PROPPANT DISCHARGE SYSTEM AND A CONTAINER FOR USE IN SUCH A PROPPANT DISCHARGE SYSTEM
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 a 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.
1 . A process for delivering proppant to a fracturing site, the process comprising:
providing a plurality of containers each having an interior suitable for receiving the proppant therein, each of the plurality of containers also having a pair of sidewalls, a pair of end walls, and a bottom region, the container further having an outlet positioned in the bottom region thereof and a gate adjacent the outlet of the container, and a ramp connected to each of the sidewalls and each of the end walls, each ramp of each of the plurality of containers positioned to extend to the outlet adjacent the bottom region;
filling each of the plurality of containers with the proppant;
moving each of the filled plurality of containers along a roadway on a separate vehicle to the fracturing site;
positioning each of the filled plurality of containers upon a structure, the structure positioned to include a plurality of hoppers positioned below a top surface thereof, each of the filled plurality of containers positioned at an elevation directly above one or more of the plurality of hoppers of the structure; and
discharging the proppant from the outlet of each of the plurality of containers into a respective one of the plurality of hoppers by actuation of the gate with an actuator so as to move the gate from a first position closing the outlet to a second position opening the outlet for each of the plurality of containers when positioned on the structure.
2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing further comprises providing each of the plurality of containers so as to have a length of approximately ten feet, and the method further comprises supplying the discharged proppant from each of the plurality of containers to a blender at a desired location on a well site.
3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the step of discharging comprises discharging the proppant from the outlet of each of the plurality of containers into one hopper of the plurality of hoppers of the structure, and the method further comprises metering the proppant through a metering gate associated with each of the plurality of hoppers at a controlled flow rate.
4 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising:
placing each of the filled plurality of containers upon a train;
transporting each of the filled containers on the train to a location;
removing each of the filled plurality of containers from the train; and
placing each of the removed filled plurality of containers onto the separate vehicle.
5 . A process for delivering proppant to a fracturing site, the process comprising:
filling each of a plurality of proppant containers with proppant so as to define a plurality of filled proppant containers;
transporting each of the filled proppant containers along a roadway on a different vehicle to the fracturing site;
placing the plurality of filled proppant containers upon a conveyor structure, each of the plurality of containers having a pair of sidewalls, a pair of end walls, and a bottom region, each container further having an outlet positioned in the bottom region thereof and a gate adjacent the outlet of each container, and a ramp connected to each of the sidewalls, each ramp positioned to extend to the outlet adjacent the bottom region of the container to form a funnel-like shape;
discharging the proppant from the outlet of each of the plurality of containers onto the conveyor structure;
actuating the gate with an actuator so as to move the gate from a first position closing the outlet of each container to a second position opening the outlet of each container;
conveying the discharged proppant to a desired location at the fracturing site; and
transporting a plurality of emptied proppant containers from the fracturing site so that a plurality of emptied proppant containers are positioned on each of the different vehicles.
6 . The process of claim 5 , wherein the step of providing further comprises:
providing the plurality of containers so as each to have a length of approximately ten feet.
7 . The process of claim 6 , wherein providing the plurality of containers includes each container having an interior suitable for receiving the proppant therein, and wherein at least a portion of the funnel-like shape of each of the plurality of containers has visibility from an exterior of the container through open regions in the container.