Tank car heating system
AssigneeGeneral American Transportation Corporation
InventorAlbert E. Price
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heated railway tank car includes heating conduits arranged on the tank and filled with a heating fluid and coupled to an electrically driven pump and heat exchanger in a closed-loop system for heating and continuously recirculating the heating fluid through the conduit. The tank car is adapted to be electrically interconnected with adjacent cars and the electric power may be provided from the locomotive, from an axle generator and alternator combination on the tank car, or from rechargeable batteries on the tank car charged by either terminal facilities or axle-mounted or locomotive-mounted generator means.
Claims9
A heating system for the tank structure of a railway tank car adapted to contain a liquid lading that is to be maintained in a heated condition, said heating system comprising electrically-powered pump means carried by the tank car, said pump means having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet and adapted to be coupled to an associated source of electric power, heating conduit means interconnecting the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet of said pump means for cooperation therewith to form a closed loop, said conduit means including a reservoir portion and an elongated sinuous heating portion disposed along the outside of the bottom of the associated tank structure and arranged to be in good heat exchange relationship with the lading contained therein, a heating fluid confined in said closed loop for recirculation therethrough by said pump means, a heat source consisting solely of a resistance-type electric heater disposed in said reservoir portion of said conduit means in heat exchange relationship with said heating fluid and adapted to be coupled to the associated source of electric power for heating said heating fluid as it flows through said conduit means, and thermostatic control means coupled to said pump means and to said heat source for automatic deactuation of both said pump means and said heat source in response to elevation of the temperature of the liquid lading above a predetermined temperature.
A heated railway tank car comprising a mobile frame, tank structure carried by said frame and adapted to contain a liquid lading that is to be maintained in a heated condition, electrically-powered pump means carried by said frame, said pump means having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet and adapted to be coupled to an associated source of electric power, heating conduit means carried by said tank structure and interconnecting the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet of said pump means for cooperation therewith to form a closed loop, said conduit means including a reservoir portion and an elongated sinuous heating portion disposed along the outside of the bottom of the associated tank structure and arranged to be in good heat exchange relationship with the lading contained therein, a heating fluid confined in said closed loop for recirculation therethrough by said pump means, a heat source consisting solely of a resistance-type electric heater disposed in heat exchange relationship with said heating fluid in said reservoir portion of said conduit means and adapted to be coupled to the associated source of electric power for heating said heating fluid as it flows through said conduit means, and thermostatic control means coupled to said pump means and to said heat source for automatic deactuation of both said pump means and said heat source in response to elevation of the temperature of the liquid lading above a predetermined temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.