BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following drawings illustrate examples of various components of the Water Tank disclosed herein, and are for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments that are substantially similar can use other components that have a different appearance.
FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a water tank and a sectional view of the foundation for the tank embodying the principles of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a top view of the water tank in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a roof man-hole detail enlarged view from the roof of the water tank in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is an elevational view of an alternate embodiment of the water tank embodying the principles of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a top view of the water tank shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is an elevational view of an alternate embodiment of the water tank embodying the principles of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a top view of the water tank shown in FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 graphically illustrates the advantages of the water tank of the present invention as compared to an elevated water tank and to a tube water tank.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.
With reference to the drawings, in general, and FIGS. 1 through 3, in particular, a water tank embodying the teachings of the present invention is generally designated as 10. With reference to its orientation in FIG. 1, the water tank includes a tube tank portion 12 and a bowl tank portion 14. The tube tank portion is ninety feet high to the base of the conical portion 16 of the bowl tank portion 14. The diameter of the tubular water containing portion 18 of the tube tank portion 12 is twenty feet.
The conical shaped portion 16 has a height from the tube tank portion 12 to the cylindrical portion 20 of the bowl tank portion 14 of ten feet. The diameter of the conical portion 16 increases from twenty feet at cylindrical portion 18 to forty feet at cylindrical portion 20. The diameter of the cylindrical portion 20 is forty feet, having a height of twenty feet. The overall height of the water tank at the top of the cylindrical portion 18, which is also the high water level, to the top of the foundation is one hundred twenty feet.
Spaced about the circumference of the tubular water containing portion 18, are a plurality of pilasters 22, 24, 26 and a rear pilaster 27 (shown in FIG. 2) having a width of three feet. Pilaster 22 includes a pedestal access door 28 having a lock. Inside the pilaster 22 is a ladder 30 for access by an individual. Spaced along the height of the ladder 30 are louvered vents 32 with insect screening. At the bowl tank portion 14, ladder 30 continues as ladder 34 within a tube 36 located within the bowl tank portion 14. The ladder 34 terminates at roof man-hole 38.
As shown in more detail in FIG. 3, the roof man-hole 38 includes a hatch cover 40 and a continuous vent 42 hinged at hinge 44 and having a retainer strap 46. Access to the roof is thereby achieved within an exterior railing 48 and an exterior ladder 50 leading to air vent 52.
Located within bowl tank portion 14 is an interior tank ladder 54 rotated in FIG. 1 for clarity.
Extending within the tube tank portion 12 and bowl tank portion 14 is an overflow pipe 56, six inches in diameter, rotated in bowl tank portion 14 for clarity. The overflow pipe terminates at end 58 in a splash block 60 at an upper surface of the foundation 62.
With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the tube tank portion 60 has parallel side walls extending from the foundation for a height of ninety feet. The side walls then diverge into an elliptical tube portion 62 having an overall height of thirty feet for a high water elevation level of one hundred twenty feet from the foundation. Similar structure is found in the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 to that of FIGS. 1 through 3 including a six inch diameter overflow pipe 64 terminating adjacent to the high water level in the tank.
In FIGS. 6 and 7, a tube tank portion 70 extends until reaching a spherical bowl portion 72 for a combined height of one hundred twenty feet from the foundation tube to the high water elevation. The spherical bowl portion has a diameter of forty-four feet. Similar to FIGS. 1 and 4, a six inch diameter overflow pipe 74 extends to the high water level elevation of the tank.
In FIG. 8, the volume per foot curve of the tank design of the present invention is compared to existing tank designs and as can be seen from these plots, the present design is by far the most efficient.
The plots show how the volume of the tank design differs from the standard elevated tank design and the standard tube tank design. The curves are based on stored volume of 150,000 gallons, overflow height of 130 feet and water usage of 500 gpm. The standard tube tank curve is plotted with the assumption that the upper ⅓ of the tank height is used as elevated storage. Consequently, the tank diameter had to be 66.39 feet which gives this tank a total capacity of 450,000 gallons (the top ⅓ being elevated storage).
A description of the plots is as follows:
1. Elevated tank (#1)
- This tank performs well until the water reaches the bottom of the tank bowl, however, since the small diameter center riser that supplies the bowl has very little volume, the elevated tank is completely empty after 5 hours, 4.7 minutes.
2. Tube Tank (#2)
- This tank had to be quite large in order to provide 150,000 gallons of volume between 100′-130′ elevation. The overall volume of this tank had to be 450,000 gallons in order to match the elevated tank in volume at the design altitude. The plot for this tank shows that the volume falls to the 100-foot mark in 3 hours 24 minutes compared to the true elevated tank time of 5 hours (#1). The remainder of the volume can only be effectively used as emergency supply.
3. The tank of the present invention (#3)
- This design is identical to the elevated tank from 100′ to 130′ that gives both tanks excellent storage and pressure characteristics. From 100′ to 0′ the design of the present invention out-performs the elevated tank with a total duration of 12.83 hours compared to 5.04 hours duration in the elevated tank.
- The comparison of the tank of the present invention to the tube tank shows, similar to the elevated tank, the volume between 100′-130′ lasts 1.6 hours longer than the tube tank. The overall duration of the inventive tank is only slightly less (12.83 hours) than the tube tank (15 hours). The tube diameter of the tank of the present invention is only 20′ compared to 66.34′ of the true tube tank (#2).
The foregoing description should be considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
Patent Application
20080060287
