Abstract:
The present invention a bunker sealing system for use with a horizontal style bunker, the bunker sealing system includes a bunker silo for storing silage therein, a cover for selectively covering and sealing silage; wherein the cover being comprised of liquid fillable bladders. The bunker sealing system further including cover handling equipment including a spool for spooling and unspooling the cover onto and off of a cover spool such that the penetration of water and air into silage is minimized and further includes a cover carriage for supporting, the spool including wheels cooperatively rolling along top rails mounted on top of bunker walls, such that the carriage spans between two bunker walls and is rollably moveable longitudinally along the walls.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent application Serial No. 60/363,359 filed Mar. 12, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to bunker silos, in particular a method and apparatus of sealing bunker silos.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Bunker silos have become the presently preferred method for storing silage. Bunker silos offer the user reasonable capital costs, high storage volumes, quick and easy filling procedures for the storage of silage.  
           [0004]    There are however problems which have plagued storage of silage in bunker silos, most of which are as a result of penetration of air, moisture, or rodents into the silage over time. Currently in order to minimize penetration of air and water and rodents into the silage, a plastic cover is placed over the silage after it has been compacted into the bunker silo and normally old tires are then placed on top of the cover to keep it in place during the storage season. As the silage is being consumed at the feeding face, the cover is rolled back as required. The placement of the cover and the tires is a time consuming manual procedure which tends to be very cumbersome. In particular it is impractical to keep the feeding face covered over during inactive intervals. In other words the feeding face is almost always exposed increasing the probability of penetration of water and air into the stored silage.  
           [0005]    Therefore there is a need for a silo covering system which provides for rapid covering and uncovering with minimal labour requirements. In addition, there is a need for a covering system which reduces the exposure of the stored silage from penetration of water and air and also which minimizes contamination of the silage from rodents, birds, pets and faeces.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    A bunker sealing system for use with a horizontal style bunker, said bunker sealing system comprises  
           [0007]    a) a bunker silo for storing silage therein;  
           [0008]    b) a cover for selectively covering and sealing silage; and  
           [0009]    b) a means for selectively covering and sealing silage such that the penetration of water and air into silage is minimized.  
           [0010]    Preferably wherein said covering means including a liquid means for selectively filling and removing liquid from said cover for weighing down said cover with liquid thereby ensuring said cover remains on said silage and maximizes sealing of said cover.  
           [0011]    Preferably wherein said cover being comprised of liquid fillable bladders.  
           [0012]    Preferably wherein said cover being comprised of a moisture barrier sheet and a network of cover tubing attached to said moisture barrier, wherein said tubing for filling and evacuating with liquid for weighing down said cover with liquid thereby ensuring said cover remains on said silage and maximizes sealing of said cover.  
           [0013]    Preferably wherein said covering means includes cover handling equipment including a means for spooling and unspooling said cover onto and off of a cover spool.  
           [0014]    Preferably wherein said spool means includes a carriage means for moving said spool means longitudinally along the length of the bunker silo and supporting said spool means.  
           [0015]    Preferably wherein said carriage means includes a cover carriage includes wheels cooperatively rolling along top rails mounted on top of bunker walls, such that said carriage spans between two bunker walls and is rollably moveable longitudinally along said walls.  
           [0016]    Preferably wherein said spool means includes means for raising and lowering said spool.  
           [0017]    Preferably wherein said spool means includes rotating means for applying rotational forces to said cover spool for spooling and unspooling.  
           [0018]    Preferably wherein said carriage means includes a drive means for moving said carriage longitudinally along said bunker silo.  
           [0019]    Preferably wherein said liquid means includes water handling equipment including a manifold for selectively communicating liquid to said cover.  
           [0020]    Preferably wherein said liquid means further includes a main storage tank for selectively communicating liquid to said manifold under a head of liquid pressure.  
           [0021]    Preferably wherein said liquid means includes a surge tank for receiving liquid from said cover and communicating said liquid back to said storage tank.  
           [0022]    Preferably wherein said liquid means includes a liquid pumping system and valves for controlling movement of liquid between the storage tank, manifold and surge tank.  
           [0023]    Preferably wherein said spooling means and carriage means cooperates with said liquid means such that filling said cover with liquid aids in unspooling said cover off of said cover spool and simultaneously 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]    [0024]FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of bunker sealing system with the silage uncovered.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 2 is a schematic cross side elevational view of the bunker sealing system showing the cover carriage positioned in the carriage cradle.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 is a schematic top plan view of the bunker sealing system showing the silage being completely covered over with the cover.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 is a schematic side elevational view of the bunker sealing system together with partial cut away showing the silage completely covered over with the cover.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 5 is a schematic cross sectional view through the cover shown in FIG. 6.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 6 is a schematic top plan view of the cover together with the manifold.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 7 is a schematic side elevational view of the cover together with the manifold.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 8 is a schematic cross sectional schematic view of the cover shown in FIG. 9.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 9 is a schematic top plan view of the cover shown together with the manifold.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 10 is a schematic side elevational view of the cover together with the manifold.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 11 is a schematic enlarged view of the details of the cover carriage shown in the cradle position in solid lines and in the raised position in dotted lines, together with the cover and manifold.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 12 is a schematic perspective view of the bunker sealing system showing the bunker silo, the cover handling equipment and the water or other liquid handling equipment with the cover carriage and cover in a partially uncovered condition.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0036]    Referring to the attached Figures, the present invention a bunker sealing system shown generally as  100  includes the following major sections, namely bunker silo  102 , covering handling equipment  200  and liquid handling equipment  300 .  
         [0037]    Referring firstly to FIG. 12, bunker silo  102  includes the following major components, namely, bunker walls  120  each having a top rail  124  mounted thereon and also a bunker floor  122 . Bunker silo  102  houses silage  150  which is compacted into place using traditional methods well known in the art for filling of bunker silos.  
         [0038]    Cover handling equipment  200  includes cover  201 , a cover carriage  202  which includes carriage frame  226 , carriage wheels  210 , cover spool  236 , spool shaft  238 , spool shaft drive motor  222 , guide rollers  224  and hydraulic cylinders  220 . In addition, cover handling equipment  200  also includes carriage cradles  204 , cables  260 , down turn pulleys  262  and cable take up drum  264  as shown in FIG. 4.  
         [0039]    Liquid handling equipment  300  includes main storage tank  301 , manifold  302  and surge tank  304 . Interconnecting and controlling the liquid flow between these three containers, includes outlet pipe  322  communicating with outlet valve  310 , surge pipe  324 , communicating with control valve  312 , pump  306 , inlet pipe  320 , communicating with inlet valve  308 .  
         [0040]    Cover  
         [0041]    Cover  201  can be constructed in many different configurations that are currently known in the art, however by way of example only the present application includes two different examples. Cover  201  could be made of a number of bladder sections  280  as shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and  10 . Each bladder section  280  defining a liquid conduit  282  through which liquid can communicate along the length of each bladder section  280 . Manifold  302  includes manifold connections  330  which communicates liquid into each liquid conduit  282  defined by each bladder section  280 . Each bladder section can either be manufactured individually and then connected together and/or manufactured as a single continuous webbing.  
         [0042]    The presently preferred alternate embodiment of cover  201  is shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and  7  and includes a moisture barrier sheet  270  having attached on one side thereof cover tubing  272  running along the length of moisture barrier sheet  270 . Moisture barrier sheet  270  can be made of any material presently known in the art including various plastics including vinyl, polypropylene, polyethylene and/or reinforced vinyl, polypropylene, polyethylene and like materials. Cover tubing  272  can also be manufactured of various plastics and/or rubbers and/or various reinforced rubbers or plastics which are conventionally used for the manufacture of tubing carrying relatively low pressure liquid. Each cover tubing  272  communicates with manifold  302  via manifold connections  330 .  
         [0043]    Cover tubing  272  is securely attached to moisture barrier sheet  270  by methods known in the art and each cover tubing  272  defines there through a liquid conduit  274  for communicating liquid between cover tubing  272  and manifold  302 .  
         [0044]    Not shown in the diagrams cover  201  may be made of any suitable thickness and suitable material for the conditions. In particular cover  201  may be designed to hold a greater amount of liquid for not only holding the cover in place over the silage but also for aiding in compacting and settling the silage under the cover. It is for example possible that a cover providing for one foot of liquid depth or more be used to be placed over the silage. The weight of this amount of liquid would help settle and compact the silage and ensure a tight seal. Modifications to the equipment may be required including the ability to extract large volumes of liquid from the cover to help in its removal.  
         [0045]    The liquid used in the cover may be water, or other solutions which resist or lower the freezing temperature of then water. The liquid used to fill the cover may be some type of alcohol, glycol, or solutions which may or may not contain water.  
         [0046]    In Use  
         [0047]    Bunker sealing system described above and as depicted in FIGS. 1 through 12 is preferably used as follows.  
         [0048]    Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, silage  150  is loaded into bunker silo  102  in a traditional manner until bunker silo  102  is filled to capacity. During filling of silage  150  into bunker silo  102 , cover carriage  202  is parked on the carriage cradles  204  in the rearward portion of bunker silo  102  closest to the main storage tank  301 . Cover carriage  202  in this position does not interfere with the filling of bunker silo  102  with silage  150 . Cover spool  236  rests on carriage cradles  204  in the cradle position  252  as shown in FIG. 2 and also in FIG. 11. Cover  201  is spooled onto cover spool  236  as shown in FIG. 2 and a drive motor  222  controls the rotation of the spool shaft  238  and therefore the pay out of cover  201  off of cover spool  236 . Once bunker silo  102  has been filled with silage  150 , cover  201  can be placed over silage  150  as will now be explained.  
         [0049]    Referring at this time to FIG. 11, cover spool  236  can be raised and lowered from the cradle position  252  to a raised position  250  by actuating hydraulic cylinders  220  as shown in FIG. 11. With cover spool  236  in the spool raised position  250  as shown in the dotted outlines in FIG. 11, outlet valve  310  is opened for communicating liquid from main storage tank  301  to outlet pipe  322 , thereby filling manifold  302  with liquid. The liquid head created in storage tank  301  creates liquid pressure within manifold  302  which communicates with cover  201  via manifold connections  330 . The liquid entering into cover  201  via manifold connections  330  fills bladder sections  280  as shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and  10  and/or cover tubing  272  as shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and  7  and this pressure would naturally tend to urge cover carriage  202  forwardly along the length of bunker silo  102 . Simultaneously cover  201  would unspool from cover spool  236  thereby covering over silage  150  stored in bunker silo  102 . Note that cable  260  and downturn pulley  262  would be loose and drive motor  222  of spool shaft  238  may aid in the unspooling of cover  201  if necessary. In addition top rail  124  mounted on bunker walls  120  may have a slight downward slope so that cover carriage  202  would naturally tend to move forward and away from carriage cradle  204  thereby unspooling cover spool  236 . Depending upon the location of cover carriage  202 , the height of spool shaft  238  can be controlled with hydraulic cylinders  220  and the spooling and unspooling of cover  201  on cover spool  236  can additionally be controlled with spool shaft drive motor  222  as well as guide rollers  224 .  
         [0050]    Although not shown it may be possible that guide rollers  224  would be linked together with drive motor  222  which drives spool shaft  238  for aiding in the spooling and unspooling of cover  201  off of cover spool  236 . In addition, the ability to raise and lower spool shaft  238  using hydraulic cylinders  220 , enables one to optimize the angle at which the cover  201  is being spooled or unspooled. In this manner one can always maintain the optimum angle of the forces acting on cover  201 .  
         [0051]    When bunker silo  102  is completely filled with silage  150  cover carriage  202  is rolled out to almost the front end  160  of bunker silo  102  as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In this position cover  201  covers over and seals off silage  150  from air and moisture as shown in FIG. 4.  
         [0052]    In order to uncover the feeding face or that area of the silage closest to the front end  160 , cover  201  would be spooled onto cover spool  236  using drive motor  222  and in this manner only the front face or the feeding face of silage  150  needs to be uncovered with the balance of the bunker silo  102  being maintained in its covered position. During the uncovering process for example, outlet valve  310  would be closed and control valve  312  would be opened to allow liquid to drain from manifold  302  which in turn would naturally drain the liquid out of cover  201  as the end of cover  201  is being spooled onto cover spool  236 . Control valve  312  would be opened for the liquid to flow into surge tank  304 . Cover  201  is shown in a partially uncovered position in FIG. 12.  
         [0053]    Bunker silo  102  will be emptied of silage  150  over time and as the feeding front or the front face of silage  150  moves rearwardly towards main storage tank  301 , cover carriage  202  will also have to be wheeled and/or rolled backwardly toward main storage tank  301 . This is accomplished by rotating take up drum  264  as shown in FIG. 4 which in turn pulls cable  260  over top of downturn pulley  262 . Cable  260  is attached at one end to carriage frame  226  and at the other end to take up drum  264 . In this manner cover carriage  202  can be wheeled along top rail  124  to any desired position along bunker silo  102 .  
         [0054]    Liquid that accumulates within surge tank  304 , can be pumped back into main storage tank  301  using pump  306  and inlet valve  308 .  
         [0055]    Kindly note that the diagrams shown are schematic in nature and the piping and location of the manifold and the valves etc, may not be exactly as shown however, the drawings do convey how the system would function and operate.  
         [0056]    The construction of cover  201  is dictated by cost, convenience, and durability considerations and at this time it is believed that cover  201  would preferably be constructed int two parts namely, moisture barrier sheet  270  and cover tubing  272  securely attached to the moisture barrier sheet  270 .  
         [0057]    Those skilled in the art will of course realize that cover  201  is so placed onto silage  150  so as to minimize the penetration of air and water into silage  150 . In addition by sealing off the feeding face when not in use, again the penetration of air and moisture into silage  150  is minimized.  
         [0058]    It should be apparent to persons skilled in the arts that various modifications and adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure from the spirit of the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim.