Patent Application
20160138237
This disclosure relates generally to a spill containment generation system.
Oil and other chemical spills may wreak havoc on the environment, causing wildlife, fish, plants, water and soil to be contaminated, sometimes for years. Spills happen when drilling, transporting, delivering, and almost any handling of these dangerous chemicals.
For oil spills, booms are often deployed to control the spread of pollution. Booms may be effective, but they may be bulky and hard to store. They may also be difficult to deploy, depending on the size of the spill and the terrain, if the spill is on land.
The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure to provide a basic understanding to the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure, nor does it identify key or critical elements of the claimed subject matter, or define its scope. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed in a simplified form as a precursor to the more detailed description later presented.
The instant application discloses, among other things, a Spill Containment Generation System. A foam-based boom may provide for spill containment on either water or land. In one embodiment, an expanding foam, such as polyurethane, may form a cylindrical or other shaped boom, providing strength, flexible boom shape and size, and easy deployment. Multiple types of foams may be used together; for example, a water absorbing foam may be used with a waterproof foam, to allow for a boom to extend both underwater and above water.
Water deployment may be performed by a boat, such as a Zodiac® or other small powerboat, or other while land deployment may be made by a pickup truck, a tractor, an all-terrain vehicle, or other means. The foam may be mixed as it is sprayed, and a sprayer may form the foam into a particular shape. Different shapes may be selected for different environmental conditions or configurations. For example, a land-based spill on a flat area may benefit from a “J” shaped boom, while a cylindrical boom with a water absorbing foam attached may be more effective for an ocean spill.
Many of the attendant features may be more readily appreciated as they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description considered in connection with the attached drawings.
The present description may be better understood from the following detailed description read in light of the appended drawings, wherein:
Different foams may be suitable for creating Spill Containment booms. In the instant application, examples use polyurethane, but other types of foam or combinations of types of foam which fill partially float on water, cure rapidly, and are sufficiently strong may also be used.
A more particular description of certain embodiments of Spill Containment may be had by references to the embodiments shown in the drawings that form a part of this specification, in which like numerals represent like objects.
In another embodiment, Foam Boom 130 may be created by spraying foam from Ship 110. One having skill in the art will recognize there are many ways to distribute foam to form a boom.
Foam Supply 230 may include two components, contained in 55-Gallon Drums 240, 250, which are mixed to produce an expandable foam boom. These components are often referred to as A and B. Water may also be mixed in when creating the expandable foam boom.
This cross-sectional shape may be produced by using a mold on a spray nozzle, such as Spray Nozzle 220, or Spray Nozzle 310. A mold may be lubricated, for example by a soap-based solution, to allow a foam boom to freely flow through the nozzle. The spry nozzle may allow inputs for multiple types of foam to provide a boom with different properties in different areas. For this example, Water Absorbing Foam 420 and Waterproof Foam 410 may enter the nozzle and mold from different sources, for example two different sets of Foam Supply 250.
One having skill in the art will recognize that different ways may be used to produce various cross-sectional shapes and configurations of materials for a foam boom.
One having skill in the art will recognize that various shapes for an output nozzle may be used, and that different types of foam may require differing numbers of inputs, heat, or other attributes during a mixing and curing process.
An operator may also control the electronic Foam A Valve Output 1220, Foam B Valve Output 1230, Lubricant Valve Output 1240, and Water Valve Output 1250 by using Operator Controls 1295.
Nozzle position may also be controlled automatically or manually by a control adjusting Nozzle Position Output 1260.
Emergency Off Switch 1290 may be used to stop Spill Containment Generation.
While the detailed description above has been expressed in terms of specific examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many other configurations could be used. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that various equivalent modifications of the above-described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Additionally, the illustrated operations in the description show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.
The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
