Method and apparatus for electrohydraulic fracturing of rock and

Mining or in situ disintegration of hard material – Processes – Directly applying heat or vibration

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Details

166249, 166299, 166308, 166311, E21C 3718, E21B 3708

Patent

active

044796803

ABSTRACT:
Electrohydraulic fracturing of rock and other dense materials is accomplished by coupling a hydraulic medium to the material to be fractured and inducing an explosive electrical discharge in the coupling medium in close proximity to the dense material thus developing an electrohydraulic shock wave in the coupling medium. This shock wave is transmitted into the rock or other dense material as an advancing compressive strain pulse which radiates from the explosive electrical discharge through the dense material until it is reflected by a free surface as a tensile strain pulse. The tensile strain pulse is impedance matched with the dense material to be fractured such that the tensile strain pulse induces in situ fracturing of the dense material. A motor driven generator system which provides alternating current to a control unit which incorporates a transformer and diode controlled bridge rectifier system providing stepped up DC voltage. The DC voltage is stored in a capacitor bank and is subsequently discharged through an exploding wire element or spark gap to develop the explosive electrical discharge.

REFERENCES:
patent: 3116449 (1963-12-01), Vogel
patent: 3118418 (1965-04-01), MacLeod
patent: 3500942 (1970-03-01), Smith, Jr.
patent: 3544165 (1970-12-01), Snedden
patent: 3708022 (1973-01-01), Woodruff
patent: 4074758 (1978-02-01), Scott
patent: 4164978 (1979-08-01), Scott
patent: 4169503 (1979-10-01), Scott
patent: 4343356 (1982-08-01), Riggs et al.
patent: 4345650 (1982-08-01), Wesley
Sarapuu, "Electro-Energetic Rock Breaking Systems", Mining Congress Journal, Jun. 1973, pp. 44-54.

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