The United States Patent Office has accepted Application No. 16/753539 in the name of PoreXpert Limited : Pore Analysis .

A new additional upgrade to the Targeted Modification tool is a Collapse tab, which reduces the size of all voids within a given range to the minimum size of the selected range.  This new option is useful for calculating the endpoints of wetting phase relative permeability, in the presence of a non-wetting phase such as water or brine in an oil-wet rock or air in water-saturated soil.

Targeted modification operations allow the geometry of specific voids to be changed, to simulate properties such as sample compression, ageing and relative permeability.  A current major consultancy has required extensive sequential use of that tool, and in the process the algorithm has been over-hauled in terms of its background update of geometric variables.  It also now outputs the resultant porosity in the Home (Operations list) page.  These improvements, amongst several others, will be included in the next free update available to all current users, currently scheduled for May 2021.

Batch files allow PoreXpert to run a series of operations, in parallel for suitably powerful computers (as detailed in the Help system). An improved class of batch files has been developed, that indicate if they are being used wrongly. They are posted on a new Batch Files download page.

In response to one of our users, we have written a new intermediate level tutorial entitled Modelling your own sample.  You can access it at https://www.porexpert.com/help2/index.html?modelling-your-own-sample.htm .  It also explains how to view the simulated void structure of high porosity samples. With good wishes to all visiting this website, and the hope that soon Covid-19 will cease to impact on all our endeavours.

We now have a significant number of researchers and product development scientists using PoreXpert version 2.  However, Covid-19 restrictions have prevented us from organising training courses.  Therefore we have posted a new advanced tutorial at https://www.porexpert.com/help2/index.html?artefacts-and-stochastic-realisations.htm.  It is required reading, as it explains how to avoid false results generated by the program itself – artefacts.  We wish all our users the best possible Christmas and New Year in these very difficult times.

Would you like to easily identify your PoreXpert or PoreXpand Sentinel hardware dongle, or just have a colourful key fob for other purposes?  We are offering free key fobs to all current PoreXpert and PoreXpand users, and also anyone who has registered on the website with details of their scientific interests – a maximum of two fobs per person, or four per institution.  So just go to the Contact Us page to register, or, if you a current user or have already registered, email us at support@porexpert.com .

If your samples are compressible and you are using a Micromeritics Autopore porosimeter, then you should use PoreXpand as a data pre-processor.  It allows much more precise correction for compressibility than the standard automatic correction, and also measures the bulk modulus of the solid phase of the sample.  In response to renewed interest and sale of PoreXpand, we have updated it with the latest graphics drivers, and refreshed its Help system . Please contact us if you wish to purchase a copy.

Unlike much software, updates to PoreXpert are free of charge. In response to suggestions and requests from current users, we have produced the first update to PoreXpert version 2, with details shown on the Software Support | Change log page. Various new messages and controls have been translated into five languages, including Spanish as shown.

Having agreed Force Majeure clauses due to Covid-19, consultancy for a major client re-commences, using PoreXpert version 2 for commercially key samples and simulations never before attempted.