Granted Patent B2

US 9,400,065 · App. 13/889,612 · Granted Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. Apparatus for taking up a lay flat hose including a plurality of joints of lay flat hose, the lay flat hose containing at least some fluid, comprising:

(a) a mobile chassis having a power unit that enables the chassis to travel over a selected terrain, the chassis having first and second opposed working end portions;

(b) a deck on the chassis that is sized and shaped to selectively hold at least one of a plurality of hose reels, each hose reel having a supportive reel base, wherein each reel is rotatable upon a reel base;

(c) the first working end portion having one or more lifting arms that are each pivotally attached to the chassis, the lifting arms being configured to lift a selected reel from the plurality of reels from a position on the deck of the chassis to a position off of the deck of the chassis, and also from a position off of the chassis to a position on the deck;

(d) a selected reel from the plurality of hose reels being supported on the deck; and

(e) a tensioning system rotationally connected to the selected reel when the reel is on the deck, the tensioning system comprising at least one roller which is located at the second opposed working end portion of the chassis, the tensioning system selectively activated to pull portions of the lay flat hose across the at least one roller winding such pulled hose portions onto the selected reel when the mobile chassis is moving generally in the direction of the second opposed working end portion of the chassis.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tensioning system includes a plurality of rollers selectively engaging the lay flat hose.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of rollers apply tension to the lay flat hose when the hose is wound upon the hose reel.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected reel from the plurality of reels has an axis of rotation, and there are three adjacent rollers, a front, a middle, and a rear roller, each roller having an axis of rotation parallel to the axes of rotation of the other rollers, and each being parallel to the selectively held reel's axis of rotation, and the axis of rotation of the middle roller being selectively adjustable to be out of parallel with the axes of rotation of the other rollers, and selectively adjustable to be back in a parallel relationship.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the tensioning system substantially removes water from the lay flat hose.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the speed at which the tensioning system winds up the lay flat hose on the selected reel varies with the speed of mobile chassis relative to the ground.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein during a pickup of the lay flat hose, the tensioning system consistently applies an over torque on the selected reel from the plurality of reels to keep the section of lay flat hose between the selectively held reel and the at least one roller in tension.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selected reel is removably attached to the deck for enabling the at least one lifting arm to unload the selected reel after the selected reel is filled with a length of lay flat hose, the selected reel being lifted by the one or more lifting arms from the deck of the chassis and placed in a position off of the deck of the chassis, and subsequently a second empty selected reel is lifted by the one or more lifting arms from a position off of the chassis and placed on the deck, and the tensioning system is rotationally connected to the second reel when the second reel is on the deck and selectively activated to pull additional portions of the lay flat hose across the at least one roller winding such pulled hose portions onto the second reel when the mobile chassis is moving generally in the direction of the second opposed working end portion of the chassis.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein there are first and second spaced apart lifting arms which are respectively rotatably about first and second pivot axes, and each of the first and second spaced apart lifting arms includes telescoping sections that are selectively extendable and retractable.

10. A method of picking up a fluid flow line comprised of multiple lengths of lay flat hose connected end to end, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a mobile chassis having opposed first and second working end portions, and a power unit that enables the chassis to travel over a selected terrain, the chassis having a deck that is sized and shaped to hold a selected hose reel assembly and base, the assembly including a spool rotatable upon the base; and a tensioning system which can be rotatively connected to the spool, the tensioning system comprising at least one pickup roller which is located at the second working end of the chassis;

(b) the first working end of the chassis having at least one lifting arm pivotally attached to the chassis, the at least one lifting arm being configured to lift selected reel assemblies from positions off the chassis to the deck, and from the deck to positions off of the chassis;

(c) the at least one lifting arm picking up the first reel assembly from a position off of the chassis and placing the first reel assembly on the deck, and rotationally connecting the tensioning system to the spool of the first reel assembly;

(d) after step “c”, connecting the lay flay hose to the spool of the first reel assembly, and the tensioning system being selectively activated to wind the spool, wherein such winding pulls portions of the lay flat hose across the at least one roller;

(e) moving the chassis while simultaneously winding the lay flat hose from the ground onto the spool of the first reel assembly;

(f) after the spool of the first reel assembly has filled with wound up lay flat hose, the at least one arm removing the first reel assembly from the chassis deck;

(g) after step “f”, the at least one arm loading a second reel assembly including a spool on the deck and the tensioning system being rotationally connected to the spool of the second reel assembly, and moving the chassis while simultaneously winding up the lay flat hose from the ground onto the spool of the second reel assembly while the tensioning system being selectively activated to pull portions of the lay flat hose across the at least one roller; and

(h) wherein in steps “d” through “g”, the lay flat hose is raised from the ground surface at the second working end portion of the chassis.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein in step “a”, the tensioning system includes a plurality of rollers selectively engaging the lay flat hose.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein in step “e”, the plurality of rollers apply tension to the lay flat hose when the lay flat hose is wound upon the hose reel.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein in step “e” during a pickup of the lay flat hose, the tensioning system consistently applies an over torque on the selected spool to keep the section of lay flat hose between the spool and the at least one roller in tension.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein in step “c” there are first and second spaced apart lifting arms that are respectively rotatably about first and second pivot axes, and each of the first and second spaced lifting arms includes telescoping sections that are selectively extendable and retractable.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein in step “c” the tensioning system is rotationally connected to the spool with a retractable shaft that moves between retracted and extended positions.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the shaft retracts before the end of step “c”, and extends to rotationally connect the spool to the tensioning system.

17. Apparatus for laying a temporary flat hose type pipeline, comprising:

(a) a mobile chassis having a power unit that enables the chassis to travel over a selected terrain;

(b) a deck on the chassis that is sized and shaped to hold a selected hose reel having a supportive base and a round reel that is rotatable upon the base;

(c) a length of hose that is stored on the selected hose reel, the hose being generally flat when emptied of water;

(d) the chassis having opposed working end portions;

(e) a first working end portion having one or more lifting arms that are each movably attached to the chassis, the one or more lifting arms being configured to lift the selected hose reel and its supportive base, and length of hose from a position off the chassis to a position on the chassis deck;

(f) a second working end portion of the chassis providing a support to the hose spaced from the reel to engage and feed the hose when the selected hose reel winds up;

(g) a drive axle that is rotationally connected to the selected hose reel via a shaft, the shaft being movable between extended and retracted positions, wherein in the extended position, the shaft connects with the selected hose reel.

18. A system for transferring frac water between a source of the frac water and a frac water destination, the system comprising:

(a) a portable frac water delivery subsystem, the portable frac water delivery subsystem comprising a plurality of segments of a lay flat hose and at least one tracked carrier for transporting the lay flat hose;

(b) the at least one tracked carrier each comprising a hose tensioning subsystem for flattening the plurality of segments of the lay flat hose to be wound onto at least one of a plurality of spools, the plurality of segments of the lay flat hose connected in series to assemble a pipeline for transferring the frac water from the source of the frac water to the frac water destination, the hose tensioning system further comprising a drive subsystem for rotating at least one of the plurality of spools, the drive subsystem including:

(i) a plurality of rollers on the tracked carrier selectively engaging at least one of the plurality of segments of the lay flat hose;

(ii) the drive subsystem selectively activated to wind the at least one of the plurality of segments of lay flat hose onto at least one of the plurality of spools; and

(iii) at least one of the plurality of segments of the lay flat hose engaging the plurality of rollers wherein the lay flat hose travels in between two of the rollers.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the at least one tracked carrier includes a spool lifting subsystem for individual spools from the plurality of spools onto the tracked carrier and/or offloading the individual spools from the tracked carrier, the spool lifting system comprising:

(a) an arm,

(b) the arm selectively engaging the spools;

(c) a linkage system connecting the arm to the tracked carrier; and

(d) one or more hydraulic cylinders for controlling the movement of the linkage system.

20. The system of claim 18 , the tensioning subsystem substantially removing water from the one or more segments of the lay flat hose.

Assignments (10)