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US 11,434,695 B2Granted
Projectile drilling systems and methods
AssigneeHypersciences, Inc.
InventorMark Russell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Spherical projectiles may be used to form one or more holes in geologic or other material. These holes may be used for drilling, tunnel boring, excavation, and so forth.
Claims14
A system comprising:
- a drill bit configured to displace material from a geological formation;
- a ram accelerator assembly including:
- a propellant chamber;
- and
- a launch tube extending from the propellant chamber to an orifice in the drill bit;
- a spherical projectile within the launch tube, wherein propellant urges the spherical projectile through the launch tube to exit the orifice in the drill bit and impact the geological formation to weaken the geological formation and facilitate displacement of the material from the geological formation by the drill bit;
- and
- a plunger in communication with the launch tube, the plunger being movable into the launch tube to position an endcap at a first location and the spherical projectile at a second location and is retractable from the launch tube to evacuate the launch tube.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a drill bit associated with a ram accelerator assembly having a launch tube that extends between an orifice in the drill bit and a propellant chamber;
- extending a plunger into the launch tube to position a spherical endcap at a first end of the launch tube proximate to the drill bit and a spherical projectile at a second end of the launch tube proximate to the propellant chamber;
- evacuating the launch tube by retracting the plunger from the launch tube;
- using propellant in the propellant chamber to urge the spherical projectile through the launch tube toward the orifice in the drill bit, wherein the spherical projectile penetrates the spherical endcap, exits the orifice in the drill bit, and weakens a portion of a geological formation proximate to the drill bit;
- and
- urging the drill bit toward the portion of the geological formation to penetrate the portion of the geological formation with the drill bit.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.