So I had a Eureka moment yesterday, and need some help sorting it out. I am convinced that I should have been an efficency/time study guy, not a driller, but back on point. I have concieved a plan to greatly speed up the vertical looping process using off the shelf available parts and mature technology. When viewed by the masses it will prolly be copied and knocked off. Any thoughts on how I can cash in on idea prior to it being released and copied? The jist is that it will save labor big time and give the project engineers something to really sink their teeth into to garauntee results for the owner/ project. It is not a new idea, it has just never been applied to driling before, because many seem to be stuck on doing it the way they were taught regardless of wether it is right or wrong or efficiant. Anyone else been down this road? I would like a big check. If that is not possible I will just be heralded as the one that turned a page when it came to loop drilling if I am lucky! lol
Eric, I can't help you to protect your Eureka Idea, ... but I am definitely interested once you let the word out.
Eric- There is no reason a drilling method and/or process can't be patented. It's done all of the time in the oil and gas industry. The trick in making money is to then convince others that they need to license the technology to use it. A good example is that the use of sonic drilling for geothermal installation is actually a patented process owned by a company in TX and can be seen at Earth Loop Installed With Sonic Apparatus invention As the owner has a customized rig capable of sonic/mud-rotary/dual rotary, there is litigation pending against some big name geo installers that are using sonic (namely Sonic Drill). However, deep pockets are needed to succeed on the litigation front going after others that infringe upon your patent. A better option that ensures revenue is to design/manufacture a customized rig since you can capitalize on your work immediately. -Adam
As an update to this thread I pushed the concept untill it went economically un-feasible. The idea was to have a grout machine that had the sand and the grout in seperate hoppers, both feeding into the mixing tank via a auger system driven by hydraulics and, metered by a timer. That would put a unskilled labor position on the grout machine and still be able to hit the engineering spec every time, every batch. Everything was going fine until it came to the grout. Because the manufacturing is set up to produce 50# sacks it was a significant upcharge to get them to package in bulk super sacks. The idea is still good, but paying someone to dump 50# sacks of grout into the hoper prior to the days work is where the concept went south. I may still build the machine out as it is cost effective for a commercial job in the 350 to 400 hole range. Eric
bulk grout Eric- You may want to talk to some other grout/bentonite manufacturers. Many thermal grouts are sodium bentonite/sodium montmorillonite with no chemical polymers or organic additives and are thus mined clay. If there is anything special in it then it will show up in the MSDS sheet such as http://www.bhbentonite.com/pdf/ThermalGroutSelect.pdf About 80% of bentonite is mined in Wyoming and many mines have it available in bulk by the truckload or 3,000 lb bulk bags for pond sealing, mining, subsurface sediment caps, grout walls, etc. delivered for about 10 cents a pound. The trick is getting the right size granules/powder and screening out the silt/sand that is in the mined clay--but since we are adding sand for thermal grouts the latter shouldn't be an issue. If you haven't, I would talk directly to the mining companies such as Black HIlls, WyoBen, Seminole Mud Company, Texas Sodium Bentonite Inc. PDSco (Cowboy Mining), or others. Of course, you may have to do your own thermal conductivity testing but that really isn't a big deal. -Adam
