PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15900702
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-02
Publication Date: 2019-02
Patent Classification: ["060", "641120"]

Abstract:
The disclosed technology includes methods of extracting geothermal energy, generally comprising the steps of: insertion of a thermal mass into a Heat Absorption Zone, absorbing heat in thermal mass, raising the thermal mass to a Heat Transfer Zone, and transferring the heat from the thermal mass. The acquired heat can be used to generate electricity or to drive an industrial process. The thermal mass can have internal chambers containing a liquid such as molten salt, and can also have structures facilitating heat exchange using a thermal exchange fluid, such as a gas or a glycol-based fluid. In some embodiments, two thermal masses are used as counterweights, reducing the energy consumed in bringing the heat in the thermal masses to the surface. In other embodiments, solid or molten salt can be directly supplied to a well shaft to acquire geothermal heat and returned to the surface in a closed loop system.

Claim (Index 20):
The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:\n a pumping system configured to fill the thermal mass with a thermal exchange fluid; a cover gas system configured to fill the thermal mass with a cover gas excluding air, the cover gas system comprising:\n a valve configured to couple to a cover gas connector of the thermal mass; \n a cover gas manager; \n a cover gas pumping system a cover gas reservoir; and piping coupled to the cover gas reservoir, the cover gas pumping system, the cover gas manager and the valve; wherein the thermal mass further comprises:\n a thermal exchange medium, the thermal exchange medium being either a metal or a thermal exchange fluid, wherein the thermal exchange fluid comprises a material selected from a group consisting of: one or more molten salts; water; \n a glycol-based fluid; and one or more gases, wherein the one or more molten salts are selected from: potassium nitrate; potassium calcium nitrate; sodium nitrite; sodium nitrate; sodium chloride; potassium fluoride; potassium chloride; and sodium fluoride wherein the one or more gases are selected from nitrogen, argon, helium, and compressed carbon dioxide; \n \n an internal data cable communicatively coupled to each of the one or more sensors; \n a shoe configured coupled to the thermal transfer tube and configured to control flow of a thermal fluid disposed within the thermal transfer tube; \n a plurality of interior spacers, each interior spacer being configured to engage: \n an exterior shell coupled to the thermal mass, and at least one of: the thermal transfer tube, the cover gas tube, the internal data cable, and the shoe; \n an exterior shell comprising:\n a first terminal end having an aperture configured to engage the thermal fluid connector; and a second terminal end configured to support material disposed within the exterior shell; \n \n a plurality of exterior spacers are arranged around a periphery of the exterior shell, each exterior spacer being configured to absorb impact forces resulting from collision between the thermal mass and an external object; \n a first flange coupled to the first terminal end of the exterior shell; and a second flange coupled to the second terminal end of the exterior shell, each flange further comprising:\n a plurality of apertures configured to engage the suspension cable;\n and a seal configured to seal the exterior shell to the flange; \n \n \n a top flange configured to engage the first flange and the suspension cable via the second plurality of apertures, the top flange further comprising: the thermal fluid connector; an internal cover gas tube; a cover gas connector; and a data connector configured to communicatively couple to at least one of the data connection cable and the second data connection cable; and internal piping configured to facilitate heat exchange between the thermal mass and a thermal exchange fluid disposed in the internal piping, the internal piping comprising arranged as one or more of:\n a double helix; and a helical heat exchange portion and a linear return portion, wherein the thermal mass and the second thermal mass are each characterized by an approximately equal mass, wherein the thermal mass and the second thermal mass are configured in a countermeasure arrangement via the suspension cable and the second suspension cable, and wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more of: one or more temperature sensors comprising one or more of a platinum resistance thermometer and a dual metal thermostat; one or more motion sensors; one or more accelerometers; \n \n one or more infrared sensors; one or more acoustic sensors; one or more optical sensors; one or more fluorescence sensors; and one or more pressure sensors; and a thermal transfer tube thermally coupled to the thermal fluid connector; and a cover gas tube configured to engage a cover gas connector.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 50.0
- Percentile: 88.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.98795
- Patent Class: 60.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14877568', '13815266', '13999707', '14154767', '13911635']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6982027488072187
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5711401560958143
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6854964895360782
- Mean Citation Score: 309.689572
- Max Citation Score: 465.94064
- Similarity Product: 441.054392338066

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test