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US 9,440,785 B2Granted
Method of delivering, storing, unloading, and using proppant at a well site
AssigneeOren Technologies, LLC
InventorsJohn Oren, Joshua Oren
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A proppant discharge system has a container with an outlet formed at a bottom thereof and a gate slidably affixed at the outlet so as to be movable between a first position covering the outlet to second position opening the outlet, and a support structure having an actuator thereon. The container is removably positioned on the top surface of the support structure. The actuator is engageable with gate so as to move the gate from the first position to the second position. A conveyor underlies the container so as to receive proppant as discharged from the container through the outlet. The container is a ten foot ISO container.
Claims23
A method of unloading fracking proppant at a well site for use when hydraulic fracking is to be performed, the method comprising:
- a) removing a plurality of proppant containers that contain fracking proppant from a trailer of one or more transport road vehicles when positioned adjacent a well site at a location where hydraulic fracking is to be performed, each of the plurality of proppant containers having an outlet positioned at a bottom thereof with a funnel-shaped portion directing the fracking proppant toward the outlet, each of the plurality of proppant containers having a closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, the funnel-shaped portion underlying the upper proppant containing portion and having proppant also positioned therein, a pair of vertically-extending end walls and a pair of vertically-extending side walls defining the closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a frame including a plurality of structural support members positioned to span the end walls and the sidewalls between end frame members to enhance support of the end walls and the side walls when the proppant container is full of fracking proppant, and each of the plurality of containers has an open area positioned about the funnel-shaped portion and below the upper proppant containing portion adjacent a bottom of the respective each of the plurality of proppant containers to allow for visual access of a respective exterior surface of the funnel-shaped portion when the container is full of fracking proppant, the open area being visible through one or more spatial gaps extending through the frame in a location positioned below at least each of the side walls of and above the bottom of the proppant container;
- b) transferring, after removal from the trailer of the one or more transport road vehicles, each of the plurality of proppant containers to a support structure positioned at the well site so that each of the plurality of proppant containers is positioned to overlay a common conveyor positioned at a separate location on the well site from the trailer, the support structure including a plurality of cradles that correspond to the plurality of proppant containers transferred thereto, the common conveyor being positioned to underlie and to be spaced-apart from each of the plurality of cradles;
- c) discharging by gravity feed the fracking proppant contained within each of the plurality of proppant containers when positioned on the support structure and within the plurality of cradles from the outlet positioned at a bottom of each of the plurality of proppant containers so that the fracking proppant passes onto the common conveyor;
- and
- d) conveying the fracking proppant away from the plurality of proppant containers, after the discharging of the fracking proppant onto the common conveyor, toward a desired location at the well site where hydraulic fracking is to be performed so that the fracking proppant is introduced to fracking fluid for passage into a wellbore at the well site.
2 more elements
A method for storing and unloading of fracking proppant at a well site for use when hydraulic fracking is to be performed, comprising:
- a) removing a plurality of proppant containers that contain fracking proppant from a trailer of one or more transport road vehicles when positioned adjacent a well site at a location where hydraulic fracking is to be performed, each of the plurality of proppant containers having an outlet positioned at a bottom thereof, each of the plurality of proppant containers having a closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a funnel-shaped portion underlying the upper proppant containing portion and having proppant also positioned therein, a pair of vertically-extending end walls and a pair of vertically-extending side walls defining the closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a frame including a plurality of structural support members positioned to span the end walls and the sidewalls between end frame members to enhance support of the end walls and the side walls when the proppant container is full of fracking proppant, and the plurality of proppant containers have open areas adjacent the funnel-shaped portions and bottoms of the proppant containers to allow for visual access inside a portion of the containers, the open areas extending through one or more spatial gaps between adjacent structural support members to enable visual inspection at a location below all side and end walls and above the bottom of the proppant containers when the container is filled with fracking proppant;
- b) stacking the plurality of proppant containers in a vertical orientation so that a bottom of one or more of the plurality of proppant containers overlies a top of another one or more of the plurality of containers so as to define a container stack;
- c) transferring, after removal from the trailer of the one or more transport road vehicles, each of the plurality of proppant containers from the container stack to a support structure configured to include a plurality of cradles to receive the proppant containers, each of the plurality of cradles configured to position the outlet of one of the plurality of proppant containers adjacent a conveyor, the conveyor being positioned to underlie each of the plurality of cradles;
- d) selectively opening one or more of the outlets of the plurality of proppant containers to discharge by gravity feed the fracking proppant from the outlet positioned at the bottom of each the plurality of containers so that the fracking proppant passes onto the conveyor;
- e) conveying the fracking proppant away from the plurality of proppant containers toward a desired location at the well site where hydraulic fracking is to be performed so that the fracking proppant is introduced to fracking fluid for passage into a wellbore at the well site.
2 more elements
A method for controlling the unloading of fracking proppant at a well site for use when hydraulic fracking is to be performed, the method comprising:
- a) setting a plurality of proppant containers that each contain fracking proppant onto a support structure configured to include a plurality of discrete cradles each vertically separated from and positioned to overlay a common conveyor at a well site, each of the plurality of proppant containers having an outlet positioned at a bottom thereof, each of the plurality of proppant containers having a closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a funnel-shaped portion underlying the upper proppant containing portion and having proppant also positioned therein, a pair of vertically extending end walls and a pair of vertically extending side walls defining the closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a frame including a plurality of structural support members positioned to span the end walls and the sidewalls between end frame members to enhance support of the end walls and the side walls when the proppant container is full of fracking proppant, and the proppant containers have open areas positioned below the plurality of structural support members and adjacent the bottoms of the proppant containers to allow for visual access of the funnel-shaped portion of the proppant containers through spatial gaps formed between the end frame members at locations below at least each side wall and above the bottom of the proppant container, each of the plurality of cradles configured to receive one of the plurality of proppant containers and positioned to be separated from the conveyor by one of a plurality of hoppers, an outlet of each the plurality of proppant containers positioned to overly the one of the plurality of hoppers of a corresponding cradle of the plurality of discrete cradles, the common conveyor being positioned to underlie each of the plurality of cradles;
- b) discharging by gravity feed the fracking proppant contained within each of the plurality of proppant containers from the outlet positioned at the bottom of each of the plurality of proppant containers so that the fracking proppant passes into the plurality of hoppers;
- c) selectively moving one or more flow gates from a closed to an open position to allow fracking proppant to pass from the plurality of hoppers to the conveyor at a desired flow rate;
- d) conveying the fracking proppant away from the plurality of proppant containers toward a desired location at the well site where hydraulic fracking is to be performed so that the fracking proppant is introduced to fracking fluid for passage into a wellbore at the well site.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.