Wet abrasive blasting system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9925642-B2
Application number	US-201113080880-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2011
Priority date	Jul 13, 2010
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

Wet abrasive blasting systems are described that have a slurry piping system and a gas piping system that have pipes and other piping components, such as valves and regulators, that have a more consistent internal cross-sectional area than conventional wet abrasive blasting systems. The more consistent flow area provides astonishing improvements in blasting efficiency and consistent and predictable slurry flow rates.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wet abrasive blasting system, comprising:
a mixer combining a slurry stream and a pressurized gas stream to form a three phase blasting stream;
slurry piping system that connects a source of pressurized slurry to the mixer, wherein the slurry piping system comprises pipes and other components; and
pressurized gas piping system that connects a source of pressurized gas to the mixer, wherein the pressurized gas piping system comprises pipes, an air regulator and a check valve; wherein the pipe has an internal cross-sectional flow area and the air regulator and the check valve have a minimum orifice internal cross-sectional flow area that is greater than 25% less than the internal cross-sectional flow area of the pipe.

2. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 1 , wherein the air regulator and check valve have a minimum orifice internal cross-sectional flow area that is within 15% of the internal cross-sectional flow area of the pipe.

3. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 1 , wherein the air regulator and check valve have a minimum orifice internal cross-sectional flow area that is greater than 10% less than the internal cross-sectional flow area of the pipe.

4. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 1 , wherein the check valve is a spring-loaded check valve.

5. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 4 , wherein the check valve has a cracking force of greater than 2 psi.

6. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 5 , wherein the check valve is installed in a vertical position.

7. The wet abrasive blasting system of either of claim 5 or claim 6 , wherein the check valve is installed in a position above the mixer.

8. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 1 , wherein the source of pressurized slurry is a blast pot and the wet abrasive blasting system comprising a water pump in fluid communication with the blast pot such that water pressure forces slurry into the compressed air circuit.

9. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 8 , wherein the blast pot is substantially full of water during a blasting operation and the water pump is capable of maintaining pressure in the blast pot.

10. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 9 , wherein the source of pressurized gas is an air compressor.

11. The wet abrasive blasting system of claim 8 , wherein the blast pot comprises a valve to vent the air from within the blast pot to substantially remove all of the air from the blast pot.

12. A wet abrasive blasting system, comprising:
a mixer;
a check valve; and
piping system connecting the check valve to the mixer, wherein the check valve has a cracking pressure of greater than 2 psi, a flow area within 25% of the flow area of a pipe in the piping system, and is positioned above the mixer.

Assignees

• Eliason Keith
• Graco Minnesota Inc

Inventors

• Eliason Keith

Classifications

• B24C7/0038 Primary

  the blasting medium being a gaseous stream · CPC title

• B24C7/0015

  with control of feed parameters, e.g. feed rate of abrasive material or carrier · CPC title