CA2742263A1 - Spill containment mat system - Google Patents

Spill containment mat system Download PDF

Info

Publication number
CA2742263A1
CA2742263A1 CA2742263A CA2742263A CA2742263A1 CA 2742263 A1 CA2742263 A1 CA 2742263A1 CA 2742263 A CA2742263 A CA 2742263A CA 2742263 A CA2742263 A CA 2742263A CA 2742263 A1 CA2742263 A1 CA 2742263A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
mat
containment
grating
containment mat
pan
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA2742263A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Robert Sissons
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
SISSONS ENTERPRISES CORP
Original Assignee
SISSONS ENTERPRISES CORP
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by SISSONS ENTERPRISES CORP filed Critical SISSONS ENTERPRISES CORP
Publication of CA2742263A1 publication Critical patent/CA2742263A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B08CLEANING
    • B08BCLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
    • B08B17/00Methods preventing fouling
    • B08B17/02Preventing deposition of fouling or of dust
    • B08B17/025Prevention of fouling with liquids by means of devices for containing or collecting said liquids
    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16NLUBRICATING
    • F16N31/00Means for collecting, retaining, or draining-off lubricant in or on machines or apparatus

Landscapes

  • Carpets (AREA)

Abstract

A modular spill containment mat having a pan element and a support grating overlay. The pan element has one or more support beams under the grating to support a vehicle.
A sidewall drain is provided, as well as openings in the grating for vacuum hose extraction.
Each containment mat may be connected to one or more adjacent mats to form a larger mat. The containment mat may be used to prevent spills during refueling of vehicles.

Description

SPILL CONTAINMENT MAT SYSTEM
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many industries require the use of vehicles and other equipment which must be regularly refueled. It is common for such refueling to take place in a location which does not have spill containment infrastructure. As such, there is a need for a transportable spill containment mat which can prevent release into the environment of fuels used in the fueling of on-road and off-road equipment.

Prior art spill containment mats have demonstrated a number of shortcomings.
Primarily, they have been unwieldy, too large and too heavy for ease of transportation and use. For example, a typical prior art spill containment mat may have dimensions of 12 feet by 40 feet and weigh 23,000 pounds. Disadvantages with such a spill containment mat include the requirement that large lifting equipment be available to load the mat onto a truck. Also, the large weight and size of such a prior art unit made repositioning of the mat difficult within the fueling yard.

In prior art spill containment mats, the grating placed above the spill pan was not fixed to the pan, thereby permitting unintended lifting of the grating by the equipment being fueled. For example, the track drowsers of off-road equipment could catch and lift the grating.

Drains for removal of spilled materials were provided in the bottom of the pan in the prior art mats. The position of the drain on the bottom of the pan required lifting of one or both ends of the pan to allow the contained fluids to pass through the drain.

In circumstances where refueling at a particular site was required several times per year, these difficulties were compounded, encouraging the development in the present invention of a spill containment mat which overcomes these shortcomings. Ideally, such a spill containment mat should be readily loadable and transportable to a fueling site. The grating atop the containment pan should be resistant to lifting by the equipment being refueled. Ideally, draining of fluids contained in the mat should be achievable without the need to lift the containment mat.

As described below and depicted in the accompanying drawings, the spill containment mat of the present invention achieves these objectives.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is provided a modular spill containment mat having a rectangular pan with a bottom tray, first and second opposing side walls, and first and second opposing end walls;
a plurality of spaced structural beams extending between first and second side walls in parallel to the end walls, each beam having at least one opening along its lower edge adjacent the bottom tray; and a grating reversibly connectable to the top of the pan, above the side walls, end walls, and beams;
wherein at least one side wall has at least one drain opening.

The grating may have opposing side sections separated by a central section, with each of the side sections and central section separately removable from the containment mat.
Each side section of the grating further may have at least one removable plate for insertion therethrough of a vacuum hose or other debris removal apparatus.

The mat may include locking means for releasably securing the grating to the pan, the locking means in the form of an elongated channel iron connected to one end wall and reversibly attachable to a corresponding end of each section of the grating. The top surface of the grating may be serrated. The grating may have a thickness of between 1 and 4 inches, preferably 2 inches. Each side wall may be between 10 and 14 feet long, preferably 12 feet long. Each end wall may be between 6 and 10 feet long, preferably 8 feet long. There may be at least one handle on the outside of each side wall and on the outside of each end wall.

In another of its aspects, there is provided a spill containment system, having a plurality of modular spill containment mats and latching means for connecting each containment mat to an adjacent mat side-to-side or end-to-end. The latching means may be an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one side of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to a side of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat. The latching means may be an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one end of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to an end of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat.

In other embodiments, each of the modular spill containment mats may be triangular, pentagonal or hexagonal, and may be assembled into a larger containment mat system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed description of the invention is provided below, with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the top of the spill containment mat of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the side of the spill containment mat of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the end of the spill containment mat of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the spill containment mat of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the spill containment mat of the present invention with the grating removed;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the spill containment mat of the present invention with the grating removed;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a side section of the grating, showing two removable plates for removal of contained material by vacuum hose;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view through line 8--8 of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a plan view of a central section of the grating; and FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view through line 10--10 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

There is provided a spill containment mat system comprising one or more interconnectable pan elements 4 and a grating element 6 associated with each pan element. The pan element preferably comprises a bottom tray 8 having dimensions of 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Other dimensions are also possible within the scope of the invention. A pair of opposing side walls 10, 12 extend perpendicularly upwardly from the opposing sides of the tray. The opposing side walls are connected to each other at their ends by a pair of opposing end walls 14, 16 which extend perpendicularly upwardly from the opposing ends of the tray to form a containment pan.
Preferably, the walls of the containment pan are 8 inches high, although other dimensions are also possible within the scope of the invention.

During refueling, equipment or vehicles will be positioned above the spill containment mat. To provide structural support for this equipment, a plurality of parallel beams 18 may extend between the side walls of each pan, defining sub-sections 20 of the pan between adjacent beams.
One or more openings 22 in each beam permits spilled fluids to flow between sub-sections within a single pan to a drain or vacuum hose opening for removal. The openings through each beam are adjacent the tray of the pan, leaving the top of each beam integral for increased structural strength and optimal support to the equipment being fueled on the spill containment mat.

A grating overlays the pan to provide support for the vehicle or equipment to be fueled.
Preferably, the grating is 2 inches thick, but other thicknesses are also possible within the scope of the invention. In a preferred embodiment, the grating covering each pan is comprised of a central section 24 and a pair of opposed side sections 26, 28. Each grating section may be separately removed from the spill pan.

The grating covering the pan preferably has a serrated top surface to reduce the slip hazard to operators walking on the surface of the grating. The grating covers the entire surface of the pan to allow containment of a spill anywhere within the area covered by the spill containment mat.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the grating includes a locking mechanism 30 to prevent the grating from being lifted or bent by any equipment which may catch on the grating.
The locking mechanism is an elongated piece of flat iron, preferably 8 feet long having a 15 degree bend in the centre with countersunk welded bolts therein. The bolts may be inserted into corresponding openings in the channel iron and secured with nuts.

Each of the grating sections for each pan includes a small plate, preferably no more than 4 inches long, to connect the grating section to the pan. Removal of this plate permits the grating to be lifted out of the pan for cleaning.
Each of the side sections of the grating include one or more removable plates 32 in the surface of the grating. Removal of one of the removable plates creates an opening into which a vacuum hose may be inserted to remove the materials contained in the pan, without the need for complete removal of one or more sections of the grating.

In operation, the size of the spill containment mat may be determined for each job. The spill containment mat comprises a plurality of connectable pans, each with grating elements. Each pan is preferably 8 feet wide by 12 feet long. Individual pans may be connected to other pads to form spill containment mats of a desired length and width. For example, a spill containment mat may be assembled which has a length of any multiple of 8 feet for the preferred embodiment. This flexibility permits tailoring the length requirements of the spill containment mat to each particular job.

The dimensions of the individual pans permit loading, unloading and transport of the pans with smaller loading equipment. In particular, by limiting the width of each individual pan to less than 8.5 feet, a truck or trailer may be loaded to its weight capacity without the exceeding overwidth restrictions. It is also noted that a spill containment mat 40 feet long is not required by many users, who generally are able to achieve their spill containment with much smaller spill containment mats.

Each pan of the spill containment mat includes a latching mechanism 34 for interconnection of the ends or sides of the individual pans. The latching mechanism is a bent piece of long plate, preferably 4" x 12', welded to one side of the containment mat which may slide over the adjacent mat and fall into place to secure the mats together.

Each pan furthermore includes lateral projections at the top of the side walls to extend over the connection between adjacent pans, thereby preventing spills between the pans.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each pan includes one or more drains 36 set into the side wall or end wall of the pan. Locating the one or more drains on the pan wall decreases the likelihood of blockage or damage of the drain as compared to a drain positioned on the bottom of a pan. The wall position of the drain furthermore permits addition of water filtration and other fluid treatment processing of the spilled fluids without the need to raise the pan or install piping under the pan.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each pan of the multi-pan spill containment mat is self-contained, without means for movement of fluid or other materials between adjacent pans. This feature reduces the potential scope of a breach of an individual pan by limiting any spill to the fluids contained in that pan, rather than the content of the entire spill containment mat, as is the risk for prior art mats in which individual pan elements are interconnected for fluid flow between pan elements.

In alternate embodiments, the containment mat may be triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, or any other selected geometry which will permit modular assembly to form a larger containment mat.
As has been shown, the spill containment mat of the present invention overcomes the challenges of prior art devices.

It is to be understood that the description and drawings provided are non-limiting in scope and other embodiments are understood to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (18)

1. A modular spill containment mat, comprising:

a rectangular pan having a bottom tray, first and second opposing side walls, and first and second opposing end walls;

a plurality of spaced structural beams extending between first and second side walls in parallel to the end walls, each beam having at least one opening along its lower edge adjacent the bottom tray; and a grating reversibly connectable to the top of the pan, above the side walls, end walls, and beams;

wherein at least one side wall has at least one drain opening.
2. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein the grating comprises opposing side sections separated by a central section, each of the side sections and central section separately removable from the containment mat.
3. The containment mat of claim 2, wherein each side section of the grating further comprises at least one removable plate for insertion therethrough of a vacuum hose or other debris removal apparatus.
4. The containment mat of claim 1, further comprising a locking means for releasably securing the grating to the pan.
5. The containment mat of claim 4, wherein the locking means comprises an elongated channel iron connected to one end wall and reversibly attachable to a corresponding end of each section of the grating.
6. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein the top surface of the grating is serrated.
7. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein the grating has a thickness of between 1 and 4 inches.
8. The containment mat of claim 7, wherein the grating has a thickness of 2 inches.
9. The containment mat of claim 1, wherein each side wall is between 10 and 14 feet long, and each end wall is between 6 and 10 feet long.
10. The containment mat of claim 9, wherein each side wall is 12 feet long, and each end wall is 8 feet long.
11. The containment may of claim 1, further comprising at least one handle on the outside of each side wall and on the outside of each end wall.
12. A spill containment system, comprising:

a plurality of the spill containment mats of claim 1;

latching means for connecting each containment mat to an adjacent mat side-to-side or end-to-end.
13. The spill containment system of claim 12, wherein the latching means comprises an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one side of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to a side of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat.
14. The spill containment system of claim 12, wherein the latching means comprises an elongated angled plate attached at a first side along one end of a first containment mat, and releasably attachable along a second side to an end of a second containment mat adjacent to the first containment mat.
15. A modular spill containment mat, comprising:

a containment pan having a bottom tray, and a plurality of contiguous walls extending upwardly along each edge;

one or more spaced structural beams extending between at least one pair of the walls, each beam having at least one opening along its lower edge adjacent the bottom tray; and a grating reversibly connectable to the top of the pan, above the walls and beams;
wherein at least one wall has at least one drain opening.
16. The spill containment mat of claim 15, wherein the bottom tray is triangular.
17. The spill containment mat of claim 15, wherein the bottom tray is pentagonal
18. The spill containment mat of claim 15, wherein the bottom tray is hexagonal.
CA2742263A 2010-09-28 2011-06-09 Spill containment mat system Abandoned CA2742263A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US38734810P 2010-09-28 2010-09-28
US61387348 2010-09-28

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2742263A1 true CA2742263A1 (en) 2012-03-28

Family

ID=45869557

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA2742263A Abandoned CA2742263A1 (en) 2010-09-28 2011-06-09 Spill containment mat system

Country Status (2)

Country Link
US (1) US20120074033A1 (en)
CA (1) CA2742263A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20150375983A1 (en) * 2014-06-27 2015-12-31 James Code Drip Collection Device
WO2017041103A1 (en) 2015-09-03 2017-03-09 R And D Enterprises Of Gulf Region Inc Tank support base

Family Cites Families (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3691576A (en) * 1970-12-18 1972-09-19 Ray P Miles Span structure
US5173273A (en) * 1990-10-11 1992-12-22 Brewer Charles A Cassette for dental instruments
US5544632A (en) * 1995-04-14 1996-08-13 Choate; Randall W. Removable engine plate and installation method therefor
US5562047A (en) * 1995-05-19 1996-10-08 New Pig Corporation Modular spill deck
US6173856B1 (en) * 2000-04-20 2001-01-16 Ultratech International, Inc. Spill containment pan
US6715517B2 (en) * 2002-03-18 2004-04-06 Timothy J. Tobin Portable self-contained unit for and method of handling polluting liquids
US7849962B2 (en) * 2006-09-13 2010-12-14 Coug Enterprises, Inc. Portable railcar step and railcar therewith
CA2726624C (en) * 2009-12-30 2018-03-13 Merrill E. Bishop Support matrix for spill containment pan

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US20120074033A1 (en) 2012-03-29

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US9488295B2 (en) Line pipe tray
US9051739B2 (en) Modular flooring system
EP2964832B1 (en) Liquid containment system for use with load-supporting surfaces and method of containing and draining liquids
US6173856B1 (en) Spill containment pan
CA2234323C (en) Drip tray
US20120073675A1 (en) Storage tank system having ease of placement and interconnectivity
US20120074033A1 (en) Spill Containment Mat System
US9175790B2 (en) Combined protector and hose support device for containment berm
US6988848B2 (en) Drip berm having hydrophobic and hydrocarbon retentive properties
US5408790A (en) Modular dock system
US9580240B2 (en) Drip liner for hazardous materials
US20150144624A1 (en) Liquid Storage Tank Formed of a Plurality of Panels
US20210238875A1 (en) Gutter system for a swimming pool and swimming pool having the gutter system
CA2975212C (en) Mobile containment and distribution pads
US20140048534A1 (en) Dual Tank Structure with Integral Secondary Containment
DE4431037B4 (en) Liquid collection device with two-chamber collecting container
US20210039611A1 (en) Truck tire stop with platform
NO20151504A1 (en) Apparatus including a pallet and related methods
AU2011100743A4 (en) Depot and sump assembly
SK832007A3 (en) Handling area
DE202021104409U1 (en) Drip pan
DE9109114U1 (en) Expandable warehouse for VBF products according to WHG
WO2017076976A1 (en) Platform perforated in the manner of a grate or grid
US20150361622A1 (en) Flexible Accessible Railroad Pan System
CA2942227A1 (en) Modular rig mat

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
FZDE Discontinued

Effective date: 20170609