Method of delivering, transporting, and storing proppant for delivery and use at a well site

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018105374-A1
Application number	US-201715846488-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 19, 2017
Priority date	Dec 21, 2011
Publication date	Apr 19, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of delivering proppant to a well site has the steps of transporting a load of proppant in a vessel to a desired location, moving the load of proppant from the vessel into a container so as to create a proppant-loaded container, unloading the proppant-loaded container into a pneumatic bulk trailer, and transporting the unloaded proppant in the pneumatic bulk trailer to well site. The container is placed onto a bed of a truck and moved in proximity to the vessel. The proppant-loaded container is placed onto a tilting mechanism and then tilted so that the proppant is discharged through a flow gate of a container into a hopper. The proppant in the hopper can then be conveyed to the pneumatic bulk trailer.

First claim

That claimed is:

1 . A method of loading and transporting proppant to a well drilling site, the method comprising:
a) positioning one or more empty proppant containers, each located on a trailer of a respective plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles and structurally strengthened to receive a large volume of proppant having a substantially spherical shape therein, at a selected first location so that each of the one or more empty proppant containers substantially underlies a source of proppant to load into each of the one or more empty proppant containers, each of the one or more empty containers also being separate and removable from each trailer of the respective plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles and including at least a first end surface and at least a second different end surface, each of the first and second end surfaces having a plurality of upright structural support members thereon to enhance integrity of the one or more containers to stack the one or more containers to overlie one another and store proppant therein; b) filling the one or more empty proppant containers with proppant from the source of proppant thereby to produce one or more proppant filled and structurally strengthened containers; c) staging the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles so that each trailer of the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles has one or more of the proppant filled and structurally strengthened containers thereon; d) transferring the one or more proppant filled containers with the one or more proppant transporting road vehicles to a selected second location at a well drilling site, thereby to increase the efficiency with which proppant is transferred by the plurality of transporting road vehicles; e) unloading, from each of the plurality of transporting road vehicles, the one or more proppant filled containers with an unloader; and f) vertically stacking the one or more proppant filled and structurally strengthened containers with a loader at the selected second location so that one of the plurality of proppant filled and structurally strengthened containers overlies another one of the plurality of proppant filled and structurally strengthened containers to reduce the footprint of the area at the well drilling site required for storage of the proppant.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
delivering the one or more containers when empty from the second location to a third location, thereby increasing the efficiency with which proppant is transferred by the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles.

3 . The method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising tracking, with bar codes associated with each of the one or more proppant containers, one or more of the following: (1) an amount of proppant available in the plurality of containers at a location based on bar codes associated with the one or more proppant containers; (2) a mesh size of proppant in the one or more proppant containers based on the bar codes associated with the plurality of proppant containers; and (3) an amount of proppant available at a location based on mesh size of the proppant as indicated by bar codes associated with the one or more proppant containers.

4 . The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more proppant containers includes an outlet and a flow gate positioned adjacent the outlet so as to retain proppant within a proppant container when the flow gate is in a closed position and allow proppant to flow from the outlet when the flow gate is an open position, the method further comprising opening the flow gate with one or more of hydraulic power and pneumatic power to allow large volumes of proppant to flow therefrom when in the open position.

5 . The method as defined in claim 4 , further comprising vertically stacking each container of the one or more proppant filled and structurally strengthened containers, moving from a vertically stacked configuration via a loader, and positioning onto a bed of each trailer of the plurality of proppant transporting road vehicles.

Assignees

• Oren Tech Llc

Inventors

• Oren John

Classifications

• B65G65/34

  Emptying devices (conveyor construction B65G15/00 - B65G35/00; devices similar to vehicle tipplers B65G67/48) · CPC title

• B65G63/008 Primary

  for bulk material · CPC title

• B65D88/70

  using fluid jets (B65D88/72 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65D88/022

  in multiple arrangement, e.g. stackable, nestable, connected or joined together side-by-side · CPC title

• B65G65/32

  Filling devices · CPC title