1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a spill containment tray for covering the areas between railroad rails, or between the rails and the wall of a station platform, and for draining off contaminant spills occurring during loading operations. The spill containment tray comprises flanges pressed against the webs of the rails, and a drainage outlet connected to a drainage pipe for draining off contaminants. The surface portion of the tray located between the flanges slopes towards the drainage outlet, and the underside of the tray is equipped with ribs.
At certain railroad sections where materials prone to spill are loaded, packaged, or applied for painting, or where hazardous materials may leak out, or where such materials are regularly utilized for railroad operations, it is common to apply spill containment trays to collect spills and drops and thereby protect the soil and groundwater from contaminants.
Major drawbacks of known spill containment trays are that their installation is cumbersome, labour- and material-intensive, and a completely sealed collection surface for collecting and draining contaminants cannot be provided. Such a prefabricated spill containment tray is disclosed in patent specification HU 183,847.
The spill containment tray according to the instant application has a sloped configuration that allows the draining of spills. The rails are secured against transverse and longitudinal displacement by reinforcement plates built into specially arranged supports.
A disadvantage is that it is complex, and that the structural elements are not protected against chemical spills, which leads to a relatively short service life.
These drawbacks are eliminated with the solution disclosed in the document HU 224,322, which provides safe covering of the areas between rails and between the rails and the platform wall.
The disadvantages of such solution are that it comprises bottom ribs arranged perpendicular to the rails, and thus parallel with the sleepers, and that a drain opening is formed in the inner surface prior to installation, which may cause the drain opening to become placed over a sleeper, making the connection of the drainage pipe cumbersome or even unfeasible. A further drawback of such solution is that it can only be installed in case of a straight rail track.
2. Description of the Related Art
An objective of the present invention is to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantages, and to provide a solution that may be applied for any rail track section, straight or curved.
The invention is based on the recognition that in case the ribs are arranged perpendicular to the sleepers or ties the tray is better seated and is installed more easily, and also that the spill containment tray may be equipped with a central portion where a drain opening may be formed on-site, when the exact position of the drainage pipe has been established. The ribs elevate the spill containment tray above the ballast between the rails, so that flow through the drainage opening is unencumbered or blocked.
The objective of the present invention is fulfilled by providing a spill containment tray comprising flanges pressed against the webs of the rails and a drainage outlet connected to a drainage pipe adapted for draining off contaminants, where the surface portion of the tray located between the flanges is arranged to slope towards the drainage outlet, and the underside of the tray is equipped with ribs, the spill containment tray comprising a central portion in the surface portion located between the flanges for the on-site production of the drain opening for connection to the drainage outlet, and the ribs, disposed on the underside of the tray, are arranged perpendicular to the sleepers supporting the rails such that the arrangement of the ribs conforms to the shape of the rails.
In a preferred embodiment of the spill containment tray according to the present invention, a thickened portion is disposed in the central portion, and the ribs are implemented as longitudinal ribs arranged parallel with the rails, or as curved ribs arranged parallel with the curved rails.
Another preferred embodiment of the railroad spill containment tray according to the present invention has a funnel disposed in the opening formed in the central portion, the funnel being attached to the drainage outlet of the drainage pipe, with overlaps being disposed at both ends of each tray perpendicular to the flanges, the overlaps being adapted to connect adjacently disposed spill containment trays, and with the opening in the central portion and the funnel being connected by welded joints.
Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
All preferred embodiments of the spill containment tray according to the present invention are made from a plastic material of improved chemical and UV-resistance.
A preferred embodiment of the spill containment tray according to the invention is explained in detail referring to the accompanying drawings, where
Reference will now be made in detail to the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout.
Two pairs of parallel, longitudinally extending ribs 4a, 4b are disposed on the underside of the spill containment tray 1. The ribs 4a, 4b are arranged to support the spill containment tray 1 between the sleepers 7 securing the rails 8 (
The spill containment tray 1 also comprises transversal ribs for improved strength.
Longitudinal ribs 4a, 4b, are disposed under the inner portion 3. The inner portion 3 is arranged to slope from the flanges 11a, 11b towards the central portion 5 of the inner portion 3, where an opening 6 is disposed to connect to a funnel 12 adapted to drain off contaminants (see
A conceivable installation procedure of the spill containment trays 1, 10 according to the invention is described below:
First, the drainage pipes and the necessary pipe fittings are installed. The trays 1, 10 are installed next. The elliptical central portion 5 is placed above the connection branch of the drainage pipe. After determining the exact position of the drainage branch, an opening 6 is formed in the elliptical central portion 5 of the tray 1, 10. Then the funnel 12 is fitted and secured in the opening 6 by gluing, thereby the contaminants collected in the spill containment tray 1, 10 may be drained without spilling a drop.
The spill containment tray 1, 10 is made from a material having improved chemical resistance that also comprises additives providing UV resistance. The material of the spill containment tray 1, 10 makes it necessary to join the neighbouring spill containment trays 1, 10, and also to join the pipes and branches by welding.
The spill containment trays according to the invention described above are intended for installation in a straight rail track.
However, the above described spill containment trays may also be applied for covering areas between curved rails. In that case the spill containment tray 1, 10 has a curved configuration. The radius of the curve is chosen to be identical with the radius of the curved rail 8 track section, the ribs 4a, 4b being also configured in a curved fashion.
The spill containment tray according to the invention has the following advantages:
Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.