Abstract:
A customizable hazardous material containment system including a plurality of rectangular fluid-capturing liners which are secured together via a plurality of overlapping side flanges which extend around the perimeter of the liners, the side-flange liner connection allowing for non-linear implementations of a hazardous material containment system. A drain port can be incorporated into the liner. The system can also be used as a secondary or tertiary hazardous material containment system.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Work sites need to be protected from hazardous waste material discharge. Cleaning up hazardous waste material is labor intensive and expensive. The current practice typically involves lining the work site area with heavy polymer material. Tarps or other temporary barriers do not provide a complete solution to capturing all hazardous waste material for proper disposal, particularly with larger equipment, such as fueling systems, portable generator sets, and the like which may cause such materials to slide around, tear or otherwise create gaps in the lining material through which hazardous materials may leak into the environment. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention described herein is an impermeable liner with side walls having flanges and connection mechanisms, creating a uniform, transportable and customizable system to contain hazardous material at a work site. 
     Federal and state agencies recommend or require that hazardous material environments have a secondary containment system to prevent hazardous materials from escaping into the environment while the hazardous material is being stored, used or collected as waste for proper disposal. The impermeable liner of this invention provides a transportable primary, secondary or even tertiary containment system that is compatible with many work environments and that is easy to install and clean. By providing an easily transportable containment system, regulatory guidelines for having back-up or redundant material containment systems may be met or exceeded without much additional cost or equipment. 
     The liners are made in a tray-like configuration, so they can be easily stacked, stored and transported. Each liner is preferably of a size and weight that can be easily manually handled and positioned by a user. The ability to interconnect a plurality of liners enables the user to custom-fit the liners for the work environment, connecting as many liners as needed, in any orientation, to provide proper containment. 
     The liners allow flexibility in the size of the containment area, allowing quarantining of a worksite to isolate and contain hazardous waste materials in the area or areas needed, without contamination of the entire containment area. Traditional containment systems are not flexible in that if the hazardous waste material comes into contact with just a portion of the containment system, the entire containment system is contaminated by the hazardous waste and must be cleaned before the containment system can be used again. Using the liners of the present invention, the hazardous waste material is collected and retained in a smaller area, and only those liners with which the hazardous waste has come into contact need to be cleaned. 
     The liners are made of a polymer material that can be molded and is sturdy with some degree of flexibility. The liners can be easily cleaned using environmentally acceptable products and methods. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the liner of the invention. 
         FIGS. 1 a - d    are cross-sectional views of various embodiments of the flange of the liner. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram of one embodiment showing the relative orientation of a plurality of liners. 
         FIG. 2 a    is a side view of the liner flange with the connection mechanism. 
         FIG. 2 b    is a top view of the liner flange with apertures for receiving the connection mechanism positioned to enable the orientation shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the connection mechanism between two liners. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram of another embodiment showing another orientation of a plurality of liners, the liners having an optional drain port. 
         FIG. 5  shows one embodiment of a liner with a drain port. 
         FIG. 6  shows one embodiment of a bolt with a drain. 
         FIG. 6 a    is a cross-sectional view of the connection mechanism between two liners with at least one liner having a drain port. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The impermeable liner includes a tray-like structure having a base  10  and an upwardly oriented sidewall  12  along the entire perimeter of the base, as shown in  FIG. 1 . The sidewall includes a flange  14  on the upper end of the sidewall. The cross-sectional profile of the flange  14  may be generally rounded or U-shaped, V-shaped, rectangular or flat as seen in  FIGS. 1 a - d   . The base, sidewall and flange sections are preferably formed from a single sheet of material to form a unitary, tray-like body. Exemplary materials suitable for making the impermeable liner include high molecular weight polyethylene (HMWPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), thermoplastic olefin (TPO), or other similar polymer materials that are impermeable and can be molded into the desired configuration. The material may be of any desired thickness or gauge depending on the intended use of the liner, typically ranging from 0.150″ to 0.400″. In some embodiments, materials having thicknesses of 0.187″, 0.250″ or 0.312″ can be used. 
     The flange  14  includes one or more apertures  16  on the topmost surface of the flange, through which a connection mechanism  18  may be inserted, as shown in  FIG. 2 a   . The aperture or apertures may be positioned anywhere along the perimeter of the liner to enable custom configurations to fit the intended workspace. In one embodiment, the apertures are positioned to facilitate an angular configuration as shown in  FIG. 2 , with the apertures shown in the flange top view of  FIG. 2 b   . Other embodiments include a linear configuration, or an array configuration as seen in  FIG. 4 . 
     The connection mechanism  18  may include any type of system for connecting a flange from one liner to the flange from an adjacent liner. In use, the liners are placed so that the flanges are in a stacked configuration resulting in an upper flange and a lower flange, with at least one aperture in the upper flange being aligned with at least one aperture in the lower flange, as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     The connection mechanism in one embodiment includes a nut  18   a  and bolt  18   b  fastening system seen in  FIG. 3 , with the nut  18   a  positioned on the bottom surface  20   b  of the lower flange and aligned with the aperture, and the bolt  18   b  being inserted through the aperture on the upper surface  20   a  of the upper flange to secure the upper flange to the lower flange, thereby providing a leak-proof connection between two adjacent liners. The nut may be permanently mounted in the flange aperture, or may be inserted and fastened into the flange aperture by the user before the liners are connected by a bolt. Other connection mechanisms that provide a similar leak-proof connection between adjacent liners by using the stacked flange configuration are contemplated. The connection mechanism, such as a nut and bolt system, are preferably made of a sturdy, durable, rust-proof material such as brass, zinc, stainless steel, or other suitable materials. 
     Example 1 
     An impermeable liner was molded from a single sheet of high molecular weight polyethylene to form a tray having dimensions of about 4 feet wide by about 8 feet long, with sidewalls having a height of about 4 inches. Apertures were made in the flange along the corners of the liner, as shown in  FIG. 2 b   . A duplicate liner was made of the same materials and with the same dimensions. 
     A rev nut was installed on the bottom surface of the flange at each aperture of one of the liners, so that the opening of the nut is aligned with the aperture. The nut has internal threads into which a bolt may be securely fastened once the nut is secured to the bottom surface of the flange. 
     The other liner was placed adjacent to liner having the nut installed, with the other liner flange overlapping with the flange with the nut installed. A bolt was inserted through the aperture in the upper flange and was secured into the rev nut of the lower flange. The bolt can be secured manually or with a power tool. The two liners were secured together in a leak-proof configuration. The liquid volume of each liner was 78 gallons, for a total liquid containment volume of 156 gallons. The weight of each liner was about 34 pounds, making each liner very portable. 
     Example 2 
     Optional Draining System 
     In another embodiment, the tray includes an optional draining system in which the liner has a drain port in the sidewall, as shown in  FIG. 5 , into which a drain fixture  27  may be installed. The drain port  25  is preferably positioned on the sidewall at a height between the base and flange of the liner, such as at the midpoint between the base and flange, or near the base of the liner as seen in the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 . One end of the drain fixture  27  can be attached to the drain port  25 , and the other end of the fixture may be connected in fluid communication with a similar drain fixture in an adjacent liner. The connection may be made through a tube, such as a polypropylene or polyethylene tubing material, or any other suitable material. One embodiment of a drain fixture  27  is shown in detail in  FIG. 6 , in which the fixture includes a bolt  28  with a drain, and a gasket  28   a , which are secured to the liner with a jam nut  29 . Other embodiments in which the drain fixture is installed in drain port  25  in a leak-proof manner are contemplated by this invention, such as shown in  FIG. 6 a   . The draining system is designed to contain the flow from the first liner by capturing it in the second liner, again providing leak-proof containment of materials and avoiding overflow over the sidewall of the liner. If the drain system will not be used, the drain port may be plugged with a plug positioned in a sealing engagement with the sidewall to allow the use of a single liner. The drain system also facilitates easily cleaning and draining the liner after hazardous materials have been contained and properly disposed. 
     Although the foregoing embodiments and description provide enabling details of the liner of the present invention, they are not intended to narrow the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.