Systems and apparatus for use of wet recycled abrasive and methods of operation of said systems and apparatus
Disclosed herein are components, systems, and methods of operating an abrasive fluid jet system that recycles and reuses abrasive particles. The systems and methods described enable accurate metering and consistent feeding of wet abrasive particles thereby reducing the time and cost of operations associated with drying the recycled abrasive particles prior to reuse. The system may adjust a ratio of wet abrasive to dry abrasive being provided to a cutting head to form an abrasive fluid jet. Components of the system may overcome challenges associated with clumping and other issues that result in difficulty metering wet abrasive.
1 . A fluid jet cutting system comprising:
a first abrasive feed container including a first vessel that encloses a first interior volume, the first interior volume at least partially occupied by dry abrasive with a first moisture content;
a second abrasive feed container including a second vessel that encloses a second interior volume, the second interior volume at least partially occupied by wet abrasive with a second moisture content that is higher than the first moisture content;
a cutting head having:
an orifice unit through which fluid passes to generate a fluid jet;
a mixing chamber downstream of the orifice unit through which the fluid jet passes, the mixing chamber communicatively coupled to the first abrasive feed container such that the dry abrasive has a first path from the first abrasive feed container to the mixing chamber where the dry abrasive is added to the fluid jet to form an abrasive fluid jet, and the mixing chamber communicatively coupled to the second abrasive feed container such that the wet abrasive has a second path from the second abrasive feed container to the mixing chamber where the wet abrasive is added to the fluid jet to form the abrasive fluid jet; and
an outlet though which the abrasive fluid jet exits the cutting head.
2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a meter that measures a flow rate of the wet abrasive, the meter positioned downstream of the second interior volume and upstream of the mixing chamber with respect to the second path.
3 . The system of claim 2 , further comprising:
an intersection where the first path and the second path converge and where the dry abrasive mixes with the wet abrasive to form a combined abrasive,
wherein the meter is positioned downstream of the intersection and the meter measures a flow rate of the combined abrasive.
4 . The system of claim 2 wherein the meter is a first meter, the system further comprising:
an intersection where the first path and the second path converge and where the dry abrasive mixes with the wet abrasive to form a combined abrasive; and
a second meter that measures a flow rate of the dry abrasive, the second meter positioned downstream of the first interior volume and upstream of the intersection with respect to the first path,
wherein the first meter is positioned downstream of the second interior volume and upstream of the intersection with respect to the second path.
5 . The system of claim 3 , further comprising:
a ratio of the wet abrasive to the dry abrasive that forms the combined abrasive; and
a controller that adjusts the ratio.
6 . The system of claim 5 , further comprising:
control software communicatively coupled to the controller such that the ratio is adjustable by the control software.
7 . The system of claim 6 , further comprising one or more sensors communicatively coupled to the control software, and the adjustment of the ratio is performed by the control software based on data provided by the one or more sensors.
8 . The system of claim 7 wherein the data provided by the one or more sensors includes an amount of the wet abrasive occupying the second interior volume.
9 . The system of claim 5 wherein the ratio is adjustable from 100 percent of the wet abrasive and 0 percent of the dry abrasive to 0 percent of the wet abrasive and 100 percent of the dry abrasive and any increment in between.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first moisture content is between 0% and 0.1%, and the second moisture content is between 0.1% and 90%.
11 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a catcher tank containing a volume of fluid, the catcher tank positioned relative to the cutting head such that the abrasive fluid jet dissipates within the volume of fluid after exiting the outlet; and
an abrasive conditioner that receives abrasive removed from the catcher tank, the abrasive conditioner communicatively coupled to the second abrasive feed container, wherein the abrasive conditioner conditions the received abrasive prior to transfer of the received abrasive to the second abrasive feed container.
12 . A method of operating an abrasive fluid jet cutting system, the method comprising:
feeding dry abrasive from a first abrasive feed container into a mixing chamber of an abrasive fluid jet cutting head, wherein the dry abrasive has a first moisture content when in the first abrasive feed container;
feeding wet abrasive from a second abrasive feed container into the mixing chamber, wherein the wet abrasive has a second moisture content when in the second abrasive feed container, and the second moisture content is greater than the first moisture content;
generating a fluid jet within the abrasive fluid jet cutting head such that the fluid jet passes through the mixing chamber; and
entraining both the dry abrasive and the wet abrasive that has been fed into the mixing chamber into the fluid jet thereby forming an abrasive fluid jet.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
metering a flow rate of the wet abrasive at a location upstream of the mixing chamber.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
changing a ratio of the wet abrasive that enters the mixing chamber to the dry abrasive that enters the mixing chamber.
15 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
mixing the wet abrasive and the dry abrasive to form a combined abrasive at a location that is downstream of both the first abrasive feed container and the second abrasive feed container and upstream of the mixing chamber.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
metering a flow rate of the dry abrasive at a location upstream of the intersection,
wherein metering the flow rate of the wet abrasive occurs at a location upstream of the intersection.
17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
metering the combined abrasive at a location downstream of the intersection.
18 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining an amount of water within the wet abrasive; and
predicting a cut speed for the abrasive fluid jet to cut a workpiece,
wherein the predicted cut speed is a function of the amount of water within the wet abrasive.
19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
identifying a change in the amount of water within the wet abrasive; and
predicting an updated cut speed for the abrasive fluid jet to cut the workpiece,
wherein the updated cut speed changes based at least in part on the identified change in the amount of water within the wet abrasive.
20 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
predicting a cut speed for a process in which the abrasive fluid jet cuts a workpiece, wherein a first portion of the process includes a predicted cutting speed that is higher than a predicted cutting speed for a second portion of the process;
cutting the workpiece with the abrasive fluid jet using the predicted cutting speeds for the first portion of the process and the second portion of the process; and
while cutting the workpiece, changing the ratio when transitioning from the first portion of the process to the second portion of the process.
21 . The method of claim 20 wherein changing the ratio when transitioning from the first portion of the process to the second portion of the process includes increasing the ratio such that more of the wet abrasive enters the mixing chamber relative to the dry abrasive that enters the mixing chamber.
22 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
dissipating the abrasive fluid jet within a volume of fluid contained within a catcher tank, thereby depositing spent abrasive from the abrasive fluid jet in the volume of fluid;
extracting the spent abrasive from the volume of fluid;
separating particles of the spent abrasive that are below a certain size from a remainder of the spent abrasive; and
transporting the remainder of the spent abrasive to the second abrasive feed container.