ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,442,454, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia).
"Flow control in pipelines" was invented by Haitham Aljuaydi (Kharj, Saudi Arabia), Mustafa Kidwai (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) and Mohammed Ahmed Kaki (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A flow control system includes a conduit having an interior surface, and a flow control device connected to the interior surface of the conduit and disposed along the interior surface of the conduit for a first length. The flow control device includes an expandable element that expands inwardly from the interior surface, from a retracted position to an...