US Patent Issued to SRI ENERGY on July 1 for "Annular blow out preventer" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,345,114, issued on July 1, was assigned to SRI ENERGY INC. (Sugar Land, Texas).

"Annular blow out preventer" was invented by Alagarsamy Sundararajan (Sugar Land, Texas), Subhra Dey (Sugar Land, Texas) and Aravindhan Rajamarthandan (Sugar Land, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An embodiment uses a symmetrical elastomeric design with hydraulic pistons on either end (as opposed to a single piston on conventional BOPs) which allows for lower actuation forces, reduced friction, and reduced wear and tear. The lower actuation forces correspond to lower operating pressures which allows the body and housing to be smaller, leading to a smaller ...