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US 11,441,369 B2Granted
Fluid coupling drive system for a drill rig air compressor
AssigneeJoy Global Surface Mining Inc
InventorsArnold Law, Owen J. Warr
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drill rig includes a base, a drill tower coupled to and extending from the base, a drill pipe coupled to and supported by the drill tower, an air compressor coupled to the base, a prime mover coupled to the air compressor, and a fluid coupling disposed between and coupled to both the prime mover and the air compressor.
Claims26
A drill rig comprising:
- a base;
- a drill tower coupled to and extending from the base;
- a drill pipe coupled to and supported by the drill tower;
- an air compressor coupled to the base;
- a prime mover coupled to the air compressor;
- a control system;
- and
- a fluid coupling coupled to and operated by the control system, wherein the air compressor is configured to be driven by the fluid coupling, wherein the fluid coupling is disposed between and coupled to both the prime mover and the air compressor, wherein the fluid coupling is a variable speed fluid coupling configured to have varying amounts of oil disposed therein to create variable speed control in the air compressor, wherein the prime mover is configured to operate at a constant speed regardless of the amount of oil in the fluid coupling, and wherein the control system is configured to increase and decrease the amount of oil in the fluid coupling throughout operation of the air compressor to drive the air compressor.
5 more elements
A method of operating an air compressor on a drill rig, the method comprising:
- varying an amount of oil within a fluid coupling that is coupled to both the air compressor and to a prime mover, wherein the fluid coupling drives the air compressor and the amount of oil in the fluid coupling is controlled via a control system;
- and
- while varying the amount of oil, maintaining a constant speed of the prime mover to generate slippage between an input pump in the fluid coupling and an output turbine in the fluid coupling, thereby creating variable speed control in the air compressor throughout operation of the air compressor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.