Apparatus for dispersing particles in a liquid
AssigneeAlfa Laval Corporate AB
InventorAshok Vellaiah Retnaswamy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one example, a liquid mixture nozzle for flowing a liquid mixture therethrough includes a body having a flow inlet and a flow outlet. The flow inlet is configured to couple to a first piece of piping and the flow outlet is configured to couple to a second piece of piping. The liquid mixture nozzle also includes a converging section having a decreasing diameter positioned adjacent the flow inlet, an orifice positioned at a narrow end of the converging section, an intermediate section having a constant diameter positioned adjacent the orifice, a diverging section having an increasing diameter positioned adjacent the intermediate section and the flow outlet.
Claims14
A method for dispersing particles in a drilling mud, the method comprising:
- flowing the drilling mud through a converging section of a liquid mixture nozzle to increase a velocity of the drilling mud, the liquid mixture nozzle comprising only a single inlet, only a single outlet, and a body defined by an elongated cylindrical surface extending between the single inlet and the single outlet;
- flowing the drilling mud through an orifice of the liquid mixture nozzle, wherein the orifice is located immediately downstream of the converging section;
- flowing the drilling mud through an intermediate section of the liquid mixture nozzle, the intermediate section having a constant diameter that is greater than a diameter of the orifice and less than a diameter of the converging section at the single inlet, and the intermediate section being positioned immediately downstream of and immediately adjacent to the orifice;
- and
- flowing the drilling mud through a diverging section of the liquid mixture nozzle, thereby generating turbulence within the drilling mud to enhance dispersing of particles within the drilling mud, wherein the diverging section is located downstream of the intermediate section.
A method for dispersing particles in a water-based drilling mud, the method comprising:
- flowing the water-based drilling mud through a converging section of a liquid mixture nozzle to increase a velocity of the water-based drilling mud, the liquid mixture nozzle comprising a body defined by an elongated cylindrical surface, only a single inlet, only a single outlet, and the body extends between the single inlet and the single outlet;
- flowing the water-based drilling mud through an orifice of the liquid mixture nozzle, wherein the orifice is located immediately downstream of the converging section;
- flowing the water-based drilling mud through an intermediate section of the liquid mixture nozzle, the intermediate section having a constant cross-sectional area, wherein a cross-sectional area of the intermediate section is greater than a cross-sectional area of the orifice and less than a cross-sectional area of the converging section at the single inlet, and the intermediate section being positioned immediately downstream of and immediately adjacent to the orifice;
- and
- flowing the water-based drilling mud through a diverging section of the liquid mixture nozzle, thereby generating turbulence within the water-based drilling mud to enhance dispersing of particles within the water-based drilling mud, wherein the diverging section is located downstream of the intermediate section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.