阅读说明：本技术 一种可燃冰取芯装置及方法 (Combustible ice coring device and method ) 是由 谢和平 高明忠 陈领 余波 何志强 吴年汉 李聪 李佳南 胡云起 于 2021-08-12 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开一种可燃冰取芯装置及方法,其中,一种可燃冰取芯装置,包括：取芯器,所述取芯器包括用于存储可燃冰的取芯仓；温度传感器,所述温度传感器设于所述取芯仓上方；导热盘管,所述导热盘管包括输入口和输出口,所述导热盘管围设于所述取芯仓的外侧壁；冷料输送管,所述冷料输送管包括输入管和输出管,所述输入管与所述输入口连通；所述输出管的与所述输出口连通；流量控制阀,所述流量控制阀与所述冷料输送管连接,且与所述温度传感器通信连接。通过在取芯过程中,通过监测并及时通入冷料进行热交换,保证所述取芯仓内的温度保持在原位温度,进而避免原位温度散失。(The invention discloses a combustible ice coring device and a method, wherein the combustible ice coring device comprises: a corer comprising a coring bin for storing combustible ice; the temperature sensor is arranged above the coring bin; the heat conduction coil pipe comprises an input port and an output port, and is arranged on the outer side wall of the coring bin in a surrounding manner; the cold material conveying pipe comprises an input pipe and an output pipe, and the input pipe is communicated with the input port; the output pipe is communicated with the output port; and the flow control valve is connected with the cold material conveying pipe and is in communication connection with the temperature sensor. Through at the coring in-process, carry out the heat exchange through monitoring and in time letting in cold burden, guarantee the temperature in coring storehouse keeps at the normal position temperature, and then avoids the normal position temperature to scatter and disappear.)

1. A combustible ice coring device, comprising:

a corer comprising a coring bin for storing combustible ice;

the temperature sensor is arranged above the coring bin;

the heat conduction coil pipe comprises an input port and an output port, and is arranged on the outer side wall of the coring bin in a surrounding manner;

the cold material conveying pipe comprises an input pipe and an output pipe, and the input pipe is communicated with the input port; the output pipe is communicated with the output port;

and the flow control valve is connected with the cold material conveying pipe and is in communication connection with the temperature sensor.

2. The combustible ice coring device of claim 1, wherein the input port and the output port of the heat conducting coil are disposed at the same end of the heat conducting coil.

3. The combustible ice coring device of claim 2, wherein the input port and the output port are disposed at the same horizontal level.

4. The combustible ice coring device of claim 1, wherein the flow control valve is connected to the input tube.

5. The combustible ice coring device of claim 1, 2 or 4, further comprising a ball bearing, the ball bearing comprising an outer ring and an inner ring, the inner ring being connected to an outer wall of the coring apparatus and being in linkage with the coring apparatus, the outer ring being connected to the heat conducting coil and/or the cold charge conveying pipe to achieve a limit.

6. The combustible ice coring device of claim 5, wherein there are two ball bearings, a first ball bearing and a second ball bearing, the first ball bearing is disposed at the end of the heat conducting coil having the output port and the input port, the outer race of the ball bearing of the first ball bearing is connected to the cold charge delivery pipe, the second ball bearing is disposed at the end of the heat conducting coil opposite to the second ball bearing, and the outer race of the second ball bearing is connected to the heat conducting coil.

7. The ice-combustible coring device of claim 1 or 6, wherein the thermally conductive coil is a metal coil and/or the cold feed delivery tube is a hose.

8. The combustible ice coring device of claim 1, further comprising a liquid nitrogen pump connected to the flow control valve.

9. The combustible ice coring device of claim 7, further comprising a pull center rod connected to the coring apparatus.

10. A method of coring combustible ice, for use with the combustible ice coring device of any one of claims 1-9, comprising the steps of:

acquiring the in-situ temperature of the combustible ice;

monitoring the temperature of the coring bin, when the temperature of the coring bin is monitored to change based on the in-situ temperature;

adjusting a flow of a flow control valve based on the temperature change.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of oceans, in particular to a combustible ice coring device and method.

Background

The natural gas hydrate is a cage-type compound formed by water and natural gas under the conditions of high pressure, low temperature and the like, and is also called as combustible ice because the appearance of the cage-type compound is like ice and the cage-type compound can be combusted when meeting fire.

The pressure maintains the occurrence state of the combustible ice to a certain extent, but the heat exchange in the coring process causes the loss of the in-situ temperature of the combustible ice, has great influence on the occurrence state of the combustible ice rock core, information maintenance, reserve estimation and the like, and is difficult to establish the in-situ physical and mechanical properties and the exploration and development theoretical technical framework of the deep-sea combustible ice.

Therefore, the prior art needs to be improved.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the problems that in the prior art, the in-situ temperature of combustible ice is lost in the coring process, and the in-situ physical and mechanical properties and the exploration and development theory technology framework of deep sea combustible ice are difficult to establish, the invention provides a combustible ice coring device and method.

The invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

in a first aspect, the present invention provides a combustible ice coring device comprising:

a corer comprising a coring bin for storing combustible ice;

the temperature sensor is arranged above the coring bin;

the heat conduction coil pipe comprises an input port and an output port, and is arranged on the outer side wall of the coring bin in a surrounding manner;

the cold material conveying pipe comprises an input pipe and an output pipe, and the input pipe is communicated with the input port; the output pipe is communicated with the output port;

and the flow control valve is connected with the cold material conveying pipe and is in communication connection with the temperature sensor.

Through setting up the coring device is got the core and is stored combustible ice in getting the core storehouse, locate through setting up temperature sensor get core storehouse top be used for right it detects to get the temperature in core storehouse, and get the lateral wall setting in core storehouse the heat conduction coil pipe, just heat conduction coil pipe's input port and delivery outlet with the input tube of cold burden conveyer pipe and output tube connection, flow control valve with cold burden duct connection is used for controlling the flow of cold burden conveyer pipe, just flow control valve with temperature sensor communication connection, when temperature sensor detects the temperature of getting the core storehouse changes based on the normal position temperature, flow control valve is based on temperature sensor testing result control the flow of cold burden conveyer pipe, and then control the cold burden flow in the heat conduction coil pipe, the heat exchange of balanced coring in-process, further, the core taking bin is guaranteed to keep the in-situ temperature in the core taking process, and the establishment of the in-situ physical and mechanical properties of the deep-sea combustible ice and the exploration and development theoretical technical framework are more convenient.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the input port and the output port of the heat conducting coil are disposed at the same end of the heat conducting coil.

Through setting up input coil the input port and the delivery outlet is located heat conduction coil's same one end, the cooperation the coring device is transferring and is lifting going on of step for overall structure sets up more rationally, can reduce simultaneously the material of cold burden conveyer pipe.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the input port and the output port are disposed at the same level.

In one embodiment of the invention, the flow control valve is connected to the input pipe.

The flow control valve is connected with the input pipe, so that the control of the flow control valve is more reasonable.

In one embodiment of the invention, the device further comprises a ball bearing, wherein the ball bearing comprises an outer ring and an inner ring, the inner ring is connected with the outer wall of the coring device and is linked with the coring device, and the outer ring is connected with the heat conducting coil and/or the cold material conveying pipe to realize limiting.

Through setting up ball bearing, just ball bearing's inner circle with the outer wall connection of coring ware and with the coring ware linkage, ball bearing's outer lane with heat conduction coil pipe and/or cold burden duct connections is spacing, be used for realizing to heat conduction coil pipe and spacing, the realization of cold burden conveyer pipe heat conduction coil pipe cold burden conveyer pipe with spacing between the coring ware, avoided simultaneously the rotation of coring ware is right heat conduction coil pipe with cause the linkage influence between the cold burden conveyer pipe.

In one embodiment of the present invention, there are two ball bearings, namely a first ball bearing and a second ball bearing, the first ball bearing is disposed at one end of the heat conducting coil pipe where the output port and the input port are disposed, an outer ring of the ball bearing of the first ball bearing is connected to the cold material conveying pipe, the second ball bearing is disposed at an end of the heat conducting coil pipe opposite to the second ball bearing, and an outer ring of the second ball bearing is connected to the heat conducting coil pipe.

Through setting up two ball bearing, and locate respectively heat conduction coil's both ends make ball bearing's spacing is more firm.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the heat conducting coil is a metal coil, and/or the cold burden delivery pipe is a hose.

Through setting up heat conduction coil pipe is metal coil pipe, makes heat conduction coil pipe's heat conductivity is stronger, right it is better to get the heat preservation effect in core storehouse, through setting up cold burden conveyer pipe is the hose, when realizing the defeated material, makes cold material pipe receive and release more conveniently.

In one embodiment of the invention, the device further comprises a liquid nitrogen pump, and the liquid nitrogen pump is connected with the flow control valve.

Through setting up the liquid nitrogen pump, and set up the liquid nitrogen pump with flow control valve is connected for provide the cold burden and for the cold burden is in heat conduction coil pipe and the interior flow of cold burden conveying pipe provides power.

In one embodiment of the invention, the coring device further comprises a lifting center rod, and the lifting center rod is connected with the coring device.

Through setting up carry and draw well core rod and with the corer is connected, right the corer is carried and is put.

In a second aspect, the present invention also provides a combustible ice coring method for a combustible ice coring device as defined in any one of the above, comprising the steps of:

acquiring the in-situ temperature of the combustible ice;

monitoring the temperature of the coring bin, when the temperature of the coring bin is monitored to change based on the in-situ temperature;

adjusting a flow of a flow control valve based on the temperature change.

Through acquireing combustible ice normal position temperature, with normal position temperature is the benchmark monitoring get the temperature variation in core storehouse, and based on the temperature variation who gets the core storehouse passes through flow control valve adjustment encloses to be located get the intraductal cold burden flow of heat conduction coil of core storehouse lateral wall, avoid getting the core storehouse because get core heat exchange or get the core and accomplish the in-process temperature variation that rises and cause the normal position temperature is lost at the core in-process, causes the influence and then causes to be difficult to establish deep sea combustible ice normal position physical mechanics nature and exploration development theoretical technical framework to combustible ice rock core existence state, information maintenance, reserves aassessment etc..

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

a combustible ice coring device and method, coring and storing combustible ice in coring storehouse through setting up the corer, locate coring storehouse top through setting up be used for to coring the temperature in storehouse and detect, and set up the heat conduction coil at coring the lateral wall in storehouse, and the input port and the delivery outlet of heat conduction coil with the input tube of cold burden conveyer pipe and output tube connection, flow control valve with cold burden duct connection is used for controlling the flow of cold burden conveyer pipe, and flow control valve with temperature sensor communication connection, when temperature sensor detects that coring the temperature in storehouse changes based on normal position temperature, flow control valve is based on temperature sensor testing result control the flow of cold burden conveyer pipe, and then control the cold burden flow in the heat conduction coil, the heat exchange in the coring process is balanced, and then the coring bin is ensured to keep the in-situ temperature in the coring process, so that the establishment of the in-situ physical and mechanical properties of the deep-sea combustible ice and the exploration and development theory technical framework are more convenient.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a combustible ice coring device of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic view of B of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a combustible ice coring method of the present invention.

In the figure: 1. the coring device comprises a coring bin 10, a coring bin 2, a temperature sensor 3, a heat conducting coil pipe 30, an input port 31, an output port 4, a cold material conveying pipe 40, an input pipe 41, an output pipe 5, a flow control valve 60, a first ball bearing 61, a second ball bearing 7 and a liquid nitrogen pump.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and effects of the present invention clearer and clearer, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

It should be noted that, if directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, and back … …) are involved in the embodiment of the present invention, the directional indications are only used to explain the relative positional relationship between the components, the movement situation, and the like in a specific posture (as shown in the drawing), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indications are changed accordingly.

The combustible ice becomes an important factor which must be considered for the balanced development of energy strategy of various countries in the world, and the research on the combustible ice rock core is to obtain the in-situ occurrence information of the combustible ice, reveal the deep sea bedding structure, find the reserve of ocean resources and explore the main information source of the ocean floor microorganism secret. Combustible ice sampling technology develops vigorously at home and abroad, but how to realize combustible ice coring technology based on active and passive heat preservation and pressure maintaining is still a world problem.

The combustible ice reservoir formation mechanism and the geological background are very complex, and the combustible ice reservoir is very easy to change phase when losing the conditions of in-situ temperature, pressure and the like, so that the occurrence state of a rock core, in-situ information and quality are lost, and the core common basic science problems in the deep sea science field such as the in-situ physical and mechanical properties of the deep sea combustible ice, the exploration and development theoretical technical framework and the like are difficult to establish. Therefore, the development of the principle and the technology of combustible ice in-situ heat preservation and pressure maintaining coring is imperative.

The pressure maintains the occurrence state of the combustible ice to a certain extent, but the heat exchange in the coring process causes the loss of the in-situ temperature of the combustible ice, and the method has great influence on the occurrence state, information maintenance, reserve assessment and the like of the combustible ice rock core. Therefore, the research and development of heat preservation and pressure maintaining coring technology are also being developed at home and abroad. Japanese JOGMEC first developed a Temperature and pressure maintaining corer ptcs (pressure Temperature Core sampler) that utilized an insulated inner tube as a passive insulation, expected to operate at 30MPa pressure. The combustible ice deep water shallow hole heat preservation and pressure maintaining core drill is researched and developed by the first ocean research institute of the national ocean administration in China, and the purpose of heat preservation is achieved by utilizing a double-layer vacuum structure.

Therefore, for heat preservation coring, the passive heat preservation is mainly realized by using heat insulation coatings, vacuum interlayers and other modes at present, and the heat exchange and loss in the coring and drilling processes are difficult to avoid.

The invention provides a combustible ice coring device and a method, wherein liquid nitrogen is conveyed from the ground to the bottom of a hole (the coring end part of a coring device) through a heat conducting coil, the in-situ temperature maintenance of the combustible ice at the bottom of the hole is realized by utilizing the efficient refrigeration effect of the liquid nitrogen and the large heat transfer area and high heat conductivity provided by the heat conducting coil, and the intelligent temperature control can be realized by matching the liquid nitrogen refrigeration scheme of the coil with a temperature control module, so that the temperature control precision is improved, and the heat preservation time is prolonged.

The specific embodiment is as follows:

referring to fig. 1, 2 and 3, the present invention provides a combustible ice coring device comprising: the device comprises a corer 1, a temperature sensor 2, a heat conducting coil 3, a cold material conveying pipe 4 and a flow control valve 5, wherein the corer 1 comprises a coring bin 10 for storing combustible ice; the temperature sensor 2 is arranged above the coring bin 10; the heat conduction coil 3 comprises an input port 30 and an output port 31, and the heat conduction coil 3 is enclosed on the outer side wall of the coring bin 10; the cold material conveying pipe 4 comprises an input pipe 40 and an output pipe 41, and the input pipe 40 is communicated with the input port 30; the output pipe 41 is communicated with the output port 31; the flow control valve 5 is connected with the cold material conveying pipe 4 and is in communication connection with the temperature sensor 2.

Through setting up coring device 1 coring combustible ice and storing in coring storehouse 10, locate through setting up temperature sensor 2 coring storehouse 10 top is used for right it detects to coring storehouse 10's temperature, and set up coring storehouse 10's lateral wall heat conduction coil 3, and heat conduction coil 3's input port 30 and delivery outlet 31 with cold burden conveyer pipe 4's input tube 40 and output tube 41 connects, flow control valve 5 with cold burden conveyer pipe 4 is connected and is used for controlling the flow of cold burden conveyer pipe 4, and flow control valve 5 with temperature sensor 2 communication connection, when temperature sensor 2 detects the temperature of coring storehouse 10 changes based on the normal position temperature, flow control valve 5 is based on temperature sensor 2 testing result control cold burden conveyer pipe 4's flow, and then control the cold burden flow in the heat conduction coil pipe 3, heat exchange in the balanced coring process, and then reach and guarantee to get the core storehouse 10 and keep the normal position temperature in the coring process for it is more convenient to establish deep sea combustible ice normal position physics and mechanics nature and exploration and development theoretical technical framework.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, the heat conducting coil 3 is a metal coil, and the cold material conveying pipe 4 is a hose.

Through setting up heat conduction coil pipe 3 is metal coil pipe, makes heat conduction coil pipe 3's heat conductivity is stronger, right it is better to get the heat preservation effect in core storehouse 10, through setting up cold burden conveyer pipe 4 is the hose, when realizing the defeated material, makes receiving and releasing of cold material pipe is more convenient.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, a lifting center rod is further included, and the lifting center rod is connected with the coring device 1. Through setting up carry and draw well core rod and with coring device 1 is connected, right coring device 1 carries out putting.

Specifically, the lifting center rod is connected with the other end of the coring device 1, and the lifting center rod and the coring bit are arranged at two ends of the coring bin 10 relatively.

Specifically, core storehouse 10 is inside coring device 1, a tip of coring device 1 is equipped with coring bit, at the coring in-process, coring device 1 is drilled down and is got the core, and coring storehouse 10 inserts the core along with coring bit downwards, arrives after the setting position, upwards lifts pull well core rod, core coring storehouse 10 drive core move up along with lifting well core rod, the core breaks to pull the core into coring storehouse 10, coring device and coring storehouse belong to ripe design, can set up different types according to actual demand.

Specifically, the temperature sensor 2 may be disposed at an upper portion of the coring bin 10, or may be disposed inside the lifting core rod and near one end of the coring bin 10, and the temperature sensor 2 may be set according to a condition factor such as a use environment and pressure tolerance, and the temperature sensor 2 may further adjust an initial temperature of the temperature sensor 2 according to an installation position, for example, when the temperature sensor 2 is disposed relatively close to the coring bin 10, a temperature detected by the temperature sensor 2 is relatively close to an original position temperature of the combustible ice, and the initial value is 0, and when the temperature sensor 2 is disposed relatively far from the coring bin 10, the initial temperature of the temperature sensor 2 may be set to a negative value or the like according to a debugging result or the like, so as to perform temperature compensation for the distance difference.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, the input port 30 and the output port 31 of the heat conducting coil 3 are disposed at the same end of the heat conducting coil 3. Through setting up input coil input 30 and delivery outlet 31 locates heat conduction coil 3 is same with one end, the cooperation coring device 1 is transferring and is lifting going on of step for overall structure sets up more rationally, can reduce simultaneously cold charge conveyer pipe 4's materials.

Specifically, the input port 30 and the output port 31 may be provided in plurality, the input pipe 40 corresponds to the output pipe 41, if the input pipe 40 and the output pipe 41 correspond to the input port 30 and the output port 31 respectively, the flow control valve 5 may also be provided in plurality according to the requirement, or a header pipe may be further provided to connect with the output pipe 41 or the input pipe 40, and then the flow control valve 5 is connected with the header pipe to realize unified flow control, which may specifically adjust according to actual requirements.

Further, in the present embodiment, the flow control valve 5 is connected to the input pipe 40. By arranging the flow control valve 5 to be connected with the input pipe 40, the control of the flow control valve 5 is more reasonable. In other embodiments of the present invention, the flow control valve 5 may also be connected to the output pipe 41 for controlling the flow of the heat conducting coil 3.

Specifically, in this embodiment, there is one input port 30 and one output port 31, and the input port 30 and the output port 31 are disposed on the same horizontal plane. The cold material enters from the input port 30 of the heat conducting coil 3 and is output from the output port 31, and flows in the heat conducting coil 3 to take away heat.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, the core extractor further comprises a ball bearing, wherein the ball bearing comprises an outer ring and an inner ring, the inner ring is connected with the outer wall of the core extractor 1 and is linked with the core extractor 1, and the outer ring is connected with the heat conduction coil pipe 3 and/or the cold material conveying pipe 4 for limiting.

Through setting up ball bearing, just ball bearing's inner circle with core ware 1's outer wall connection and with core ware 1 linkage, ball bearing's outer lane with heat conduction coil pipe 3 and/or cold burden conveyer pipe 4 is connected spacingly, is used for realizing to heat conduction coil pipe 3 and cold burden conveyer pipe 4 spacing, realization heat conduction coil pipe 3 cold burden conveyer pipe 4 with core ware spacing between 1, avoided simultaneously core ware 1's rotation is right heat conduction coil pipe 3 with cause the linkage influence between the cold burden conveyer pipe 4.

Specifically, the inner circle with the outer wall of corer 1 can be connected through modes such as joint, welding, bolt fastening, the outer lane with heat conduction coil pipe 3 and/or cold burden conveyer pipe 4 also can be connected through modes such as joint, bolt fastening.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, there are two ball bearings, namely, a first ball bearing 60 and a second ball bearing 61, where the first ball bearing 60 is disposed at one end of the heat-conducting coil 3 where the output port 31 and the input port 30 are disposed, an outer ring of the ball bearing of the first ball bearing 60 is connected to the cold material conveying pipe 4, the second ball bearing 61 is disposed at an end of the heat-conducting pipe plate opposite to the second ball bearing 61, and an outer ring of the second ball bearing 61 is connected to the heat-conducting pipe plate. Through setting up two ball bearing, and locate respectively heat conduction coil pipe 3's both ends make ball bearing's spacing is more firm.

Specifically, in other embodiments of the present invention, only one, three or four ball bearings may be provided, which may be set according to the use environment and the present invention is not limited specifically.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, the combustible ice coring device further comprises a liquid nitrogen pump 7, and the liquid nitrogen pump 7 is connected with the flow control valve 5. Through setting up liquid nitrogen pump 7, and set up liquid nitrogen pump 7 with flow control valve 5 is connected for provide the cold burden and for the cold burden is in heat conduction coil 3 and cold burden conveyer pipe 4 flows and provides power.

Further, on the basis of the above embodiment, the liquid nitrogen pump device further comprises a processor, the processor is connected with the temperature sensor 2, the flow control valve 5 and the liquid nitrogen pump 7, and the processor is used for receiving data of the temperature sensor 2 and processing and controlling the flow of the flow control valve 5 and the liquid nitrogen pump 7.

Referring to fig. 4, on the basis of the above embodiment, the present invention further provides a combustible ice coring method for the combustible ice coring device according to any one of the above embodiments, including:

and S100, acquiring the in-situ temperature of the combustible ice.

And S200, monitoring the temperature of the coring bin 10, wherein when the temperature of the coring bin 10 is monitored to be changed based on the in-situ temperature.

And step S300, adjusting the flow of the flow control valve 5 based on the temperature change.

Specifically, the normal position temperature of obtaining combustible ice can pass through temperature sensor 2 gathers, works as when corer 1 transfers the combustible ice and gets the core position, temperature sensor 2 gathers normal position temperature, and will normal position temperature transmits the treater. The processor detects the core taking bin 10 and controls the temperature sensor 2 to monitor the temperature change of the core taking bin 10 when the processor receives the home position temperature, the flow control valve 5 adjusts the flow based on the temperature change when the temperature of the core taking bin 10 is monitored to be increased or decreased based on the home position temperature, for example, the flow control valve 5 increases the flow of the cold material when the temperature of the core taking bin 10 is detected to be higher than the home position temperature, and the flow control valve 5 decreases or closes the flow of the cold material when the temperature of the core taking bin 10 is detected to be lower than the home position temperature.

Through acquireing combustible ice normal position temperature, with normal position temperature is the benchmark monitoring coring storehouse 10's temperature variation, and based on coring storehouse 10's temperature variation passes through flow control valve 5 adjustment encloses to be located coring storehouse 10 lateral wall's heat conduction coil pipe 3 in the cold burden flow, avoid coring storehouse 10 because coring heat exchange or coring and accomplish the in-process temperature variation that rises and cause coring in-process normal position temperature is lost, causes the influence and then causes to be difficult to establish deep sea combustible ice in-situ physical mechanics nature and exploration and development theoretical technical framework to combustible ice rock core occurrence state, information maintenance, reserves aassessment etc..

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the processes of the methods of the embodiments described above can be implemented by hardware instructions of a computer program, which can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, can include the processes of the embodiments of the methods described above. Any reference to memory, storage, databases, or other media used in embodiments provided herein may include non-volatile and/or volatile memory. Non-volatile memory can include read-only memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include Random Access Memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in a variety of forms such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), Rambus Direct RAM (RDRAM), direct bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM).

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the examples described above, but that modifications and variations may be effected thereto by those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the foregoing description, and that all such modifications and variations are intended to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.