Altair Engineering, Inc.

Continental Structural Plastics, Inc.

Mohan Parthasarathy

Regu Ramoo

Thomas Lamb

Hongliang Ji

A large volume natural gas storage tank comprises a plurality of rigid tubular walls each having opposing ends and an intermediate segment with a closed tubular cross-section, the plurality of rigid tubular walls arranged in a closely spaced relationship and interconnected at their ends to form a six-sided storage tank, with each of the six sides of the storage tank defined by four successive of the plurality of rigid tubular walls connected end-to-end, such that the interiors of the plurality of rigid tubular walls define an interior fluid storage chamber; and an exterior support structure, the exterior support structure including one or more braces connected to the exteriors of at least some of the plurality of rigid tubular walls and adapted to reinforce the at least some of the plurality of rigid tubular walls against dynamic loading from fluid in the interior fluid storage chamber.

Storage tank containment system

A large volume natural gas storage tank comprises a plurality of rigid tubular walls each having opposing ends and an intermediate segment with a closed tubular cross-section, the plurality of rigid tubular walls arranged in a closely spaced relationship and interconnected at their ends, with each end of a given of the plurality of rigid tubular walls connected with respective ends of two others of the plurality of rigid tubular walls to define a corner of the storage tank, such that the interiors of the plurality of rigid tubular walls define an interior fluid storage chamber.

A storage tank containment system including a cubic-shaped tank having an outer shell having cylindrical walls for the efficient storage and transportation of large quantities of fluid, for example, liquid and compressed natural gas.

A CNG or LNG storage containment tank is formed from four substantially vertical hollow tubular walls with first and a second ends positioned approximately 90 degrees apart. Eight horizontal hollow tubular walls interconnect and are in in fluid communication with the respective vertical tubular wall ends to form a six-sided cube-shaped tank configuration defining an interior fluid chamber. A tank support connected to the outer surfaces of the tubular walls and configured to reinforce the tank against loading arising from dynamic movement of fluid within the fluid chamber. In one example, bulkheads are positioned inside the horizontal tubular walls to reduce the sloshing of fluid through the tubular walls and thus the resulting sloshing loads. In another example, a plurality of gusset plates are positioned in a space between the tubular walls at an interior of the tank and connected between the tubular walls to further reinforce the tank.

A vehicle bumper system having a mounting bracket disposed between a vehicle frame and a bumper having angulated walls. The angulated walls are disposed at selected cross-sectional elevations, to avoid parallelograming under impact and provide maximum energy absorption. The mounting bracket includes a first surface and a second surface. The first surface of mounting bracket is adapted to be secured to the vehicle frame. The second surface of the mounting bracket is adapted to be secured to the bumper. The walls of the mounting bracket absorb an impact to the bumper.

Growing community of inventors

Macomb, MI, United States of America

Mohan Parthasarathy