GB1285785A - Tanks for the storage and distribution of a plurality of fluids, in particular hydrocarbons - Google Patents

Abstract

1285785 Distribution tanks INSTITUT FRANCAIS DU PETROLE DES CARBURANTS ET LUBRIFIANTS and SOC ANON POUR TOUS APPAREILLAGES MECANIQUES 31 Dec 1969 [31 Dec 1968] 63564/69 Heading E1T [Also in Division Fl] A tank for the storage and distribution of several fluids, e.g. petrols, includes a housing 2 surrounding fluid-tight variable volume chambers 3, 4, 5 each for one of the fluids, each chamber having an inlet valve 18, 19, 20 and an outlet valve 12a, 13a, 14a, there being also an auxiliary chamber, defined in the form shown by the housing 2, to receive an auxiliary fluid under pressure which acts upon the chambers 3, &c., each chamber contacting at least one other chamber by way of flexible wall means so that the pressures in all the chambers are equalized, the source of auxiliary fluid being outside the housing. The variable volume chambers may be made from synthetic polymers, e.g. the copolymer of fluorovinylidene and monochlorotrifluorethylene, or hexafluoropropylene, polysiloxane, chlorosulfonate, polyethylene, butadiene, acronitrile, polychloroprene, or from natural rubber, &c. The auxiliary fluid under pressure may be a gas, or, as shown, a liquid, viz. water supplied from a tower 22. A constant head is maintained in a main tank 24 of the tower 22 by a pump 26. In a first modification, the variable volume chambers consist of a central cylindrical chamber (27, Fig. 2, not shown), surrounded by concentric annular chambers (28, 29) in a cylindrical housing (30), the walls between the chambers being of flexible material and the bottom of the chambers rising and falling with discharge, &c. of their contents. The auxiliary pressure fluid is introduced between the housing (30) and the outermost annular chamber. In another modification, a cylindrical housing (36, Fig. 3, not shown), contains a flexible bay (35) divided into separate chambers by walls (38, 39) each connected to a pipe (43, &c.), the auxiliary pressure fluid being introduced between the bag and the housing. In another form using a bag of rectangular shape separated into three chambers (52, 53, 54, Fig. 4, not shown) by transverse seal lines, &c., the three chambers are spaced round the walls of a cylindrical housing (46) to leave a central chamber (50) for the auxiliary pressure fluid. The other forms, Figs. 5, 6 (not shown), the housing is of cylindrical form separated into individual chambers by walls of flexible material extending between two points on its inner surface, either approximately diametrically opposite each other, or closely adjacent with one chamber within the next, &c. The various inlet and outlet pipes may be coaxially arranged, Fig. 6A (not shown).