Hyper-pressure pulse excavator
AssigneeTempress Technologies, Inc.
InventorJack J. Kolle
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hyper-pressure water cannon, or pulse excavator, is able to discharge fluid pulses at extremely high velocities to fracture a rock face in excavation applications. A compressed water cannon can be used to generate hyper-pressure pulses by discharging the pulse into a straight nozzle section which leads to a convergent tapered nozzle. The hyper-pressure water cannon design is relatively compact, and the pulse generator can readily be maneuvered to cover the face of an excavation as part of a mobile mining system.
Claims24
A hyper-pressure water cannon system for producing a fluid pulse comprising:
- a pressure vessel configured to couple to a source of pressurized fluid, the pressure vessel comprising a dump valve;
- and
- a nozzle comprising a straight section and a convergent tapered section, the nozzle coupled to the pressure vessel after the dump valve,
- wherein pressurized fluid discharged from the pressure vessel by the dump valve increases in velocity as it travels through the nozzle, wherein the internal volume of the straight section is between 2% to 10% of the internal volume of the pressure vessel.
A method of producing a fluid jet pulse with discharge velocity of 1 to 2 km/s, comprising:
- charging a pressure vessel to 100 to 400 MPa with a water-based fluid;
- releasing the water-based fluid though a discharge passage with a dump valve;
- directing the flow of the water-based fluid into an elongated straight nozzle section;
- and
- directing the flow of the water-based fluid into an elongated convergent tapered section,
- wherein the internal volume of the straight nozzle section is between 2% to 10% of the internal volume of the pressure vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.