Method and device for breaking a hard compact material
AssigneeAtlas Copco Aktiebolag
InventorErik V. Lavon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hard compact material, such as rock, is broken by driving a longish mass body of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, against the material to be broken. The mass body is caused to impact the material at a momentum required for breaking the material. The required momentum is obtained by adding the momentum of at least two fluid mass bodies. The longish mass body can be aligned with a drill hole by means of the drill bit and rod. The energy generator or fluid gun and the gun barrel can be made in separable units.
Claims70
A method of breaking hard compact material, such as rock, comprising:
- driving at least two longish mass bodies of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, toward the material to be broken to impact a surface thereon, and transforming said at least two mass bodies into a single mass body prior to the impact against said material, thereby adding the momentum of each of said at least two mass bodies.
A method of breaking hard compact material, such as rock, comprising:
- accelerating at least two longish mass bodies of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, spaced from the material to be broken, generating the momentum which is required for breakage by bringing said at least two mass bodies into a single mass body so as to add the momentum of each of said at least two mass bodies, and directing said single mass body into a cavity in the material to be broken for impacting a surface therein.
A method of breaking hard compact material, such as rock, by means of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, comprising:
- pre-drilling at least one hole in the material to be broken, causing a longish mass body of the fluid to impact a surface in one of said at least one hole at such momentum that the material is broken, generating the momentum which is required for breakage by
- (a) accelerating at least two longish mass bodies of the fluid, said mass bodies being spaced from the material, and
- (b) transforming said at least two mass bodies into a single mass body so as to add the momentum of each of said at least two mass bodies, and directing said single mass body into said one hole for impacting said surface.
A method of breaking hard compact material, such as rock, by means of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, comprising:
- drilling a hole in the material to be broken with a drill rod and drill bit, retaining the drill rod and drill bit in the drilled hole, accelerating a longish fluid mass body to a velocity of sufficient magnitude for generating a momentum required for breakage, and directing said longish fluid mass body into said hole around said drill rod to impact a surface in the hole to create pressure for breaking the material.
A method of breaking hard compact material, such as rock, by means of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, comprising driving a longish mass body of fluid along an acceleration track which comprises an elongated barrel, connecting said elongated barrel to an energy generator prior to the driving of said mass body, directing said mass body into a pre-drilled hole in the material through said barrel for impacting a surface therein, and transforming at least two mass bodies of said fluid into said longish mass body prior to directing said longish mass body into the hole.
An apparatus for breaking hard compact material, such as rock, wherein the material is broken by means of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, which is directed toward the material to be broken, comprising at least two separate energy generators (16,17), a storage chamber (35) for storing the fluid in each of said at least two energy generators, forcing means (32,33) for exerting a thrust force upon the fluid in said storage chambers in order to accelerate the fluid in the respective chamber in the form of a mass body (27), means (20) for transforming the at least two mass bodies into a single mass body so as to add the momentum of each of said at least two mass bodies in order to obtain an overall momentum required for breakage, and means (12, 21) for directing said single mass body toward a surface on said material.
An apparatus for breaking hard compact material, such as rock, by means of relatively incompressible fluid, such as water, which is directed toward the material to be broken, comprising means (11, 14, 15) for drilling a hole (13) in the material, means (32, 33) for driving the fluid in form of a longish mass body (27) into said hole, said driving means applying to said fluid mass body a momentum sufficient for causing cracks (28, 29) to form in the material upon impacting therebetween, and means (20) for forming said mass body into an annular column around the drill rod (14) and directing said annular column into said hole.
A method of breaking a hard compact material by means of a relatively incompressible fluid, using an energy accumulator which has a fluid storage chamber, comprising drilling a hole, directing a closed outlet conduit of the storage chamber into the hole, supplying fluid to the storage chamber of the energy accumulator through an inlet passage and a valve, reversing the fluid flow through said inlet passage to thereby shift the valve from a closed position where it closes the outlet conduit of the storage chamber to an open position where it opens the outlet conduit of the storage chamber so that a fluid column is ejected from the storage chamber and is directed into said hole through said outlet conduit so that the fluid column will impact a surface in the hole and build up a pressure therein that is sufficient for breaking the material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.