Nikiski inventor patents heated tailgate to keep drill slurry from freezing

Ryan A. Peterkin of Nikiski received U.S. Patent No. 12,715,684 on Tuesday for a roll-off container tailgate built around a warming tube loop that circulates heated fluid across the door's interior. The design keeps drill-cutting slurry from freezing before crews can dump it.

Cuttings slurry hauled in vacuum tanks can freeze in Alaska and Canada, making it hard to unload. Repeatedly opening the tailgate to clear frozen slurry can also wear down its seal against the tank.

The patent's independent claims pair the warming-tube parts with a seal between the container and tailgate and a vertical latch. The design calls for steel with a ductile-brittle transition temperature below minus 50 degrees Celsius, the threshold at which the metal becomes prone to brittle fracture. Roll-off containers have traditionally used A516 steel, rated to about minus 45 degrees Celsius.

Peterkin has filed related applications since 2021, building on his earlier heated slurry transport system, U.S. Patent No. 10,933,794. The new patent, filed Oct. 9, 2023, carries eight claims.