US 12,331,964 B2
Geoheat harvesting enhancement
Piotr D. Moncarz, Palo Alto, CA (US); Sharat Vishwanath Chandrasekhar, Dallas, TX (US); and Poodipeddi V. Suryanarayana, Plano, TX (US)
Assigned to XGS Energy, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by XGS Energy, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 6, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/735,587.
Application 18/735,587 is a continuation of application No. 17/970,892, filed on Oct. 21, 2022, granted, now 12,188,691.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/270,191, filed on Oct. 21, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0328679 A1, Oct. 3, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F24T 50/00 (2018.01); F24T 10/10 (2018.01); F24T 10/17 (2018.01)
CPC F24T 50/00 (2018.05) [F24T 10/10 (2018.05); F24T 10/17 (2018.05); F24T 2201/00 (2018.05); Y02E 10/10 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of installing a closed loop geoheat harvesting system, the closed loop geoheat harvesting system comprising a wellbore and a thermal reach enhancement structure along a length of the wellbore, wherein the thermal reach enhancement structure is transverse or radial with respect to the wellbore, the method comprising:
obtaining data from a deployment location;
calculating heat flux in an overall model using a finite volume (3D) numerical calculation;
using the data in the overall model that includes (1) a thermal reach enhancement formation model that takes into account intrinsic thermal conductivity and a modified intrinsic thermal conductivity of rock at the deployment location with the thermal reach enhancement structure, and (2) a wellbore flow model that is coupled to the thermal reach enhancement formation model;
wherein the overall model determines one or more configuration and/or operational parameters for the closed loop geoheat system; and
wherein the overall model calculates parameters for a thermal reach extension based on the intrinsic and modified thermal conductivities of the rock at the deployment location; and
constructing and assembling the closed loop geoheat system comprising the thermal reach enhancement structure based on the configuration and/or operational parameters determined by the overall model;
wherein the configuration and/or operational parameters are selected from the group consisting of mass flow rate of a working fluid, length of a conduit for heat transfer in the deployment location, effective width of a thermal reach enhancement structure, and effective length of a thermal reach enhancement structure.