Drill cutting washing apparatus

Abstract

A portable apparatus for sieving, washing, and drying particle samples onsite that are generated from well drill cutting. The apparatus comprises a sievewash chamber to initially remove contaminates from the samples, and a final wash-spin-dry chamber to completely clean and dry the samples for analysis. The two chambers function under the operational control of a computerized system comprising a processor, a user display, and a database storing computer code for operating the apparatus in various cleaning cycles. The sieve-wash chamber comprises two vertically stacked baskets: a coarse basket on top to hold the drill cutting samples; and, a caged basket underneath to catch clean samples as they fall through the coarse mesh screen on the bottom of the coarse basket. The caged basket with the samples is then manually transferred to the wash-spin-dry chamber for processing by motorized rotation of the basket at high rpm's.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An apparatus for cleansing soil samples comprising:
 a first chamber comprising:
 an outer cylindrical wall enclosing two vertically aligned cylindrical baskets, comprising a top basket and a bottom basket of equal dimensions and of sufficient size to house drilling cutting particles; 
 a top lid impermeable to liquids; 
 a water inlet attached to the top lid with a sprayer to distribute water into the top basket; 
 a water outlet attached to the bottom of the chamber to remove liquids and debris from the chamber bottom; 
   a second chamber housing a means for securing and rotating the basket at a high speed sufficient to remove liquid from the contents of the basket;   a computer system, comprising:
 a processor; 
 user input interface; 
 a non-transitory computer readable data storage device comprising computer readable program instructions for receiving and storing user input to control the operation of the first and second chamber. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the bottom end of the top basket comprises a mesh screen with apertures of sufficient size to allow the drilling cutting particles to drain out of the top basket into the bottom basket, while retaining debris in the top basket. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the means for rotating the basket containing the drilling cutting particles comprises a motor attached to a drive mechanism. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3  further comprising two parallel discs attached to the drive mechanism to lock the basket containing the drill cutting particles into a horizontal position, wherein one disc is adjoined to the basket's lid and one disc is adjoined to the basket's bottom. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  further comprising, a water inlet hose to deliver clean hot water to the first and second chamber. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , further comprising an outlet hose for draining debris and liquids out of the first and second chamber. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said sprayer is rotatable above said top basket. 
     
     
         8 . A method of using a portable apparatus to clean and dry particles obtained from well drilling in preparation for analysis of the particles, the method comprising:
 programming a computer system to operate a first chamber to sieve and wash the particles, and a second chamber to rinse and dry the particles, wherein the system comprises:
 a processor; 
 user input interface; 
 a non-transitory computer readable data storage device comprising computer readable program instructions for receiving and storing user input to control the operation of the first and second chamber; 
   utilizing the first chamber to sieve and wash the particles, the chamber comprising:
 an outer cylindrical wall enclosing two vertically aligned cylindrical baskets, comprising a top basket and a bottom basket of equal dimensions and of sufficient size to house drilling cutting particles; 
 a top lid impermeable to liquids; 
 a water inlet attached to the top lid with a sprayer to distribute water onto said top basket; 
 a water outlet attached to the bottom of the chamber to remove liquids and debris from the chamber bottom; 
 wherein the particles are placed into the top basket, and sieved into the bottom basket when water is sprayed into the top basket; 
   placing the bottom basket with the sieved particles into the second chamber, wherein the chamber comprises a means for securing and rotating the basket at high rotational speeds;   pumping water into the second chamber while rotating the basket to remove residual debris from the particles; and,   shutting off the flow of water while continuing to rotate the basket to dry the particles.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the bottom end of the top basket comprises a mesh screen with apertures of sufficient size to allow the drilling cutting particles to drain out of the top basket into the bottom basket, while retaining debris in the top basket. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the means for rotating the basket containing the drilling cutting particles comprises a motor attached to a drive mechanism. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising two parallel discs attached to the drive mechanism to lock the basket containing the drill cutting particles into a horizontal position, wherein one disc is adjoined to the basket's lid and one disc is adjoined to the basket's bottom. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising a water inlet hose to deliver clean hot water to the first and second chamber. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising an outlet hose for draining debris and liquids out of the first and second chamber. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising operating the first and second chambers concurrently.