US 2015/0090292 A1 · DRILL CUTTING WASHING APPARATUS

Abstract

A portable apparatus for sieving, washing, and drying particle samples onsite that are generated from well drill cutting. The apparatus comprises a sievewash chamber to initially remove contaminates from the samples, and a final wash-spin-dry chamber to completely clean and dry the samples for analysis. The two chambers function under the operational control of a computerized system comprising a processor, a user display, and a database storing computer code for operating the apparatus in various cleaning cycles. The sieve-wash chamber comprises two vertically stacked baskets: a coarse basket on top to hold the drill cutting samples; and, a caged basket underneath to catch clean samples as they fall through the coarse mesh screen on the bottom of the coarse basket. The caged basket with the samples is then manually transferred to the wash-spin-dry chamber for processing by motorized rotation of the basket at high rpm's.

Claims14

Dependent claims

An apparatus for cleansing soil samples comprising:

a first chamber comprising:
an outer cylindrical wall enclosing two vertically aligned cylindrical baskets, comprising a top basket and a bottom basket of equal dimensions and of sufficient size to house drilling cutting particles;
a top lid impermeable to liquids;
a water inlet attached to the top lid with a sprayer to distribute water into the top basket;
a water outlet attached to the bottom of the chamber to remove liquids and debris from the chamber bottom;
a second chamber housing a means for securing and rotating the basket at a high speed sufficient to remove liquid from the contents of the basket;
a computer system, comprising:
a processor;
user input interface;
a non-transitory computer readable data storage device comprising computer readable program instructions for receiving and storing user input to control the operation of the first and second chamber.

7 more elements

A method of using a portable apparatus to clean and dry particles obtained from well drilling in preparation for analysis of the particles, the method comprising:

programming a computer system to operate a first chamber to sieve and wash the particles, and a second chamber to rinse and dry the particles, wherein the system comprises:
a processor;
user input interface;
a non-transitory computer readable data storage device comprising computer readable program instructions for receiving and storing user input to control the operation of the first and second chamber;
utilizing the first chamber to sieve and wash the particles, the chamber comprising:
an outer cylindrical wall enclosing two vertically aligned cylindrical baskets, comprising a top basket and a bottom basket of equal dimensions and of sufficient size to house drilling cutting particles;
a top lid impermeable to liquids;
a water inlet attached to the top lid with a sprayer to distribute water onto said top basket;
a water outlet attached to the bottom of the chamber to remove liquids and debris from the chamber bottom;
wherein the particles are placed into the top basket, and sieved into the bottom basket when water is sprayed into the top basket;
placing the bottom basket with the sieved particles into the second chamber, wherein the chamber comprises a means for securing and rotating the basket at high rotational speeds;
pumping water into the second chamber while rotating the basket to remove residual debris from the particles;
and,
shutting off the flow of water while continuing to rotate the basket to dry the particles.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Drill cutting washing apparatus

Life of this patent

Drill cutting washing apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14