A cargo container is modified to carry a fracing proppant such as sand from a quarry or source to the frac site. Openings are cut in the top and bottom of a cargo container and hydraulically operated sliding doors are placed there under. A hopper module with the walls being inclined to approximately the angle of repose for the proppant is installed inside the cargo container. The hopper module is sealed inside the cargo container so that a proppant enters through the top opening at the quarry and flows out through the bottom opening at the fracing site. Once transported to the frac site, the modified cargo container is lifted, emptied and set aside.

A cargo container is modified to carry a fracing proppant such as sand from a quarry or source to the frac site. Openings are cut in the top and bottom of a cargo container and hydraulically operated sliding doors are placed there under. A hopper module with the walls being inclined to approximately the angle of repose for the proppant is installed inside the cargo container. The hopper module is sealed inside the cargo container so that a proppant enters through the top opening at the quarry and flows out through the bottom opening at the fracing site. Once transported to the frac site, the modified cargo container is lifted, emptied and set aside.

A train bulk cargo loading system having a disconnected railroad track scale, includes a disconnected railroad track scale (1), a tractor (2), a lifting scraping plow (4), a controllable vibration charging hopper (6), a surge bin (8), a belt conveyor (9) and a control terminal (7). The train bulk cargo loading system having the disconnected railroad track scale has a low overall height and a small footprint, thus reducing the construction and production costs. The system integrates loading, trimming, measuring and data sharing, and features uniform loading, balanced train wheel pressure, and accurate measuring. Thus, huge human and material resources consumption caused by uneven loading of an original loading system, large wheel pressure deviation and secondary trimming and measuring required by the railway department may be avoided, significantly reducing the construction cost and operation cost.

An access control device attachable to a transport container and an access control method are disclosed, the access control device configured to: receive, from an electronic key device, an authorization query, verify the authorization query to determine whether the electronic key device is authorized; determine a current geolocation of the access control device, a measured environmental parameter of the internal or external environment of the transport container, and/or current status information of the transport container; verify whether the one or more current parameters satisfy stored access conditions, the stored access conditions including geolocation conditions, an environmental condition, and/or a container status condition; generate an access authorization signal upon affirmative verification of the authorization query and the current parameters; and transmit, via the electronic communications interface, the access authorization signal to an actuator for enabling physical access to contents of the transport container.

An access control device attachable to a transport container and an access control method are disclosed, the access control device configured to: receive, from an electronic key device, an authorization query, verify the authorization query to determine whether the electronic key device is authorized; determine a current geolocation of the access control device, a measured environmental parameter of the internal or external environment of the transport container, and/or current status information of the transport container; verify whether the one or more current parameters satisfy stored access conditions, the stored access conditions including geolocation conditions, an environmental condition, and/or a container status condition; generate an access authorization signal upon affirmative verification of the authorization query and the current parameters; and transmit, via the electronic communications interface, the access authorization signal to an actuator for enabling physical access to contents of the transport container.

An automated gate actuator system is provided for use in selectively opening and closing a gate that dispenses proppant from a proppant container during the course of a hydraulic fracturing operation. A lever arm is pivotally mounted for movement to place a drive gear in contact with a driven gear to open and close the gate. The gate may be remotely or autonomously actuated in this manner utilizing an electronic control triggered by human and/or sensor input.

An automated gate actuator system is provided for use in selectively opening and closing a gate that dispenses proppant from a proppant container during the course of a hydraulic fracturing operation. A lever arm is pivotally mounted for movement to place a drive gear in contact with a driven gear to open and close the gate. The gate may be remotely or autonomously actuated in this manner utilizing an electronic control triggered by human and/or sensor input.

An intermodal container for transporting frac proppant, such as frac sand, and/or other types of granular material is disclosed. The intermodal container is designed to receive frac sand from a quarry or other frac sand supply source. Once the container is filled with material, the container is loaded onto a transportation device and transported to a well site. Once received at the well site, the containers can be stacked and the frac sand stored until needed. Once the frac sand is needed, the containers are placed on a base unit and the container discharges its contents onto a conveying system formed as part of the base unit. The conveying system directs the frac sand to a blending location. The empty intermodal containers can be removed from the base unit and loaded onto a transportation device to be refilled at a mine site.

An intermodal container for transporting frac proppant, such as frac sand, and/or other types of granular material is disclosed. The intermodal container is designed to receive frac sand from a quarry or other frac sand supply source. Once the container is filled with material, the container is loaded onto a transportation device and transported to a well site. Once received at the well site, the containers can be stacked and the frac sand stored until needed. Once the frac sand is needed, the containers are placed on a base unit and the container discharges its contents onto a conveying system formed as part of the base unit. The conveying system directs the frac sand to a blending location. The empty intermodal containers can be removed from the base unit and loaded onto a transportation device to be refilled at a mine site.

In accordance with presently disclosed embodiments, systems and methods for sequencing portable containers of bulk material to provide continuous bulk material usage at an outlet are provided. The disclosed sequencing techniques may involve identifying a sequence for opening different portable containers of bulk material (or identifying the next portable container to open) and automatically actuating the discharge gates of the portable containers in the desired sequence to provide a continuous flow of bulk material to the outlet (e.g., blender unit). The identified sequence may be executed through a control system communicatively coupled to actuators used to open/close the discharge gates of the portable bulk material containers. A GUI may be communicatively coupled to the control system to allow an operator to select the desired sequence for execution by the control system and to display information regarding the portable bulk material containers.