Roll-off Container Staging for Proppant Delivery Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
The inefficiencies in delivering hydraulic proppants to hydraulic fracturing sites result in idled trucks and uneven demand, leading to increased costs and logistical challenges due to long distances and poor road conditions.
Innovation Solution
The use of roll-off containers filled with proppants transported to well sites, allowing for immediate use and storage, and an in-bound staging location to buffer demand, reducing the need for trucks to wait and ensuring a steady supply.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If proppants are transported directly by truck from transload yard to well site, then delivery speed is improved, but truck idling time increases due to uneven demand
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning proppants in roll-off containers at the well site before they are needed. Trucks deliver containers to a staging area at the well site in advance, allowing the proppants to be ready for immediate use when the hydraulic fracturing operation begins, eliminating truck idling time while maintaining fast delivery speed
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary element - the roll-off container with staging area - between the transload yard and the hydraulic fracturing operation. This intermediary allows proppants to be transported efficiently by truck while being stored on-site, decoupling the delivery speed from the actual consumption rate and eliminating the need for trucks to idle waiting for uneven demand to be met
2Reliability
If multiple trucks are used to ensure continuous supply, then proppant availability is improved, but cost increases due to idled trucks and drivers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses preliminary action by delivering and staging multiple roll-off containers at the well site before the hydraulic fracturing operation begins. This ensures proppant availability is maintained throughout the operation without requiring multiple trucks to be continuously present, thereby reducing the operational costs associated with idled trucks and drivers while maintaining high reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs roll-off containers as temporary, single-use delivery units that are delivered, staged, and then emptied at the well site. These containers provide a cost-effective solution for ensuring proppant availability without the ongoing costs of maintaining multiple expensive trucks and drivers on standby, as the containers can be replaced rather than the expensive trucking resources being continuously deployed
3Stability of the object's composition
If proppants are stored at transload yard before delivery, then supply stability is improved, but delivery time increases due to long distance and poor road conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the proppant supply into multiple roll-off containers that are delivered separately and staged at the well site. This allows the total proppant quantity to be transported in manageable segments via truck, reducing the impact of long distances and poor road conditions on overall delivery time while maintaining supply stability through the staged arrangement of multiple containers
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the spatial dimension of the delivery system by introducing an on-site staging area at the well site. Instead of delivering all proppants in a single long-haul trip, the system uses a two-stage approach: first delivering containers to a staging area near the well site, then making the proppants available for immediate use. This dimensional change separates the long-distance transport from the final delivery, reducing the impact of road conditions on total delivery time while maintaining supply stability
Data Source
AI summary
A roll-off container is filled with a material at a loading site to produce a filled roll-off container. The filled roll-off container is transported on a transport vehicle to a use site. The filled roll-off container is rolled from the transport vehicle at the use site. The material is used at the use site.