Floating roof tank monitoring apparatus and methods

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for monitoring the status of a floating roof. The floating-roof tank assembly has: an impermeable roof section, and a floating-roof seal configured to span between the impermeable roof section and components of a container. One or more deformable floats are attached to the roof section to provide buoyancy so that the roof floats on top of the liquid contained in the container. To monitor the status of the floating roof tank, it is provided with a fiber optic sensor array comprising one or more fiber optic sensors. A light source configured to transmit light to the fiber optic sensors and a receiver configured to detect light from each fiber optic cable after it has interacted with the fiber optic cable. Based on the received light, a controller configured to process the light received by the receiver to determine the status of the floating roof tank.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.