Centrifugal mud mixer

A method for mixing flowable materials with solid materials for use in hydrocarbon drilling operations comprising the steps of:

• tangentially feeding a flowable material into an annular housing having a plurality of inner chambers for mixing so as to create a centrifugal motion in said flowable material resulting in forming a vortex in said flowable material;
• axially feeding solid materials into said vortex within said annular housing for obtaining a high density mixture;
• mixing said solid materials with said flowable materials by centrifugal motion propogating aid solid materials through said flowable materials in a radially outward direction;
• agitating said mixture of said flowable and solid materials by spilling said mixture from the innermost chamber of said plurality of inner chambers into consecutive adjacent chambers moving in a radially outward direction while retaining the rotational velocity of said mixture in the same direction of rotation throughout said annular housing;
• and
• tangentially discharging said mixture from said annular housing.

A mixing apparatus comprising:

• a housing having an inner chamber for mixing materials;
• an inlet tangentially connected to said inner chamber for feeding a flowable material into said housing, causing centrifugal motion and thus creating a vortex in said flowable material;
• means operatively associated with said housing and axially connected thereto, for feeding solid materials into said flowable materials;
• means for agitating said flowable materials and said solid materials comprising at least one partition wall disposed within said housing, such that said flowable materials and said solid materials consecutively spill over said at least one partition wall moving in a radially outward direction to allow for further mixing of said flowable materials with said solid materials;
• and
• an outlet tangentially connected to said housing, located in spaced parallel relationship above said inlet and outwardly of said at least one partition wall for discharging a mixture of said flowable materials and said solid materials.