Viscosity and other properties are determined at desired temperatures in drilling mud and other fluids by using a versatile cavitation device which, operating in the cavitation mode, mixes and heats the fluid to a specified temperature, and, operating in the shear mode, acts as a spindle for application of Couette principles to determine viscosity as a function of shear stress and shear rate. The invention obviates the practice of adjusting rheology of a drilling fluid by passing it through the drill bit. Drilling fluid may be managed by a “straight-through” method to the well, or by placing the cavitation device in a loop which isolates an aliquot of known volume and circulating the fluid through the loop including the cavitation device. A controller may be programmed to manage the viscosity and other properties at various temperatures by controlling the power input and angular rotation of the “spindle” (which has cavities on its cylindrical surface), and feeding viscosity-adjusting agents and other additives to the fluid. Data may be collected from the loop and used in the “straight-through” mode until it is determined that conditions require a new set of data, or the loop may be used continuously. The system may be used with a supplemental viscometer, density meter, and other instruments.

A method of hydrating a dry powdered viscosifier such as a powdered polymer is disclosed. The method includes mixing the powdered viscosifier with a solvent such as water to form a mixture; moving the mixture through a cavitation zone; inducing energetic shock waves and pressure fluctuations in the mixture by mechanically inducing cavitation events within the mixture, the shock waves and pressure fluctuations untangling, separating, and straightening polymer molecule chains and distributing the chains throughout the mixture, and extracting the resulting hydrated viscosifier from the cavitation zone.

Several agitators for generating a mixture are described which generally have a housing and an impeller rotatably mounted within the housing. The impeller has a first end with a first end face, and plurality of protuberances and at least one compressed gas channel outlet disposed on the first end face. The agitator also has a mixing chamber that is located adjacent to the plurality of protuberances, a fluid inlet extending through the housing for supplying a mixing fluid to the mixing chamber, and a fluid outlet extending through the housing for discharging the mixture from mixing chamber. When the compressed gas and the mixing fluid are supplied to the mixing chamber, the compressed gas becomes uncompressed gas, and rotation of the impeller agitates the uncompressed gas and the mixing fluid and disperses the uncompressed gas and at least a portion of the mixing fluid to generate the mixture.

A dynamic mixer has two inlets arranged at an inlet side of the dynamic mixer and an outlet arranged at an outlet side of the dynamic mixer. The mixing element of the dynamic mixer is configured to be coupled to a drive shaft to drive the mixing element about a longitudinal axis of the mixing element.

An extreme acceleration of the process of aging spirits to obtain aged liquors includes circulating the spirits through a cavitation zone within a controlled cavitation reactor and exposing the spirits therein to high energy cavitation induced shockwaves. Sources of flavor and color such as charred wood chips may be added to the spirits to provide the color and flavor of liquors aged for years in traditional charred oak barrels. The method and apparatus of the present invention obtains the same conversion of undesirable alcohols, flavor extraction, and color as years of aging in an oak barrel but does so in a matter of minutes or hours. The apparatus and method also can be used in conjunction with traditional aging techniques and methods and the total aging time is still reduced dramatically.

An improved a device and method for dispersion and simultaneous orientation of nanoparticles within a matrix is provided. A mixer having a shaft and a stator is provided. The shaft may have a rupture region and erosion region. Further, an orienter having an angled stationary plate and a moving plate are provided. The nanoparticles and the matrix are fed into the mixer. A rotational force is applied to the shaft to produce shearing forces. The shearing forces disperse and exfoliate the nanoparticles within the matrix. The dispersed mixture is outputted onto the moving plate. The moving plate is forced across the angled stationary plate to produce fully developed laminar shear flow. The fully developed laminar shear flow or the two-dimensional extensional drag flow orients the dispersed nanoparticles-matrix mixture.

A cavitation device is supplied by a disc pump with fluids for mixing. A cavitation rotor, having an array of cavities on its cylindrical surface, is fixed to a shaft for rotation by a motor. The disc pump and the cavitation device are beneficially in the same housing. At least one disc is spaced from and attached to the rotor near the inlet end of the cylindrical housing, so it will rotate with the rotor. A central hole in the (at least one) disc permits fluid to enter the space between the disc and the rotor; it is flung toward the peripheral space between the rotor and the cylindrical housing, where it is subjected to cavitation, and then passed to an outlet. The shaft may pass through one or both of the end walls of the cylindrical housing. The cavitation pump is especially useful for mixing oil field fluids.

Apparatus and methods for food production including a food preconditioner (228) operable to heat and partially pre-cook food ingredients, and a twin screw extruder (20) operable to further cook the preconditioned ingredients to create final food products. The extruder (20) includes a pair of hollow core extrusion screws (50, 52, 124, 126, 190) having elongated hollow core shafts (54, 128, 130, 192) equipped with helical fighting (56, 132, 134, 194) along the lengths thereof. The fighting (132, 134, 194) is also of hollow construction which communicates with the hollow core shafts (54, 128, 130, 192). The fighting (56, 132, 134, 194) also includes forward, reverse pitch sections (64, 162, 216). The extrusion screws (50, 52, 124, 126, 190) are designed to impart high levels of thermal energy into materials being processed in the extruders (20), without adding additional moisture.

Viscosity and other properties are determined at desired temperatures in drilling mud and other fluids by using a versatile cavitation device which, operating in the cavitation mode, mixes and heats the fluid to a specified temperature, and, operating in the shear mode, acts as a spindle for application of Couette principles to determine viscosity as a function of shear stress and shear rate. The invention obviates the practice of adjusting rheology of a drilling fluid by passing it through the drill bit. Drilling fluid may be managed by a “straight-through” method to the well, or by placing the cavitation device in a loop which isolates an aliquot of known volume and circulating the fluid through the loop including the cavitation device. A controller may be programmed to manage the viscosity and other properties at various temperatures by controlling the power input and angular rotation of the “spindle” (which has cavities on its cylindrical surface), and feeding viscosity-adjusting agents and other additives to the fluid. Data may be collected from the loop and used in the “straight-through” mode until it is determined that conditions require a new set of data, or the loop may be used continuously. The system may be used with a supplemental viscometer, density meter, and other instruments.

Viscosity and other properties are determined at desired temperatures in drilling mud and other fluids by using a versatile cavitation device which, operating in the cavitation mode, mixes and heats the fluid to a specified temperature, and, operating in the shear mode, acts as a spindle for application of Couette principles to determine viscosity as a function of shear stress and shear rate. The invention obviates the practice of adjusting rheology of a drilling fluid by passing it through the drill bit. Drilling fluid may be managed by a “straight-through” method to the well, or by placing the cavitation device in a loop which isolates an aliquot of known volume and circulating the fluid through the loop including the cavitation device. A controller may be programmed to manage the viscosity and other properties at various temperatures by controlling the power input and angular rotation of the “spindle” (which has cavities on its cylindrical surface), and feeding viscosity-adjusting agents and other additives to the fluid. Data may be collected from the loop and used in the “straight-through” mode until it is determined that conditions require a new set of data, or the loop may be used continuously. The system may be used with a supplemental viscometer, density meter, and other instruments.