INTERMODAL CONTAINER BUILDING STRUCTURES AND METHODS
A building structure has a plurality of intermodal containers (ICs) attached together and substantially surrounding a central space. The ICs support roof elements, the roof elements together forming part of a roof for the building structure. Some of the ICs and the central space house functional equipment which is connected together at a deployment site to make a system capability. Some of the ICs walls together define an outer perimeter of the building structure while other IC walls facing into the central space have walls at least partially removed to allow access to the interior of the ICs from the central space.
The present application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. provisional patent application No. 62078510, entitled “Intermodal container building structures and methods”, filed Nov. 12, 2014, and to U.S. provisional patent application No. 62153595, entitled “Intermodal container tank structure”, filed Apr. 28, 2015, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety and made part of the present application for all purposes.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to methods of using intermodal containers (ICs) as special purpose buildings and to building structures produced using such methods. The invention has particular but not exclusive application to building structures for housing wastewater treatment systems.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ARTIntermodal containers (ICs) have been used for living space, office space and industrial space. Improvements in the application of ICs to building structures for housing equipment are possible.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the following figures are not drawn to common scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Advantages, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as methods, operation and functions of related elements of structure, and the combinations of parts and economies of manufacture, will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of the specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures, and wherein:
Certain industrial systems such as water treatment systems may include complex industrial units which are usually manufactured and tested at a home site and then shipped to a deployment site. At the deployment site, a building is typically fabricated. The industrial units are then installed in the building and connected together to form a system. Typically, the system will be re-tested before being put into service at the deployment site.
It can be expensive to hire local labor with very varied expertise requirements at the deployment site and to have them follow a complex installation specification. It is therefore desirable to do as much as possible at the home site both in building and testing the system and to the extent possible in building a structure to house the system units. In this way, something close to a turnkey system can be shipped to the deployment site. It is desirable also that fabricated or partly fabricated sub-systems elements are in a condition enabling them to be easily transported to deployment sites.
Intermodal containers provide useful and readily deployable systems equipment housings. Properly reinforced, they can even be used as water holding tanks. In addition, ICs, being specifically designed for coordinated transportation, over road, rail and sea, make ideal structures for transporting sub-systems forming parts of a complex water treatment or like industrial plant.
A typical intermodal container (also called a shipping container, freight container, ISO container, hi-cube container, box, conex box and sea can) is a standardized reusable steel box used for the storage and movement of materials and products within a global containerized intermodal freight transport system. External lengths of containers, which each have a unique ISO 6346 reporting mark, vary from 8 feet (2.438 m) to 56 feet (17.07 m) with the most common lengths being 20 feet and 40 feet. Heights of containers compliant with ISO 6346 are from 8 feet (2.438 m) to 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 m). Widths are generally 8 feet.
Referring in detail to
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- IC-1: dissolved air flotation tank 66, float pump 68, solid pump 70, recycle pumps 72;
- IC-2: pipe flocculator 73, equalization tank 74, sludge thickening tank 76, dissolved air flotation effluent tank 78;
- IC-3: multimedia filters 80, organo clay filters 82, sump tank 84;
- IC-4: carbon filter tanks 86, hot water tank 88;
- IC-5: filter press 90, dumpsters 92;
- IC-6: bladder tank 94, chemical storage 96, safety station 98.
In operation, water to be treated is pumped into the equalization tank 74, and is then pumped through the pipe flocculator 73 where chemicals are added to the water to coagulate and flocculate solids as well as break oily emulsions in the water. The water is then fed into the dissolved air flotation tank 66 where tiny bubbles latch onto the solids in the water and float the dirt and solids up to the surface where it is skimmed off and transferred to the sludge thickening tank 76. Treated water from the dissolved air flotation effluent tank 78 is sent through multimedia filters 80, where finer particulate is captured to prevent premature plugging of solids in downstream organo clay and carbon media filters, respectively 82 and 86, which are used to remove hydrocarbons. The sludge is pressed at the filter press 90 to form a dry cake before being transported off site as waste.
The system of
The MICs are installed on a base 41 such as a cleared gravel base, a rig mat, or a concrete slab. In one embodiment, the MICs are simply stacked next to one another with the weight of the MICs maintaining the MICs in a preferred relative juxtaposition. In another embodiment, adjacent MICs are bolted together to maintain the MICs in their desired positions notwithstanding external buffeting from weather influences such as high wind and flooding, or from careless movement on the site of heavy vehicles.
The structure of
As shown in
Through the use of suitable wall cladding and appropriately configured roof components and materials, the building to house the installed system at the deployment site is made aesthetically pleasing and/or coordinated with its surroundings.
As previously indicated, the invention has particular application to the installation at a deployment site of ICs that have been modified at a home site. At the home site, a number of ICs are assembled, the ICs being of appropriate length to accommodate system units to be installed in them. The system units are built or purchased and are mounted in the appropriate ICs. Unmodified ICs have access doors at one or both ends but for eventual system installation at the remote site, access may alternatively or additionally be through side walls 16 of the particular IC. Where such a side access is required, an access opening 14 is cut in the side wall 16 as shown in
At the deployment site, an area of ground is graded and a concrete slab or like standing area is prepared. The MICs 10 are then arranged so that, except for a main door access region 32, they surround a central space 34. The arrangement is effectively a walled courtyard where the MICs 10 are the walls and the central space 34 is the courtyard. The MICs are arranged so that access openings 14 previously formed in MIC side walls 16 face into the courtyard 34 and some or all of the access openings are fitted with doors 15 to protect equipment housed inside the MIC. The doors 15 may be of any suitable form such as slide or hinged. Immediately adjacent corners of adjacent MICs, such as at locations 36, are fastened together using conventional horizontal twist locks (not shown). Mechanical interconnections between adjacent MICs 10 provide a more stable structure in the manner of a prefabricated building in comparison with an array of unconnected ICs.
Referring to
A structure according to another aspect of the invention is constructed according to U.S. provisional patent application 62153595 (Intermodal container building structures and methods), the disclosure of which application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. As shown in
In a modification of the
At the system deployment site, roof components are erected over the IC array with a typical integrated roof component configuration being shown in
As shown in
The illustrated configuration has particular value where the system equipment to be installed includes oversize or unwieldy industrial units which cannot easily be fitted into an IC. Such awkward equipment is instead mounted at a convenient location in the central courtyard in such a way that it can be integrated with other units housed in the surrounding ICs. Because, the courtyard is larger in area than any of the ICs and the roof section 52 over the courtyard is, in most embodiments, higher than the ICs, the courtyard makes an ideal location for housing the oversize units. For a water treatment system, such units might typically include large (or wide) tanks, clarifiers, dissolved air flotation units, media filters, filter presses and waste bins.
In a further roof form example illustrated in
In yet another roof form example illustrated in
The courtyard arrangement is an efficient structure because the MICs, together with the courtyard surrounded by them, provide a cost effective building in the sense that it is fabricated at a site away from the system deployment site using economies of scale provided by the IC fabrication industry. The courtyard arrangement can also be erected very quickly at the deployment site because there is very little site work required other than preparing the site, positioning the MICs and adding the roof components and surface finishing and applying the cladding. Overall, remote site installation of a system in this way using ICs previously modified at a home site offers relatively low installation cost, fast time from system commissioning to delivery, and less deployment site installation time.
While ICs have been used to house industrial sub-systems, the illustrated MIC wall and courtyard arrangement of the present invention can require less container space or fewer containers because the MIC walls can be packed tightly with system units. The reason for this is that space-taking access walkways inside the MICs are generally not required: instead access is obtained from the courtyard through suitable openings in the IC walls 16.
Other variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The embodiments of the invention described and illustrated are not intended to be limiting. The principles of the invention contemplate many alternatives having advantages and properties evident in the exemplary embodiments.
Claims
1. A building structure comprising a plurality of intermodal containers (ICs) attached together and substantially surrounding a central space, at least some of the ICs supporting roofing elements, the roofing elements forming part of a roof for the building structure, at least some of the ICs housing first functional equipment, the central space housing second functional equipment, at least some of the ICs having first walls together defining a substantial part of an outer perimeter of the building structure, at least some of the ICs having second walls at least partially removed to allow access to at least some of the first functional equipment from the central space.
2. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least some of the first walls being IC side walls.
3. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least some of the first walls being IC end walls.
4. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least one of the ICs having a first roof part, the central space having a second roof part, the first and second roof parts being integral with one another.
5. A building structure as claimed in claim 4, the first and second roof parts supported by a truss structure, the truss structure supported by a column, the column vertically aligned with and supported by a corner post of an IC.
6. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of trusses extending between a pair of ICs, ends of the trusses supported on at least one side wall of the respective ICs, the supporting IC side walls reinforced to bear the weight of the trusses.
7. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, the outer perimeter and the central space being one of rectilinear and polygonal.
8. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, a contiguous pair of the ICs connected together and disposed at an angle to one another, the pair of ICs having a roof extending along the length of the ICs, a section of the roof over one of the pair of ICs disposed at said angle to a section of the roof over the other of the pair of ICs.
9. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least one IC having an access way, the access way for access between a location exterior of the building structure and the central space, the access way including first and second openings in respective opposed side walls of said at least one IC, the first and second openings generally aligned with one another.
10. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an entry section extending between an end wall of a first IC and an end wall of an adjacent second IC, the entry section providing access from outside the building structure to the first and second ICs.
11. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, the first and second functional equipments configured as a water treatment system.
12. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, the second functional equipment including a unit that is characterized by being at least one of greater in height than the height of the ICs and greater in width than the width of the ICs.
13. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least one of the ICs having reinforced walls to enable the IC to be substantially filled with water without the IC rupturing, the building structure configured as a tank for holding water, the structure including a liner having a central part resting on the central space and peripheral parts mounted to side walls of ICs bounding the central space.
14. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least some of the first walls having a cladding layer fixed thereto.
15. A building structure as claimed in claim 1 having a first IC extending in a first direction, a second IC extending in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the first IC having an end wall with a first end corner, the second IC having an end wall with a second end corner, the first and second end corners connected together, the first and second end walls forming two sides of a substantially square enclosed cubicle.
16. A building structure as claimed in claim 1, at least one of the ICs inverted whereby a floor of the IC is above a roof of the IC in the building structure, the structure further comprising a roof truss supported on the floor.
17. A method comprising, at a first site, mounting first functional equipment in at least some of a plurality of ICs, the first functional equipment connectable together to make at least a part of an industrial system, transporting the plurality of ICs to a second site, arranging the plurality of ICs at the second site substantially to surround a central space so that at least some of the plurality of ICs have first walls together defining at least a substantial part of an outer perimeter of a building structure, erecting roof elements on at least some of the ICs to form a roof thereon, and removing at least parts of second walls of some of the plurality of ICs to allow access to the interiors thereof from the central space.
18. A method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising at the second site connecting the first functional equipment together to make said at least a part of the industrial system.
19. A method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising at the second site installing second functional equipment in the central space and connecting the second functional equipment to the first functional equipment to make the industrial system.
20. A method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising at the first site, before transporting the ICs containing the first industrial units and the second industrial units to the second site, connecting the first industrial units and the second industrial units together to make the industrial system, and testing the system.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 12, 2015
Publication Date: May 12, 2016
Inventors: Jason Downey (Ottawa), Robert Kennedy (Brockville), Bradley Gaffney (Brockville)
Application Number: 14/939,344