Secondary containment monitoring system
First Claim
1. ) A unified secondary containment system, relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
- a) tank means for containing such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) piping means for transporting such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
c) tank envelope means for essentially enveloping said tank means;
d) tank interstitial space means, interstitial between said tank means and said tank envelope means, for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
e) piping envelope means for essentially enveloping said piping means; and
f) piping interstitial space means, interstitial between said piping means and said piping envelope means, for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
g) wherein said tank interstitial space means and said piping interstitial space means in fluid communication together comprise combined interstitial space means for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products; and
h) gas-pressure setting means for setting at least one combined level of gas pressure in said combined interstitial space means substantially less than at least one tank level of gas pressure in said tank means and substantially less than at least one piping level of gas pressure in said piping means.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A leak detection and prevention system adapted to continuously monitor the spaces of a double wall hydrocarbon fuel handling system comprising storage tanks, product lines, vapor recovery lines, tank vent lines, etc. The system establishes and monitors a resident gas-pressure within the interstitial space to monitor the integrity of the primary and secondary containment. Change in resident gas-pressure in excess of a calibrated vacuum flow rate or the presence of liquid in any monitored space initiates an alarm. Once an alarm is signaled, the product delivery system is shut down and an audio-visual alarm is activated in close proximity to operating personnel. An onsite service call by qualified personnel is required to return the product handling system back into service. A qualified service technician connects to a communication port on the system control module to evaluate the cause of the failure. The system utilizes vacuum pressure to monitor for containment breaches. Furthermore, the system utilizes a Bernoulli-based device to produce the monitoring vacuum.
108 Citations
91 Claims
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1. ) A unified secondary containment system, relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
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a) tank means for containing such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) piping means for transporting such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
c) tank envelope means for essentially enveloping said tank means;
d) tank interstitial space means, interstitial between said tank means and said tank envelope means, for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
e) piping envelope means for essentially enveloping said piping means; and
f) piping interstitial space means, interstitial between said piping means and said piping envelope means, for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
g) wherein said tank interstitial space means and said piping interstitial space means in fluid communication together comprise combined interstitial space means for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products; and
h) gas-pressure setting means for setting at least one combined level of gas pressure in said combined interstitial space means substantially less than at least one tank level of gas pressure in said tank means and substantially less than at least one piping level of gas pressure in said piping means. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. ) A unified secondary containment system, relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
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a) at least one tank adapted to contain such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) at least one piping adapted to transport such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
c) at least one tank envelope structured and arranged to essentially envelope said at least one tank;
d) at least one tank interstitial space, interstitial between said at least one tank and said at least one tank envelope, adapted to secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
e) at least one piping envelope structured and arranged to essentially envelope said at least one piping;
f) at least one piping interstitial space, interstitial between said at least one piping and said at least one piping envelope, adapted to secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
g) wherein said at least one tank interstitial space and said at least one piping interstitial space in fluid communication together comprise at least one combined interstitial space adapted to secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products; and
h) at least one gas-pressure setter structured and arranged to set at least one combined level of gas pressure in said at least one combined interstitial space substantially less than at least one tank level of gas pressure in said at least one tank and substantially less than at least one piping level of gas pressure in said at least one piping. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. ) A secondary containment system, relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
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a) tank means for containing such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) tank envelope means for essentially enveloping said tank means;
c) tank interstitial space means, interstitial between said tank means and said tank envelope means, for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products; and
d) gas-pressure setting means for setting at least one interstitial level of gas pressure in said tank interstitial space means substantially less than at least one tank level of gas pressure in said tank means;
e) wherein said gas pressure setting means comprises fluid flow means for providing, essentially by Bernoulli effect, such at least one interstitial level of gas pressure. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. ) A secondary containment system, relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
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a) at least one tank adapted to contain such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) at least one tank envelope structured and arranged to essentially envelope said at least one tank;
c) at least one tank interstitial space, interstitial between said at least one tank and said at least one tank envelope, adapted to secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products; and
d) at least one gas-pressure setter structured and arranged to set at least one interstitial level of gas pressure in said at least one tank interstitial space substantially less than at least one tank level of gas pressure in said at least one tank;
e) wherein said at least one gas pressure setter comprises at least one fluid flow system adapted to provide, essentially by Bernoulli effect, such at least one interstitial level of gas pressure. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. ) A control system, relating to interstitial monitoring of secondary containment of environmentally-hazardous products handlable in at least one primary container having at least one envelope essentially enveloping such at least one primary container and having at least one interstitial space between such at least one primary container and such at least one envelope and having at least one gas pressure setter adapted to set at least one interstitial level of gas pressure in said at least one interstitial space substantially less than at least one primary-container level of gas pressure in said at least one primary container, said control system comprising, in combination:
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a) control-components means for providing at least two kinds of control-components to assist monitoring of the at least one interstitial space;
b) wherein at least one kind of such at least two kinds of control-components comprises gas-pressure-control components means for assisting control of gas pressure in the at least one interstitial space;
c) control-components box means for mounting and enclosing said control-components means; and
d) geometrical-positioning means for locating said control-components box means adjacent and external to the at least one primary container. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. ) A control system, relating to interstitial monitoring of secondary containment of environmentally-hazardous products handlable in at least one primary container having at least one envelope essentially enveloping such at least one primary container and having at least one interstitial space between such at least one primary container and such at least one envelope and having at least one gas pressure setter adapted to set at least one interstitial level of gas pressure in said at least one interstitial space substantially less than at least one primary-container level of gas pressure in said at least one primary container, said control system comprising, in combination:
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a) at least one control-components system adapted to provide at least two kinds of control-components to assist monitoring of the at least one interstitial space;
b) wherein at least one kind of such at least two kinds of control-components comprises at least one gas-pressure-control component adapted to assist control of gas pressure in the at least one interstitial space;
c) at least one control-components box adapted to mount and enclose said at least one control-components system; and
d) at least one geometrical positioner adapted to locate said at least one control-components box adjacent and external to the at least one primary container. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. ) A secondary containment system relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
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a) handling container means for containment during handling of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) handling container envelope means for essentially enveloping said handling container means;
c) handling container interstitial space means, interstitial between said handling container means and said handling container envelope means, for secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
d) gas-pressure setting means for setting at least one interstitial level of gas pressure in said handling container interstitial space means substantially less than at least one handling containment level of gas pressure in said handling container means; and
e) monitoring means for essentially-continuous monitoring of said handling container interstitial space means to detect deviations from the at least one interstitial level of gas pressure. - View Dependent Claims (47)
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48. ) A secondary containment system relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, comprising, in combination:
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a) at least one handling container adapted to contain while handling such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
b) at least one handling container envelope structured and arranged to essentially envelope said at least one handling container;
c) at least one handling container interstitial space, interstitial between said at least one handling container and said at least one handling container envelope, adapted to secondary containment of such environmentally-hazardous petroleum products;
d) at least one gas-pressure setter structured and arranged to set at least one interstitial level of gas pressure in said at least one handling container interstitial space substantially less than at least one handling container level of gas pressure in said at least one handling container; and
e) at least one monitor structured and arranged to essentially-continuously monitor said handling container interstitial space to detect deviations from the at least one interstitial level of gas pressure. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. ) Relating to vacuum monitoring of secondary containment systems relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, a method of installation of at least one interstitial-space monitoring system comprising, in combination, the steps of:
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a) providing at least one first-components system structured and arranged to have at least one sensory coupling with such at least one interstitial space and comprising at least one gas pressure setter adapted to set at least one gas pressure in such at least one interstitial space and at least one second-components system structured and arranged to have at least one signal coupling with such at least one first-components system;
wherein such at least one first-components system comprises a set of sump-access-locatable elements; and
wherein said at least one second-components system comprises a set of operator-access-locatable elements;
b) securely mounting such at least one first-components system to at least one sump structure;
c) installing at least one vacuum line entry connection between such at least one first-components system and at least one vacuum source; and
d) installing at least one vacuum line entry connection between such at least one first-components system and such at least one interstitial space. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82)
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83. ) Relating to vacuum monitoring of secondary containment systems relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, a method of operation of at least one interstitial-space monitoring system comprising, in combination, the steps of:
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a) initializing at least one product delivery pump to set at least one interstitial vacuum pressure within at least one interstitial vacuum pressure range;
b) essentially continuously monitoring whether such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure is within such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure range;
c) on detection of such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure outside such at least one interstitial vacuum range, resetting such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure to within such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure range; and
d) generating at least one alarm if such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure falls outside such at least one interstitial vacuum pressure range within at least one first preselected time span. - View Dependent Claims (84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89)
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90. ) Relating to vacuum monitoring of secondary containment systems relating to environmentally-hazardous petroleum products, a method of calibration of at least one interstitial-space monitoring system comprising, in combination, the steps of:
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a) initiating at least one system calibration routine within at least one computer monitor; and
b) calibrating at least one pressure setting of at least one differential pressure switch using at least one other pressure gauging device. - View Dependent Claims (91)
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Specification