Grounding system for floating roofs in flammable storage tanks
AssigneeLightning Eliminators & Consultants, Inc.
InventorsRoy B. Carpenter, Jr., Darwin N. Sletten
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Lightning at or near the site of an oil storage tank can cause a charge build up in the tank. This charge must be discharged to ground at rapid speeds to prevent arcing, sparks and fire. The tank has a metal floating roof which can be used to discharge the charge to ground by connecting a low impedance braided wire to the floating roof, and then connecting the wire to a take up reel at the top rim of the tank. The take up reel keeps any slack out of the wire. The path to ground is liquid to floating roof, to braided wire, to take up reel, to wall of tank, to earth ground.
Claims16
In a fluid/liquid storage tank with a sidewall and a floating roof floating atop the fluid/liquid, an improved grounding system comprising:
- a reel connected to the sidewall;
- said reel having a low impedance conductor for lightning related frequencies connected to the floating roof;
- said conductor comprising a bare braided copper cable;
- said reel having a take up spool which keeps any slack out of the conductor and maintains a shortest fractional length;
- wherein an excess length of said conductor is wound around said take up spool thereby shorting together adjacent sections of said conductor wound around said take up spool;
- and
- said take up spool having a spring.
A grounding system for a storage tank having a floating roof, said grounding system comprising:
- a wire having an end connected to the floating roof;
- said wire having a second end wound around a spool in a reel;
- said wire comprising a bare braided copper conductor;
- said spool having a take up mechanism to minimize slack in the wire;
- said take up mechanism having a spring;
- wherein an excess length of said wire is wound around said spool thereby shorting together adjacent sections of said wire wound around said spool;
- said reel having a grounded connection to a wall segment of the tank;
- and
- said wire having a low impedance for lightning related frequencies.
A grounding system for a tank with a floating roof, said grounding system comprising:
- means for taking slack out of a bare braided copper cable connected from the floating roof to an upper segment of a tank wall, and thereby maintaining a minimum length;
- said means of taking slack out comprising a reel having a take up spool;
- said take up spool comprising a spring functioning to constantly pull up on the bare braided copper cable;
- wherein an excess length of said bare braided copper cable is wound around said take up spool thereby shorting together adjacent sections of said bare braided copper cable wound around said take up spool;
- and
- said bare braided copper cable having a low impedance for lightning related frequencies.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.