Liners And Methods Of Making Liners

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to liners and methods of making liners. The liners may be suitable for use with tanks and other storage/containment vessels, such as process tanks, immersion tanks, indoor or outdoor containment pits, gravity feed conduits (e.g., concrete trench, canal, or drain, etc.) for transferring or conveying liquid, grain storage tanks or containers (e.g., dielectric or electrically non-conductive liners for grain storage, etc.), etc.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for lining a storage/containment vessel, the apparatus comprising a bottom portion, sidewall portions, and radio frequency (RF) compression welds along corners formed or defined between each pair of adjacent sidewall portions without overlapping edges of the sidewall portions internally along the corresponding sidewall portions of the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions, wherein the bottom portion and the sidewall portions cooperatively define an internal volume usable for storage of materials, and wherein the sidewall portions are folded relative to the bottom portion thereby defining fold lines between the bottom portion and the sidewall portions without requiring any welds along the fold lines. 
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises ethylene interpolymer alloy (EIA). 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a geomembrane. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a single sheet of material that includes the sidewall portions and the bottom portion, whereby the apparatus has a single piece construction defined by the sidewall portions and the bottom portion. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a corner strip weld over and/or along a portion of at least one of the RF compression welds. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RF compression welds along the corners are configured to provide watertight seals along the corners. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes two or more sheets of material attached together to thereby provide or define a sheet of material that includes the sidewall portions and the bottom portion. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the two or more sheets of material comprise two or more sheets of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) having a polyester fabric backing and that are attached together by:
 RF overlap welds along overlapping edges of adjacent sheets of the two or more sheets of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF); or   extrusion welds of thermoplastic material within interfaces of adjacent sheets of the two or more sheets of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sidewall portions are folded generally perpendicular and/or upwardly relative to the bottom portion to thereby define the fold lines between the bottom portion and the sidewall portions and the corners between each pair of adjacent sidewall portions without folded edges of the sidewall portions internally along the corresponding sidewall portions of the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured for use as a flexible or foldable drop-in bag liner, for use a drop-in liner for a tank, and/or for use as a standalone tank. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus for lining a storage/containment vessel, the apparatus comprising a bottom portion, sidewall portions, and at least one radio frequency (RF) compression weld along at least one corner formed or defined between at least one pair of adjacent sidewall portions without overlapping edges of the pair of adjacent sidewall portions internally along each other, wherein the bottom portion and the sidewall portions cooperatively define an internal volume usable for storage of materials, and wherein the sidewall portions are folded relative to the bottom portion thereby defining fold lines between the bottom portion and the sidewall portions without requiring any welds along the fold lines. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus comprises ethylene interpolymer alloy (EIA). 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus comprises a geomembrane. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus comprises polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus includes a radio frequency (RF) compression weld along each corner formed or defined between each pair of adjacent sidewall portions without overlapping edges of the sidewall portions internally along the corresponding sidewall portions of the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus comprises a single sheet of material that includes the sidewall portions and the bottom portion, whereby the apparatus has a single piece construction defined by the sidewall portions and the bottom portion. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus comprises a corner strip weld over and/or along a portion of the at least one RF compression weld. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one radio frequency (RF) compression weld along the at least one corner is configured to provide a watertight seal along the at least one corner. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the sidewall portions are folded generally perpendicular and/or upwardly relative to the bottom portion to thereby define the fold lines between the bottom portion and the sidewall portions and corners between each pair of adjacent sidewall portions without folded edges of the sidewall portions internally along the corresponding sidewall portions of the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the apparatus is configured for use as a flexible or foldable drop-in bag liner, for use a drop-in liner for a tank, and/or for use as a standalone tank. 
     
     
         22 . A method of making a liner from a sheet of material, the method comprising:
 removing one or more corner pieces from the sheet of material such that a remainder of the sheet of material includes a bottom portion and sidewall portions extending outwardly relative to the bottom portion;   repositioning the sidewall portions relative to the bottom portion to thereby define or form corners between each pair of adjacent sidewall portions without overlapping edges of the sidewall portions internally along the corresponding sidewall portions of the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions; and   radio frequency (RF) compression welding along at least one corner of the corners defined or formed between the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein repositioning the sidewall portions relative to the bottom portion comprises folding the sidewall portions generally perpendicular and/or upwardly relative to the bottom portion to thereby form or define the corners between each pair of adjacent sidewall portions without folding edges of the sidewall portions internally along the corresponding sidewall portions of the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions before RF compression welding along the one or more or more corners. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the method includes RF compression welding along the at least one corner to thereby provide a watertight seal along the at least one corner and without any welding along fold lines defined between the bottom portion and the sidewall portions. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the sheet of material comprises ethylene interpolymer alloy (EIA). 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the sheet of material comprises a geomembrane. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the sheet of material comprises polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising welding a corner strip weld over and/or along a portion of at least one RF compression weld along the at least one corner of the corners defined or formed between the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein radio frequency (RF) compression welding along at least one corner comprises RF compression welding along each of the corners defined or formed between the pairs of adjacent sidewall portions. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein removing one or more corner pieces from the sheet of material comprises removing four rectangular corner pieces from a rectangular sheet of material such that a remainder of the rectangular sheet of material includes a rectangular bottom portion and four rectangular sidewall portions each extending outwardly relative to a corresponding one of the four sides of the rectangular bottom portion, whereby the rectangular bottom portion and four rectangular sidewall portions cooperatively define a generally cross shaped configuration. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the method includes reconfiguring the sidewall portions from a first configuration in which the sidewall portions are generally co-planar with the bottom portion to a second configuration in which the sidewall portions are generally perpendicular with the bottom portion. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the method includes making the liner from a single sheet of material such that the liner has a single piece construction defined by the sidewall portions and the bottom portion. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising installing the liner within a process tank. 
     
     
         34 . A liner made by the method according to  claim 22 .