Fluid storage tank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9249933-B2
Application number	US-201414223239-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2014
Priority date	Mar 28, 2013
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

A fluid storage tank includes a plurality of tank sub-units disposed in an array. Each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units has an aperture defined in at least one wall overlapping with another aperture defined in at least one adjacent tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units. Each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units is in fluid communication with a single outlet port for selectively extracting a stored fluid from the tank. Each of the plurality of tank sub-units is in fluid communication with a single fluid fill port. The array of tank sub-units is tessellated into a three-dimensional volume. A shell is disposed in contact with a plurality of the tank sub-units to envelop the array. The single outlet port and the single fluid fill port pass through the shell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fluid storage tank, comprising:
a plurality of tank sub-units disposed in an array, wherein:
each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units is a primary parallelohedron;
each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units has substantially the same shape and exterior size;
each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units has an aperture defined in at least one wall overlapping with an other aperture defined in at least one adjacent tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units;
each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units is in fluid communication with a single outlet port for selectively extracting the fluid from the tank;
each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units is in fluid communication with a single fluid fill port;
the array of tank sub-units is tessellated into a three-dimensional volume; and
the array of tank sub-units defines a primary fluid-tight container; and

a shell disposed in contact with the plurality of the tank sub-units to envelop the array, wherein:
the shell defines a secondary containment vessel; and
the single outlet port and the single fluid fill port pass through the shell.

2. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 , further comprising a natural gas adsorbent disposed in each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units in the array.

3. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 2 wherein the natural gas adsorbent is selected from the group consisting of a carbon, a porous polymer network, a metal-organic framework, a zeolite, and combinations thereof.

4. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein the single outlet port is the single fluid fill port.

5. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein at least two tank sub-units of the plurality of tank sub-units are in fluid communication with a manifold to add and extract the fluid from the at least two tank sub-units in parallel.

6. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein each tank sub-unit has an internal volume ranging from about 0.2 liter to about 3.0 liters.

7. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein a face of at least one tank sub-unit has a wall thickness greater than that of an other face of the at least one tank sub-unit.

8. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein a face of at least one tank sub-unit is formed from a material having a yield strength greater than the yield strength of an other material formed into an other face of the at least one tank sub-unit.

9. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein a wall thickness of a tank sub-unit having a uniform wall thickness is greater than an other wall thickness of an other tank sub-unit.

10. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a first tank sub-unit formed from a first material; and
a second tank sub-unit formed from a second material wherein a yield strength of the first material is greater than a yield strength of the second material.

11. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein adjacent faces of adjacent tank sub-units in the array are mutually affixed and aligned with bilateral symmetry, and wherein a line through centroids of the adjacent faces is orthogonal to each of the adjacent faces of the adjacent tank sub-units.

12. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 11 wherein the adjacent tank sub-units are joined together.

13. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 12 wherein the adjacent tank sub-units are adhesively bonded together.

14. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 12 wherein the adjacent tank sub-units are welded together.

15. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units is a truncated octahedron.

16. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 15 wherein the aperture is defined in a square face of the truncated octahedron.

17. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 15 wherein the aperture is defined in a hexagonal face of the truncated octahedron.

18. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein each tank sub-unit of the plurality of tank sub-units is a hexagonal prism.

19. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein the shell is composed of 6 flat sides defining a rectangular cuboid.

20. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein the shell is composed of flat sides wherein at least one of the flat sides spans at least two of the tank sub-units.

21. The fluid storage tank as defined in claim 1 wherein partial tank sub-units are positioned at an outer surface of the array of tank sub-units in fluid communication with the array of tank sub-units to increase a conformability of the fluid storage tank compared to the conformability of the fluid storage tank without the partial tank sub-units.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Inc

Inventors

• Morales Arianna T
• Cai Mei
• Dailly Anne M
• Abd Elhamid Mahmoud H

Classifications

• B65D21/0205

  joined together by bonding, adhesive or the like (B65D21/0208 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F17C11/007 Primary

  for hydrocarbon gases, such as methane or natural gas, propane, butane or mixtures thereof [LPG] · CPC title