U.S. patent application number 17/339934 was filed with the patent office on 2021-12-09 for method and apparatus for concentrated energy drilling, core drilling, automated mining and tunneling.
The applicant listed for this patent is Dana R. Allen. Invention is credited to Dana R. Allen.
Application Number | 20210381315 17/339934 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000005823379 |
Filed Date | 2021-12-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210381315 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Allen; Dana R. |
December 9, 2021 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATED ENERGY DRILLING, CORE
DRILLING, AUTOMATED MINING AND TUNNELING
Abstract
A system, method, and apparatus for creating core samples,
including a core bit; and a high-energy source disposed at a
perimeter of the cutting head. That system, method, and apparatus
allows removing much less material using much less energy than the
current state of the art. A reason for this is that prior attempts
tried to accomplish this via drilling just from the surface with a
very large device or to send down hole a very large device. This
invention makes it feasible to send high energy down hole is a
relatively tiny device such as an optical fiber with a laser beam
to cut the peripheral part of the hole to remove an intact center
core or to bore a very small hole without a center core. With this
invention it is feasible to drill a very small hole such as 0.25
inches diameter hundreds of feet through rock, or a 4 inch hole
with less than 0.5 inch outer part of the hole being destroyed
leaving a core in the center than can be removed. This invention
has many more capabilities beyond these.
Inventors: |
Allen; Dana R.; (Luquillo,
PR) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Allen; Dana R. |
Luquillo |
PR |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000005823379 |
Appl. No.: |
17/339934 |
Filed: |
June 4, 2021 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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63034408 |
Jun 4, 2020 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E21B 25/04 20130101;
E21B 7/15 20130101 |
International
Class: |
E21B 7/15 20060101
E21B007/15; E21B 25/04 20060101 E21B025/04 |
Claims
1. An apparatus for creating core samples, the apparatus
comprising: a core cutting head 1100a; and a concentrated energy
beam/s (1340) such as a laser beam/s 1340 disposed at a perimeter
of the cutting head of the core bit.
2. A method for drilling that creates core samples and drills holes
only destroying the perimeter of the hole, the method comprising:
cutting materials with concentrated energy beams such as laser
beams wherein the energy source is disposed on a perimeter of a
cutting head.
3. An apparatus for drilling, the apparatus comprising: a
concentrated energy beam drill pipe such as laser beams for
transporting cores to the surface; wherein: the laser drill pipe is
capable of being zippered open to be non-circular for ease of
rolling and/or storage or it is a non zippered continuous drill
pipe.
4. A method for assisting core drilling, the method comprising:
providing a differential fluid pressure for raising cores, rock
dust and rock chips or other materials inside a drill pipe by
having a double wall pipe or more than two walls with a hollow
pressure channel so that pressure is not lost in porous materials
in the borehole, instead the pressure is maintained to the bottom
which aids both core recovery and purging the laser cutting head or
other concentrated energy beam cutting head,
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to provisional application:
Ser. No. 63/034,408 filed Jun. 4, 2020, entitled "A METHOD AND
APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATED ENERGY DRILLING, CORE DRILLING,
AUTOMATED MINING AND TUNNELING" the disclosures of which is
incorporated by reference herein in its entireties. Furthermore,
where a definition or use of a term in a reference, which is
incorporated by reference herein, is inconsistent or contrary to
the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that
term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the
reference does not apply.
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
[0002] The disclosure relates generally to the field of drilling,
core drilling, and mining.
BACKGROUND
[0003] There are many ways to drill or bore through material.
Currently core drilling of rock, concrete, etc. is done via diamond
core drills, which are hollow pipes, studded with diamonds that
leave a "core" inside the pipe. Diamond core drilling is very
expensive, slow, becomes much slower as depth increases and
requires a great deal of power but it is still used extensively
because it returns intact cores to the surface for geologists and
assayers to interpret.
[0004] Another alternative is reverse circulation drilling which
hammers small chips from the bottom of the hole, which are raised
inside the drill pipe via airflow, which is pumped down outside the
drill pipe. It is faster than diamond core drilling but does not
produce intact cores.
[0005] A third alternative is Percussion Rotary Air Blast drilling.
Like Reverse Circulation, the rock is pulverized and blown by
airflow back to the surface. The chips are mixed on way to surface
with both these methods so it is not precise in terms of depth
correlation with diamond core drilling.
[0006] A fourth is the common twist/auger type drilling in ground
and rock and in machine shops for metal, wood and other
materials.
[0007] A fifth is rotary bit drilling as used in the oil and gas
drilling industry, which is fairly fast, does not create cores but
does return chips to the surface through drill mud, requires very
high horsepower and slows greatly beyond depths of 10,000 feet. All
of these alternatives and some other existing drilling technologies
are generally very expensive, slow and require a lot of energy at
deeper depths.
[0008] With the exception of diamond core drilling virtually all
drilling, mining and tunneling methods destroy the entire rock,
concrete, metal or other materials in the pathway they create, at
great expense of energy and lack an intact core to study
afterwards. Even though diamond core drilling only removes the
perimeter of the hole it is very slow with a common rate of
penetration of about 12 feet an hour and can cost over $70 per
foot.
SUMMARY
[0009] An apparatus and method for creating a core sample. The
apparatus includes a coring bit that removes material with
concentrated energy not mechanical force and allows for the energy
source to be disposed on the outside of the borehole, if so
desired, for cutting of materials. Lasers being an example of how
the energy source can be on the outside of desired core and the
material and the concentrated energy beams can be transported long
distances via a channel such as laser or optical fibers to the
cutting face. The method for creating core samples includes cutting
of materials with concentrated energy beams on the periphery of the
borehole only, greatly reducing the material destruction required
for the same sized hole and at the same time greatly reducing the
energy required to bore. In one embodiment, a laser drill pipe can
be zippered so that cores can be removed at the surface easily and
storage space can be greatly reduced for the laser drill pipe by
making the laser drill pipe roll flat outside of the borehole. With
such a roll flat zippered drill pipe it is feasible to have 1,000
feet of drill pipe in a roll that can fit in the bed of a pickup
truck.
[0010] The apparatus to bore small holes with a concentrated energy
beam referred to here as an earth needle where there is no core
created and the cuttings and vapors generated are removed and
returned to the surface for compositional analysis if desired via a
single wall or multiwall tube that uses differential higher
pressure in a fluid whether a gas or liquid on outside and lower
pressure inside or the opposite. In another embodiment, the
apparatus and method are used for steering a borehole or for
self-correcting straight drilling, both for core drilling or for an
earth needle via differential power or directional guiding of the
concentrated energy beam/beams at the cutting head. Other
concentrated energy beam examples are plasma jets, water jets,
water jets with lasers inside them, microwaves, etc.
[0011] The method and apparatus to protect the exit point of the
concentrated energy beams such as a laser beam exiting a bare
optical fiber or lens with an engulfing fluid flow so that debris,
vapors, etc, do not damage of contaminate the exit surface. For
example if a laser beam exit point gets smudged or chipped it can
reflect back or heat to the point of melting if the laser beam is
restricted from exiting by such damage causing more damage and
possible failure of this drilling device. An engulfing fluid flow
such as high pressure dry air or water is used by this invention to
not allow blow-back to reach the exit surface. This works for a
single point such as a single laser fiber surrounded with an
engulfing fluid flow or for a circular pipe with beams exiting with
an engulfing inner and outer fluid flow that prevents blow-back
from reaching the exit surface. It also works for cutting sheets
which could be square shaped or just a flat sheet. With fluid flow
on both sides the cutting sheets exit surface can be protected.
[0012] The apparatus and method for concentrated energy beams to be
in flexible cutting sheets that can be shaped to the desired shape
and dimensions desired to cut material. One embodiment utilizes a
single fiber that oscillates back and forth in a tube or cutting
sheet to cover a much larger distance of the periphery to be cut
than a stationary fiber. For one embodiment, continuous tube can be
used for the drill pipe such as 1'' that can be rolled without
permanently bending the tube. Beam multiplexing is utilized in one
embodiment. In one embodiment, the bore can be glassified, with
feedback on when it is complete, as lasers can detect temperature.
For one embodiment three separate laser operations can be used to
bore, glassify the borehole and cut off cores at the same time or
sequentially.
[0013] The prevention of the exit surface contacting the cutting or
working surface can be accomplished several ways with this
invention. With laser beams if the exit surface for the beam is
blocked or damaged catastrophic damage can result. One method and
apparatus is standoff prongs which can be a high temperature
material such as tungsten. The prongs can restrain the drill pipe
from advancing until the surface it rests on is removed then via
gravity or a feeding mechanism the drill pipe advances. One or more
standoff prongs can be used. Another method is a sensing device
that detects when the bore hole has advanced then incrementally
advances the drill pipe or sheet so as to maintain optimal distance
from beam exit surface to work surface.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEW OF DRAWINGS
[0014] Example embodiments are described by way of illustrations
and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
[0015] FIG. 1 is one example of a laser drill pipe 10, the cutting
head protective lens 12 and the optical fibers 14 embedded in the
drill pipe according to one or more embodiments.
[0016] FIG. 2 shows an array of 3 fibers 20 on the perimeter of
zippered laser drill pipe 22 in the lens 24 of the laser drill pipe
22 and the cutting head lens with one mirror 26 to cut inward to
cut off the core another mirror to cut outward 27 to glassify the
borehole and a third 25 that is unmirrored and bores ahead.
[0017] FIG. 3 shows a movable oscillating fiber holder 30 with
three fibers in cross section that oscillates back and forth in the
end of the laser drill pipe 32 to cut the perimeter of the bore
hole, so each operation of boring, glassifying the bore hole and
cutting off the core can be done with one fiber each one which is
unmirrored 34, one mirrored inward 35 and one mirrored outward
36.
[0018] FIG. 4 shows how without mirrors the beams can be redirected
by bending the fiber and or optical bending with a lens 43 or
bending with differential refractive index so that the laser beam
exits straight ahead in 41, inward in 42, outward in 44. The
protective lens is 46 and the laser drill pipe is 48.
[0019] FIG. 5 shows how an array of fibers on the outside of the
laser drill pipe 50 which are marked by laser fiber 52 (black) that
are dedicated to rock core cutoff when directed inward and will cut
the core off with proper shaping of the beams. White marked optical
fiber 51 when used will cut straight ahead and white marked laser
fiber 54 will melt the borehole outward.
[0020] FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of a zipper 60 to join the
roll-flat laser drill pipe 62 so it becomes a pipe that is
relatively air and water tight.
[0021] FIGS. 7A and 7B show how above the surface the zippered
laser drill pipe 70 can be unzipped or zipped. FIG. 7A is side view
and FIG. 7B is front view. In FIG. 7A there are two o-rings 71 that
seal the zippered drill pipe 70. In FIG. 7B a relative low pressure
source is connected to help move rock cores 75 to the surface. At
point 72 the zipper 73 is opened. A relatively straight and
unzippered pipe 74 matches the opening shape of the laser drill
pipe 70 so as to maintain relative low pressure and continue the
rock core 75 movement out of drill hole. FIG. 9A shows that
continuing movement of the rock core 75.
[0022] FIG. 8A shows a rock core 800 that is coming to the surface
before it enters the lock system 810 with the gate 820 open to
allow the drill core to enter the lock system 810. 815 is the pivot
point for the lock system and 830 is the relative low pressure
source with 835 being a valve to redirect the low pressure to the
bottom pipe 840 or the upper pipe 845 to assist moving cores into
the lock system 810 depending on rock core location. Subsequent
[0023] FIG. 8B shows the rock core after it has been moved into the
lock and the gate 820 is closed to hold the core in the lock and
prevent ambient air pressure from leaking into the drill hole.
[0024] FIG. 8C shows the lock being pivoted on pivot point 815 to
release the rock core 810 in the same sequence as the rock
formation while the next core is being moved up the laser drill
pipe with suction or relative low pressure above and higher
pressure below being maintained via the bottom pipe 840 and valve
835.
[0025] FIG. 9 shows one embodiment of a dual wall laser drill pipe
900 to get air pressure 910 down to the drill head in case the bore
hole is porous and losing pressure on outside of pipe.
[0026] FIG. 10 shows an earth needle nozzle apparatus 100 that the
earth needle outer drill pipe 105 can snap attach or detach to. The
optical fiber 110 is glued or otherwise attached to the inside of
the earth needle nozzle apparatus and with or without a lens the
laser beam exits it with a engulfing fluid flow 115 that travels
down the earth needle inner drill pipe 108 that surrounds the laser
fiber thus preventing blow-back from drilling to damage or smudge
the exit surface of the laser beam, A drill pipe which can be very
small such at 5 mm outside diameter is feasible with this
apparatus. It also shows standoff prongs 120 which maintain a
constant beneficial distance from a laser beam exit surface 112 to
drill hole work surface allowing the earth needle drill pipe to
only advance after material is removed from underneath it. The
standoff prongs 120 can withstand the heat when made of high
melting point materials.
[0027] As the earth needle nozzle apparatus 100 bores through the
rock 125 the rock it broken up into small rock fragments or dust
which are blown back up the annulus 128 between the earth needle
inner drill pipe 108 and the earth needle outer drill pipe 105. To
prevent jamming an earth needle nozzle grating 130 only allows
pieces small enough not to jam through referred to as rock dust
135. The pieces too large it fit through the earth needle nozzle
grating 130 swirl around in the turbulent flow in front of the
laser beam 1340 being hit again until small enough to fit through
earth needle nozzle grating 130. Fluid is also pumped down the
outside of the earth needle outer drill pipe 105 to assist moving
the rock dust 135 up the annulus 128. This particular embodiment
utilizes a venturi 150 to increase the velocity of the engulfing
fluid flow 115 for additional protection of the laser exit surface
112.
[0028] FIG. 11 shows an end view of a triple tube laser drill pipe
1100 with the outer wall/tube being 1105, the center tube being
1110 with an oscillating laser holder 1115 with 3 fibers for
straight ahead, cut-off and outward operations and the center tube
1110 and an inner tube 1120.
[0029] FIG. 12 shows a triple tube laser drill pipe [cutting head]
1100a in side view drilling. It shows a protective lens 1212 over
the exit surface of optical fiber 1215 and it can work that way or
without the lens. Engulfing fluid flow 1220 protects the laser exit
surface with or without a lens. Standoff prongs 1230 maintain
constant distance to working surface of rock 1240. The same tubes
exist as in FIGS. 11, 1105a, 1110a and 1115a.
[0030] FIG. 13 shows the same apparatus of FIG. 12 but after cutoff
is achieved. The rock core 1310 has been cut off by an inward
redirection of the laser beam/s as explained in this disclosure.
That rock core 1310 has started to lift up the inner tube 1315 of
the laser drilling pipe 1320 due to differential fluid pressure,
more pressure below it than above it. The center tube 1322 contains
either stationary or moving optical fibers 1325. The laser beam/s
1340 are cutting the next rock core with the standoff prongs 1230a
maintaining constant distance to the working surface. Outer tube
1330 and inner tube 1315 provide a dual channel around center tube
1322 for an engulfing fluid flow 1350. This shows no lens over the
laser fiber exit surface, which is feasible due to engulfing fluid
flow 1350.
[0031] FIG. 14a shows a bottom view of a laser cutting sheet 1410.
This embodiment is using an oscillating laser fiber holder 1420
with 3 optical fibers connected. If used alone to cut a plane the
width of laser cutting sheet 1410 only a straight ahead laser
beam/s is required. FIG. 15 will show uses for more than straight
ahead laser cutting sheets. On all 4 sides of the laser cutting
sheet 1410 are fluid transmitting channels 1430, 1431, 1432, and
1433 which provide engulfing fluid flow 1440 to protect the laser
exit surface.
[0032] FIG. 14b shows a side view of a laser cutting sheet 1410a
cutting rock 1415. It is the same apparatus as in FIG. 14a. It can
used fixed laser fibers but in this case is using an oscillating
laser fiber holder 1420a with 3 laser fibers 1430 attached and a
laser beam 1440 removing rock 1415 on the same plane as the laser
cutting sheet 1410a.
[0033] FIG. 15a, FIG. 15b and FIG. 15c show Laser cutting sheets of
different configurations, with FIG. 15a being a square cut, FIG.
15b being an oval cut and FIG. 15c being a triangular cut. All
three maintain an engulfing fluid flow to protect the laser exit
surface 1510 with an outer channel 1520 and inner one 1530 that
protect the laser exit surface 1510.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0034] The claims define the matter for protection. Disclosed in
the specification is an apparatus, system, and method with several
embodiments that overcome the limitations of the prior art. The
disclosure accomplishes this through a system that destroys only a
tiny portion of the rock, concrete or other material to be drilled
or tunneled through via concentrated beam energy on the periphery,
similar to how a cookie cutter works. The system greatly reduces
the energy required, increases the speed, and requires no
rotational friction that slows progress greatly at depth, returns
drill cores or mined/tunneled material intact and can even be done
remotely without personnel underground. It can operate underwater
and in poisonous gas areas and under lethal pressures. It can be
applied to core drilling, conventional drilling such as oil/gas
drilling, mining, tunneling and other drilling/boring activities
such as metal or ceramic drilling. Research indicates it will be
faster that current methods and have a smaller equipment footprint
than most methods.
[0035] The disclosure's concentrated beam can be a laser
transmitted through fiber optics that moves along with the boring
progress or a laser beam directly from the laser source that
remains stationary until desired depth is attained, or other
concentrated beam methods of delivery. Other concentrated energy
beams can be water jets, water jets with laser beams within them,
sonic waves, heat beams such as flame jets, plasma jets other
electromagnetic wave types such as microwaves, etc.
[0036] The disclosure includes an apparatus to deliver the
concentrated beam energy to cut holes that are round or virtually
any shape. The disclosure includes but is not limited to the
following description of several particular apparatus for core
drilling through rock, concrete, etc or boring through various
materials without coring. This description illustrates the
principal of how this disclosure can be used.
[0037] This disclosure provides a method and apparatus to do core
drilling via a thin walled pipe that has laser fiber optics in it
attached to a laser source that can be nearby or hundreds or even
thousands of feet above at the surface. The fiber optics can be
encased in a thin protective external and internal lining of metal,
plastic or other materials. When the laser cutting energy is
applied to one end of the cutting pipe, the other end transmits it
as cutting energy to the rock, boring through the rock similar to
how a cookie cutter works, destroying just a thin cylinder at the
outer diameter leaving an intact core. For example, the area
destroyed could be a 1.05 inch outer diameter and a 0.80 inch inner
diameter, leaving an intact 0.80 inch core at the center and a 1.05
inch borehole using a 1 inch outside diameter cutting pipe with a
0.90 inch inside diameter. FIG. 1 shows the basic concept of a
laser drill pipe and laser drill head and lens.
[0038] Current research indicates that rates of penetration with
lasers applied in a manner that causes spallation is much faster
than convention diamond core drilling and even faster than massive
convention rotary bit oil drilling rigs. Rates of over three inches
per second have been achieved in laser rock spallation tests in
2004 by Argonne National Laboratory (LASER SPALLATION OF ROCKS FOR
OIL WELL DRILLING Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on
Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics 2004). Even comparatively
low power 1,000 watt lasers have achieved over one inch per second
rock penetration rates in tests. This disclosure is not limited to
drilling or mining or tunneling in rocks it will work on concrete,
dirt, alluvial gravel, wood, metal, plastic, and many other
materials. The reason this application mostly refers to rock is
that rock is one of the hardest things to drill and is generally
the thing that is drilled/tunneled the longest distance.
[0039] In this particular example that illustrates the principals
of this disclosure after a desired depth is achieved to remove the
core the core can be cut off at the bottom via many methods
including encased movable mirrors at the end that angle the laser
beams inward, mirrors that can be switched on and off (made
transparent) such as metal-hydride or other electro/optically
switchable mirrors or having a second stationary set of optical
fiber/s that will cut inward via mirrors, lenses or bring pointed
that way as show in FIG. 4 in the lens where one is angled in for
cutoff or even three sets of laser fibers, aka optical fibers, as
shown in FIG. 2 (FIG. 2 3 mirrors 3 Operations Cutting Head) with
one doing boring, another mirrored inward to cutoff the core and a
third mirrored outward to glassify the drill bore when needed. FIG.
2a shows that one fiber's beam continues straight to bore ahead,
FIG. 2b shows one fiber's beam is directed inward to cut off the
core via a mirror, and FIG. 2C show one fiber's beam is reflected
by a mirror outward (to the right) to glassify the bore hole. The
laser fiber/s can also be mobile within the hollow laser-cutting
pipe such as cycling one fiber back and forth in a 360-degree arc
to advance the cut instead of having many stationary laser fibers
within the hollow laser-cutting pipe as shown in FIG. 3 which shows
3 fibers in a holder which can do all three operations or bore,
cutoff and glassify the borehole.
[0040] If the laser cutting beams are redirected 80 degrees inward
they will meet at the center of the core a short distance in front
of the hollow laser cutting pipe, cutting the rock core off as
shown in FIG. 5. Then the core can be lifted to the surface inside
the hollow laser cutting pipe (which can be left at depth) via
several methods including a system of air flow and air pressure
directed down the outside of the pipe which blows the rock dust
generated during drilling up the inside of the pipe then when the
core is cut off lifts the highly intact core to the surface inside
the pipe which can be a continuous tube hundreds of feet in length
and flexible so it can be coiled. In addition to air pressure
pushing the rock cores back to the surface also it can be air
suction in the center of the pipe or both air pressure pushing
while air suction is pulling the core to the surface.
[0041] Lasers can penetrate through water and tests have shown
having water or wet rocks at cutting surface in some cases even
helps with cutting. In addition to air other liquids and gases can
be used to remove dust and cores, such as water, oil drilling mud,
inert gases and even heavy liquids that can float rocks.
[0042] The rock core if it is 0.85'' outer diameter and one foot
long would only weigh a few pounds so moderate air pressure
differential such as 15 psi would easily and quickly move the rock
core to the surface. Then the procedure is repeated without the
necessity of extracting the laser drill pipe. This method also
allows for the cores to be bar-coded or otherwise marked as to
orientation and depth by angling in the beam on the core
selectively for marking the core not cutting it off before reaching
the end of the core depth. As often occurs in rock assaying,
one-half of the rock core is destroyed by slicing the core in half
lengthwise and assaying one of the halves. In the present
embodiment, the core sample is bar coded or otherwise marked on
both sides of the so that if one half is destroyed the other side
is still coded.
[0043] This disclosure provides many advantages to the current
state of the art. The weight of the laser drill pipe alone is
enough to drill downward, no heavy and elaborate equipment is
required to pressure the drill head, no rotational torque is
required which greatly slows a conventional diamond core drill when
it scratches rock to advance and also the drill pipe friction along
the drill hole with the rock bore hole. This disclosure can use a
continuous tube instead of the common heavy steel ten foot threaded
sections that have to be attached and unattached one by one each
time a diamond core drill pipe is removed and inserted again which
is common from bit wear. The cores will be more intact than what
diamond core drills provide due to the lack of massive mechanic
force applied to the rick. Conventional drill cores often crumble
in weaker sections of rock. For sideways and upward drilling, only
the weight of the pipe and bore friction is needed to be overcome
to advance the pipe through the material. This is a tiny fraction
of the force required for diamond core drills.
[0044] Research tests done by the U.S. Government indicates laser
spallation can be much faster than the current drilling methods.
These tests however were just short distances at the surface of the
rock with stationary convention laser machines and the cut holes
not cores, unlike this invention that cuts cores and is able to
deliver the laser beams down hole to the cutting surface without
the great air distance obstructed with rock chips and dust which
happens with surface laser drilling.
[0045] This disclosure's ability to remove large amounts of
material while destroying just a tiny amount of the material
applies to many more areas than core drilling. The disclosure is
adaptable to virtually any drilling, boring, milling, mining, blast
hole drilling and tunneling application. A 24-foot wide hemisphere
shaped highway tunnel can be bored with this same general system,
requiring less than 5% and potentially less than 1% of the tunnel
area rock to be fractured or destroyed. In such a tunneling
operation very few and possibly no people are required to be
underground during boring. The complexity of automated mining or
tunneling using this disclosure is less than that of driver-less
cars as it is in a controlled environment with fewer variables and
potential problems.
[0046] Other advantages of this invention is that it can operate in
environments for mining where people cannot, such as underwater, in
poisonous and explosive gas areas, in areas too narrow for a human,
in temperatures too high for humans (common problem in deep mines),
and it requires no oxygen and it can self evacuate water in a more
efficient manner than conventional mining via differential pressure
(high pressure within the mine tunnel). On average hundreds of
people die each year in mines around the world. The current
disclosure can eliminate most mining risks to humans.
[0047] In regard to self-evacuating water while mining, the current
state of the art for centuries is to remove water via pumps and
bucket systems. The cost of removing water so miners can work can
be the biggest cost of a mine and has shut down many of the biggest
mines in America. This disclosure includes a method either to work
underwater or to remove the water from the drill hole or mine shaft
via high air pressure, thus not pumping the water out but
overcoming the water pressure in the surrounding rocks. This would
kill the miners in the deeper mines but because the disclosure
includes the ability to do underground mining without miners, high
air pressures can be used. This disclosure also includes the
ability to eliminate explosive gases via pumping in inert gases
such as CO2 or nitrogen, as the equipment requires no oxygen and
unmanned operation is possible, whereas miners do require oxygen.
This method provides the advantage of reducing or possibly
eliminating mine fires when used. In addition the glassification
ability of this invention can seal the rock surface reducing
permeability so less water comes into the bore hole or tunnel.
[0048] A major advantage of the current disclosure is it does not
require wide and heavy steel pipes for rotational torque without
twisting off. In oil wells the steel drilling pipe diameter can
exceed 12''. The current disclosure requires no torque force or
pipe rotation so at depths that convention drilling requires a 12''
pipe diameter the disclosure could use a 1'' diameter drill pipe.
This combines two advantages that reduce the energy required to
drill deeply, only removing material in a thin outer periphery and
with much smaller drill pipe diameter. This can result in possibly
less than 1% of the rock destruction energy of most methods of
drilling used today, greatly reducing the energy required and
increasing the drill progress speed compared to the energy
expended. Another inherent advantage is greatly reduced wear on the
drill head and pipe, so the equipment will last longer and require
less maintenance.
[0049] The hollow laser-cutting pipe can be zippered so it is a
pipe in the drill hole but at the surface it can be unzippered and
rolled flat or semi flat taking up a small area compared to
straight pipe or coiled tube. FIG. 6 shows the zippered pipe joined
together with a cross view and FIG. 7 shows the pipe being zippered
or unzippered at the surface.
[0050] For mining operations the disclosure has the advantage of
adapting the shape of the tunnel to fit the ore body, whether it be
square, rectangular or virtually any shape as the concentrated beam
energy can be delivered in a segmented periphery similar to the top
of a roll top desk, and that segmented delivery system/apparatus
can be added to or reduced in circumference so as to expand or
contract the mine shaft size to adapt to the ore body in highly
efficient manner. This same method and apparatus can be applied to
the laser drill pipe so that not only continuous tube and zippered
one piece roll flat can be used, but multiple pieces can be joined
together to create the drill pipe in parallel and the field pipe
can be modularly increased or decreased in diameter but adding and
removing sections or segments.
[0051] The disclosure is highly scalable, it can be used to drill
sub 1'' holes or replace current open pit mining and quarrying
methods removing larger than 100-foot wide rock blocks. The
disclosure has the ability to adapt to different materials on the
fly and change the method of concentrated energy application, for
example with lasers switching from pulsed beam to continuous beam
or from spallation to melting to vaporization based on feedback
from sensors as different materials are encountered. In cases where
voids may be encountered between the pulses of a pulsed laser or a
timeout on continuous beam or using a dedicated fiber for this a
low power harmless measurement signal can be sent to determine
distance and detect in an almost instant basis that a void has been
found. Using this feedback mechanism the laser can be shut off.
This is an important safety factor if this disclosure is used to do
mine rescues or other applications where people may be
encountered.
[0052] The disclosure makes it possible to automate many mining and
drilling operations whereby a single operator at the surface or
even in a different country can run an operation via computerized
controls, sensors and video feedback.
Core Drilling Example:
[0053] The fundamental principal of the disclosure is the use of
concentrated energy, not mechanical energy being applied to cut a
periphery such as circle or rectangle using much less energy than
destroying the entire area. Diamond core drilling of rock as used
to explore for ore bodies or for geologic knowledge is generally
the slowest form of drilling. The disclosure appears likely to
reverse that so core drilling can be done with the speed of
penetration faster than the current state of the art for non-core
drilling. The Summary of the Disclosure has already described many
of the steps of core drilling. This example will use as the form of
concentrated energy laser beams directed through fiber optics, but
is not limited to either.
[0054] A hollow tube with the preferred embodiment shape of a
circle so as to better withstand air pressure from the outside is
embedded with laser fiber/s, which are protected from rock friction
inside or outside the laser drill pipe with a protective layer or
being inside the pipes inner and outer surfaces. FIG. 1 shows this.
In this example, the cutting end will have a transparent lens of
hard material that is also high temperature resistant such as
mineral glass. This lens will be in close to contact with the rock
as it progresses and can shape the laser beams for maximum
effectiveness for spallation or other methods of laser cutting and
melting. When the laser cutting energy is applied to one end of the
cutting pipe, the other end transmits it as cutting energy to the
rock, boring through the rock similar to how a cookie cutter works,
destroying just a thin cylinder at the outer diameter leaving an
intact core. The energy loss if very small in laser fibers allowing
the disclosure to drill through rock for miles. The fibers can be
fed with multiple laser sources producing multiple beams, one per
fiber, or one laser source can be multiplexed between multiple
fibers at full power, or one laser source can be spread to multiple
fibers with splitters or equivalent, or any combination of these
methods and apparatus. For one example if a 2,000 watt laser source
is split over 10 fibers evenly then all 10 can transmit 200 watts
at the same time to the cutting surface. Or with multiplexing the
same 2,000 watt laser source can quickly switch and apply 2,000
watts to each fiber for a brief moment before moving to the next
fiber.
[0055] The lens can have a movable mirror system, or use
metal-hydride switchable mirrors or have multiple fibers in the
pipe that are angled inward or redirected through stationary
mirrors or an optical lens to cut inward to cut off the core, or
bore and or glassify the borehole which require different angles
for the laser beams. Movable mirrors enable one method to make the
laser drill head steerable or to allow self correcting straight
drilling. FIG. 2 shows an example with three fibers, one to bore
ahead one to cut off the core and one to glassify the bore if
necessary. In this case of FIG. 2 the boring fiber goes straight
forward with no mirror in the way, the fiber for cutting off the
core in FIG. 2 is aimed at a mirror that directs in inward cut off
the rock core and the fiber for glassifying the bore FIG. 2 is
aimed at mirror which directs the beam outward to the drill bore
for glassifying it. In this example, the cutting lens will
optically be optimized for forward cutting and for cutting off the
core and for glassifying the borehole as multiple beams pathways in
one lens is possible. FIG. 2 shows three fibers for three operation
and they would be repeated many times in the circumference of the
cutting lens so as for the beams to overlap as shown in FIG. 5 for
boring ahead, FIG. 13 for cutoff and FIG. 4 laser beam exits
outward in 44 for borehole glassification. Many arrangements of
mirrors and fibers can be used, this particular one allow a thinner
drill pipe.
[0056] Lasers can be set to spall, melt (glassification) and
vaporize rock and these modes can be switched in milliseconds or
less. It is possible to do all three at the same time with multiple
lasers. The reason to melt rock is if the borehole is weak rock or
dirt that would otherwise jam the pipe it can be transformed into a
stable glassified borehole. The current state of the art for optics
can do this.
[0057] Feedback system to adapt laser method to rock types: Whereas
rock can be bored fastest with spallation generally, other times
vaporization is required such as when encountering gold pieces,
which are resistant to spallation when they are large enough. This
disclosure includes detecting such issues on the fly either by
sensors detecting the type of material or by feedback that progress
is slower in one portion of the cutting circle and other methods or
intensity of the laser beam is applied such as continuous, pulsed,
different types of pulsed and different power levels until the
problem is overcome. The same is true of detecting when the
borehole material is too weak to maintain a stable borehole and a
melting method is applied outward to stabilize the bore. Lasers can
detect distance and temperature and other things almost instantly
and through either the same fiber/s or dedicated fiber/s provided
that data to the surface for the feedback system to optimize the
laser method and power where needed. Not only can the bore be
stabilized in dirt or weak rock, the core itself can also have a
glassified surface applied to help keep the cores stay intact.
[0058] Between cutoff points, the laser drill pipe will redirect
the lasers to produce markings on the drill core. These shallow
markings can be bar codes or other marking methods with pertinent
information on that drill core such as borehole number, depth and
the GPS coordinates of the drill rig.
[0059] The cores can be cut off by the methods mentioned already to
redirect the laser beam energy inward at for example an 80 degree
angle in this case so as to not cut the drill pipe.
[0060] Then the core can be lifted to the surface inside the hollow
laser cutting pipe (which can be left at depth) via several methods
including a system of air flow and air pressure directed down the
outside of the pipe which blows the rock dust generated during
drilling up the inside of the pipe which will assist the cutting
speed by giving a clear optical path to the target rock from the
laser core drill and to prevent the drill tube from being jammed
with debris. This airflow also will lift the intact core to the
surface inside the pipe, which can be hundreds of feet or even
miles in length. The rock core if it is 0.85'' outer diameter and
one foot long would only weigh a few pounds so moderate air
pressure such as 10-20 psi would easily and quickly move the rock
core to the surface. This can also be accomplished through applying
a vacuum to the center of the pipe or doing both pressure
underneath the severed rock core and apply a relative vacuum above
it. The cutoff length could be short such as 3'' long so as able to
traverse a coiled roll at the drill machine location that might be
in a mineshaft without jamming in the curved part or much longer
cores if a non-curved method is used for core extraction at the
surface. Longer cores are also possible using a zippered laser
drill pipe, which allows there to be no significant bending of the
pipe. The zippered pipe can be opened up at the surface allowing
easy access to remove long intact rock cores.
[0061] Another method and apparatus is to use a double walled drill
pipe so as to maintain air pressure to the bottom of the hole if a
porous formation is encountered where gasses or liquids may flow
into the wall rock and lose pressure if just sent to the cutting
surface via outside the pipe. With a double wall pipe as shown in
FIG. 8 gas/fluid pressure cannot be lost until it reaches the
bottom. Whereas FIG. 8 shows the double wall pipe delivering air to
the inside of the pipe, it can also be applied to the outside to
aid clearing the optical pathway of the beams and both inside and
outside is possible at the same time with another air pathway. In
addition a relative vacuum can be applied to the center of the pipe
and be sufficient to move cores to the surface even if there is no
additional air/fluid pressure from underneath the severed rock
core
[0062] The hollow laser drill tube can be rigid if drill depth
(tube length) is not great with a derrick like structure for
vertical drilling or for horizontal drilling no derrick is
necessary. Alternatively, it can have a gentle curve that allows
cores to traverse the inside of the tube without binding, such as a
20' radius that after reaching its peak height above the surface of
20' the gently angles down expelling the rock cores. Alternatively,
it can be a roll with for example a 20-foot radius that could have
many hundreds of feet of continuous tubing on it.
[0063] Another method and apparatus of his disclosure is to have a
laser core drilling tube that can be zippered so that above the
surface where it no longer needs to resist outside pressure it is
unzipped until inserted into the drill hole. This allows the rock
cores to be expelled out or plucked out just above the surface as
the drill tube is still going down. This also allows for the laser
drilling tube to be stored when unzipped as a flat or near flat
roll similar to a standard steel tape measure and allows repairs
and inspection of the inside of the laser drill tube to be as easy
as on the outside. The space saving of a zippered laser drill tube
is very high, it is possible to reduce the storage space by over
90%. This will allow much smaller equipment to move the same length
of laser drill tube compared to diamond coring drill pipe or to
carry much more laser drill tube with the same equipment. The
current state of the art of zippering technology is such that this
method can be used with either a single walled or a multi walled
laser drill tube. This zippered laser drill tube or other type of
concentrated energy drilling tube method can be used is very small
areas such as inside a normal sized mine shaft/tunnel which is
quite useful as it shortens the distance to targets compared to
drilling from the surface.
[0064] The unzipped tube can be continuous and have a length of
thousands of feet or even miles, which is rolled/coiled for
transport. A 200-foot length roll could be so light that one or two
people could hand carry it.
[0065] For a zippered laser drill pipe at the surface a sufficient
seal can maintain suction on the inside of the pipe by having a
mirror shape of the opening of the zipper filled with a rubber or
other material that becomes an enclosed pipe after the unzippering
is complete. This allows the core to continue to rise with
differential pressure until the rock core can be removed. One
method and apparatus is to have the core rock rise into a lock
system shown in FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B and FIG. 9C that maintains the low
air pressure (suction) until the rock core in isolated in FIG. 9B
then the gate #closes so the core cannot fall back the valve
#redirects the suction to below the gate #so that suction above the
next core in drill pipe is maintained at which point the pivoting
gate #with the rock core can be pivoted to release the rock core as
show in FIG. 9c.
[0066] In addition to the already described apparatus and methods
for having multiple laser fibers that are stationary that do the
drilling and other operations such as core cut off and glassifying
the bore this disclosure also can perform all these operation with
one or several laser fibers that move. Being that laser optical
fibers are very light, thin and flexible, it takes very little
force to move them. Therefore, at the cutting surface of the laser
drill tube just behind the lens a hollow channel can be made that
allows the laser fiber end to move back and forth in the perimeter
of the cutting surface in a holder so just one or several fibers
can perform all the operations as shown in FIG. 10. The current
state of the art for electronic positioning can precisely time and
index the movement of the laser fiber/s in this apparatus so as to
deliver the energy beam evenly to the entire 360-degree radius of
the laser drill tube. Having just one laser fiber or just a few
greatly reduces the need for multiple lasers, laser multiplexing or
other ways to feed many laser fibers in the laser drill tube. FIG.
10 shows the movable cutting surface laser fiber/holder and its
pathway.
[0067] With a zippered laser drill pipe it can be transitioned near
the laser cutting head into a non-zippered pipe with a hollow area.
This allows for a single or a few laser fibers to be moved back and
forth on the perimeter of the laser drill pipe-cutting surface.
[0068] This same apparatus and method of moving a single or
multiple laser fibers to cover a much larger distance of the
peripheral cutting perimeter can also be applied to laser cutting
sheets.
[0069] A variation of the laser drill pipe can self correct to
drill straight or be steerable. Lasers are extremely good at
detecting distance and temperature. The same fiber that cuts the
rock can be used to detect distance and temperature. Lasers can and
often are pulsed, even down to picoseconds. Whereas this disclosure
can use all the various modes of lasers so that it can spall, melt
and vaporize material it can also use continuous beam and pulsed
beam. In addition, even if continuous beam is used a brief time can
be allowed without laser beam cutting so that distance and
temperature can be detected. So when the laser drill pipe attempted
to be advanced say 1/16'' after that operation it can detect the
distance advanced for each part of the circumference of the hole,
its temperature and optical reflectivity and color. This feedback
allows for the apparatus at the surface to know that for example
98% of the circumference advanced 1/16'' but 3% only advanced
1/32'' of an inch and the temperature and other aspects of the
resistant rock can be detected such as color and UV light
florescence. With this data a second pass can be made just on the
3% high spots and not only cut them deeper to match the rest of the
circumference with a uniform depth of cut but also use the other
data such as temperature, color, etc. to know what is needed, such
as encountering a gold particle that does not spall and needs to be
vaporized with a different method of laser cutting such as
continuous beam, higher power, etc. This ability in this disclosure
then allows cutting very evenly ahead so the laser drill pipe does
not deviate directionally and a much straighter drill hole can be
cut. With diamond core drills they wander so much from encountering
hard layers at an angle and other things that even over short
distances such as 50 feet they can only guess within a range where
the hole actually is, they do not drill straight. This embodiment
cannot only drill straighter inherently it also can self-correct
with this feedback apparatus and method just described. This
ability makes it steerable so it can purposely curve the drill hole
as is common in oil well drilling when needed. This is by drilling
further ahead on one side of the drill hole and or also angling the
laser beams slightly in the direction the driller wants the drill
hole to curve to.
Small Hole Drilling without a Core:
[0070] 1. Another variation on this theme of drilling very fast
with concentrated energy beams is to drill a very small hole that
does not produce a core but instead breaks the target material into
small particles and gases that can be transported to the surface
within the center of the a small tube via differential pressure of
air or other fluid pressure being directed down the outside of the
bore, or a relative vacuum in the center or both. That process can
be reversed but the preferred embodiment is to have the flow in
that direction. This variation of the disclosure will be referred
to as an earth needle.
[0071] 2. The earth needle could use a single laser fiber or more
than one either on the inside or outside of the tube or within the
tube that connects to a lens at the cutting surface that spalls or
otherwise removes material. The lens can distribute the laser beam
to bore straight. There can also be a steerable version where
through mirrors of other methods already mentioned in this
application the beam can be modified to drill a curved hole. The
earth needle can also not use a lens and a laser beam can exit
directly from a laser fiber which can be protected by an engulfing
fluid flow as shown in figures.
[0072] 3. The earth needle can be very small such as being a 1/8''
tube that drills a 3/16'' hole. Being that it can be so small it
can easily be coiled in a small enough radius continuous tube so as
to fit in a standard pickup truck without bending the tubing
permanently. It can also be dual walled so that air pressure can be
directed down between the two tubes or down the outside of the
outer wall and inside the inner wall with the relative low pressure
annulus being the path to return rock dust and vapors to the
surface of drill hole.
[0073] 4. The earth needle can also do nearly real time analysis of
what is being drilled. There are devices such a XRF (X-ray
Florescence) guns that can analyze nearly real time mineral samples
and other material for their atomic composition. Therefore, this
disclosure includes the ability for rock dust and gases being sent
back to the surface to pass by a device such as a XRF analyzer to
do near real time assays of the material down hole such as a
mineral deposit. Normally it takes weeks to get core samples
assayed and often they have to be shipped long distances to an
assayer. This invention makes it possible to get results in minutes
even from hundreds of feet down hole. This involves determining the
transport time from the cutting surface to the analyzer which can
be done based in velocity and experimenting with known deposits
that have already been core drilled and assayed to index the
apparatus and method to match the results so that future drill
holes will properly be adjusted to get the most accurate distance
and grade data.
[0074] 5. As mentioned in this disclosure, the earth needle can use
various modes and powers to penetrate with spallation, melting or
vaporization and glassify the bore if necessary. The earth needle
can do the various things the prior described coring version does
except for creating an intact core. There are miniature cameras
attached to optical fiber such as used in blood vessels. So a
geologist can even inspect the rock formation via such a camera
down the borehole even if hundreds of feet away with magnification
and optical quality similar to a jeweler/geologist loop if
desired.
[0075] One embodiment is a method and system to deliver a laser
beam directly out of an optical fiber at power levels over 150
watts without a lens protecting said optical fiber termination
surface with an engulfing fluid stream of gas or liquid to protect
the termination surface from damage and or being optically smudged
and this protective engulfing fluid stream can surround a single or
bundle of optical fibers in center or it can engulf a pipe like
apparatus of fixed or movable laser fiber/s terminating with or
without a lens or protective barrier such as glass with an outer
and inner flow of fluid to prevent physical damage or optical
smudging of the laser exit surface from things such as
blow-back.
[0076] A first embodiment is an apparatus that uses standoff prongs
to prevent the laser or other concentrated energy beam exit
surface/s from contacting the working surface of the material being
drilled and this maintains a beneficial distance as when the bore
hole advances then the prongs can move forward, other ways such as
detection of distance with lasers beams being just one method and
then the feeding mechanism advancing the drilling/boring device
such as to keep the exit surface distance to working surface
distance at a beneficial distance.
[0077] The first embodiment is modified in another embodiment one
instance for a pressure lock mechanism to allow removal of cores
while maintaining relative low pressure or a vacuum in the center
of drill pipe to lift cores to the surface whereby the removal
device is pressure isolated with a gate until the core is
removed.
[0078] The first embodiment is modified in another embodiment to
maintain vacuum of low pressure in the center of the pipe to
extract cores at the surface that seals the gap formed when the
zippered pipe is opened into a roll flat state so cores can move
into a pipe under low relative pressure be removed.
[0079] The first embodiment is modified in yet another embodiment
of using laser spallation to remove rock material on periphery of
drill hole.
[0080] The first embodiment is modified in another embodiment to
include switchable or fixed mirrors to redirect laser beams so they
can cut inward to cut off cores so they can be transported to the
drill hole surface or outward to glassify the bore hole wall for
stability.
[0081] The first embodiment is modified in another embodiment to
include a sheet with concentrated energy beams such as laser beams
emanating from one side with or without a protective fluid flow
surrounding the exit surface side, whereby it can be rigid or
flexible or segmented similar to a roll top desk and it can be
isolated as a sheet or in a box configuration or any shape so as to
do perimeter cutting such as in quarrying and tunneling this
apparatus can be used within materials such as in a mine tunnel or
can be used to cut off material in open such as in a machine
shop.
[0082] One embodiment to move a concentrated beam energy source at
the drilling/boring end so as to cover a larger area than a fixed
source, with the energy source example of an optical fiber being
moved to cover more area than a fixed fiber can for material
removal such as oscillating an optical fiber back and forth around
the outside of a drill pipe.
[0083] In another embodiment, a method marks sample (rock) cores to
identify them by using the laser or other concentrated beam energy
cutoff mechanism to put shallow bar-codes or other markings on
sides of cores so they can be identified for depth and other things
later and preferably multiple marking are made so if part of core
is destroyed what is left is identifiable.
[0084] In one embodiment a flowchart for FIG. 10 earth needle
engulfing fluid flow is started; laser beam is started and bore
into rock; only very small pieces of rock fit through the earth
needle grating and flow back to surface for assaying and analysis;
larger rock fragments swirl around below earth needle grating on
earth needle nozzle; they get hit again and again with laser beam
until they small enough to fit through grating; standoff prongs
maintain steady proper distance to work surface for laser beam.
Continuous operation until drill hole is complete.
[0085] In one embodiment a flowchart for FIG. 13 laser coring
includes the following operations: engulfing fluid flow around
laser exit surface first; then laser turned on; bore with straight
ahead laser beams the outer periphery of hole; achieve desired core
length; then redirect laser beams inward to cutoff rock core; after
rock core cutoff it raises to surface via differential fluid
pressure; repeat procedure for next core.
Alternatives:
[0086] The above advantages are exemplary, and these or other
advantages may be achieved by the invention. Further, the skilled
person will appreciate that not all advantages stated above are
necessarily achieved by embodiments described herein.
[0087] In the foregoing specification, specific examples of
embodiments have been disclosed. It will be evident, however, that
various modifications and changes to said embodiments may be made
therein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the
invention as set forth in the appended claims.
[0088] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that
boundaries between the above-described operations are merely
illustrative. The multiple operations may be combined into a single
operation, a single operation may be distributed in additional
operations and operations may be executed at least partially
overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include
multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of
operations may be altered in various other embodiments.
[0089] In the claims, any reference signs placed between
parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word
`comprising` does not exclude the presence of other elements or
steps then those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the terms "a" or
"an," as used herein, are defined as "one, or more than one." Also,
the use of introductory phrases such as "at least one" and "one or
more" in the claims should not be construed to imply that the
introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles
"a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced
claim element to inventions containing only one such element, even
when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more"
or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an." The
same holds true for the use of definite articles. Unless stated
otherwise, terms such as "first" and "second" are arbitrarily used
to distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus,
these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or
other prioritization of such elements. The mere fact that certain
measures are recited in mutually different claims does not indicate
that a combination of these measures cannot be used to
advantage.
[0090] As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used
in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to),
rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly,
the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean "including,
but not limited to" the listed item(s).
[0091] Various units, circuits, or other components may be
described as "configured to" perform a task or tasks. In such
contexts, "configured to" is a broad recitation of structure
generally meaning "having circuitry that" performs the task or
tasks during operation. As such, the unit/circuit/component can be
configured to perform the task even when the unit/circuit/component
is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the
structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware
circuits. Similarly, various units/circuits/components may be
described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the
description. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including
the phrase "configured to." Reciting a unit/circuit/component that
is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended
not to invoke 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 112, paragraph six, interpretation
for that unit/circuit/component.
[0092] Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the
foregoing discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the
present description of embodiments, discussions utilizing terms
such as "generating," "transmitting", "operating," "receiving,"
"communicating," "executing," "replacing,", "controlling" or the
like, refer to the actions and processes of an integrated circuit,
an ASIC, a memory device, a computer system, or similar electronic
computing device. The memory device or similar electronic computing
device manipulates and transforms data represented as physical
(electronic) quantities within the devices' registers and memories
into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within
the devices' memories or registers or other such information
storage, transmission, or display devices.
[0093] Methods and operations described herein can be in different
sequences than the exemplary ones described herein, e.g., in a
different order. Thus, one or more additional new operations may be
inserted within the existing operations or one or more operations
may be abbreviated or eliminated, according to a given
application.
[0094] The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the
present disclosure have been presented for purposes of illustration
and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit
the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications
and variations are possible in light of the above teaching without
departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various
embodiments. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to
explain the principles of the invention and its practical
application best and thereby to enable others skilled in the art to
best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various
modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It
should be appreciated that embodiments, as described herein, can be
utilized or implemented alone or in combination with one another.
While the present disclosure has been described in particular
embodiments, it should be appreciated that the present invention
should not be construed as limited by such embodiments, but rather
construed according to the claims appended hereto and their
equivalents. The present invention is defined by the features of
the appended claims.
* * * * *