Method of manufacturing foam insulated tank

Claim 1

A method of manufacturing a multiple layer water tank of the type including an inner wall, an intermediate layer of expanded foam material and an outer wall comprising the steps of: (a) forming a flexible, expandable bag in a configuration which may be affixed to the inner wall, said bag having an elongate shape defined by sides, a closed bottom end, and an open top end, said bag also having at least one relief opening in a side with a diversion shunt formed in the bag above the opening, intermediate the opening and the top end; (b) forming voids in the flexible bag by sealing a passage through the bag to define a passage through the final intermediate layer to thereby facilitate assembly connections through the outer wall and, insulating material and inner wall; (c) positioning the flexible bag on the inner wall to define at least a portion of a mold form between the inner wall and outer wall; (d) aligning the void of the flexible bag with a connection on the inner wall; (e) positioning the outer wall about the inner wall and flexible bag to define a space between the inner wall and outer wall, said space being generally annular and closed at the bottom between the inner and outer walls; (f) orienting an opening through the outer wall with the flexible bag void; (g) at least partially filling the flexible bag with an expandable foam material; (h) waiting for foam material in the flexible bag to expand and engaging the bag with the inner wall and the outer wall of the tank to thereby define, at least in part, a mold form in the space between the walls; and (i) further filling the flexible bag and diverting expandable foam material through the relief opening by means of the diversion shunt thereby filling the space between the walls while preventing foam material to fill the void.

Claim 2

A method of manufacturing a multiple layer water tank of the type including an inner wall, an intermediate layer of expanded foam material and an outer wall comprising the steps of: (a) forming a flexible, expandable bag in a configuration which may be affixed to the inner wall, said bag having an elongate shape defined by sides, a closed bottom end, and an open top end, said bag also having at least one relief opening in a side with a diversion shunt formed in the bag above the opening, intermediate the opening and the top end; (b) forming voids in the flexible bag by sealing a passage through the bag to define a passage through the final intermediate layer to thereby facilitate assembly connections through the outer wall and, insulating material and inner wall; (c) positioning the flexible bag on the inner wall to define at least a portion of a mold form between the inner wall and outer wall; (d) aligning the void of the flexible bag with a connection on the inner wall; (e) positioning the outer wall about the inner wall and flexible bag to define a space between the inner wall and outer wall, said space being generally annular and closed at the bottom between the inner and outer walls; (f) orienting an opening through the outer wall with the flexible bag void; (g) at least partially filling the flexible bag with an expandable foam material; (h) waiting for foam material in the flexible bag to expand and engaging the bag with the inner wall and the outer wall of the tank to thereby define, at least in part, a mold form in the space between the walls; and (i) further filling the flexible bag and diverting expandable foam material through the relief opening by means of the diversion shunt thereby filling the space between the walls while preventing foam material to fill the void.