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Intelligent force reducing double-acting counterweight

  • US 10,202,973 B1
  • Filed: 09/29/2017
  • Issued: 02/12/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A torque-reducing effort assistive counterbalance apparatus coupled to a lever of a beam pumping unit comprising:

  • a movable counterweight, said counterweight configured to translate a beam of the beam pumping unit;

    a counterweight positioning drive, said counterweight positioning drive communicably couplable to the beam of the beam pumping unit;

    wherein the movable counterweight is communicably coupled to said counterweight positioning drive such that said counterweight positioning drive exerts a motive force on said movable counterweight and thus causes said movable counterweight to translate along at least one of the length of the beam and substantially the entire length of the beam of the beam pumping unit;

    a sensor positioned to directly measure or infer at least one of the power required of a prime mover and an amount of net gear torque in a speed reducer; and

    control logic, said control logic determining where said movable counterweight should be positioned to reduce at least one of the power required of a prime mover and the amount of net gear torque in the speed reducer,wherein said control logic is configured such that it determines where said movable counterweight should be positioned at least two times during each pumping cycle, andwherein for each of the at least two times, an amount of movement of the movable counterweight is determined based on the measured or inferred at least one of the power required of the prime mover and the amount of net gear torque in the speed reducer.

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