US 5,779,092 AGranted

Baffle system for tank

AssigneeMega Corporation

InventorsRonald L. Hehn, John Cain

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Abstract

The tank and baffle system comprises a tank for transporting liquids, having a plurality of baffles for controlling surges and excess liquid movement produced by movement of the tank. The present invention is particularly useful where there is a large ratio of tank width to tank support and lateral bending loads may be in excess of longitudinal bending. The baffles are rigidly secured to a tunnel structure that spans longitudinally from the front to the rear of the tank, and forms a continuous structure in both longitudinal and transverse directions. A further aspect of the invention is the use of chamfered corners on the baffle plates to provide fluid communication between chambers of the tank, as well as to reduce surging of the liquid contents and reduce or eliminate joint fatigue. Access ports in the baffles that are covered by access covers during use are another aspect of the invention.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A tank for containing and decreasing excessive surging and wave motion of liquids, comprising:

(a) a shell having an interior and exterior surface;
(b) a longitudinal tunnel, positioned within the shell and supported by the shell's interior surface, the tunnel comprising a top portion, and at least two side portions, the top portion having at least one access port and one of said side portions having at least one orifice, the tunnel further including at least one transversely oriented internal tunnel baffle rigidly secured to the interior of the tunnel, the tunnel baffle provided with at least one orifice;
(c) at least one external vertical baffle having at least one orifice, the vertical baffle oriented transversely to the axis of the tank and rigidly secured to the exterior of the tunnel;
(d) at least one horizontal baffle having at least one orifice and one access port, the horizontal baffle positioned coplanar with the top portion of the tunnel and rigidly secured to the exterior of the tunnel, the vertical baffle, and the shell;
and
(e) at least one longitudinal baffle rigidly secured to the at least one horizontal baffle and the at least one vertical baffle, the longitudinal baffle extending along the longitudinal axis of the tank.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.