Abstract:
A material collider having a pair of rotor assemblies respectively housed within a pair of interconnected cylindrical chambers with a plurality of disc members secured thereto, at least one thrust guide secured to the disc members and a weir secured to the inner periphery of the cylindrical chambers.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention is related to a material collider and more particularly to a material collider apparatus which can break down materials received into the apparatus, such as drill cuttings from a wellbore, to a reduced particle size for further use such as by reinjection of the refined cuttings down a wellbore. Drill cuttings are an inevitable by-product of well drilling and their disposal has been a longstanding problem. Offshore drilling operations, in particular, are problematic because of the need to transport the cuttings to a landfill or a shore-based processing system.  
         [0002]     Depending on the results required of a particular collider application, particle size variations are often necessary. In order to adjust the particle size of the solids that are discharged from the collider, a variation in flow speed or retention time in the collider is required. The amount of time that solids are retained within the collider determines the particle size with a higher retention time resulting in smaller size particles.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     A material collider having a base frame with a housing assembly secured to the base frame and forming a pair of interconnected cylindrical chambers. A pair of coaxially related rotor assemblies extending parallel through the chambers and having a plurality of disc members secured thereto in which the disc members are disposed transverse to the axis of the chambers and have at least one thrust guide secured to the disc member. A weir is secured to the inner periphery of the cylindrical chambers so as to slow the rate of flow and increase retention time of the material flowing through the collider. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]     In the drawings:  
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a top view of the collider of the present invention with the top cover removed;  
         [0006]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the housing assembly of the present invention;  
         [0007]      FIG. 3  is a front elevational view of the housing assembly of the present invention; and  
         [0008]      FIG. 4  is a right side elevational view of the housing assembly of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     In the drawings, there is provided a material collider generally indicated by the numeral  10  including a housing assembly  12  securely mounted to a base frame assembly  14 . The housing  12  and base frame  14  assemblies may be formed of structural steel, for example, and the housing assembly  12  is secured to the base frame assembly  14  so as to rest partially within a cavity  16  in the base frame assembly  14 . The base frame assembly  14  is provided with support beams  18  which are at least eighteen inches in height to provide balance and stability as well as to reduce vibration during operation of the collider.  
         [0010]     As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 , housing assembly  12  is formed of a two-piece construction, including a top section  20  and a bottom section  22  so as to allow the top section to be removed in circumstances requiring cleaning or replacing of components within the housing assembly  12 . A sealing member  24  is positioned between top  20  and bottom  22  sections of the housing assembly and cooperates with wedgelocks  26  to securely maintain the top  20  and bottom  22  sections together. Lifting eyes  28  are provided on the top section  20  of the housing assembly  12  to allow the top section of the housing assembly to be removed, such as by a jib hoist, for example.  
         [0011]     The housing assembly top section  20  has a feed inlet opening  30  and an inspection opening  32  and the bottom section  22  includes a material discharge opening  34  and a clean out trough  36 . A feed inlet chute  38  and an inspection door  40  are secured to the top section  20  above the feed inlet  30  and inspection openings  32 , respectively. A material discharge outlet  42  is secured to the bottom section  22  below the discharge opening  34 .  
         [0012]     Feed inlet chute  38  is sufficiently large to allow collider  10  to receive materials of widely varying sizes, wet or dry, and is provided with an input port for receiving water injection. The material outlet  42  is sufficiently large to allow as much material to be discharged as is fed into the collider  10 . Inspection door  40  is hingedly secured to top section  20  and maintained in place by a wedgelock  26 . Inspection door  40  permits an operator to view the housing interior without having to remove the housing top section  20 . Feed inlet chute  38  and material outlet  42  may be secured to the housing by traditional means such as by bolts, welding or the like.  
         [0013]     As shown in  FIG. 4 , when top  20  and bottom  22  sections of the housing assembly are secured together, the housing assembly generally indicated by the numeral  12  takes the form of a pair of overlapping cylindrical tanks  48  and  50  having substantially a figure eight shape in cross section, thus providing respective housing chambers  52  and  54  which are in fluid communication. Housing assembly internal wall  56  may be lined with replaceable wear liners or wear plates  58  which are of harder grade steel than the housing assembly for preventing damage to the housing internal  56  and external  57  walls during operation of the collider. Wear plates  58  may be secured to the housing assembly interior by bolts, for example.  
         [0014]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a pair of rotor assemblies generally indicated by the numerals  60  and  61  are maintained within housing assembly  12  and cooperate to force materials fed into the feed inlet to collide with one another and produce a finely ground material which is then dispensed through the material outlet. Each rotor assembly  60  and  61  includes rotors  62  and  63 , respectively, which are axially positioned within a respective housing chamber  52  and  54  so as to extend in parallel relation to one another throughout the length of the chambers  52  and  54 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , rotor assemblies  60  and  61  are also provided with an easily maintainable and interchangeable system of disc sets  64  and thrust guides  70 , wherein the disc sets are mounted at evenly spaced intervals along the length of each rotor  62  and  63 .  
         [0015]     Thrust guides  70  are held rigidly between disc sets  64  so as to maintain full extension and thereby rotate as closely as possible to the housing internal wall  56  or the wear plates  58 . By rotating in close proximity to the housing internal wall  56  or the wear plates  58 , the thrust guides  70  are unlikely to miss materials or particles which have become positioned along the housing internal walls and which could be missed by a thrust guide which has folded back during operation.  
         [0016]     Rotor assemblies  60  and  61  are freely rotatable in either direction and during operation of the material collider  10  will rotate in opposite or counterrotating directions with respect to each other. Thrust guides  70  may be of equal length as well as of equal weight. Alternatively, thrust guides  70  may vary in length and weight. For proper balance, however, opposing thrust guides on the same disc set are preferably the same length and weight.  
         [0017]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a drive system including motors  72 , bearings  74 , drive shafts  76  and stub shafts  78  is mounted to the base frame assembly  14  to rotate the rotor assemblies  60  and  61 . Drive shafts  76  and stub shafts  78  are rotatably mounted within bearings  74  and are axially aligned with and coupled to an associated rotor assembly  60  and  61 . Bearings  74  are securely mounted to base frame  14 .  
         [0018]     As best shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4  and in accordance with this invention, multiple flow weirs  80  are secured to the inner wall  56  or wear plates  58  such as by means of welding and the like. Flow weirs  80  are approximately ¼ inch thick and are positioned adjacent the discharge side of the respective thrust guide  70  and spaced approximately ¼ to one inch therefrom. Flow weirs  80  extend around the periphery of the internal periphery of housing chambers  52  and  54  and extend inwardly therefrom the distance from one to six inches. A varying number of weirs can be utilized in the collider, and, as the number of weirs increases, the flow rate of the particles is decreased. Additionally, as the width of an individual weir is increased incrementally from one to six inches the flow rate is also caused to decrease. By increasing the retention time of the particles being processed, a reduced particle size results. Therefore, in accordance with a particular application and particle size requirement, manipulation in the number and size of the weirs in combination results in the desired size of the particles discharged from the collider.  
         [0019]     In operation, material such as drill cuttings from a wellbore is fed into the collider  10  in slurry form through the feed inlet chute  38  at the top of the feed end  13  of the housing assembly where it is mixed with water and injected through an input port in the feed inlet chute. Once inside the housing assembly, the particles contained in the drill cuttings are broken up by continual collisions with one another, caused by the action of the counter rotating shafts  76  which turn the rotor assemblies  60  and  61  and thereby the disc sets  64  in opposite rotational relation so that the thrust guides  70  carried by rotor assembly  60  interengage with the thrust guides  70  on the other rotor assembly  61  in an overlapping manner.  
         [0020]     The action of the thrust guides  70  spins the slurry materials, and forces the slurry solid particles to collide with one another so as to break into smaller pieces. This process continues until the material reaches the material discharge  34  where it then flows out of the chambers  52  and  54  to be used for reinjection into the wellbore. The intermeshing of the thrust guides  70  and their positioning on the disc sets  64  of each shaft  60  and  61  act to properly balance the collider  10  when in use so that vibration of the collider  10  is minimal. Also the flow rate of the material is controlled by means of a variation in the number and size of flow weirs  80 .