WO2011065810A1

WO2011065810A1 - A sample container

Info

Publication number: WO2011065810A1
Application number: PCT/MY2009/000198
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lien Wei Nigel Wong; Omar Khan Fidah Hussain
Original assignee: Neosa (M) Sdn. Bhd.
Priority date: 2009-11-24
Filing date: 2009-11-24
Publication date: 2011-06-03

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sample container (10) for collecting fluid material from pre-selected depths of storage tank, deep ocean, deep vessel and the like comprising an exterior wall (11) bounding an interior cavity (12); a close lower end (13); an open upper end (14) terminating into a hollow neck (15) forming an opening (16) at the top end (17), a shoulder (18) at the intersection between the upper end (14) and the neck (15); and a cap (20) adapted to cover frie opening (16) of the container (10) the cap (20) is secured to the container (10) to prevent lost during usage.

Description

A SAMPLE CONTAINER

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sample container for holding fluid material, and in particular, a sample container to obtain and stock representative sample of wet or dry fluid materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is generally known that for sampling wet fluid material such as petroleum, petroleum products and the like, a sampling device is lowered into a ship tank, terminal shore tank and the like at a pre-selected depth, filling up the device with the sample fluid material and resurfacing the device and retrieving the sample material within for analytical tests to be conducted thereafter. There have been disclosures on the various types of sampling devices which were being used to assist the collection of liquid samples.

A disclosure of a sampling device in the form of a tube which is open at both ends is lowered into deep waters by means of winches and cables to a desired depth. Upon arriving at the desired depth, the device is closed preferably in the form of a spring loaded shutter thence trapping the water within, the closure was activated by a signal send to the device. The disadvantage of this tube-like device is the contamination of the water sample by unwanted biological materials and the like during descent.

This disadvantage could be overcome by another disclosure of a sampling device in the form of a stainless steel tube which is open at both ends with an open and close valve in that the valve is always closed and when it is lowered into the tank by means of a string rope the valve automatically opens upon being pushed by the liquid within and got trapped inside the tube. The valve will automatically close when the tube stops descending. The disadvantage here is that an end user need to be careful during lowering the device in case the tube stops at a wrong level and the procedure need to be repeated. Frequent repeats means wastage of time, manpower and cost in addition, the samples collected are not representative of the liquid sample and the device is merely used to collect liquid sample and need to be transferred into another container.

Another disclosure is a sampling device comprising a sampling cage and a sample container placed therein. The container is closed by a cork and secured to the cage before lowering into a tank by means of a string of rope attached to the cage. Another string is attached to the cork to assist in jerking the cork out as the device reaches the desired depth. Once the cork is disengage, the liquid will flow into the container and fills up the container. After the container is full, the device is pull up and the attached cock will be used to cover the container. As numerous samples need to be taken at various levels, the cock would be difficult to disengage especially at the deepest level due to the high pressure and the cock might not completely disengage.

The present invention is directed towards overcoming the difficulties of collecting and storing sample fluid material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a sample container that responded well in harsh environments.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an easily available and cost minimizing sample container.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a sample container which is easy to handle and use.

These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by providing

a sample container (10) for holding fluid material having an exterior wall (11) bounding an interior cavity (12); a close lower end (13); an open upper end (14) terminating into a hollow neck (15) forming an opening (16) at the top end (17), a shoulder (18) at the intersection between the upper end (14) and the neck (15); and a cap (20) adapted to cover the opening (16) characterized in that exterior of the neck (15) having at least two threads (151); and interior of the cap (20) having at least one thread (22) adapted to provide sealing mechanism for the container (10).

Further providing a sampling device (1) for obtaining fluid material in storage tanks and the like comprising a sampling cage (30) having a cage-like body (32) with a close bottom end surface (34) to receive a sample container (10); a handle (36) to hold opposite sides of the body (32); a securing means (34) to secure the container (10) into the cage (30); and a sampling line (50) adapted to lower the cage (30) into the storage tank to a predetermined location; characterized in that the handle (36) having a loop-like means (362) at about intermediate location of the handle (36) to provide a passage for the sampling line (50) to pass through and further attachment to the cap (20).

Further providing a method for sampling fluids in storage tanks and the like comprising the steps of (a) covering a sample container (10) by placing a cap (20) with interior thread (22) engaging onto outermost thread (151) of neck (15); (b) placing the container (10) into the cage (30) and secure to the cage by a securing means (34); (c) securing one end of a sampling line (50) onto the cap (20); (d) inserting another end of the sampling line (50) through loop-like means (362) of the handle (36) and secure rigidly to ground level; (e) lowering cage (30) to a predetermined location; (f) jerking outwards another end of the sampling line (50) to pull out the cap (20) from the container (10); (g) allowing sufficient time for the container (10) to be filled completely; (h) pulling out the cage (30) to the ground level; (i) securing the cap (20) to the container (10) in that the interior thread (22) engaging innermost thread (151) of the container (10).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures in which :

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view and cross-sectional view of a sample container according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows an outline view of a sampling cage according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

For a better understanding of the invention, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 shall be referred consecutively. A conventional method of obtaining sampling fluid material from predetermined or pre-selected depths of storage tanks, deep ocean, deep vessel and the like is by lowering a sampling device comprising a sampling cage and a sample container using a sampling line, for lowering the sampling cage and for pulling out a cork from the mouth of the sample container. The present invention is a sampling device (1) for obtaining or collecting fluid material, either wet or dry, from pre-selected depths of storage tanks and the like comprising a sampling cage (30); a sample container (10) and a sampling line (50) where the sampling line (50) is used to lower the sampling cage (30) into the tank and to pull out a cap (20) of the sample container (10) which makes the sampling device (1) easily manageable and once the sample container (10) is full that is no more bubbles appears from the surface of the fluid material the cage (30) is pullout to the surface level and the operator then closes the container (10) with the cap (20) which remains attached to the container (10). The sampling cage (30) comprises of a cage-like body (32) with a dose bottom end surface (34) to receive a sample container (10); a handle (36) to hold opposite sides of the body (32); a securing means (34) to secure the container (10) into the cage (30). The handle (36) having a loop-like means (362) at about intermediate location of the handle (36) to provide a passage for the sampling line (50) to pass through and for further attachment to the cap (20). The sample container (10) for holding fluid material having an exterior wall (11) bounding an interior cavity (12); a dose lower end (13); an open upper end (14) terminating into a hollow neck (15) forming an opening (16) at the top end (17) the neck (15) having at least two threads on its exterior surface (151), a shoulder (18) along the intersection between the lower part of the neck (15) and the open upper end (14) having at least one outwardly projecting loop (181) adapted to attach the cap (20) to the container (10) by an attachment means. The cap (20) adapted to cover the opening (16) to provide sealing mechanism for the container (10) having an interior with at least two threads (22); and an outwardly projecting loop (24) preferably on exterior upper surface of the cap (20) to accommodate attachment means to attach the cap (20) to the shoulder (18) of the container (10). The advantage of this invention is in the convenience of using only one sampling line (50) in that one end of the line (50) is secured to the cap (20) and the other end of the line (50) is made to pass through the loop-like means (362) of the handle (36) of the sampling cage (30) and securely handled by the operator at surface level. In addition, the cap (20) having attached to the container (10) at all time provides an economic advantage in that the possibility of misplaced and lost is almost negligible. The sealing mechanism of the cap (20) is by the inner thread of the cap (20) is made to engage to the outer thread (151) of the neck (15) before descending into the tank and the operator simply jerks out the sampling line (50) thus disengages the cap (20) from the sample container (10). Once the container (10) is full the operator pulls out the sampling cage (30) and once on the surface level, the operator pushes the cap (20) over the container (10) such that the inner thread (22) of the cap (20) engages to the lowest external thread (151) of the neck (15) of the sample container (10). Preferably, before covering the cap (20) over the container (10) a disk (40) (not shown) needs to cover the container to protect the sample fluid from deterioration and contamination. Upon arrival at any designated location and utilized for whatever usage either for analytical testing and the like, the sample container (10) could be easily uncovered by pulling out the cap (20).

Preferably, the container (20) is made of a flexible and resilient material including plastics and the like which can stand high temperatures, multiple chemical conditions and the like such as vegetable oils, petrochemicals, chemical products in both powdered and liquid forms, wet and dry forms and the like. The attachment means for holding the cap (20) to the container (10) includes a string, a cord and the like. Preferably, the container (20) could be used to store sample of fluid material obtained from other alternative methods, or preferably as a means to store fluid material for ease of transportation, storage and the like. Preferably, the threads (151,22) are of horizontal configuration for sealing rigidly said container (10) by means of a vertical action.

It should be understood that various changes, adaptations and modification may be made thereto without departing from the gist of the invention and the scope of the claim. It should be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to details as illustrated and shown in the figures and that it may include variations as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

Claims

What is claimed is:

A sample container (10) for holding fluid material comprising

an exterior wall (11) bounding an interior cavity (12);

a close lower end (13);

an open upper end (14) terminating into a hollow neck (15) forming an opening (16) at top end (17),

a shoulder (18) at the intersection between said upper end (14); and said neck (15);

and a cap (20) adapted to cover said opening (16)

characterized in that

exterior of said neck (15) having at least two threads (151); and interior of said cap (20) having at least one thread (22) whereby the interior thread (22) engages rigidly to lowermost exterior thread (151) of said neck (15) adapted to provide sealing mechanism for said container (10).

A sample container as claimed in claim 1 in that said shoulder (18) having at least one upwardly projecting loop-like means (181) adapted to provide an attachment means to said cap (20).

A sample container as claimed in claim 1 in that said cap (20) having an upwardly projecting loop-like means (24) on external upper surface adapted to provide an attachment means to said container (10).

A sample container (10) as claimed in claim 1 in that said sample container (10) and said cap (20) is made of resilient material.

A sampling cage (30) comprising

a cage-like body (32) with a close bottom end surface (34) to receive a sample container (10);

a handle (36) to hold opposite sides of said body (32);

a securing means (34) to secure said sample container (10) into said cage (30); characterized in that

said handle (36) having a loop-like means (362) to provide a passage for one end of said sampling line (50) to pass through and be held by an operator.

A sampling cage (30) as claimed in claim 5 in that said loop-like means (362) is intermediately located of said handle (36).

A sampling device (1) for obtaining fluid material in storage tanks and the like comprising

a sample container (10) having a cap (20) adapted to cover said container (10);

a sampling cage (30) adapted to receive said sample container (10) having a cage-like body (32); a handle (36); and a securing means (34) to secure said container (10) to said cage (30);

a sampling line (50) adapted to lower said cage (30) into said storage tank to a predetermined location;

characterized in that

said one end of said sampling line (50) attaches to said cap (20) and other end of said sampling line (50) passes through said handle (36) to be held by an operator.

A method for sampling fluid material in storage tanks and the like comprising the steps of

(a) covering a sample container (10) by placing a cap (20) with interior thread (22) engaging onto outermost thread (151) of said neck (15);

(b) placing said container (10) into a sampling cage (30) and secure to said cage by a securing means (34);

(c) securing one end of a sampling line (50) onto said cap (20);

(d) inserting other end of said sampling line (50) through loop-like means (362) of said handle (36) and secure rigidly to ground level; level;

(e) lowering said cage (30) to a predetermined location;

(f) jerking upwards said other end of said sampling line (50) to pull out said cap (20) from said container (10);

(g) allowing sufficient time for said container (10) to be filled completely;

(h) pulling out said cage (30) to said ground level;

(i) securing said cap (20) to said container (10) in that said interior thread (22) engages innermost thread (151) of said container (10).

9. A sampling container (10) for storing fluid material according to any of claims 1 to 4, claim 7 or claim 8 comprising said threads (151, 22) in a horizontal configuration for sealing rigidly said container (10) by means of a vertical action.