ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,466,640, issued on Nov. 11.
"Storage vessel monitoring systems and methods" was invented by Aubrey Dare Westmoreland III (Marshall, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention is directed to a device and system for monitoring the closure state of a hatch on a storage vessel and preferably sensing leak and vent conditions of VOCs or other gases escaping from the storage vessel via the hatch. A pressure sensor senses internal gaseous pressure of the storage vessel, whether positive pressure or vacuum. One or more pressure or force sensors sense force indicative of hatch open, hatch closed, and hatch closed and latched condit...