UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 1
`
`WARNING!
`This unedited rough draft of the proceedings was produced
`in instant form and is not certified. The rough draft
`transcript may not be cited or used in any way or at any
`time to rebut or contradict the certified transcription
`of proceedings. There will be discrepancies
`in this form and the final form because this instant form
`has not been edited, proofread, corrected, finalized,
`indexed, bound or certified. There will also be a
`discrepancy in page numbers appearing on the unedited
`rough draft and the edited, proofread, corrected and
`certified final.
`
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 1
`
`WARNING!
`This unedited rough draft of the proceedings was produced
`in instant form and is not certified. The rough draft
`transcript may not be cited or used in any way or at any
`time to rebut or contradict the certified transcription
`of proceedings. There will be discrepancies
`in this form and the final form because this instant form
`has not been edited, proofread, corrected, finalized,
`indexed, bound or certified. There will also be a
`discrepancy in page numbers appearing on the unedited
`rough draft and the edited, proofread, corrected and
`certified final.
`
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 2
`
` Q. Good morning, Dr. Akin. How are you?
`1
` A. Good morning, sir. I'm fine.
`2
` Q. Thank you for coming this morning; I appreciate
`3
`it. Dr. Akin, have you ever been deposed before?
`4
` A. Yes, I have.
`5
` Q. Were you deposed in a patent case before?
`6
` A. Yes, I have.
`7
` Q. So, you're familiar with the ground rules,
`8
`generally speaking?
`9
` A. Correct.
`10
` Q. Do you have any questions for me before we
`11
`start?
`12
` A. No, sir.
`13
` Q. Okay. So, we'll just dive into it then. I'm
`14
`going to ask the court reporter to mark this as Exhibit
`15
`1017.
`16
` (Flotek Exhibit Number 1017 was marked for
`17
` identification and is attached hereto.)
`18
` Q. (BY MR. LEVINE) Take a moment and just look
`19
`over that document. Dr. Akin, have you seen Exhibit 1017
`20
`before?
`21
` A. No, sir.
`22
` Q. I will represent to you that this is a
`23
`deposition notice identifying you in the proceeding
`24
`25
`relating to the '294 patent. Do you understand that you
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`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 3
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`are appearing today for testimony pursuant to this
`1
`notice?
`2
` A. Yes, sir.
`3
` Q. Okay. You can put that aside. One down, some
`4
`several to go, right? Okay. Let me ask the court
`5
`reporter to mark this as Exhibit 1001.
`6
` (Deposition Exhibit Number 1001 was marked
`7
` for identification and is attached hereto.)
`8
` Q. (BY MR. LEVINE) Take a moment to look through
`9
`it. Dr. Akin, do you recognize what has been marked as
`10
`1001?
`11
` A. Yes, sir, I do. That's United States Patent
`12
`6,431,294 B1 issued to Eddison and others.
`13
` Q. So, is this the -- is it all right if I refer to
`14
`this as the '294 patent? Do you understand what I mean?
`15
` A. I'm familiar with that notation, yes, sir.
`16
` Q. Is this the '294 patent that is at issue in
`17
`these proceedings?
`18
` A. Yes, sir.
`19
` Q. Dr. Akin, are you aware of which claims of the
`20
`'294 patent are at issue in this proceeding?
`21
` A. I've addressed them in my declaration, yes, sir.
`22
` Q. Okay. So, they would be in your declaration?
`23
` A. Yes, sir.
`24
`25
` Q. Okay. Let's mark this as Exhibit 2005.
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
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`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
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`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 4
` (Deposition Exhibit Number 2005 was marked
`1
` for identification and is attached hereto.)
`2
` Q. (BY MR. LEVINE) So, Dr. Akin, do you recognize
`3
`what has been marked as Exhibit 2005?
`4
` A. Yes, sir, this is my declaration addressing the
`5
`issues associated with the '294 patent.
`6
` Q. Can you please turn to paragraph 50 of Exhibit
`7
`2005?
`8
` A. Yes, sir.
`9
` Q. Is that your signature?
`10
` A. Yes, sir.
`11
` Q. Okay. So, going back to my earlier question,
`12
`are you aware of which claims of the '294 patent are at
`13
`issue in this proceeding?
`14
` A. Yes, sir.
`15
` Q. And your declaration helps you understand that;
`16
`is that right?
`17
` A. Yes, sir.
`18
` Q. Okay. Which claims of the '294 patent are at
`19
`issue in this proceeding?
`20
` A. 1 through 20, 1 and 4.
`21
` Q. I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? Well, first,
`22
`maybe can you tell me where you're looking, where you're
`23
`referring to in your declaration?
`24
`25
` A. In paragraph 34, I'm addressing Claims 1 and 4;
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 5
`and I believe around paragraph 43, I'm addressing Claims
`1
`1 through 20.
`2
` Q. So, is it your understanding that each of Claims
`3
`1 through 20 is at issue in this proceeding?
`4
` A. Yes, I've addressed those in my report, in my
`5
`declaration.
`6
` Q. Is it your understanding that Claims 21 through
`7
`24 of the '294 patent are not at issue in this
`8
`proceeding?
`9
` A. That is my impression.
`10
` Q. Were you asked to opine about Claims 21 through
`11
`24?
`12
` A. Not that I recall.
`13
` Q. Let's turn to paragraph 4 of Exhibit 2005.
`14
` A. I am there.
`15
` Q. In that paragraph, you mentioned something
`16
`called finite element analysis.
`17
` A. Yes, sir.
`18
` Q. Could you tell me briefly what finite element
`19
`analysis is?
`20
` A. Yes, sir, finite element analysis is a technique
`21
`for doing stress analysis, heat transfer and vibration.
`22
`For a couple hundred years, from the 1700's up until
`23
`about 1950's, engineers could only very accurately
`24
`25
`analyze certain shapes, like rectangles, triangles and
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 6
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`circles and maybe a few other shapes; and then around
`1
`1950, engineers at Boeing determined that while we can
`2
`analyze a simple shape like a triangle, they discovered a
`3
`way that you could put hundreds or thousands or millions
`4
`of these together so that we can model now, engineers can
`5
`model, any shape in two or three dimensions very
`6
`accurately and get very accurate calculations of their
`7
`stresses, their temperatures, fluid flows in such
`8
`regions, natural frequencies, dynamic responses. So,
`9
`basically, it's a technique of taking large numbers of
`10
`triangles or tetrahedral or finite size pieces that we
`11
`call finite elements that we put together mathematically
`12
`to model any shape.
`13
` Q. Is finite element analysis a tool that's useful,
`14
`generally, in the field of mechanical engineering?
`15
` A. Yes, it's a very critical tool in today's
`16
`engineering design communities. It's heavily used in the
`17
`automobile industry, aircraft industry and the oil
`18
`industry.
`19
` Q. So, it's also useful for the oil and gas
`20
`industry?
`21
` A. Oh, yes, it's critical for designing downhole
`22
`tools.
`23
` Q. You also had mentioned in paragraph 4
`24
`25
`object-oriented programing.
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 7
`
` A. Yes, sir.
`1
` Q. Could you tell me what object-oriented
`2
`programming is?
`3
` A. Yes, sir, it's a modern programming technique
`4
`where -- they're called objects of interest, are defined
`5
`in the software and they have relations to each other.
`6
`They can have children, they can have parents; and if
`7
`you're dealing with a piece of software that tends to be
`8
`used by millions of people, it makes it easier to
`9
`maintain such a piece of software contrasted to
`10
`historical, procedural programming methods. And so
`11
`it's -- it's not a technique that I really like, but it
`12
`can be an important technique in some applications.
`13
` Q. Is object-oriented programming useful,
`14
`generally, in mechanical engineering?
`15
` A. I'm not sure that I'm qualified to answer that.
`16
`I know that it is only increased in mechanical
`17
`engineering; but, generally, to my knowledge, it's not
`18
`the major technique in mechanical engineering.
`19
` Q. You also mention in paragraph 4 something called
`20
`computer-assisted design.
`21
` A. Yes, sir.
`22
` Q. Could you explain what computer-assisted design
`23
`means?
`24
`25
` A. Yes, sir. It is primarily today, again,
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 8
`associated with defining a complicated three-dimensional
`1
`or two-dimensional shape in a computer program that
`2
`accurately represents all the engineering aspects of a
`3
`component. It has all of the dimensions, it has all of
`4
`the steps that are used to construct a particular
`5
`component shape. So, you can represent the object in
`6
`different views. You can take that computerized object
`7
`and send it to a three-dimensional printer; and it will
`8
`print out a three-dimensional version of the object,
`9
`scaled up or scaled down. You can also use that model, a
`10
`computer-aided -- or generated model, you can pass it to
`11
`a numerically-controlled computer and it will cut that
`12
`shape out of a solid block of material.
`13
` And equally important is that today's
`14
`computer-aided design tools have automatic mesh generated
`15
`that create the meshes that the engineer needs to apply
`16
`finite elements to determine the stressors or the flow or
`17
`the vibrations or the temperatures of basically any
`18
`engineering object and assemblies of objects.
`19
` Q. So, in other words, you can use finite element
`20
`analysis as part of computer-aided design?
`21
` A. That's correct; that's sort of the tail end.
`22
`Before, when I started doing finite element analysis 30
`23
`years ago, for complicated projects, it might take
`24
`25
`six-person months to prepare the necessary data; it's a
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 9
`
`huge amount of data. With computer-aided design and
`1
`today's software, you can get that same information in
`2
`less than six minutes.
`3
` Q. I've heard an acronym before CAD, C-A-D.
`4
` A. Uh-huh.
`5
` Q. Is that different from computer-assisted design?
`6
` A. Probably not. Historically, CAD originally just
`7
`meant drafting aspects; but I think it's grown to have a
`8
`broader meaning that would include computational fluid
`9
`dynamics or finite element stress analysis but -- so,
`10
`they're essentially the same meaning. But my choice
`11
`there for using that title in my book was that I believe
`12
`that the computer is there to assist an engineer and that
`13
`engineers should not blindly trust numbers that come out
`14
`of a computer. You should always have a second way of at
`15
`least verifying what your answer is.
`16
` Q. Can I direct your attention to paragraph 5 of
`17
`your declaration?
`18
` A. Yes, sir.
`19
` Q. You state that your research and teaching
`20
`interests include finite element methods for
`21
`simulation-based design, machine design, structural
`22
`mechanics, inverse analyses and computational
`23
`biomechanics. Do you see that?
`24
`25
` A. Yes, sir.
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 10
` Q. What is -- so, do you teach any classes specific
`1
`to the oil and gas industry?
`2
` A. Not specific to the oil and gas industry. I
`3
`teach the computer-aided design class; I teach the senior
`4
`design projects, where many of the projects are proposed
`5
`from oil industries; and I teach finite element analysis
`6
`classes.
`7
` Q. But if you learn about finite element analysis,
`8
`that's useful for a career in oil and gas?
`9
` A. That's critical, yes; you must have that.
`10
` Q. And machine design, if you learn about machine
`11
`design, that's important for oil and gas?
`12
` A. Yes, sir.
`13
` Q. And structural mechanics?
`14
` A. Yes, sir.
`15
` Q. I'm not familiar with the term inverse analyses.
`16
`Can you explain what inverse analyses means?
`17
` A. Yes, sir. I guess the simplest example is if we
`18
`have an object and we want to apply some -- just think of
`19
`a thermal analysis. If we have an object and we want to
`20
`apply a heat source to it and I want to calculate the
`21
`temperature distribution, I have to know the thermal
`22
`conductivity. And if you know that, then I have a very
`23
`straightforward calculation for any sort of shape.
`24
`25
` Sometimes you have the reverse situation,
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 11
`
`that you have an object or, I guess, a common example
`1
`would be soil through which oil is flowing that you want
`2
`to determine what that thermal conductivity is based on
`3
`the fact that you know the heat flowing into it some
`4
`places and you know the temperature at a few places; you
`5
`try and work backwards or inverse the problem to estimate
`6
`what the material properties are.
`7
` Q. Computational biomechanics, can you explain a
`8
`little bit about what that entails?
`9
` A. Well, I do, as I said, finite element analysis.
`10
`A subset of that is computational fluids. So, it would
`11
`mean applying those tools to biomechanics applications.
`12
`For example, around 2004 I had a joint appointment with
`13
`the University of Texas Orthopedic Department where we
`14
`would design custom hip implants for patients. So, we
`15
`would bring in a patient, do a CAT scan of them, write
`16
`computational procedures to -- from the CAT scan, extract
`17
`the data that defines the geometry of the bone as it
`18
`existed in that patient, then we would design a custom
`19
`implant for that patient that has to be inserted into
`20
`that bone. So, we would have to remove the custom
`21
`implant shape from the bone shape. And then we would
`22
`carry out a stress analysis where we would put the body
`23
`loads on the head of the femur and see how the stresses
`24
`25
`were distributed in the bone and in the custom implant;
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 12
`and then once we were satisfied that we had gone through
`1
`enough integrations to have a good, custom design for
`2
`that person, then we would take the computer model for
`3
`the artificial hip implant and send it to the
`4
`manufacturer, like Zimmer, that would
`5
`numerically-control-machine that out and we also would
`6
`have to have a corresponding reamer designed of the shape
`7
`to ream out the bone and then we would -- those would be
`8
`implanted in the patient. And we did that for a few
`9
`years. It just didn't turn out 30 years ago to be a
`10
`cost-effective way of doing it.
`11
` Q. It sounds very complicated and, therefore, maybe
`12
`not the --
`13
` A. It was very complicated, but every human is
`14
`different. So, having a custom implant is a very
`15
`desirable thing. You can realistically get pretty close
`16
`to that with many of the mix-and-match options that you
`17
`have in today's implants. So, biomechanics is basically
`18
`applying engineering methods to biomedical applications.
`19
` Q. Right. So, you have tools like finite element
`20
`analysis and machine design and you can apply them to
`21
`biomechanics, correct?
`22
` A. I'm sorry?
`23
` Q. You have tools like finite element analysis and
`24
`25
`inverse analysis --
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 13
`
` A. Solid modeling, yes, sir.
`1
` Q. -- and you can apply those to biomechanics?
`2
` A. Yes, sir.
`3
` Q. And you can apply those same technique to, let's
`4
`say, oil and gas?
`5
` A. Yes.
`6
` Q. And you can apply them to aerospace
`7
`applications?
`8
` A. Correct.
`9
` Q. Really, you can use those tools -- those are
`10
`general tools; you can use them for anything?
`11
` A. They are general tools that are required in many
`12
`things, including downhole tool design.
`13
` Q. You talked about orthopedic implants. The human
`14
`body is a somewhat challenging environment to put metal
`15
`components in, is it not?
`16
` A. It is extremely challenging.
`17
` Q. The human body is actually a fairly corrosive
`18
`environment, isn't it?
`19
` A. It is.
`20
` Q. And it's subject to a lot of sort of unusual
`21
`stresses in a hip because of the range of motion and the
`22
`biomechanics of walking and things of that nature?
`23
` A. I would disagree with them being unusual. They
`24
`25
`are complicated and wide-ranging, but they're --
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 14
`
` Q. Well, if I have a building, right, that I'm
`1
`analyzing the stresses on a steel girder in a building
`2
`that we've got just, you know, compression or maybe
`3
`tension, depending, right, and it's not designed to
`4
`move --
`5
` MR. McAUGHAN: I'll object to form.
`6
` A. Yeah, I'm going to disagree with you a little
`7
`bit because in my earliest careers, I did design steel
`8
`buildings, so there's certainly more to designing steel
`9
`buildings than you --
`10
` Q. (BY MR. LEVINE) Well, I've never designed a
`11
`steel building, so I'll defer to you on that. You also
`12
`mentioned here multidisciplinary analysis and
`13
`optimization. Could you briefly describe what that is?
`14
` A. Sometimes it's also sort of referred to today
`15
`as -- referred to as multiphysics applications, that you
`16
`can have thermal environments that are important in a
`17
`structural or a stress calculation, you can have fluid
`18
`flow environments that are associated with temperature
`19
`distributions and they are coupled together. You can
`20
`have electromagnetic particles flowing in a fluid so that
`21
`in addition to either the flow calculations -- you have
`22
`to be familiar with electromagnetic field calculations
`23
`and the body forces that they produce. So, I did most of
`24
`25
`that at Oak Ridge National Lab in basically some plasma
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`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 15
`physics applications, where you have to couple classical
`1
`structural analysis with electromagnetic fields and
`2
`superconducting materials.
`3
` And optimization, that's basically a
`4
`mathematical subfield of analysis where you have a goal
`5
`that you want to accomplish and you have some constraints
`6
`that have to be satisfied. A couple of obvious examples
`7
`are that if you're dealing with an aircraft, then you are
`8
`trying to design the aircraft to be structurally sound;
`9
`but at the same time, you want to minimize its mass over
`10
`its weight. There's a lot of activities, for example,
`11
`related to downhole tool in the oil industry where you
`12
`use optimization to actually change the shape of a body.
`13
`I said we can start off in computer-aided design in solid
`14
`modeling with the shape of an object, any object that you
`15
`give me; and the optimization process, a subset of that
`16
`is so-called shape optimization where I can say with
`17
`let's just say a brick and support it in certain places
`18
`and load it in certain places and go through the shape
`19
`optimization algorithm and it will calculate the stresses
`20
`at every point and it will say, "Here's a region of high
`21
`stresses; I need that material. Here's another region of
`22
`low stresses; I don't know need that material." So, I'll
`23
`eliminate that part of the brick. So, you go through
`24
`25
`this optimization process and you come up with the
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`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 16
`structural shape, for example, that will best carry the
`1
`loads with the minimum mass so there's a subset of math
`2
`that's optimization, structural optimization.
`3
` Q. At the end of paragraph 5, you list a number of
`4
`entities that have funded your research. Do you see
`5
`that?
`6
` A. I see that, and I see it has some errors in it.
`7
` Q. What -- okay. Are there entities that are
`8
`missing from this list?
`9
` A. Well, I'm sure there are entities missing; but
`10
`there's some there that should not be there.
`11
` Q. Which ones should not be there?
`12
` A. Leggett and Platt is a defendant in a case where
`13
`I am the plaintiff's expert. I don't know how that
`14
`accidentally got in there.
`15
` Q. Okay. And that's -- is that a patent case?
`16
` A. Yes, sir.
`17
` Q. Is that the deposition that you were referring
`18
`to before?
`19
` A. I'm sorry; I don't recall referring to a
`20
`deposition. Oh, you mean -- I have not been deposed in
`21
`that litigation.
`22
` Q. Okay. And Leggett and Platt, did you say they
`23
`were the defendant?
`24
`25
` A. Correct.
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 17
`
` Q. And you're representing the defendant?
`1
` A. I'm representing the plaintiff.
`2
` Q. You're representing the plaintiff. What is the
`3
`technology involved in that patent dispute?
`4
` A. That's a complicated mechanical machine for
`5
`tying wires; that is, it's a waste recycling tool. You
`6
`have a bundle of compressed, recycled waste that is fed
`7
`into a trough and then this machine wraps a wire around
`8
`it and ties that wire and so they're put into standard
`9
`bundles that get carried off to the landfill or something
`10
`like that. So, it has some complicated mechanical
`11
`processes in it that, in my opinion, were copied. So,
`12
`there is litigation over that.
`13
` Q. Who is the plaintiff in that case?
`14
` A. The plaintiff in that case is Accent Wire,
`15
`A-c-c-e-n-t, Accent Wire in Houston.
`16
` Q. That's the entity that retained you?
`17
` A. That's --
`18
` Q. As an expert.
`19
` A. Yes, by --
`20
` Q. Are there any other mistakes in that sentence of
`21
`paragraph 5 of Exhibit 2005?
`22
` A. I don't remember the name of the Ameren
`23
`Corporation. I'm not sure how that got in there. I
`24
`25
`think that's a mistake.
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 18
` Q. Could that be a misspelling, perhaps, of some
`1
`other entity?
`2
` A. I don't know.
`3
` Q. I'm not familiar with them, so I don't know what
`4
`they do. Are you familiar with Ameren Corporation?
`5
` A. No, sir, I'm not.
`6
` Q. Are there any other mistakes in that sentence of
`7
`paragraph 5?
`8
` A. I don't think so. I think over the 48 years or
`9
`so that I've been in the academic world that I've been
`10
`supported by those agencies, other than the two that are
`11
`listed there that I somehow got -- came into play.
`12
` Q. Okay. So, let me go back to patent cases that
`13
`you've been involved in. Obviously, there's this case.
`14
`There's the case involving Leggett and Platt; but I think
`15
`you testified that there was another -- at least one more
`16
`case. Correct?
`17
` A. Yes, sir, I would say in the last 40 years, I've
`18
`been involved in probably 25 patent cases.
`19
` Q. Okay. So, you have a lot of experience in
`20
`patents?
`21
` A. I have done a fair number of patents and product
`22
`liability cases.
`23
` Q. Okay. Has NOV ever funded any of your research?
`24
`25
` A. No. They have funded some of the senior design
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 19
`
`projects that our students carried out under my
`1
`direction.
`2
` Q. But they haven't funded your research --
`3
` A. But I've never received any compensation from
`4
`them.
`5
` Q. Have you received any funding from any oil and
`6
`gas company to fund your research?
`7
` A. Yes. Through my consulting activities, I've
`8
`received funding from Halliburton, Smith International
`9
`and Baker Hughes.
`10
` Q. But not NOV?
`11
` A. But not NOV.
`12
` Q. Your research funded by the National Science
`13
`Foundation, did that relate -- did any of that relate to
`14
`the oil and gas industry?
`15
` A. No, sir.
`16
` Q. How about for the U.S. Department of Education?
`17
` A. No, sir.
`18
` Q. The Office of Naval Research?
`19
` A. No, sir.
`20
` Q. The Air Force Research Laboratory?
`21
` A. No, sir.
`22
` Q. Zimmer Corporation?
`23
` A. No, sir.
`24
`25
` Q. Sandia International Labs?
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 20
`
` A. No, sir.
`1
` Q. Just out of personal curiosity, which branch of
`2
`Sandia Labs did you work with?
`3
` A. In my early career as a -- Oak Ridge National,
`4
`in that lab, I was engaged in designing as a consultant
`5
`components of nuclear weapons and we would -- that was
`6
`another agency that was associated with that government
`7
`task.
`8
` Q. So, probably then the Albuquerque.
`9
` A. Yes, sir.
`10
` Q. Okay. I worked at the Livermore facility --
`11
` A. Okay.
`12
` Q. -- which is much smaller. That's why I was
`13
`curious.
`14
` A. I think in the -- also in the distant past, I
`15
`did some work with the University of Tennessee at the
`16
`Livermore -- during the Star Wars era when they were
`17
`introducing the big lasers, did some work on the machines
`18
`for designing -- for machining the high-precision mirrors
`19
`in the lasers.
`20
` Q. Does that relate to paragraph 5, where you talk
`21
`about the thermomechanical responses of lasers?
`22
` A. Yes, sir.
`23
` Q. And electromagnetic launchers, those are
`24
`25
`railguns, commonly referred to --
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 21
`
` A. Yes, sir.
`1
` Q. -- as railguns?
`2
` Does that relate to your air force research?
`3
` A. Yes, sir.
`4
` Q. Let me direct your attention to paragraph 8 of
`5
`your declaration.
`6
` A. Yes, sir.
`7
` Q. You mention some work that you did as a designer
`8
`of a downhole tool.
`9
` A. Yes, sir.
`10
` Q. And then you discuss in the second sentence,
`11
`"stress analysis and vibration simulations of the tool."
`12
`Do you see that?
`13
` A. Yes.
`14
` Q. Turning to Exhibit 1001, the '294 patent --
`15
` A. Yes, sir.
`16
` Q. -- is there anything in the '294 patent that
`17
`talks about stress analysis or vibrational analysis?
`18
` A. Well, I don't believe it specifically calls that
`19
`out; but it would be a critical aspect of such a tool.
`20
`So, for one thing, it clearly is saying that this is a
`21
`situation where you're impacting a mass against a bit and
`22
`that clearly is going to cause accelerations and
`23
`vibrations. You are pumping mud through the center and
`24
`25
`that mud is under large pressures and so you're going to
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 22
`
`have to have stress calculations for basically all of
`1
`these bodies. So, I think the stress analysis and
`2
`vibrational analysis of this tool would be critical to
`3
`make it function, whether the patent addresses it or not.
`4
`A person of ordinary skill in the art would know that
`5
`that's a critical aspect of this patent.
`6
` Q. It doesn't call out stress analysis or
`7
`vibrational analysis as something of importance, does it?
`8
` A. It doesn't call that out, no, sir.
`9
` Q. Does it even use the term "stress"?
`10
` A. I don't recall. Would you like me to go through
`11
`it?
`12
` Q. Does it use the term "vibrational analysis"?
`13
` A. I don't recall seeing that.
`14
` Q. Do you want to take a moment and see if you find
`15
`any of those terms in there?
`16
` A. Certainly, uh-huh.
`17
` I don't see those specific wordings, sir.
`18
` Q. Let's go back to Exhibit 2005 and specifically
`19
`paragraph 9.
`20
` A. All right, sir.
`21
` Q. In paragraph 9, you talk about a design review
`22
`that you conducted regarding an air-hammer drilling tool.
`23
` A. Yes, sir.
`24
`25
` Q. Can you tell me briefly what an air-hammer
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 23
`
`drilling tool is?
`1
` A. An air-hammer drilling tool is a tool very
`2
`similar to the tool in the '294 patent in that instead of
`3
`using a drilling mud, it uses -- it's a pneumatic device;
`4
`it uses compressed air to fluctuate pressures and to
`5
`drive a mass to impact against a drilling bit.
`6
` Q. Is the '294 patent directed to an air handler,
`7
`in your view?
`8
` A. They are very similar except that one uses air
`9
`as the driving fluid and the '294 patent uses a drilling
`10
`mud as the driving fluid. So, the operational process is
`11
`very similar.
`12
` Q. Is one difference between an air hammer and a
`13
`tool that uses drilling mud the fact that air is
`14
`compressible and drilling mud is generally considered not
`15
`compressible?
`16
` A. That is one difference, yes, sir.
`17
` Q. Now, outside of the '294 patent, are there any
`18
`other patent documents that you reviewed in connection
`19
`with this proceeding that are directed to air hammers?
`20
` A. No, sir, I don't recall seeing any directed to
`21
`air hammers.
`22
` Q. Back to Exhibit 2005, can I direct your
`23
`attention to many paragraph 11?
`24
`25
` A. Yes, sir.
`Ross Reporting Services, Inc.
`
`281-484-0770
`
`737df70b-ba7c-4ab4-b87b-4b3b990339dd
`
`Flotek
`Exhibit 1017
`
`
`
`UNEDITED, UNPROOFREAD, UNCORRECTED, UNCERTIFIED ROUGH DRAFT
`Dr. John Edward Akin
`
`Page 24
` Q. Here you mention something called a a mud siren.
`1
`Could you describe what a mud siren is?
`2
` A. Yes, sir. Well, the purpose of a mud siren is
`3
`to send messages from a region near the bit to the
`4
`surface by transmitting pressure waves through the
`5
`drilling mud and so it is similar to the valves that are
`6
`in the prior art that we're discussing today in that it
`7
`has at least two rotating components that enlarge and
`8
`reduce the flow area of the mud at some, typically, maybe
`9
`variable frequencies so that that creates a pressure
`10
`shock that, instead of being directed to the bit as in
`11
`the art that we're talking about today, it's directed
`12
`more to the surface to where hopefully it can be picked
`13
`up and utilized to receive telemetry about the drilling
`14
`process.
`15
` Q. What is a telemetry data?
`16
` A. I don't know how to make that clearer. It is
`17
`basically either acoustical pulses, if we're talking
`18
`about a mud siren, or pressure pulses that are detected
`19
`at the surface. There are other types of telemetry data
`20
`that would be of an electrical nature; but for mud
`21
`siren
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