What is a Pillow Fuel Bladder and How Does it Work?

Flexible bladder fuel tanks are manufactured by wide double-sided highly tensile polyester through a particular craftwork adhesive conglutinated pillow-shaped storage container.

It has advantages of light in weight,small volume when it is foldable,loading and unloading easily,etc.Under field conditions,flexible fuel tank is used mainly for the temporary storage of gasoline,kerosene,diesel and other light fuel.

There has one relief valve in the middle of marine fuel bladder,which can be used to discharge the over pressure of air,have also one inlet/outlet valve on top of diesel fuel oil storage tank which is the access way of fill and discharge fuel storage,there are several handles around the tank for moving and discharging the fuel.The residual fuel is discharged by pump,and put a piece of ground mat under the tank for protection.  

Attached picture is the general structure of pillow fuel tank.(look chart 1)

Chart 1 instruction of pillow fuel tank

The fuel should close to the top of tank when you fill fuel into empty tank,the gas space is extremely small,so it’s difficult to cause an explosion of gas.air pressure from inside of tank increases to the extreme limit when the outside temperature is rising,relief valve will open automatically,freeing excess oil gas.The relief valve is a one-way valve which can prevent outside air to enter into tank,and avoid the outside debris contaminate the fuel in the tank.Pillow fuel containers and tanks have good flexibility.It’s allowed to overload of 10% when wartime emergencies.

Ⅰ.Main technical parameter and performance of military fuel tank

1.Basic technical parameter

                Basic technical parameter of military fuel tank

No.	Item	Unit	Specifications
			25m3	50m3	100m3
1	Rated Capacity	m3	25±2	50±3	100±4
2	Empty Dimensions (LxW)	m	7.0×4.7	8.5×7.0	11.0×9.5
3	Folded Dimensions(LxWxH)	m	1.05×0.72×0.5	1.5×0.9×0.55	1.5×1.1×0.7
4	Filled Dimensions(L*W*H)	m	6.5×4.3×1.0	7.9×6.4×1.1	10.4×8.9×1.2
5	Weight of empty tank	kgs	125	220	390
6	Packing(LxWxH)	m	1.15×1.0×0.66	1.65×1.1×0.66	1.8×1.1×0.88
7	Auto Loading	pc	12	8	8
8	G.W. (with Box and Accessories)	kgs	170	270	450
9	Temperatures ranging	degree	﹣41～＋85

Remarks:weight of empty tank in above chart allow deviation of ± 5kgs, gross weight allow tolerance ± 8kgs after packing.

Ⅱ.Main operational performance of military fuel tank

(1) Pillow fuel tank can be used temporarily to store gasoline,kerosene,diesel and other light fuel under field conditions.

 (2) Operators:6 persons for 25m3 to expand and pack up pillow fuel tank,8 persons for 50m3 tank.

Ⅲ. Application of Pillow Fuel Bladder

1.Place options

You should choose covert place to lay empty tank according to operating environment. Empty tank can be placed on sand land, grassland,snowfield,and other flat ground.The ground should be leveled before spreading empty tank,it’s better to make a less than 5 degree slope toward the inlet and outlet valve,which is very helpful to discharge all liquid of tank(see chart 2).

Please firstly remove roots, stones,wire,broken bricks,and other sharp objects,then expand dark green ground mat on flat place.It’s better to built half a meter high earth embankment if you have good conditions,then covered with the ground mat in it so that fuel can not spill everywhere in case it damaged.

Chart 2 place options for pillow fuel tank

Attentions:please strictly accordance with operation and maintenance manual when you use pillow fuel tank.Specially pay attention that pillow fuel tank should be away from sharp stuff,such as nails,sharp stone,etc.Please don’t operate without ground mat.It’s not allowed to throw down the empty tank from a height, or drag them anywhere.

2.Spreading empty tank

Step 1.Spread ground mat on the chosen flat place.

Step 2.Put empty and folded tank in the middle of ground mat.

Step 3.Unfold the packing cover of empty pillow fuel tank,and take packing cover and save it.Then spread empty tank on ground mat,please pay attention to the mark of direction of inlet/outlet valve.

Step 4.Install relief valve on the top of tank,take away the lid of inlet/outlet valve and install curve valve,then connect suction hose with it,the other end of suction hose should be conjunct with fuel pipe.

3.How to discharge the fuel from fuel storage containers

Step 1.You should connect the appropriate flow-meter and strainer filter in the pipeline to ensure the quality and monitoring of volume of tank.

Attention! as air permeability of relief valve is small,overhead valve of relief valve should be removed at the beginning of fuel loading,then install overhead valve when filled fuel,strictly forbidden injection the gas of pipeline into the tank.

Chart 3 method of fuel-filled height measuring

Step 2.You should load fuel as per rated capacity of tank.You can overload temporarily 10% of the maximum rated capacity of the fuel under wartime emergency conditions,but not allow overload more than 4 hours.

Attention! ! Overloading fuel will damage the tank and cause inestimable consequences!

4.Storage fuel

You should install the steel ball of relief valve during storage(opening pressure of relief valve is 2.941Kpa)

You should check ground fuel tank and confirm if it is in good condition during pillow fuel tank have filled fuel.You can reduce evaporation loss and try to avoid sunlight in order to prolong tank life. In addition to selecting the appropriate place, you can use camouflage net or other items cover tank.These ways can reduce fuel evaporation loss, and also a safety measure to reduce or avoid tank tympanism.

You can use different respectively tank to store gasoline,kerosene,diesel in order to ensure the quality of fuel.please don't use one tank store different fuel.                    

5.Discharge fuel from bladder type fuel tank

1. You can use oil pump to load and discharge the fuel or other liquid.You can firstly discharge the fuel by large-displacement pump,then use hand-pump extraction to unload fuel when remaining fuel is limited. Staff members can hold tank's handles,and fold tank to rush the residual fuel to the end of the discharge valve,to discharge by hand-pumping (see chart 4). The residual fuel can be discharged after repeated several times.

2.After making the tank empty,the relief and curve valve should be unloaded and sealed with the appropriate cover.

Chart 4 assisted evacuation of pillow fuel tank

6.Putting tank away and packing

1.Fold the empty tank along with ground mat as shown by folding line(see chart 5)

                                

     Chart 5 method of folding empty fuel tank

2.Put the packaged tank in the storage box accordance with the packing requirement.

Ⅳ.First aid and repair of diesel fuel transfer tank

Pillow grounding diesel fuel tanks are made with highly tensile polyester,its frame work material is terylene fabric coated with special polyurethane on both sides.Due to highly tensile polyester are easy to aging,low intensity of the reality,combined with human factors,it can lead to damage easily.The common damage include piercing,punctured, elastic wear,and scratch tank walls.Tank appear leakage points.Seam emerge leakage points.Seal to open glue.etc.

1.First aid for pillow fuel tank

Infiltration point

You can use special adhesive are available brushing treatment if you find infiltration point during storage.

Method

Clean the infiltration point by gasoline or alcohol,then brush the special adhesive with three times after drying.

Pinhole or gap leakage

Please use emergency plug(chart 6) or clam-shaped clip(chart 7) for emergency temporary plugging if you find pinhole leaking;please discharge all fuel and repair it immediately if the gap is too large to be plugged by above methods.

Chart 6 first aid by emergency plug

Chart 7 first aid by clam-shaped clip

Clam-shaped clip is the best choice in case the breaking point is too large to plug.The clam-shaped clip is composed with sealed oval-shaped upper and lower splint,it have bolt and nut.you can screwing the nut out,undo the upper splint,cram the lower splint into the breaking point along major semiaxis of the oval,turn the lower splint and turn it 90 degree ensure it can not roll out from the inside,then hold the bolt,fix the upper splint on the outside of tank by nut screwing,no screwing when the leakage stopped.

you should discharge firstly the fuel of tank before repairing,clean the position of leaking  with gasoline or alcohol on it,then repair it after drying.

You should cut the material larger than the leaking 20-30mm,brush with special adhesive on loophole,stick together after 30 seconds, then press the heavy object on it about 3-4 hours,it can works after remove the heavy object.

Metal junction infiltration

You can tighten screw by corresponding specifications hex wrench if you find metal junction infiltration after you have filled the tank.

Curve valve failure

You should attach the ball valve with the other end of hose if the curve valve doesn’t work,can not replace curve valve or relief valve in condition of fuel filled,but we can pick and place the steel ball of the relief valve.

2.Repair Methods for pillow fuel tank

You should discharge firstly the fuel of tank before repairing,clean the position of leaking  with gasoline or alcohol on it,then repair it after drying.

We should cut the material larger than the leaking 20-30mm,brush with special adhesive on loophole, stick together after 30 seconds, then press the heavy object on it about 3-4 hours,it can works after remove the heavy object.

Ⅴ.Pillow fuel tank's transportation,storage and main maintenance

Fuel pillow tanks should be avoided under sunlight directly,rain and snow soaked shower to keep it clean during transportation,can not contain or touch substances which may affect product quality,such as pH and organic solvent.

Pillow fuel tank need to be put in rubber products store.Keep them away from heat, ultraviolet radiation.Storage temperature -15 ~ 35 degree relative humidity less than 80% (according to storage conditions rubber products storage). Stacking height no more than three-layer.With a device which can produce ozone in the middle of store.Flexible diesel portable fuel tank can not contain or touch substances which may affect tank quality.It is better to take it out from package and spread out on a wooden frame.They can be stacked,but no more than 5 sets.

Used tank must be discharged and make it empty,then pack it with all accessories in bag after drying and inspection.Used tank must be separated with the new tank during storage.

Folded industrial fuel oil tanks don't need talcum powderanti blocking under stipulated storage. Flattening placed tanks need collapse of setting once a year,just make sure don’t tear or damage it during collapse of setting

Inspect the tank in wooden carton once a year so that we can get a result on degree of evaluation.  

You can mainly check whether there are cracks angular,frayed,layering defects etc.10sets be sampled 1 will be the program.The tanks sent to the high UV region,should be sampled 1 in 5sets, especially attention to whether the tank corner caused by cracking by UV.

Pillow fuel bladder containment should follow the principle of "first in first out".

Pillow grounding diesel fuel tanks is scheduled storage period is 10 years (From the date of factory),using period is 3 years.

Pillow fuel tank is a polymer produced by wartime temporary storage container,natural aging as same as other polymer products.Therefore,we should strictly follow the rules and to operate, keep, to extend their storage life.

Ⅵ.There are several problems should arouse the attention of customer during using pillow fuel tank

1.Some influence to fuel quality

Pillow mobile diesel tanks have some influence to fuel quality,the material of fuel tank with polyurethane elastomer compound for the tank,this material has smallest influence to fuel quality.

2.Change color of fuel tank and color of fuel tank

When we store fuel with pillow fuel tank,with the growth of fuel storage time the color will be lighter,while the color of tank will become deep,but it does not happen much change in fuel quality.There are four reasons why the color of tank is darker?

Firstly,polyurethane itself has deficiency of faded and yellowed.Second,some of the colored rubber composition of fuel has been absorbed by tank.Third is caused by sunlight rubber compound to change the color of tank.Fourth,the proliferation of fuel deepen the color of the tank.

3.Safety of pillow fuel tank

Design's safety of pillow fuel tank is 17, and therefore under normal use,there will not occur tear seam cracking and adhesive tape destructive phenomenon.