The drilling mud mixing hopper is a mud mixing funnel designed using the Venturi principle. Also known as Venturi drilling mud mixing hopper, its main components include nozzle, mixing chamber, venturi tube, feeding hopper, butterfly valve, sand pump or shear pump. Drilling mud mixing hopper is usually applied to oil drilling solids control, trenchless and so on. Mainly used to configure drilling fluid, change drilling fluid density, viscosity, water loss, etc. It is one of the special oilfield equipment for weighting drilling fluid. The drilling mud mixing hopper is equipped with sand pumps and pipelines to form a jet mixing device.

Working principle of drilling mud mixing hoppers

After the liquid is ejected from the nozzle, it passes through the mixing chamber and enters the shearing tube. The material is added to the mixing chamber from the funnel, and then enters the shearing tube under the driving of the liquid flow from the nozzle, and is dispersed and mixed in the process. The liquid flows out of the shear tube and enters the circulation tank.

 The shear tube is a hollow tube that gradually expands according to a certain curved surface. Its main function is to increase the shear force of the liquid in the tube, so that the material can be better dispersed and the pressure of the mixed liquid will enter the circulation tank.

 The shear tube actually uses the Bernoulli effect of “fast flow, low pressure; slow flow, high pressure”. Because the liquid in the mixing chamber is sprayed from the nozzle at a high speed, the pressure is low at this time; after the liquid enters the shear tube, the cross section gradually becomes larger and the speed becomes smaller, so the pressure rises.

 Installation of drilling mud mixing hoppers

After the mud is mixed, the pressure loss is very large, so that the drilling fluid can be directly discharged into the drilling fluid tank after being mixed by the drilling mud mixing hopper. The funnel is usually installed on the top of the drilling fluid tank (that is, installed at a high position), so that the mixed drilling fluid is directly discharged into the drilling fluid tank without climbing.

 After the drilling mud mixing hopper is installed at a high position, it is necessary to design a hoist or cantilever crane to lift the drilling fluid material to lift the drilling fluid material to the drilling fluid tank.

 When the drilling mud mixing hopper is installed at a low position, a reasonable climbing angle should be designed, and the outlet should directly enter the drilling fluid tank to prevent the drilling fluid from overflowing from the funnel.

 The drilling mud mixing hopper is usually directly driven by an electric mixing pump. When the mixing effect is not good, the distance between the drilling mud mixing hopper nozzle and the outlet end surface needs to be adjusted to achieve the best mixing effect.