Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6485640
-
Patent Number
6,485,640
-
Date Filed
Wednesday, April 18, 200123 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, November 26, 200221 years ago
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Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 210 188
- 210 388
- 210 780
- 209 268
- 209 269
- 209 364
- 209 3651
- 209 375
- 209 401
- 209 405
- 209 412
- 175 66
- 175 206
- 175 207
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International Classifications
-
Abstract
A flow diverter and a vacuum blower for vibrating screen separator assembly. The flow decelerates and increases the exposed surface of materials. The exhaust blower removes vapors from the materials.
Description
BACKGROUND
This invention relates generally to screen separators, and in particular to flow diverters and exhaust blowers for screen separators.
A typical screen separator consists of an elongated, box-like, rigid bed, and a screen attached to, and extending across, the bed. The bed is vibrated as the material to be separated is introduced onto the screen which moves the relatively large size material down the screen and passes the liquid and/or relatively small sized material into a pan. The bed can be vibrated by pneumatic, hydraulic, or rotary vibrators, in a conventional manner.
Typically the material to be separated is conveyed onto the screen by directing the material from a flow line into the bottom of an open tank, commonly called a possum belly. The material fills the possum belly until it flows over a weir onto the screen. The weir is typically positioned such that the material falls on the beginning section of the screen. The possum belly acts as a fluid trap in which solids can collect at the bottom. The collection of solids in the bottom of the possum belly can cause the flow line to plug. A plugged flow line can stop drilling activity thereby costing the operator and the drilling contractor significant sums of money. Furthermore, free gases released from the material may collect in the vicinity of the possum belly that are combustible and/or are toxic to humans.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations of existing screen separators.
SUMMARY
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an assembly for conveying materials including solids and liquids from a flow line to a screen separator assembly for separating the solids from the liquids is provided that includes a flow diverter having a conduit for receiving the materials from the flow line, decelerating the materials, and increasing the exposed surface area of the materials, and an exhaust blower for removing volatile vapors from the materials, a back wall coupled to the conduit for receiving the materials from the flow diverter, decelerating the materials, and reversing the direction of flow of the materials, and a half pipe positioned proximate the back wall comprising a flattened portion for receiving the materials from the half pipe, decelerating the materials, and reversing the direction of flow of the materials, and conveying the materials to the screen separator assembly.
The present embodiments of the invention provide a number of advantages. For example, the flow diverter assembly decelerates the flow of the materials thereby placing the materials onto the front most portion of the screen thereby enhancing the operational effectiveness of the screen during the separation of liquids and solid particles. Furthermore, the exhaust blower removes vapors from the materials that may be volatile and/or toxic thereby preventing explosions and/or harm to the human operators.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a top and schematic view of an embodiment of a vibrating screen assembly.
FIG. 2
is a side and schematic view of the vibrating screen assembly of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 3
is a fragmentary cross sectional and schematic view of the vibrating screen assembly of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 4
is a fragmentary cross sectional and schematic view of the vibrating screen assembly of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 5
is a fragmentary cross sectional and schematic view of the vibrating screen assembly of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 6
is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the back wall of the vibrating screen assembly of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 7
is a front view of the half pipe of the vibrating screen assembly of FIG.
2
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to
FIGS. 1-7
, the reference numeral
10
refers, in general, to a vibrating screen separator assembly that includes a flow line
12
defining a passage
12
a
that includes side walls
12
b
,
12
c
,
12
d
, and
12
e
. An end
12
f
of the flow line
12
is coupled to an end
14
a
of a conduit
14
defining a passage
14
b
that includes side walls
14
c
,
14
d
,
14
e
, and
14
f
. The side wall
14
c
of the conduit
14
includes an opening
14
ca
for receiving the inlet of an exhaust blower
16
and the side wall
14
e
of the conduit includes a ramp
14
ea
that extends upwardly from the side wall toward the side wall
14
c
in the direction of another end
14
g
of the conduit. In an exemplary embodiment, the ramp
14
ea
is positioned approximately beneath the opening
14
ca
in the side wall
14
c
, and the angle of attack of the ramp ranges from about 35 to 55 degrees for reasons to be described.
An end
18
a
of an end wall
18
defining a passage
18
b
is coupled to the end
14
g
of the conduit that includes an upper inclined wall
18
c
, a vertical wall
18
d
, a lower inclined wall
18
e
, and side walls,
18
f
and
18
g
. A half pipe assembly
20
defining a passage
20
a
is positioned proximate, and in opposing relation to, the passage
18
b
of the end wall
18
. The half pipe assembly
20
includes a half pipe
20
b
having a flattened portion
20
ba
, and opposing side walls
20
c
and
20
d.
A conventional screen
22
for separating liquids from solids is positioned proximate the half pipe assembly
20
for receiving materials containing liquids and solids from the half pipe assembly. In an exemplary embodiment, the screen
22
may be a conventional screen for separating solid particles and liquids commercially available from M-I LLC in Houston, Tex. The screen
22
is coupled to and supported by a conventional bed
24
, and an actuator
26
is coupled to the bed
24
for moving the bed and screen
22
along a predetermined path of motion. A controller
28
is coupled to the blower
16
and the actuator
26
for controlling the operation of the blower and the actuator. In an exemplary embodiment, the controller
28
may be a general purpose programmable controller. In an exemplary embodiment, the actuator
26
is capable of imparting reciprocating linear or elliptical motion to the screen
22
and the bed
24
and is provided substantially as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/837,098, attorney docket number 20773.27, filed on Apr. 18, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
During operation of the assembly
10
, the controller
28
controls the operation of the actuator
26
to impart a predetermined path of motion to the screen
22
and the bed
24
. In an exemplary embodiment, the operation of the actuator
26
and controller
28
is provided substantially as described in U.S. patent application serial number 09/837,098, attorney docket number 20773.27, filed on Apr. 18, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein.
Also, during operation of the assembly, as illustrated in
FIG. 3
, materials
30
are introduced into the end of the passage
12
a
of the flow line
12
in a conventional manner. The materials then pass from the passage
12
a
of the flow line
12
into the passage
14
b
of the conduit
14
. Within the passage
14
b
of the conduit
14
, the materials
30
are conveyed onto and up the ramp
14
ea
thereby decelerating the materials and increasing the exposed surface area of the materials. As the materials
30
pass up the ramp, the exhaust blower
16
removes volatile vapors
30
a
from the materials and exhausts the volatile vapors into the atmosphere. In this manner, potentially explosive and toxic vapors are removed from the materials
30
thereby preventing a dangerous explosion and protecting human operators from exposure to the volatile vapors. In several exemplary embodiments, the angle of attack of the ramp
14
ea
relative to the side wall
14
e
of the conduit
14
ranges from about 35 to 55 degrees in order to maximize the exposed surface area of the materials
30
thereby enhancing the removal of volatile vapors from the materials
30
by the exhaust blower
16
.
The materials
30
then pass over the top edge of the ramp
14
ea
into the passage
18
b
of the end wall
18
. Within the passage
18
b
of the end wall
18
, the materials
30
impact the upper inclined wall
18
c
, the vertical well
18
d
, and the lower inclined wall
18
e
and thereby are decelerated and the direction of flow of the materials is substantially reversed. The materials then fall out of the passage
18
b
of the end wall
18
downwardly in the form of a curtain of materials into the passage
20
a
of the half pipe assembly
20
. In an exemplary embodiment, the curtain of the material
30
impacts the interior of the half pipe assembly
20
along the flattened portion
20
ba
of the half pipe
20
b
. Within the passage
20
a
of the half pipe assembly
20
, the materials
30
then flow in a counterclockwise circular vortex path along the inner curved surface of the half pipe
20
b
and then fall onto the front portion of the screen
22
. Thus, the half pipe assembly
20
decelerates the materials
30
and also reverses the direction of flow of the materials. As a result, the velocity of the materials
30
is reduced such that the materials
30
may be deposited onto the portion of the screen
22
immediately adjacent to the half pipe assembly
20
. As result, the separation of liquids from solids during the movement of the screen
22
and bed
24
by the actuator
26
is improved.
Thus, the conduit
14
, the back wall
18
, and the half pipe assembly
20
, singularly, and in combination, provide a flow diverter assembly that decelerates the material
30
as the material passes through the assembly
10
. In particular, the ramp
14
ea
, the back wall
18
, and the half pipe assembly
20
each act to decelerate the materials
30
as they pass through the assembly
10
. Furthermore, the ramp
14
ea
, the back wall
18
and the half pipe assembly
20
change the direction of flow of the materials
30
, and the back wall and half pipe assembly reverse the direction of the flow of the materials. In this manner, the materials
30
are decelerated and may thereby be placed onto the front most portion of the screen
22
immediately adjacent to the half pipe assembly
20
thereby enhancing the operational effectiveness of the screen. Finally, the ramp
14
ea
also, by forcing the material
30
to pass up the ramp, increases the exposed surface area of the material thereby increasing the volume of vapors that may be removed by the exhaust blower
16
.
The present embodiments of the invention provide a number of advantages. For example, the assembly
10
decelerates the flow of the materials
30
thereby placing the materials onto the front most portion of the screen
22
thereby enhancing the operational effectiveness of the screen during the separation of solid particles and liquids. Furthermore, the exhaust blower
16
removes vapors from the materials that may be volatile and/or toxic thereby preventing explosions and/or harm to the human operators.
It is understood that variations may be made in the foregoing without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, a vacuum pump, or equivalent device, may be substituted for or used in addition to the exhaust blower. Furthermore, the screen
22
, bed
24
, actuator
26
, and controller
28
may be any number of commercially available conventional devices. In addition, the geometry of the passages
12
a
.
14
b
.
18
b
, and
20
a
may be, for example, circular, oval, elliptical, parallelepiped, or square. Finally, the exhaust blower
16
may be coupled to a controllable power source via an on/off switch instead of, or in combination with, being operably coupled to the controller
28
.
Although illustrative embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, a wide range of modification, changes and substitution is contemplated in the foregoing disclosure. In some instances, some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention.
Claims
- 1. A separator for separating solids from liquids in a supply of materials, comprising:a flow line for conveying the materials; a screen for separating the solids from the liquids in the materials; a flow diverter assembly, comprising: a conduit coupled to the flow line for receiving the materials from the flow line; a ramp coupled to the conduit for decelerating the materials and increasing the exposed surface area of the materials; an exhaust blower coupled to the conduit for removing volatile vapors from the materials; and a back wall coupled to the conduit for reversing the direction of flow of the materials; and a half pipe positioned proximate the back wall comprising a flattened portion positioned proximate the screen for receiving the materials from the flow diverter assembly and reversing the direction of the flow of the materials; an actuator operably coupled to the screen for imparting motion to the screen; and a controller operably coupled to the actuator for controlling the operation of the actuator.
- 2. A separator for separating solids from liquids in a supply of materials, comprising:a flow line for conveying the materials; a screen for separating the solids from liquids in the materials; a flow diverter assembly comprising: a conduit coupled to the flow line for conveying the materials; and a back wall coupled to the conduit for receiving the materials from the conduit, decelerating the materials, and reversing the direction of flow of the materials; a half pipe positioned proximate the back wall comprising a flattened portion positioned proximate the screen for receiving the materials from the back wall, decelerating the materials, reversing the direction of flow of the materials, and conveying the materials onto the screen; an actuator operably coupled to the screen for imparting motion to the screen; and a controller operably coupled to the actuator for controlling the actuator.
- 3. The separator of claim 2, further comprising:a ramp coupled to the conduit for decelerating the materials and increasing the exposed surface area of the materials.
- 4. The separator of claim 2, further comprising:an exhaust blower coupled to the conduit for removing vapors from the materials.
US Referenced Citations (9)