CLAMP FOR A WATER STORAGE TANK

Abstract

A clamp for securing a flexible sheet to the upper portion of a wall of a water tank includes a pair of thin, flexible strips spaced apart by a plurality of spacers near a top portion of the strips. At least one rod or threaded bolt extends through holes provided in the strips below the spacers. Nuts carried by the rod or bolt can be moved inwardly so as to deflect the flexible sheets inwardly thereby clamping the flexible sheet between the clamp and the tank wall.

Description

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a water storage tank that can be assembled on a work site where there is a need for storing water. Also disclosed is a plurality of subcombinations that can be used in conjunction with known water storage tanks including a hydraulic hold down, a spout, a clamp, and wall joint structure as more fully disclosed herein.

2. Description of Related Art

In the oil and gas industry, water storage has become an issue due to the large amount of barrels of water required to perform drilling operations. Cost of transporting a large number of tanks to location, and logistical problems of having enough space at the well site to accommodate their positioning has forced the oil and gas industry to find a solution. The solution that has developed is the use of a single mobile erecting tank. These tanks eliminate a large fleet of storage vessels and the cost of transporting them to location.

These large capacity tanks normally comprise 16 single panels that connect together side by side, forming in one embodiment a 122 ft. diameter tank with a height of 12 ft. After they are assembled a rubber sheet, plastic, or polypropylene sheet is positioned in the inside and the edges are laid over the top rail of the tank. These edges of the sheet are secured to the top rail by the use of c-clamps.

The suction lines are then hung over into the tank and the tank is then filled with water. As the tank is filled, water forces the sheet into the lower inside corners of the tank. This can allow the sheet to be pinched or protrude under the wall of the tank causing a leak or tear of the rubber sheet.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention disclosed and claimed in this divisional application is a clamp specifically designed to secure the top layer sheet to the upper portion of the wall forming the tank which is the subject matter of the parent application.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the clamp is formed by two thin strips of flexible material that are spaced apart by a plurality of spacers located at a top-portion of the strips. At least one threaded rod extends through apertures in the strips and carries nuts that can be moved inwardly against the strips and thereby deflecting the strips toward each other to create a clamping effect.

While this discussion of a summary of the invention has been provided, it is understood that the invention of the present invention is defined by the claims included at the end of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wall section of the water tank.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a water tank formed by a plurality of the wall sections shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a hydraulic hold down according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along line A-A of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the tank wall and bottom structure.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a clamp according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a spout according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the spout.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the spout attached to a wall section of the tank.

FIG. 11 is a front view of one of the split rings shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a front view of a keeper ring as shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 13-13 of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the joint between adjacent wall sections.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the invention will now be discussed with reference to the figures. As shown in FIG. 2, a circular wall forming the storage tank 1 is formed by a plurality of individual curved wall sections 30 as illustrated in FIG. 1. Each wall section 30 includes a frame formed by a top 31, a bottom 32, vertical members 33 and thin walled portions 34. One end of the wall section 30 includes a vertically extending plate 36 having apertures 37 therein and the opposite end of the wall section has a vertically extending plate 38 having a plurality of pins on 39 that are adapted to extend through the apertures 37 as shown in FIG. 14.

Pins 39 may be secured within apertures 37 by a suitable fastening device such as a pin extending through a bore in pins 39. Also a sealing gasket 12 may be placed over the vertically extending joint to prevent the final layer from being forced into the joint as will be described below.

Channels 51 may be formed in the ground within the area defined by the circular wall to provide a drainage ditch.

Prior to the wall sections being placed on the ground 101, a circular ground mat of flexible water impermeable material 2 is positioned over the ground which has been leveled and cleared of debris to the extent necessary as shown in FIG. 5. Ground mat 2 extends a given distance outwardly from the circular wall 4, for example two feet. This forms a protective barrier preventing damage to the final cover and prevents the ground from getting saturated which could cause a catastrophic failure of the grown under the tank. The mat 2 may be of any suitable thickness for example forty four mm and may be a polypropylene web reinforced sheet. The diameter of the sheet is selected to be slightly larger than the diameter of the tank, for example, the ground mat may extend a distance of 1-5 feet beyond the tank wall as shown in FIG. 5.

A protective mat 3, which can be made of felt, polypropylene, rubber, or various types of padding, may be laid on top of ground mat 2 within the wall of the tank as shown in FIG. 5. This adds an additional layer of protection from sharp objects that may come into contact with ground layer 2.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a novel hydraulic hold down according to an embodiment of the invention. A hydraulic hold down device 47 is formed with a horizontally extending planar portion 41, a ninety degree bend portion 44 and vertically extending portion 42. Extending along and attached to the bend portion 44 is an L-shaped reinforcing bar. Hydraulic hold downs 47 have a curvature that corresponds to the curvature of wall sections 30 so that they conform to the interface of walls 4 with protective mat 3 as shown in FIG. 5. A plurality of the hydraulic hold downs are placed within the tank so as to form a complete circle. The curvature of the hold downs is selected so as to form a circle having a diameter that corresponds to the diameter of the tank.

By way of example, horizontal portion 41 may be about twelve inches in width and portion 42 may be two inches in height. The hydraulic hold downs also help to stabilize the side walls.

Once the hold downs have been placed around the entire inner periphery of the tank wall, a protective strip 5 of material which may be felt, rubber, polypropylene, or any other protective material is placed on top of the hydraulic hold downs as shown in FIG. 5. The strip extends slightly beyond the horizontal and vertical portions of the hydraulic hold down as shown in FIG. 5 so as to cover any sharp edges on the hydraulic hold downs.

The next step in constructing the water tank is to position a flexible, circular floor sheet over the wall assembly so that it will cover the ground within the tank wall and extend upwardly and over the top portion of the tank wall as shown in FIG. 5. Circular floor sheet 8 will cover protective strip 5 and hold downs 47 and will form a fluid tight tank which includes side walls sections 30 and ground mat 2. A suitable clamp which may be any known type of clamp is used to clamp the upper portion of the floor sheet 8 to the upper wall portion 9 as shown in FIG. 5. A clamping mechanism has been developed to clamp the upper portion of sheet 8 to the upper portion of side walls 30. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the clamp 60 includes two relatively thin strips 61 and 62 of flexible material such as sheet metal or plastic. Strips 61 and 62 may be slightly curved to conform to the curvature of wall portions 30 and are spaced apart by one or more spacers 63 at the top portion of each strip. Spacers 63 are welded or otherwise secured to strips 61 and 62, and may be V-shaped.

A plurality of threaded bolts or rods 64 extend through apertures formed in strips 61 and 62 at a position below where the spacers are located. Nuts 65 are positioned on each end of threaded bolts 64. As the nuts are threaded inwardly, they will engage strips 61 and 62 which will cause the strips to flex inwardly and thus clamp sheet 8 to the upper portion of wall 8 when the clamps are positioned as shown in FIG. 5. Although two nuts are shown in FIG. 7, the clamp could include only one nut on either end of the rod or bolt 64.

Clamps 60 may be spaced around the top of tank wall 4 or they may completely cover the top portion of the wall.

As shown in FIG. 10, a tubular fitting 70 is located in a side wall of the tank for easy filling and draining of the tank as needed. This is accomplished by the provision of a fitting for attachment to a fluid conduit for supplying or withdrawing water to and from the tanks As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, tubular fitting 70 includes generally hollow cylindrical body portions 76, 74 and 72 with a beveled portion 73 between 72 and 74. A circular flange 71 is located on an exterior end of the fitting. Fitting 70 is placed through an aperture located in a lower portion of a wall section as shown in FIG. 10. Fitting 70 also includes an annular groove 75 between flange 71 and body portion 72. Suitable threads 95 may be provided on the outside surface of body portion 74 for connection to a water conduit.

In order to form a water tight seal, a rubber seal 79 is positioned between the flange 4 and the inside surface of tank 4. The rubber seal may consist of the portion of the floor sheet that extends upwardly along the inner tank wall or may be a separate circular ring member. A wall stiffening ring 99 is welded to the outside surface of the wall. Next a pair of split rings as shown in FIG. 11 are positioned within groove 75 and are held in place by a keeper ring 83 shown in FIGS. 12 and 13. With the components positioned as shown in FIG. 10, the assembly is bolted together by bolts 98 that extend up to wall stiffening ring 99.

Rubber seal 79 may be a conventional circular seal.

Wall stiffening ring 99 is a circular washer of stiff material and has a hole diameter so that it sits on outer surface 76 of the fitting 70.

The keeper ring 80 is illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13 and comprises an annular ring portion 81 having a plurality of apertures 82 formed therein. The ring 80 also includes a longitudinally extending flange 83 that extends at a right angle from ring portion 81. Keeper ring 80 also has a centrally located opening 84 so that the ring may fit over the outside periphery of the tubular fitting.

A split ring is shown in FIG. 11 and includes an arcuate body portion 91 and a plurality of threaded apertures 92.

Two split rings are placed within the groove 75 of fitting 70 as shown in FIG. 10

Although the present invention has been described with respect to specific details, it is not intended that such details should be regarded as limitations on the scope of the invention, except to the extent that they are included in the accompanying claims.

Although an embodiment of the invention has been described, it is clear that other embodiments can be envisioned that fall within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A clamp for securing a flexible sheet extending over a top portion of a tank wall comprising:

a first strip of flexible material,

a second strip of flexible material spaced from the first strip by a plurality of spacers positioned between the strips at an upper portion thereof,

the first strip, second strip and spacers forming an assembly having an open top and open bottom; and

means for causing at least one of the strips to flex inwardly thereby clamping the sheet to an upper portion of the tank.

2. A clamp as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first and second strips are curved to conform to the curvature of the tank wall.

3. A clamp as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for causing at least one of the strips to flex inwardly comprises at least one threaded rod extending through the strips and a nut threaded on the rod whereby as the nut is threaded inwardly on the rod, it will engage one of the strips and deflect it inwardly.

4. A clamp as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for causing at least one of the strips to flex inwardly comprises at least one threaded rod extending through the strips and first and second nuts threadedly positioned on opposite ends of the rod whereby as the nuts are rotated inwardly they will engage the first and second strips and deflect them inwardly.

5. A clamp as claimed in claim 3 wherein at least one rod extends through the strips at a position below the spacers.

6. A clamp as claimed in claim 1 wherein the spaces are V-shaped.