Back to results
US 3,940,184 AGranted
Methods and systems for hydraulically transporting solids
AssigneeContinental Oil Company
InventorDavid L. McCain
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeContinental Oil Company
InventorDavid L. McCain
Estimating the term…
Methods and systems for forming a particulated solids-carrier liquid slurry and transporting it through a conduit are provided wherein a continuous stream of carrier liquid is flowed into a sump, particulated solids to be transported are introduced into the sump so that a pumpable solids-carrier liquid slurry is formed therein, and the slurry is pumped out of the sump into a conduit for transport to a remote location. The flow rate of the stream of carrier liquid flowing into the sump is varied in inverse proportion to changes in the flow rate of particulated solids introduced therein so that the flow rate of slurry formed in the sump is maintained substantially equal to the flow rate of slurry pumped out of the sump.
A method of forming a slurry comprising particulate solids and a liquid carrier and transporting said slurry through a conduit comprising the steps of:
A method of forming a particulated solids-carrier liquid slurry and transporting it through a conduit comprising the steps of:
The method of hydraulically transporting coal through a conduit comprising the steps of:
Apparatus for forming and transporting a particulated solids-carrier liquid slurry comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
Conveying materials in bulk through troughs, pipes or tubes by floating the materials or by flow of gas, liquid or foam: conveying materials in…
Transport or storage devices
Term ended 24 Feb 1993 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods and systems for hydraulically transporting solids, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to methods and systems of apparatus for forming a particulated solids-carrier liquid slurry and transporting it through a conduit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the description of preferred embodiments which follows taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of one system of apparatus which can be employed for carrying out the methods of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an alternate system for carrying out the methods of the present invention.
The methods and systems of the present invention are useful in any application where it is desirable to transport particulated solids by suspending the solids in a liquid carrier and pumping the resulting slurry through a pipeline or conduit. However, the present invention is particularly suitable in the mining of coal or other minerals for continuously transporting the newly mined minerals in slurry form from the site of a mining machine within the mine to a terminus located either within the mine or outside the mine.
In conventional mining operations, the mined minerals are generally transported mechanically from the working face of the mine to a haulage system which transports the minerals to outside the mine. That is, the minerals are deposited by a mining machine into shuttle cars or other similar apparatus which convey the minerals a short distance to an endless conveyor belt or the like from where the minerals are further conveyed to a main line rail car system or a main line conveyor system. Because such conventional systems involve the mechanical loading and unloading of the mined minerals several times prior to when the minerals reach the desired terminal point, they generally cannot keep up with the production from modern continuous mining machines, and consequently, the mining machines cannot operate at maximum efficiency.
Recently, systems have been developed and used successfully which transport the mined minerals hydraulically from the location of the mining machine to a point of further processing within the mine or to a terminus outside the mine. Generally, these hydraulic systems include slurry preparation and pumping apparatus at or near the location of the mining machine. A crushing machine is generally provided which functions to particulate the raw solids to a particle size which can be suspended in a carrier liquid. The particulated minerals are introduced into a mixing tank wherein they are combined with a stream of carrier liquid and the slurry formed is pumped by way of a conduit, which may be a flexible hose, to a terminal point. At the terminal point the suspended coal is separated from the carrier liquid and the carrier liquid recycled. Heretofore, such systems for hydraulically transporting solids have been operated manually, i.e., the flow rates of the carrier liquid and quality of the slurry formed have been controlled manually.