface unit capable of generating a high-power laser beam having an output power of at least 10 kW;
- an optical fiber connected to the high-power laser surface unit;
- and
- at least one harvesting cell disposed around the optical fiber, the harvesting cell comprising:
- an anode;
- a cathode;
- and
- a photovoltaic layer disposed adjacent to and electrically connected to the anode and the cathode, the photovoltaic layer comprising at least one conductive polymer.
A method, comprising:
- providing an optical fiber extending from a surface of a wellsite to a downhole location;
- transmitting a high-powered laser through the optical fiber from the surface to the downhole location;
- and
- harvesting electromagnetic energy from the optical fiber during transmission of the high-powered laser.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.