Landfill pump having metered cycling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12454965-B2
Application number	US-202418960854-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2024
Priority date	Apr 10, 2023
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

A landfill well pump is pneumatically powered to pump landfill liquid from a landfill well. The landfill well pump includes a choke on the pneumatic exhaust of the pump. The choke regulates flow the driving gas out of the landfill pump, maintaining pneumatic pressure in the pump and metering inflow of landfill liquid into the pump.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A landfill pump for pumping a liquid out of a wellbore in a landfill, the landfill pump comprising:
a case, the case being cylindrical and elongated along a pump axis; a pump chamber located at least partially within the case; a liquid inlet, the liquid inlet configured to permit the liquid to flow from outside of the landfill pump into the pump chamber; a liquid inlet valve that opens to allow the liquid to flow from the liquid inlet into the pump chamber and closes to block the liquid in the pump chamber from flowing back out of the liquid inlet; a liquid outlet channel through which the liquid is discharged; a liquid outlet valve that opens to allow the liquid to flow out of the pump chamber through the liquid outlet channel and closes to block the liquid from flowing through the liquid outlet channel and back into the pump chamber; a discharge pipe that extends axially within the casing and within the pump chamber, the liquid outlet channel extending at least partially within the discharge pipe, and the discharge pipe including at least one port formed therethrough; a pneumatic inlet channel which routes a compressed gas into the pump chamber to drive the liquid out from the pump chamber through the liquid outlet channel; a pneumatic outlet channel configured to vent the compressed gas from the pump chamber during a filling phase, in which during the filling phase the liquid flows through the liquid inlet into the pump chamber; a manifold within which each of the liquid outlet channel and the pneumatic outlet channel extend, the manifold disposed at an upper end of the case; a valve assembly configured to regulate flow of the compressed gas into the pump chamber to force the liquid downward within the pump chamber and then upward through the discharge pipe and out through the liquid outlet channel, the valve assembly including:
a pneumatic inlet valve which blocks the pneumatic inlet channel during filling of liquid into the pump chamber through the liquid inlet and that is moved to not block the pneumatic inlet channel during admission of the compressed gas to the pump chamber through the pneumatic inlet channel to drive the liquid out from the pump chamber through the discharge pipe and the liquid outlet channel; and
a pneumatic outlet valve that blocks the pneumatic outlet channel during the admission of the compressed gas to the pump chamber through the pneumatic inlet valve and that is moved to allow pneumatic flow through the pneumatic outlet channel during the filling phase;
a float that rises and falls within the pump chamber in response to changing levels of the liquid within the pump chamber, such movement of the float actuating the valve assembly between the filling phase and an evacuation phase of a pump cycle in which during the evacuation phase the valve assembly causes release of the compressed gas into the pump chamber to force the liquid within the pump chamber up through the discharge pipe and out through the liquid outlet channel, the valve assembly admitting the compressed gas from the pneumatic inlet channel into the pump chamber during the evacuation phase and the valve assembly blocking the admission of the compressed gas from the pneumatic inlet channel into the pump chamber during the filling phase; and a choke fluidly connected with the pneumatic outlet channel and disposed within the manifold; wherein the choke is disposed downstream of and spaced away from an outlet valve seat of the pneumatic outlet valve; and wherein the pneumatic outlet channel is wider than the choke both upstream of the choke within the manifold and downstream of the choke within the manifold.

2 . The landfill pump of claim 1 , wherein the choke is formed by the manifold.

3 . The landfill pump of claim 1 , wherein the choke is mounted on the manifold.

4 . The landfill pump of claim 3 , wherein the choke is located within a bleed piece attached to the manifold.

5 . The landfill pump of claim 4 , wherein the bleed piece includes a bleed barrier which forms the choke.

6 . A landfill pump for pumping a liquid out of a wellbore in a landfill, the landfill pump comprising:
a case, the case being cylindrical and elongated along a pump axis; a pump chamber located at least partially within the case; a liquid inlet, the liquid inlet configured to permit the liquid to flow from outside of the landfill pump into the pump chamber; a liquid inlet valve that opens to allow the liquid to flow from the liquid inlet into the pump chamber and closes to block the liquid in the pump chamber from flowing back out of the liquid inlet; a liquid outlet channel through which the liquid is discharged; a liquid outlet valve that opens to allow the liquid to flow out of the pump chamber through the liquid outlet channel and closes to block the liquid from flowing through the liquid outlet channel and back into the pump chamber; a discharge pipe that extends axially within the casing and within the pump chamber, the liquid outlet channel extending at least partially within the discharge pipe, and the discharge pipe including at least one port formed therethrough; a pneumatic inlet channel which routes a compressed gas into the pump chamber to drive the liquid out from the pump chamber through the liquid outlet channel; a valve assembly configured to regulate flow of the compressed gas into the pump chamber to force the liquid downward within the pump chamber and then upward through the discharge pipe and out through the liquid outlet channel, the valve assembly including:
a pneumatic inlet valve which blocks the pneumatic inlet channel during filling of liquid into the pump chamber through the liquid inlet and that is moved to not block the pneumatic inlet channel during admission of the compressed gas to the pump chamber through the pneumatic inlet channel to drive the liquid out from the pump chamber through the discharge pipe and the liquid outlet channel;
a float that rises and falls within the pump chamber in response to changing levels of the liquid within the pump chamber, such movement of the float actuating the valve assembly between a filling phase and an evacuation phase of a pump cycle in which during the filling phase the liquid flows through the liquid inlet into the pump chamber and during the evacuation phase the valve assembly causes release of the compressed gas into the pump chamber to force the liquid within the pump chamber up through the discharge pipe and out through the liquid outlet channel, the valve assembly admitting the compressed gas from the pneumatic inlet channel into the pump chamber during the evacuation phase and the valve assembly blocking the admission of the compressed gas from the pneumatic inlet channel into the pump chamber during the filling phase a pneumatic outlet channel configured to vent the compressed gas from the pump chamber during the filling phase; and a choke fluidly connected with the pneumatic outlet channel; and a manifold within which each of the liquid outlet channel and the pneumatic outlet channel extend, the manifold disposed at an upper end of the case; wherein the choke is located within a bleed piece attached to the manifold, and the bleed piece includes a bleed barrier which forms the choke; and wherein the bleed barrier is separatable from a bleed housing of the bleed piece.

7 . The landfill pump of claim 3 , wherein the choke is connected to the manifold by interfaced threading.

8 . The landfill pump of claim 1 , wherein an inner diameter of the choke is up to 0.2 inches and the inner diameter of the choke is narrower than an inner diameter of the pneumatic outlet channel such that the inner diameter of the pneumatic outlet channel alon

Assignees

• Q E D Env Systems Inc
• Graco Minnesota Inc

Inventors

• Lindquist Michael K
• Anstadt Hunter C
• Weinberger Mark T
• Allen Iii William C

Classifications

• F16K31/20

  actuating a lift valve · CPC title

• F04B47/04

  the driving means incorporating fluid means · CPC title

• E21B43/129

  Adaptations of down-hole pump systems powered by fluid supplied from outside the borehole (gas-lift E21B43/122; jet pumps E21B43/124) · CPC title

• E21B43/121

  Lifting well fluids (monitoring of down-hole pump systems E21B47/008) · CPC title

• B09B1/006

  Shafts or wells in waste dumps · CPC title