Large-capacity modular holding container and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11059666-B2
Application number	US-201816217866-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2018
Priority date	Dec 14, 2017
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

A holding container includes a plurality of pre-formed, releasably interlocking, load-bearing panels configured to form an at least partially curved, load-bearing wall extending around the perimeter of at least one storage area capable of containing at least 100,000 gallons of liquids, solids or a combination thereof. At least one among the width and length of each panel is less than 102 inches in a non-load-bearing state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A holding container including a load-bearing wall extending around a perimeter of at least one storage area, the holding container comprising:
a plurality of pre-formed, releasably interlocking, load-bearing flat panels configured to form the load-bearing wall, each panel configured to be bent to form a portion of the load-bearing wall and wherein each panel is configured to at least partially overlap with an adjacent panel when forming the portion of the load-bearing wall,
wherein the load-bearing wall is at least partially curved, and
wherein each panel comprises at least one lip having a lip thickness less than a main body thickness of a respective panel and the at least one lip is configured to overlap with at least one lip of an adjacent panel to form an overlapped lip thickness substantially equal to the main body thickness of the panel, wherein each lip comprises at least one receptacle and, when two panels overlap, a receptacle of each panel aligns with a respective receptacle of the adjacent panel and the aligned receptacles are configured to receive a panel connector to fixedly couple the two panels together.

2. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein:
the load-bearing wall is a continuous wall, the shape of the continuous wall including at least three distinct, at least partially linear, sides and a corner between each side, and
at least one of the corners is curvilinear.

3. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein each panel is elastic and able to flex into a curved shape during use of the holding container.

4. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein:
the load-bearing wall and the at least one storage area are buried at least partially underground, and
the material composition of the panels renders the panels resistant to microbial and biological degradation and degradation due to the alkalinity of the earth.

5. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein:
when the panels are interlocked, each panel overlaps each adjacent panel across at least 5% of the smaller of its width and length.

6. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein the panels are configured to be coupled together in a manner that allows each panel to move side-to-side and up-and-down at least one of independently and in unison with one or more other panels in response to at least one of variations in a substrate below the panels and loads applied to the panels by contents of the at least one storage area without damaging or disengaging the panels or degrading the strength characteristics of the panels or the ability of the holding container to contain the contents of the at least one storage area.

7. The holding container of claim 1 , further including:
at least one liquid-impermeable surface disposed at least partially around the at least one storage area inside the load-bearing wall and configured to prevent the contents of the at least one storage area from escaping out of the holding container,
wherein the at least one liquid-impermeable surface includes at least one among the group consisting of one or more liners, geotextiles, coatings, and spongy materials.

8. The holding container of claim 7 , wherein:
when the panels are interlocked to form the load-bearing wall, at least one joint is formed between adjacent interlocked panels, and
the at least one liquid-impermeable surface extends only along the formed joints on the inside of the load-bearing wall.

9. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein:
the holding container is configured to be installed at a container installation site, and
the size of the holding container is configured to be variable during installation thereof at the container installation site in increments of one or more panels.

10. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein the panels are at least partially hollow.

11. The holding container of claim 1 , wherein the panels are configured to be modular and reusable to form at least one of partially curved, load-bearing, holding container walls having different sizes and containment capacities and holding containers having different sizes and containment capacities.

Assignees

• Newpark Mats & Integrated Services Llc

Inventors

• Lanigan Matthew Stephen James
• Brennan Richard
• Agrawal Gaurav
• Mcdowell James Kerwin

Classifications

• B65D90/205 Primary

  for flexible containers, i.e. the flexible container being permanently connected to the frame (B65D77/061, B65D88/1612, B65D90/046 take precedence; unpacking of Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container [FIBC] B65B69/0075; crane hooks for frames for FIBC B66C1/226) · CPC title

• B65D90/08 Primary

  Interconnections of wall parts; Sealing means therefor · CPC title

• B65D90/024

  with features of cylindrical curvature · CPC title

• B65D88/528

  all side walls detached from each other to collapse the container · CPC title

• B65D90/028

  hollow-walled, e.g. double-walled with spacers (linings B65D90/04) · CPC title