Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Diverse fluid containing pressure filling systems involving... – Gas control or supply varied – shifted or supplemented during...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-04
2001-07-03
Douglas, Steven O. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Diverse fluid containing pressure filling systems involving...
Gas control or supply varied, shifted or supplemented during...
C141S005000, C141S035000, C141S387000, C137S571000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253801
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for draining fluid that remains standing in connecting pipes, also referred to herein as bridging connections, between tanks after filling. The fluid that is filled into the tank car s is preferably oil.
In recent years there have emerged various systems for filling the tank cars in a whole tank train with the aid of permanent connecting hoses between the various tank cars. The safety regulations pertaining to the movement of these types of trains requires that each individual car shall be sealed off during transport and that the bridging connections or hose connections shall be empty of fluid during the advancement of the train. Similarly, the tanks shall not be completely filled up; rather there shall remain a safety volume of air or gas which is intended to absorb the volume changes in the fluid as a result of temperature changes
Various method have been patented and practiced, among them that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,274 of Dec. 8, 1987, “External Purge System for A Tank Train.” This purging method requires stored volumes of extra blanket gas and compressed air for the operation and control of closure valves and an external pipe system for the entire length of the train.
With the proposed drainage system according to the invention, the external hauling of pipes and extra tanks for compressed blanket gas and control air are avoided. The air or gas volume necessary for drainage is collected and stored within the tank during the filling process. This enables the avoidance of equipment both on the tanks and at the terminal for filling and emptying. When all this equipment can be eliminated, both maintenance and operation are simplified and the system thus becomes less expensive, In addition, the air or gas volume will have a weak purge pressure corresponding to the pressure of the fluid above the container. This will ensure an efficient purging of air from the storage tank and into the bridging hose that is to be drained.
The draining of the bridging hose is made possible by shutting in a sufficiently large volume of air in an internal vessel within the main tank. This confinement of air or gas takes place during the filling of the main tank, while the liquid is rising past the lower opening of the vessel until the filing is completed. The upper part of the vessel is put into communication with the inlet to the lower portion of the bridging hose by means of a simple air conduit. The air conduit contains a cock which either closes or opens the communication between the confined air/gas volume in the vessel and the volume in the bridging hose that is to be drained.
More specifically the invention relates to an air and gas vessel for draining the bridging hoses between interconnected oil tanks, where oil has remained standing in the bridging hoses after completion of the filling process, characterized in that the vessel having a downward turned opening is positioned in the tanks, said vessel having at the upper edge thereof a pipe with a cock connected to the bridging hose between the tank cars.
Further, the invention relates to a method for draining the bridging hoses between tank cars in a tank train, consisting of a downward turned inner vessel within the tank car having a pipe and a cock connected to the bridging hose, characterized in that prior to the filling of the tanks, the vessel is empty of liquid and the cock is closed, liquid is then filled into the tanks from level (A) to level (B), with gas/air being kept confined in the vessel, the cock in the pipe is then opened to release the confined gas in the vessel up into the bridging hose in order to displace the liquid down into the tanks at the same time as the vessel is filled with liquid from the underside.
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patent: 3675670 (1972-07-01), Ogawa
patent: 3863664 (1975-02-01), Holbrook et al.
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patent: 4711274 (1987-12-01), Mowatt-Larseen
patent: 5404918 (1995-04-01), Gustafson
patent: 2059892 (1981-04-01), None
Douglas Steven O.
Green Trac Holding A/S
Huynh Khoa D.
Rodman & Rodman
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