Patent ID: 9574412
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: B65D,B65G,E21B,G05D

Claim:
1. An oilfield material reservoir, comprising: a body, the body having an upper end, a lower end, a sidewall extending between the upper end and the lower end, the sidewall defining a recess within the body, an opening defined by the upper end, and a first orifice defined by the lower end; a metering gate connected to the body at the lower end, the metering gate comprising a base, the base defining a second orifice aligned with the first orifice, the second orifice having a substantially trapezoidal shape; and a knife gate slidably connected to the base of the metering gate by an actuator, the actuator configured to articulate the knife gate between a position completely opening the first and second orifices, a position completely covering the first and second orifices, and intermittent positions of closure of the first and second orifices, wherein the first orifice defines a shape different than the trapezoidal shape of second orifice, the first and second orifices defining a metering geometry selected to achieve a desired flow rate of an oilfield material through the orifices based on a position of the metering gate with respect to the orifices.