The present disclosure relates to the assessing and subsequent remediation of leaks from liquid/compressed gas storage cylinders, such as propane, natural gas, ammonia, and carbon dioxide, tank systems and, more particularly, to a controller unit and a training and assessment method for enabling responder personnel to assess and/or remediate leakage of such liquid/compressed gas from such a system.
First responders must make rapid decisions in life-saving and life-threatening situations when dealing with hazardous situations that include, for example, flammable and/or combustible materials being released into the environment. Emergency personnel must be adequately trained to properly react to the various types of hazardous events, for both their safety as well as public safety.
Given this, the incident first responder commander must rapidly process information during a hazardous incident and make the appropriate decisions for action based upon his own cognitive abilities to mentally process such information with or without the help of subordinates. Although training manuals and field manuals may be available, timely access and processing of this information remains elusive, and decisions made on this less-than-optimal information may prove detrimental. Importantly, the known detection methods give the responder a variety of information, however the key is to understand is what you are dealing with and to have a quick and efficient method of risk assessment and abatement or remediation of an incident in minutes.
Propane gas leaks can obviously cause serious problems. For example, fires resulting from such leaks can cause both property damage and personal injury including, in extreme cases, death. Likewise, an ammonia gas leak can result in damage to the respiratory system of persons remotely located from the site of such leakage. Thus, a very real need exists for an approach in testing for such leaks that will effectively protect the public. Such protection would also be of substantial benefit to the companies that provide and service such systems as well as volunteer and professional first responders. In many cases, leakage is often from systems that have inadvertently been damaged, have not been properly maintained, or have been left on at the. In any event, whatever the cause of such leakage, it is advantageous to be able to readily determine where there is leakage is from and to have a plan of action in its remediation.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a method of providing information for determining, as part of a response to a storage vessel leakage event, at least one type of storage vessel associated with the leakage, or a valve or a fitting associated with the storage vessel relating to the storage vessel from a representation, the representation being provided in fixed medium or an electronic display, the representation separating a first group of storage vessels and a second group of storage vessels from the at least one type of storage vessel, the first storage vessel group selected from DOT compressed gas and liquid storage cylinders, and the second storage vessel group selected from ASME compressed gas and liquid storage tanks; providing a first assemblage of components, each of which are configured to couple or attach to the first storage vessel group, the valve or the fitting thereof, for use by a responder in responding to the storage vessel leakage event; and obtaining information from the representation relating to implementation of the first assemblage of components and the first storage vessel group, the valve or the fitting thereof, for remediation of the storage vessel leakage event; or providing a second assemblage of components, each of which are configured to couple or attach to the second storage vessel group, the valve or the fitting thereof, for use by a responder to the storage vessel leakage event; and obtaining information from the representation relating to implementation of the first assemblage of components and the first storage vessel group, the valve, or the fitting thereof, for remediation of the storage vessel leakage event; and remediating the storage vessel leakage event of the first storage vessel group or remediating the storage vessel leakage event of the second storage vessel group.
It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a controller assembly comprising: a threaded coupling at a first end and an opposing end; a pressure gauge coupled to the first end; and a quick shut off valve coupled to the pressure gauge and the opposing end, the quick shut off valve having an open state where fluid flow between the first end and the opposing end is provided, and a second state where fluid flow between the first end and the opposing end is prevented; wherein the controller assembly is configured to couple at the first end with a storage vessel unintentionally releasing compressed gas and liquid.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a method of training a responder to address a storage vessel leakage event, the method comprising providing identification parameters as to a first storage vessel group and a second storage vessel group, the first storage vessel group selected from DOT compressed gas and liquid storage cylinders, and the second storage vessel group selected from ASME compressed gas and liquid storage tanks; providing a plurality of leakage event scenarios associated with each of the first storage vessel group and the second storage vessel group; and providing at least one first remediation protocol corresponding to an implementation of a first assemblage of components and the first storage vessel group, the valve, or the fitting thereof, for remediation of one or more of the plurality of storage vessel leakage event scenarios, each of the first assemblage of components being configured to couple or attach to the first storage vessel group, the valve or the fitting thereof, for use by a responder in accordance with the at least one first remediation protocol; or providing at least one second remediation protocol corresponding to an implementation of a second assemblage of components and the second storage vessel group, the valve, or the fitting thereof for remediation of one or more of the plurality of storage vessel leakage event scenarios, each of the second assemblage of components, configured to couple or attach to the couple or attach to the second storage vessel group, the valve or the fitting thereof, for use by a responder in accordance with the at least one second remediation protocol.
Before the present methods and apparatuses are described, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the particular methodology, protocols, and reagents described, as these may vary. It also is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure that will be limited only by the appended claims.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the embodiments described herein, reference will be made to preferred embodiments and specific language will be used to describe the same. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As used throughout this disclosure, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to “a cylinder” includes a plurality of such cylinders, as well as a single cylinder or a collection of similar or dissimilar cylinders containing the same substance.
As used herein, the term “vessel” is inclusive of storage devices generally used and/or approved by one or more regulatory authorities to contain compressed gas together with its liquid form and dispense, by way of one or more valves, ports, or other access points, the contents therein. Such vessels are, for example, commonly used in the containment and dispensing of natural gas, propane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.
As used herein, the terms “cylinder” and “tank” are subset storage vessels as used herein, such cylinder and tank storage medias being those generally used to contain compressed gas together with its liquid form and to dispense the contents therein.
As used herein, the following acronyms have the following meanings:
ASME: American Society of Mechanical Engineers
CGA: Compressed Gas Association.
The HazMatIQ Tactics: PropaneIQ
DOT: Department of Transportation
NPG or NGT: National Gas Taper, as defined in ANSI/CGA V-1 (B57.1)
NPT: National Pipe Thread, as defined in ANSI B1.20.1
POL: Prest-O-Lite brand couplers and its equivalents
QCC: Quick Closing Coupler
UN: Unified National Fixed Pitch Series, as defined in ANSI/ASME B1.1 with modifications defined in ANSI/ASME SAE AS8879.
There are many thread forms available on equipment used in the LP-Gas industry, for example. The variety of letters, numbers and symbols that are used with various thread specifications may be confusing to first responders arriving at a leakage event concerning one or more vessels used in the LP-gas industry.
The presently disclosed methods and apparatus are configured for use with DOT propane cylinders as well as DOT propane tanks and ASME tanks. DOT propane cylinders include, for example, disposable cylinders such as those configured for camp stoves or lanterns; portable cylinders, such as those configured for barbecue grills and patio heaters; exchange cylinders, such as those configured for food trucks, food carts, tent heaters, construction trailers; and motor fuel cylinders, such as those configured for forklifts, floor buffers, and lawnmowers.
ASME tanks, such as portable tanks with a capacity of 44-120 gallons; motor fuel/mobile fuel tanks with a capacity of 4-110 gallons; and stationary tanks (above or below ground) having a capacity of 100 to 2000 gallons are also included among those advantageously serviced by the presently disclosed methods and apparatuses.
With reference to
With reference to
In one embodiment, an assemblage of components useful for carrying out the presently disclosed methods is provided. As used herein the term “assemblage” is used interchangeably with “kit.” In one aspect, a first kit is provided for assisting and/or supporting emergency responders to incidents involving a particular type of vessel, such as DOT propane cylinders, including but not limited to disposable cylinders typically used in camp stoves and lanterns; portable cylinders, typically used for barbecue grills and patio heaters; exchange cylinders, typically used for food trucks, food carts, tent heaters, and construction trailers; and motor fuel cylinders, typically used for forklifts, floor buffers, and lawnmowers.
In another aspect, a second kit is provided for assisting and/or supporting emergency responders to incidents involving a particular type of vessel, such as ASME tanks, including, but not limited to portable tanks having a capacity of about 44-120 gallons; motor fuel/mobile fuel tanks having a capacity of about 4-110 gallons; and stationary tanks, above or below ground with a capacity of about 100-2000 gallons.
In another aspect, the first and the second kit are provided, accompanied, or associated with representation, e.g., instructions, for assessing and remediating various event scenarios. Such instructions may take the form of placards, notebooks, and the like. Such instructions may also include mobile apps or other electronic media accessible by mobile or smart phones. In yet another aspect, the first and the second kit are provided together for assisting and/or supporting emergency responders to incidents involving one or more of the particular type of DOT vessels.
With reference to
With reference to
An exemplary compilation of components of Kit A and Kit B and examples of their usage in the presently disclosed methods are provided in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. The arrangement, number, and variety of components may vary to address specific leakage events and/or statistically based (most common) scenarios.
In one aspect, the item numbers A2 through A21 and B2 through B30, as indicated in
One particular advantageous aspect of the present disclosure is the ability to attach presently disclosed apparatuses to a leaking vessel so as to afford remediation of the leakage event. For example, and with reference to
With reference to
With reference now to
With reference now to
With reference to
Method step 91 as shown in
Continuing with the description of process 100, a determination is made at Step 105 whether the vessel is a cylinder DOT portable type with a capacity of 4 to 40 pounds, and if so, the flowchart directs the responder to Step 110 and remediation protocol 200, which is now described with reference to
Referring back to
Referring back to
Referring back to
Referring again back to
The present disclosure also provides methods of training responders to use the PropaneIQ Response System of the disclosure. The training includes familiarizing responders with various leak scenarios corresponding to common storage vessels likely to be the subject of such an event and the deployment of such responders. The representation 285 can be provided in physical form such as a placard or flip-cards or other fixed media and is used in combination with the various components of the kits for correlating such components for use with typical valves, ports, outlets and other features commonly present about such vessels subject to leakage events. This familiarization is performed by providing for the responders to be trained and provided a copy of one or more fixed media or included with the disclosed kits so as to quickly ascertain the type of vessel, source of leakage, and instructions as to how to use the various components of the kit in remediating the leak. The fixed media can be any of those described herein, including representations as shown in
For example, with reference to
Examples are shown in
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180252367 A1 | Sep 2018 | US |