Method of delivering, storing, unloading, and using proppant at a well site

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9656799-B2
Application number	US-201615084613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2016
Priority date	Jul 23, 2012
Publication date	May 23, 2017
Grant date	May 23, 2017

Abstract

A proppant discharge system has a container with an outlet formed at a bottom thereof and a gate slidably affixed at the outlet so as to be movable between a first position covering the outlet to second position opening the outlet, and a support structure having an actuator thereon. The container is removably positioned on the top surface of the support structure. The actuator is engageable with gate so as to move the gate from the first position to the second position. A conveyor underlies the container so as to receive proppant as discharged from the container through the outlet. The container is a ten foot ISO container.

First claim

That claimed is:

1. A method of handling fracking proppant at a well site, the method comprising:
a) removing one or more proppant containers that contain fracking proppant from a trailer of one or more transport road vehicles when positioned adjacent a well site at a location where hydraulic fracking is to be performed so as to provide a plurality of proppant containers that contain fracking proppant to the well site, each of the plurality of proppant containers having an outlet positioned at a bottom thereof with a plurality of slanted lower inner wall portions positioned to direct the fracking proppant toward the outlet, each of the one or more proppant containers having a closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, the plurality of slanted lower inner wall portions being positioned to underlie the upper proppant containing portion and having proppant also positioned therein, a pair of vertically-extending end walls and a pair of vertically-extending side walls defining the closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a frame including a plurality of structural support members positioned to enhance support of the end walls and the side walls when the proppant container is full of fracking proppant, and each of the plurality of containers has an open area positioned about the plurality of slanted lower inner wall portions and below the upper proppant containing portion adjacent a bottom of the respective each of the plurality of proppant containers to allow for visual access of a respective exterior surface of the plurality of slanted wall portions even when the container is full of fracking proppant, the open area being visible through one or more spatial gaps extending through the frame in a location positioned below at least each of the side walls of and above the bottom of the proppant container;
b) transferring, after removal from the trailer of the one or more transport road vehicles, each of the plurality of proppant containers to a support structure positioned at the well site so that each of the plurality of proppant containers is positioned to discharge by gravity feed the fracking proppant therefrom, the support structure including a plurality of cradles that correspond to the plurality of proppant containers transferred thereto; and
c) discharging by gravity feed the fracking proppant contained within each of the plurality of proppant containers when positioned on the support structure and within the plurality of cradles from the outlet positioned at the bottom of each of the plurality of proppant containers so that the fracking proppant passes onto a common conveyor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising conveying the fracking proppant away from the plurality of proppant containers, after the discharging of the fracking proppant onto the common conveyor, toward a desired location at the well site where hydraulic fracking is to be performed so that the fracking proppant is introduced to fracking fluid for passage into a wellbore at the well site.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of structural support members is operably fixed to the frame, and wherein the support structure further comprises:
a plurality of hoppers each positioned to receive fracking proppant from one of the plurality of proppant containers and direct the fracking proppant to the common conveyor, each hopper corresponding to one of the plurality of cradles and having a gate positioned between the one of the plurality of cradles and the common conveyor to interrupt the flow of fracking proppant between the one of the plurality of cradles and the common conveyor when the fracking proppant passes from the one of the plurality of proppant containers to the common conveyor, the plurality of hoppers being vertically spaced apart from the plurality of proppant containers and the common conveyor; and
a receptacle positioned to engage a gate positioned over the outlet of the proppant container, the gate being operatively coupled to an actuator to drive movement of the gate between an open position and a closed position.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the support structure further supports the common conveyor, and wherein step c) includes directing the flow of fracking proppant from each of the plurality of proppant containers to the common conveyor through one or more separate hoppers fixedly connected to the support structure, and metering the fracking proppant as it passes from the plurality of proppant containers to the common conveyor.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
directing the fracking proppant from the common conveyor positioned to underlie the plurality of cradles to a desired location with a chute attached to the support structure and configured to receive the fracking proppant from the common conveyor.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
controlling the flow of fracking proppant from each of the plurality of containers with one or more flow gates positioned adjacent the plurality of proppant containers when positioned on the support structure, the one or more flow gates configured to move between closed and open positions.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of structural support members further span surfaces of each of the end walls and each of the side walls of each container from a bottom of the proppant container to a top of the proppant container, and the plurality of structural support members are in direct contact with and coupled to the end walls and the side walls.

8. A method for storing and unloading of fracking proppant at a well site for use when hydraulic fracking is to be performed, comprising:
a) removing one or more proppant containers that contain fracking proppant from a trailer of one or more transport road vehicles when positioned adjacent a well site at a location where hydraulic fracking is to be performed so as to provide a plurality of proppant containers that contain fracking proppant to the well site, each of the plurality of proppant containers having an outlet positioned at a bottom thereof, each of the plurality of proppant containers having a closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a funnel-shaped portion underlying the upper proppant containing portion, defined by a plurality of slanted inner walls, and having proppant also positioned therein, a pair of vertically-extending end walls and a pair of vertically-extending side walls defining the closed and substantially rectangular upper proppant containing portion, a frame including a plurality of structural support members to enhance support of the end walls and the side walls when the proppant container is full of fracking proppant, and the plurality of proppant containers having open areas adjacent the funnel-shaped portions and bottoms of the proppant containers to allow for visual access inside a portion of the containers, the open areas extending through one or more spatial gaps between adjacent structural support members to enable visual inspection at a location below all side and end walls and above the bottom of the proppant containers even when the container is filled with fracking proppant;
b) stacking the plurality of proppant containers in a vertical orientation so that a bottom of one or more of the plurality of proppant containers overlies a top of another one or more of the plurality of containers so as to define a container stack;
c) transferring, after removal from the trailer of the one or more transport road vehicles, each of the plurality of proppant containers from the container stack to a support structure that includes a plurality of cradles to receive the proppant containers, each of the plurality of cradles positions the outlet of

Assignees

• Oren Tech Llc

Inventors

• Oren John
• Oren Joshua

Classifications

• B65D88/26

  Hoppers, i.e. containers having funnel-shaped discharge sections (B65D88/34 - B65D88/78 take precedence) · CPC title

• B65D88/54

  characterised by means facilitating filling or emptying · CPC title

• B65D88/28 Primary

  Construction or shape of discharge section · CPC title

• B65D2231/008

  integral with the container wall · CPC title

• B65D83/06

  for dispensing powdered or granular material · CPC title