Method and apparatus for determining solids delivered from moving slurry

Claim 1

Means for determining the specific gravity of slurries in motion in a pipeline which includes as a continuous part thereof a pair of legs each having a vertical component and each being connected at one end into the pipeline by an elbow and to each other at their opposite ends by a U-bend and wherein the effects of the elbow and the U-bend on the slurry moving in the pipe line subside in the first leg at distances from said elbow and said U-bend which are unequal from the corresponding distances in the second leg, a pair of vertically spaced pressure taps in each of said legs, each tap of the pair in the first leg being positioned downstream and upstream of the first elbow and the U-bend, respectively, substantially where subsidence of the effects of said elbow and U-bend on the slurry flowing in said first leg first occurs, the first tap in the second leg being positioned downstream of the U-bend substantially where subsidence of the effects of said U-bend on the slurry flowing in said second leg first occurs, the second tap of the second leg being positioned upstream of the second elbow where the effects of the second elbow on the slurry flowing in said second leg have subsided and at a vertical distance from the first tap in the second leg which is not less than the distance between the two taps in the first leg, means for measuring the differential of the average pressure between the upper of the taps and the lower of the taps in the two legs, and means for converting the differential pressure into a signal which is a function of the specific gravity of said slurry.

Claim 5

The method of measuring the specific gravity of slurries moving through a pipe line having a U-bend therein including a pair of legs having vertical components comprising the steps of alternately pumping clear water and slurry of known specific gravity through said pipe line, measuring the pressure difference between a pair of vertically spaced positions in each of the respective legs when clear water and when said known slurry is moving in said pipeline, varying said positions, placing pressure taps at those vertically spaced positions of each leg where the pressure difference between said positions in each leg is equal for clear water and also equal for said known slurry, measuring the pressure differential between the average pressure at the upper of said taps and the average pressure at the lower of said taps of both legs when slurry of unknown specific gravity is flowing through the pipe line, and converting said pressure differential into a signal which is a function of the specific gravity of said slurry.

Claim 6

The method of measuring the specific gravity of slurries moving through a pipe line having a U-bend therein including a pair of legs having vertical components comprising the steps of alternately pumping clear water and slurry of known specific gravity through said pipe line, measuring the pressure difference between a pair of vertically spaced positions in each of the respective legs when clear water and when said known slurry is moving in said pipeline, varying said positions, placing pressure taps at those vertically spaced positions of each leg where the pressure difference between said positions in each leg is equal for clear water and also equal for said known slurry, measuring the pressure differential between the average pressure at the upper of said taps and the average pressure at the lower of said taps of both legs when slurry of unknown specific gravity is flowing through the pipe line, and converting said pressure differential into a signal which is a function of the specific gravity of said slurry.