CN113710950B

CN113710950B - Method for producing adhesive tape

Info

Publication number: CN113710950B
Application number: CN202080028882.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: P·兰德鲁
Original assignee: Gaztransport et Technigaz SA
Current assignee: Gaztransport et Technigaz SA
Priority date: 2019-03-25
Filing date: 2020-03-24
Publication date: 2023-05-05
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-24
Also published as: FR3094477A1; WO2020193584A1; FR3094477B1; KR20210154144A; CN113710950A

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an adhesive tape for installing a sealed insulated cabinet in a support structure, comprising the steps of: -determining a plurality of gaps (27) distributed between a plurality of measuring points on the outer surface of the tank and the inner surface of the supporting structure, said gaps (27) being determined at said measuring points parallel to the thickness direction of the tank, said gaps (27) being determined according to the mounting position of the tank in the inner space of the supporting structure, the three-dimensional dimensions of said tank and said inner space of the supporting structure, -manufacturing an adhesive tape intended to be applied between the inner surface of the supporting structure and the outer surface of the tank, the cross-sectional dimensions of said tape being defined according to said determined gaps (27).

Description

Method for producing adhesive tape

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of sealed insulated boxes with membranes. In particular, the present invention relates to the field of sealed insulated tanks for storing and/or transporting cryogenic liquefied gas, such as tanks for transporting liquefied petroleum gas (also known as LPG) at temperatures between-50 ℃ and 0 ℃ for example, or tanks for transporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at about-162 ℃ at atmospheric pressure. These tanks may be mounted on the ground or on a floating structure. In the case of a floating structure, the tank may be used to transport liquefied gas or to receive liquefied gas that is used as fuel for propelling the floating structure.

In one embodiment, the liquefied gas is LNG, i.e., a mixture having a high methane content stored at a temperature of about-162 ℃ at atmospheric pressure. Other liquefied gases, in particular ethane, propane, butane or ethylene, but also hydrogen, are also conceivable. The liquefied gas may also be stored under pressure, for example at a relative pressure of between 2 and 20 bar, in particular at a relative pressure of about 2 bar. The tank may be manufactured according to different techniques, in particular in the form of a tank integral with the membrane or a self-supporting tank.

Background

The sealed and insulated tank for storing lng arranged in a supporting structure has a multi-layered structure, i.e. from the outside to the inside of the tank, a secondary heat insulating barrier anchored to the supporting structure, a secondary sealing film on the secondary heat insulating barrier, a primary heat insulating barrier on the secondary sealing film and a primary sealing film on the primary heat insulating barrier, the primary sealing film being intended to be in contact with the lng stored in the tank.

According to one example of such a tank, each primary and secondary insulation barrier comprises a set of insulation blocks, primary and secondary respectively (according to other embodiments, the tank comprises only a single insulation barrier), which is substantially parallelepiped in shape, juxtaposed and thereby forming a support surface for the respective sealing membrane. The support surface must have good flatness in order to provide continuous and flat support for the sealing film. In fact, when LNG is contained in the tank, the tank walls are subjected to a great deal of thermal, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic stresses. The flat and continuous support surface allows avoiding the creation of stress concentration zones in the sealing film, which might lead to degradation of the sealing film.

However, although the insulating blocks have a flat inner surface to form the support surface of the sealing membrane, the support structure on which the blocks are anchored does not always have sufficient flatness to form a continuous and flat support surface for the blocks anchored to the support structure. For example, in the frame of the supporting structure formed by the double shells of the vessel, the junction areas between the different parts of the double shells form irregular parts with respect to the general plane of the respective supporting wall, which irregular parts are for example connected at the weld between said two parts of the double shells.

To compensate for these flatness defects, an adhesive tape is typically sandwiched between the insulating blocks and the support structure, as described in FR-a-2259008. In particular, the adhesive tape may be placed in a plastic state on the bottom surface of the insulating block and then pressed against the support wall, causing it to flow until it accurately fills the gap between the support wall and the insulating block when they are in their final position. Such an adhesive tape is described, for example, in documents FR2909356, FR2877638 or WO14057221, which describe the construction of different sealed insulating boxes integrally formed in different types of supporting structures.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is based on the idea of providing a method for manufacturing an adhesive tape for sandwiching between a sealed and insulated box and a supporting structure. In particular, the invention is based on the idea of manufacturing an adhesive tape having a sufficient thickness dimension to allow the formation of a support surface of a sealing film having a satisfactory flatness. The invention is based on the idea of avoiding excessive consumption of adhesive in the manufacture of adhesive tapes.

According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing an adhesive tape for installing a sealed insulated cabinet in a support structure, the support structure comprising an inner surface defining an interior space,

the method comprises the following steps:

determining a plurality of gaps between a plurality of measuring points distributed on the outer surface of the tank and the inner surface of the supporting structure, said gaps being determined at said measuring points parallel to the thickness direction of the tank, said gaps being determined according to the mounting position of the tank in the inner space of the supporting structure, the three-dimensional dimensions of said tank and said inner space of the supporting structure,

-manufacturing an adhesive tape intended to be applied between the inner surface of the supporting structure and the outer surface of the tank, the cross-sectional dimensions of said tape being defined according to said determined gap.

By virtue of these features, an adhesive tape can be produced that is capable of compensating for the imperfections in the flatness of the inner surface of the support structure. In addition, the adhesive tape manufactured according to this method makes it possible to provide a heat insulating barrier having satisfactory flatness to support the sealing film.

According to one embodiment, the method of manufacturing such an adhesive tape may comprise one or more of the following features.

The adhesive tape may be manufactured by applying an amount of polymerizable adhesive in a plastic state on a surface selected from the inner surface of the support structure and the outer surface of the box. The cross-sectional shape of the adhesive tape thus applied may be more or less irregular, e.g. approximately circular. This shape is then changed to a slightly rectangular cross-section by being squeezed between the inner surface of the support structure and the outer surface of the tank when the tank is placed in the support structure, and the belt is then hardened by polymerization in this slightly rectangular shape. The cross-section of the tape when the polymerizable adhesive is applied is preferably sufficient to provide the cross-section of the final polymerized adhesive tape with a width greater than or equal to a predetermined constant. The predetermined constant (i.e., the acceptable minimum width) can be obtained by size calculation at the previous stage.

According to one embodiment, the adhesive tape is manufactured continuously over a length corresponding to the length of the adhesive tape applied on the outer surface of the box or on the inner surface of the supporting structure.

According to one embodiment, the method may further comprise:

-providing a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions, the plurality of dimensions comprising an integer number t of dimensions, the plurality of dimensions having an upper limit that is greater than a rectangular cross-section associated with a largest gap of the plurality of gaps, the associated rectangular cross-section having a predetermined width and a height equal to the largest gap of the plurality of gaps. In the method, the adhesive tape is manufactured with a cross-sectional dimension selected from the plurality of dimensions.

According to one embodiment, the integer t is smaller than the total number of said gaps of the plurality of gaps.

By virtue of these features, the number of different sizes of adhesive tape to be manufactured can be limited. Thus, this manufacturing method allows for a simple and quick manufacture of the adhesive tape to compensate for the flatness defect of the support structure. If the distribution of the gap is very uneven, especially if some very high values differ far from the rest of the distribution, it may be advantageous to treat several of the highest value gaps separately, e.g. to construct custom adhesive tape for these far-differing points, and to determine the dimensions only to cover the remaining gap distribution.

The invention is not limited to achieving a limited number of optimized belt dimensions to compensate for the flatness defect of the support structure, which makes it possible to provide a flexible choice for the operator responsible for mounting/assembling each tank into the support structure according to two key parameters:

some adhesive tape dimensions limited and compatible with the flatness defects of the supporting structure, and

the amount of adhesive required to properly and permanently mount/assemble the tank in the support structure is perfectly optimized (taking into account all structural requirements and mechanical strength).

Thus, based on the step of determining a plurality of gaps between a plurality of measuring points distributed on the outer surface of the tank and on the inner surface of the supporting structure, that is to say substantially according to the accuracy or number of measuring points during this determination step, it is possible for the operator to preferentially select a limited number of tape sizes, for example between 3 and 8 of the required adhesive tape sizes, or to preferentially optimize perfectly the amount of adhesive required for the tank mounting/assembly operation, by means of the method according to the invention.

In fact, managing a large number of sizes of adhesive tapes may present problems to the operator or be completely impossible due to the inappropriateness of the equipment used to make said tapes.

In the latter case, the invention not only makes it possible to optimize the dimensions of the adhesive tape with respect to the flatness defects of the support structure, in order to reduce the amount of adhesive that is technically useless, but also provides the operator with the following possibilities: the number of tape sizes they need or they can use in the context of the box installation/assembly operation is selected.

In the opposite case, the invention allows the best possible optimisation of the quantity of adhesive to be achieved, in which case the operators have equipment for manufacturing the adhesive tape, allowing them to manufacture an unlimited number of sizes of adhesive tape, and these operators choose or tend to use as much size of adhesive tape as possible, which is useful or necessary to reduce the quantity of adhesive that is technically useless.

For all intermediate cases between the two extreme cases described above, the method according to the invention provides an optimized solution, particularly but not exclusively taking into account the parameters related to:

after the step of determining a plurality of gaps between a plurality of measuring points distributed on the outer surface of the box and on the inner surface of the supporting structure, selecting a plurality of sizes of adhesive tape predetermined or determinable over a range of sizes of adhesive tapes,

Features of the apparatus for manufacturing the adhesive tape (in particular its manufacturing capacity and its position),

the nature and characteristics of the adhesive (currently of the epoxy type, containing high contents of fillers and/or microspheres),

the characteristics (quantity, qualification, etc.) of the operators responsible for installing/assembling the tanks in the supporting structure.

According to one embodiment, for one of the plurality of gaps, an adhesive tape is manufactured having a cross-sectional dimension equal to the smallest dimension of the dimensions that is greater than or equal to the dimension of the rectangular cross-section associated with said gap, the associated rectangular cross-section having said predetermined width and being equal to the height of said gap.

By virtue of these features, the adhesive tape produced can satisfactorily compensate for the flatness defect of the support structure without excessive consumption of adhesive.

According to one embodiment, the step of providing a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions comprises:

calculating the frequency of occurrence of the gaps of the plurality of gaps,

-calculating a plurality of adhesive tape dimensions from the frequency of gap occurrences and the determined gaps such that each gap of the plurality of gaps can be associated with one of a plurality of dimensions that is immediately larger than a rectangular cross-section associated with the gap, and such that an accumulated difference between the rectangular cross-section associated with the gap of the plurality of gaps and the dimension associated with the gap is limited.

In addition to what has been explained above, the setting of the number t of different sizes and/or the calculation of the t sizes are operations that can be performed according to different strategies. For example, the setting of the number t of different sizes and/or the calculation of the t sizes may be performed for a more or less large construction, for example for a plurality of boxes, a single box or a part of a box, in particular for a flat wall of a polyhedral box, even for a part of a flat wall. When the construction unit on which the calculation has been performed is smaller, the adhesive tape manufacturing tool must be reconfigured more frequently.

If the number t is very high, for example close to the total number of tapes to be manufactured in the building unit, the method corresponds to manufacturing each tape on a customized basis, which largely eliminates any excessive consumption of adhesive, but greatly increases the operational constraints during the installation of the box, since each tape must be manufactured and transported to a precisely positioned location. In contrast, a relatively low number t, at least for the construction unit, makes it possible to standardize the manufacture of the adhesive tape and to reduce the operational restrictions. According to one embodiment, the integer t of the dimensions is less than or equal to 10, preferably less than or equal to 5.

According to one embodiment, the method may further comprise:

three-dimensional measurement of the interior space of the support structure,

defining the size and shape of the tank on the basis of said three-dimensional measurements, to allow insertion of said tank into the internal space of the supporting structure,

-defining the mounting position of the tank in the supporting structure interior based on the three-dimensional measurement of the supporting structure interior and the defined size and shape of the tank.

By virtue of these features, the gap to be exactly made up can be known, allowing more accurate manufacturing of the adhesive tape.

According to one embodiment, the tank comprises a plurality of insulating blocks comprising a floor defining the outer surface of the tank, and defining the mounting location of the tank comprises defining an anchoring location of the plurality of insulating blocks on the inner surface of the support structure.

According to one embodiment, one or more or each insulating block has a parallelepiped shape, for example a cuboid.

According to one embodiment, for each insulating block, the measurement points comprise the points of the bottom plate of the insulating block when the insulating block is in the anchored position.

According to one embodiment, the support structure comprises at least one flat support wall, the tank comprising a tank wall comprising a plurality of insulating blocks intended to be anchored to the support wall, the insulating blocks having an inner surface parallel to the bottom plate, the inner surface forming a support surface for a sealing membrane of the tank wall, the method further comprising:

Determining a reference plane for the support wall,

and, the anchoring position of the insulating block is defined such that when the insulating block is in the anchoring position, the inner surface of the insulating block has a slope with respect to the reference plane of less than a threshold angle.

According to one embodiment, the tank wall comprises a plurality of insulating blocks juxtaposed according to a regular pattern.

According to one embodiment, the sealed insulated cabinet further comprises a sealing membrane on an inner surface of the insulating block.

According to one embodiment, the threshold angle is less than Arctan (10 ^-2 ) Preferably less than Arctan (6.10 ^-3 )。

According to one embodiment the adhesive tape is manufactured in such a way that the inner surface of the insulating block has a slope smaller than said threshold angle with respect to the inner surface of the insulating block having adjacent anchoring positions on the supporting wall.

According to one embodiment, the adhesive tape is manufactured to have a length less than or equal to the size of the bottom plate of the heat insulating block.

According to one embodiment, the interior space of the support structure has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction and a height direction, the method comprising the steps of:

defining a central longitudinal axis of the tank, said central longitudinal axis being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the internal space of the supporting structure,

Defining a central transverse axis of the tank, parallel to the transverse axis of the internal space of the supporting structure, and

-defining a central height axis of the tank, said central height axis being parallel to a height axis of the interior space of the support structure.

According to one embodiment, the step of positioning the tank in the internal space of the supporting structure comprises the step of defining a plurality of first positioning lines and a plurality of second positioning lines, the first positioning lines being parallel to each other and the second positioning lines being parallel to each other, the first positioning lines being perpendicular to the second positioning lines, the first positioning lines being spaced apart by a first spacing equal to the dimension of the first edge of the external surface of the insulating block, the second positioning lines being spaced apart by a second spacing equal to the dimension of the second edge of the external surface of the insulating block.

According to one embodiment, at least one of the central longitudinal axis of the tank, the central transverse axis of the tank and the central height axis of the tank defines a first or second positioning line of the tank wall and/or an axis of symmetry of the first or second positioning line of the tank wall.

According to one embodiment, the present invention also provides a storage device comprising a support structure and a sealed and insulated tank mounted in the interior space of the support structure, the storage device comprising adhesive tape manufactured according to the above method and applied between the interior surface of the interior space of the support structure and the exterior surface of the tank.

Such tanks may form part of an onshore storage facility, for example for storing LNG, or be installed in a floating, coastal or deepwater structure, in particular a methane tanker, a Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU), a floating production storage offshore unit (FPSO), or the like. The tank can also be used as a tank in any type of vessel.

According to one embodiment, the invention also provides such a storage device in the form of a ship for transporting cold liquid products, comprising a double shell forming said support structure.

According to one embodiment, the invention also provides a method for loading or unloading such a vessel, wherein cold liquid product is transferred from the floating or onshore storage into the tank of the vessel or from the tank of the vessel into the floating or onshore storage via an insulated conduit.

According to one embodiment, the invention also provides a transfer system for a cold liquid product, the system comprising a vessel as described above, an insulated conduit arranged to connect a tank mounted in the hull to a floating or on-land storage means, and a pump for driving the cold liquid product through the insulated conduit from the floating or on-land storage means into the tank of the vessel or from the tank of the vessel into the floating or on-land storage means.

Drawings

The invention will be better understood and other objects, details, features and advantages thereof will be more clearly apparent from the following description of several specific embodiments of the invention, given by way of illustration and not of limitation, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a support structure for receiving a sealed insulated cabinet.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the transverse wall of the support structure of fig. 1, showing the installation position of the insulating blocks for anchoring to the wall of the sealed insulating box.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the lateral support wall of FIG. 2, showing a flatness defect of an inner surface of the lateral support wall.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the lateral support wall of fig. 3, showing a preferred reference plane.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to fig. 4, showing the insertion of the reference plane of fig. 4 by a linear section, corresponding to the dimensions of the insulating blocks of the wall of the tank intended to be anchored to said lateral support wall.

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3 with the insulation blocks sealing the wall of the insulation box anchored thereto.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating the dimensions of an adhesive tape according to the frequency of occurrence of gaps to be made up between the outer surface of a sealed insulated cabinet and the inner surface of a supporting structure, the adhesive tape being manufactured according to various embodiments.

Fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a tank of a methane tanker, the vessel including a sealed insulated tank and a terminal for loading/unloading the tank.

Detailed Description

In the following description, the terms "external" and "internal", according to the definitions given in the description, will be used to indicate the relative position of one element with respect to another element, subject to the inside of the tank. Thus, an element that is close to or facing the interior of the tank is referred to as an internal element, as compared to an external element that is close to or facing the exterior of the tank.

With respect to fig. 1, a support structure 1 can be seen, which is intended to receive the wall of a sealed insulated cabinet. The support structure 1 is formed by a double hull of the vessel. The support structure 1 has a substantially polyhedral shape. The support structure 1 has transverse walls 2, typically a front transverse wall and a rear transverse wall, here octagonal. In fig. 1, the front transverse wall 2 is only partially shown, so that the interior space 9 of the support structure 1 can be seen. The transverse wall 2 is the bulkhead of the vessel and extends transversely to the longitudinal direction of the vessel. The support structure 1 further comprises a top wall 3, a bottom wall 4 and side walls 5. The top wall 3, the bottom wall 4 and the side walls 5 extend in the longitudinal direction of the vessel and connect the front and rear transverse walls 2.

The top wall 3 includes a space in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped protruding upward, called a liquid dome 6, in the vicinity of the rear transverse wall 2. The liquid dome 6 defines an opening 7 of the top wall 3, said opening 7 allowing passage of a pipe for transporting liquid from or to the tank when the tank is mounted in the support structure 1.

The

support walls

2, 3, 4, 5 of the support structure have an inner surface 10 which delimits an inner space 9 of the receiving box. The tank comprises a plurality of tank walls, each anchored to a

respective support wall

2, 3, 4, 5 of the support structure 1.

In the example selected here, the tank is a tank having a film of a multilayer structure. Thus, each wall of the tank has, in sequence from the outside to the inside in the thickness direction of the respective tank wall, a secondary insulating barrier anchored to the respective supporting

wall

2, 3, 4, 5, a secondary sealing membrane against the secondary insulating barrier, a primary insulating barrier against the secondary sealing membrane, and a primary sealing membrane against the primary insulating barrier for contact with the fluid contained in the tank.

As an example, the tank wall may be manufactured according to different techniques described in FR-A-2691520, FR-A-2877638 or WO-A-14057221. In these different embodiments, each tank wall comprises a plurality of insulating blocks 11, which form at least a second insulating barrier. These insulating blocks 11 are prefabricated outside the interior space and have standardized dimensions.

According to the embodiment described in document FR2877638, for example, the insulating block 11 is parallelepiped in shape. The primary and secondary insulation barriers are formed by a plurality of juxtaposed these parallelepiped insulation blocks 11.

According to another embodiment, described for example in document FR2691520, the insulating block 11 comprises a portion of a secondary insulating barrier and a portion of a primary insulating barrier, which are stacked. A sealing layer forming part of the second sealing film is interposed between the two insulating barrier portions. In this embodiment, the primary and secondary insulating barrier portions have a parallelepiped shape, and the primary insulating barrier portion has a smaller size than the secondary insulating barrier portion.

In all these cases, the insulating block 11 has a bottom plate forming a rectangular outer surface 12, which outer surface 12 is intended to abut against the inner surface 10 of the inner space 9. As such, these insulating blocks 11 have a flat inner surface, which forms a support surface for receiving the sealing film.

However, the support structure 1 has in practice dimensions that can vary with respect to theoretical dimensions. Thus, dimensional changes of the support structure 1 in relation to, for example, structural tolerances must be taken into account in order to integrate the sealed insulation box in the interior space 9.

For this purpose, a three-dimensional measurement of the interior 9 of the support structure 1 is carried out. Such three-dimensional measurement of the interior space 9 is performed in any suitable way, for example by using a laser rangefinder or a laser emitter and sensor located in the interior space 9 to measure the size and arrangement of the

different support walls

2, 3, 4, 5.

From this three-dimensional measurement of the inner space 9, the position and the size of the tank to be mounted in the supporting structure are calculated.

More specifically, the dimensions of the tank walls are determined and their position is determined on the one hand by the dimensions of the insulating blocks 11, more specifically by the dimensions of the outer surfaces 12 of said insulating blocks 11, and on the other hand by the three-dimensional measurement of the inner space 9. Since the insulating blocks 11 are anchored in juxtaposed manner according to a regular grid structure on each supporting

wall

2, 3, 4, 5, the anchoring position of the insulating blocks 11 on the respective supporting

wall

2, 3, 4, 5 is determined for each tank wall.

For each wall, the grid structure 15 of the insulating blocks 11 is thus calculated. Fig. 2 shows an example of a grid structure 15 on the lateral support wall 2. The grid structure 15 comprises a plurality of first positioning lines 16 and a plurality of second positioning lines 17. The first positioning lines 16 are parallel to each other. Also, the second alignment lines 17 are parallel to each other. The first positioning line 16 and the second positioning line 17 are perpendicular to each other. The first positioning lines 16 are spaced apart at a regular first spacing 18, the first spacing 18 corresponding to the size of the first side of the outer surface 12 of the insulating block 11. Likewise, the second alignment wires 17 are spaced apart at a regular second spacing 19, the second spacing 19 corresponding to the size of the second side of the outer surface 12 of the insulating block 11. The first positioning lines 16 and the second positioning lines 17 correspond to lines along which the thermal insulation block 11 is anchored to the lateral support wall 2, for example by anchoring means, not shown, such as studs. The grid structure 15 thus makes it possible to determine the position of the insulating blocks 11 on the lateral support walls 2.

According to one embodiment, the central longitudinal axis (not shown), the central transverse axis 13 (see fig. 2) and the central height axis 14 (see fig. 2) of the computing box. These central axes are determined from three-dimensional measurements of the interior space 9. These central axes are adjusted if necessary according to the position of the liquid dome 6 in the support structure 1 and make it possible to determine the arrangement of the grid structure 15. For example, as shown in fig. 2, the grid structure 15 defined for anchoring the insulating blocks 11 to the lateral support walls 2 may be symmetrical on both sides of the central height axis 14. Furthermore, the central transverse axis 13 may define a first positioning line 16.

In the case of a sealed and insulated tank with at least one corrugated sealing film, the grid structure 15 on the different supporting

walls

2, 3, 4, 5 is preferably determined in such a way as to ensure continuity of the corrugations between the different tank walls, as described for example in document FR-a-2691520. Typically, the positioning of the insulating blocks 11 on the two adjacent supporting

walls

2, 3, 4, 5 is adjusted to form a supporting surface allowing the sealing membrane to be mounted in such a way that the corrugations can be continuous between the walls of the tank.

However, the inner surface 10 formed by the

support walls

2, 3, 4, 5 may have an imperfect flatness due to, for example, construction tolerances or due to the assembly of the different elements forming the

support walls

2, 3, 4, 5. Thus, for example, a weld made between two parts of a double shell assembled together may constitute an area of irregularity in the flatness of the inner surface 10. Also, the area comprising the reinforcing ribs arranged between the two walls forming the double hull of the vessel may form an irregular area of flatness of the inner surface 10.

These flatness defects of the inner surface 10 have to be compensated for during the positioning of the insulating blocks 11. In practice, the tank walls are subjected to significant stresses in use, for example under the influence of deformations of the supporting structure 1 associated with the sea, under the influence of thermal stresses, even under the influence of the movement of the liquid in the tank. In order to avoid deterioration of the tank tightness, the sealing film is arranged in a manner as flat as possible. Therefore, it is important that the primary and secondary thermal insulation barriers form a flat and continuous support surface for the sealing membrane. Therefore, it is necessary to compensate for the flatness defect in the inner surface 10 in order to provide a satisfactory support surface for the heat insulating block 11 on which the sealing film of the tank is placed.

Fig. 3 shows a lateral support wall 2 with such flatness defects. These flatness defects create a more or less pronounced gap 20 between the point of the inner surface 10 and the planar midline of the support wall.

To compensate for these gaps 20, a reference plane 21 is determined which corresponds to the ideal position of the sealing film, i.e. the ideal position of the inner surface 22 of the insulating block 11. The reference plane 21 shown in fig. 4 is substantially parallel to the median plane of the lateral support wall 2, that is to say it corresponds to a plane parallel to the lateral support wall 2, excluding the above-mentioned flatness defects. The first positioning wire 16 is also shown in fig. 4.

The reference plane 21 is the best theoretical plane. It is permissible for the insulating block 11 to have an inner surface 22 that is slightly inclined with respect to this reference plane 21, i.e. a support surface for the primary or secondary sealing film. Each insulating block 11 has an inner surface 22 which is at an angle to the best reference plane 21 smaller than Arctan (10 ^-2 ) And preferably less than Arctan (6.10 ^-3 ). Furthermore, the inner surfaces 22 of two adjacent insulating blocks 11 should form no excessive angle, preferably less than Arctan (10 ^-2 ) Preferably less than Arctan (6.10 ^-3 ). These angles correspond to a limit beyond which the support surface of the sealing film will have insufficient flatness and in use can beOne or more stress concentration zones can be created on the sealing film.

As shown in fig. 5, which shows a cross-sectional view perpendicular to the first positioning lines 16, for each second positioning line 17, a reference line 23 is interpolated from a linear portion 24 from the reference plane 21. Each of the linear portions 24 has a size corresponding to the first interval, in other words, each of the linear portions corresponds to a side size of the heat insulating block 11. The interpolation is also performed for each first alignment line having a linear portion corresponding to the second interval.

In order to ensure that the insulating blocks 11 are anchored in a position corresponding to the respective linear portions 24 of the reference line 23, thickness pads 25 are arranged on or near the anchoring members intended to cooperate with the insulating blocks 11. The spacer 25 is dimensioned with a constant gap between the inner surface of said spacer 25 and the reference line 23, equal to the thickness of the insulating block 21.

Further, as shown in fig. 6, the adhesive tape 26 is interposed between the outer surface 12 and the inner surface 10 of the heat insulating block 11. These adhesive tapes 26 are manufactured by mixing a polymerizable resin and a hardener at the manufacturing site of the box to be applied immediately on the heat insulating block 11 before hardening by polymerization. This in situ manufacturing is necessary if the polymerization time of the adhesive is relatively short, for example about 1 hour or less.

These strips 26 make it possible to compensate for the flatness defect of the inner surface 10 and to provide support for the insulating blocks 11 between the thickness blocks 25. To this end, the adhesive tape 26 is dimensioned to fill the gap 27 between the outer surface 12 and the inner surface 10 of the insulating blocks 11, while having a surface that cooperates with the insulating blocks 11 on which they are applied on the one hand and with the inner surface 10 of the supporting structure on the other hand, which is sufficient to support said insulating blocks 11 and to transfer forces between the insulating blocks 11 and the supporting structure 1. In other words, the dimensions of these adhesive strips 26 are determined according to the gap 27 measured between the outer surface 12 and the inner surface 10 of the insulating block 11 and according to the predetermined width of said mating surfaces.

Accordingly, the amount of adhesive applied in a malleable state to form the adhesive tape 26 is thus dimensioned with a sufficient cross section, so that in the final state, after the adhesive tape 26 between the outer surface 12 and the inner surface 10 of the insulating block 11 has been pressed when the insulating block 11 is placed on the support structure 1, the surface for applying the adhesive tape 26 to the insulating block 11 and the inner surface 10 has a width greater than or equal to a predetermined minimum width.

The size of the cross section of the adhesive tape is thus determined by the predetermined minimum width and the position of the adhesive tape, since the thickness dimension of the tape depends on the gap 27 to be filled at its exact position. These positions (and thus the number of adhesive strips 26 to be placed) and the predetermined width are derived from previous calculations taking into account the mechanical bending strength of the insulating block 11.

The gap 27 is measured on the one hand from the reference line 23 and on the other hand from the previously performed three-dimensional measurement of the inner surface 10. More specifically, for the anchoring position of each insulating block 11 determined by the grid structure 15, a plurality of gaps 27 between the outer surface 12 of said insulating block 11 and the inner surface 10 of the supporting structure 1 are measured. In the example shown in fig. 6, three adhesive strips 26 are interposed between each insulating block 11 and the inner surface 10 of the support structure 1, these adhesive strips extending over the entire length of the insulating block 11. Thus, the gap or gaps 27 are measured along each line of the outer surface 12 of the insulating block where the adhesive tape 26 is to be applied. Furthermore, these gaps 27 are measured in the thickness direction of the respective tank wall. In other words, for each adhesive tape, the gap is measured at one or more measurement points, for example three measurement points. If a plurality of measuring points are associated with the same adhesive tape, the sizing of the adhesive tape may be performed in a manner that varies over the length of the adhesive tape, or in a manner that the average value of the gap obtained at these measuring points is uniform over the length of the adhesive tape.

According to one embodiment, such adhesive tape 26 is continuously manufactured by an adhesive extruder. Different techniques may be used during manufacture to adjust the cross section of the adhesive tape 26.

The adjustment of the cross section can be obtained by adjusting the flow rate of the adhesive through the extruder dispensing head. This flow rate adjustment may optionally be accompanied by an adjustment of the output portion of the extruder distribution head. This adjustment of the output section can be performed in different ways, for example by a dispensing head with an adjustable cross section or by an interchangeable dispensing head with a different fixed cross section.

Another way of adjusting the cross section of the adhesive tape, in particular if the adhesive has sufficient thixotropic properties, is to adjust the relative advancing rate between the extruder dispensing head and the surface on which the adhesive tape is applied, i.e. by adjusting the feeding speed of the insulating block, for example, in the technique described in publication FR-a-2259008.

The first method of sizing the adhesive strips involves sizing the cross-section of each adhesive strip 26 according to the gap 27 measured at the location where the adhesive strip should occupy the support structure 1. However, this sizing approach has the disadvantage that the manufacturing tool must be continually adjusted. Therefore, the adhesive tape cannot be manufactured in a uniform manner.

To remedy this drawback, another method of sizing the adhesive tape consists in providing a determined number t of discrete sizes. Although this embodiment results in greater adhesive consumption than the above-described embodiment in which each adhesive tape 26 is manufactured separately according to its position in the box, the manufacture of the adhesive tapes 26 is simplified by defining uniform dimensions, and thus, no adjustment of the production tool is required for each adhesive tape 26 manufactured. For this, several methods will be described with reference to fig. 7.

Fig. 7 shows the distribution 28 of the gaps 27 measured as described above. The vertical axis represents the dimension of the gap 27 in the thickness direction of the tank wall. This dimension may be multiplied by a predetermined width to obtain the desired cross-sectional area of the adhesive tape. The horizontal axis represents the population of measurement points, adjusted to a percentage. The distribution has been arranged in the order in which the gaps 27 rise, thereby providing the frequency of occurrence of each gap in the distribution. The more frequent the gap, the wider the space it occupies in the distribution 28.

According to this embodiment, the adhesive tape 26 is produced according to t different sizes for all the gaps 27 measured between the inner surface 10 and the outer surface of the box (typically the outer surface 12 of the insulating block 11). However, the distribution of the gaps may be determined according to the scale of the construction unit other than the whole tank, for example, the flat wall of the tank.

In this figure, the distribution 28 of gaps may be increased by a certain safety factor, for example by about 8%, compared to the actual measured value. This increase makes it possible to slightly oversized the cross-sectional dimensions of the adhesive tape 26 to ensure a satisfactory mating surface, that is to say, in particular, to obtain a final width greater than or equal to the predetermined width by creep. The second curve 29 corresponds to a polynomial interpolation of the gap profile 28.

In the first modification of the present embodiment, the size of the adhesive tape 26 is determined in a uniformly distributed manner. In the example shown in fig. 7, five dimensions (i.e., t=5) of the adhesive tape 26, indicated by numerals 31-35, are determined such that each dimension of the adhesive tape can cover 20% of the gap profile 28. The uniformly distributed size curve 30 shows the different sizes 31-35 by dashed lines. Thus, on this curve 30, the first evenly distributed dimension 31 has a thickness of 5.7mm, the second evenly distributed dimension 32 has a thickness of 8.4mm, the third evenly distributed dimension 33 has a thickness of 10.3mm, the fourth evenly distributed dimension 34 has a thickness of 12.9mm, and the fifth evenly distributed dimension 35 has a thickness of 23mm. The corresponding cross-section can be obtained by multiplying these thicknesses by a predetermined width.

Thus, in the example of uniformly distributed sizes shown by the dashed lines in FIG. 7, the same number of adhesive strips are used in each of the sizes 31-35. At a position where the gap 27 is smaller than 5.7mm, i.e. 20% of the smallest measuring gap, the adhesive tape 26 of the first evenly distributed size 31 is used. At a position of the gap 27 between 5.7mm and 8.4mm, i.e. also 20% of the measured gap, an adhesive tape 26 according to a second evenly distributed dimension 32 is used, and so on.

Such a uniform distribution of the

dimensions

31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 facilitates the manufacture of the adhesive tape 26 and makes it possible to compensate for all the measured gaps 27 simply, quickly and reliably.

However, these evenly distributed dimensions are not suitable for producing all tanks. Since the flatness defects of the inner surface 10 vary from case to case, these evenly distributed dimensions can result in excessive consumption of adhesive when the gaps 27 are mostly far from the evenly distributed

dimensions

31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. For example, with respect to curve 30, the fifth evenly distributed dimension 35 of the adhesive tape 26 is significantly larger than the gap 27 measured for most of the measuring points associated with the adhesive tape 26 of said fifth dimension 35, resulting in a significant excessive consumption of adhesive, i.e. in particular an excessive width due to excessive creep of the adhesive tape. In extreme cases, the resulting excessive width may completely fill the gap between the adhesive tape 26 and the adjacent adhesive tape and thereby create an air pocket trapped in the adhesive. Such air bags may be prohibited by regulations in the case of a tank that should contain flammable substances.

According to a second variant of this embodiment, the discrete dimensions of the adhesive tape are determined according to the frequency of occurrence of the measured gap 27, so as to limit the cumulative difference between the gap 27 and said relative dimensions.

By "limiting the cumulative difference" is meant obtaining a better tape sizing than a uniformly distributed size. For this purpose, the area 37 between the gap distribution 28 and the toothed curve 36 representing the discrete size of the belt, i.e. the integrated value of the difference between the two curves, has to be minimized. This problem can be solved by numerical optimization.

The number t of tape sizes may be increased to limit tape loss during manufacture of the adhesive 26. Likewise, certain measurement points may be deleted to truncate the distribution 38 and thus manually handle the abnormal gap. For example, custom adhesive tape may be used up to a portion of the first 2% (maximum adhesive tape) of the measured gap. In this case, t adhesive tape sizes determined as above are used for the remaining part of the measured gap.

The above-described techniques for manufacturing sealed insulated tanks may be used for different types of containers, such as LNG containers that are constructed in land-based facilities or in floating structures such as methane tankers.

Referring to fig. 8, a cross-sectional view of a methane tanker 70 shows a generally prismatic sealed isolation tank 71 mounted in a double hull 72 of a marine vessel. The walls of the tank 71 comprise a primary sealing barrier intended to be in contact with LNG contained in the tank, a secondary sealing barrier arranged between the primary sealing barrier and the double hull 72 of the vessel, and two insulating barriers arranged between the primary sealing barrier and the secondary sealing barrier and between the secondary sealing barrier and the double hull 72, respectively.

As is well known, the loading/unloading pipelines 73 located on the deck of the ship can be connected to a sea or port terminal by suitable connectors to transfer LNG cargo from the tank 71 or into the tank 71.

Fig. 8 shows an example of an offshore terminal comprising a loading and unloading station 75, a subsea line 76 and a land-based facility 77. The loading and unloading station 75 is a stationary offshore facility comprising a mobile arm 74 and a riser 78 supporting the mobile arm 74. The traveling arm 74 carries a bundle of isolation hoses 79 that can be connected to the load/unload tube 73. The orientable mobile arm 74 is suitable for all methane carrier styles. A connection line, not shown, extends inside the riser 78. The loading and unloading station 75 allows loading and unloading of the methane carrier 70 from the onshore facility 77 or to the onshore facility 77. The onshore facility 77 comprises a liquefied gas storage tank 80 and a connection line 81, which is connected to the loading and unloading station 75 by means of a subsea pipeline 76. The subsea pipeline 76 allows for the transfer of liquefied gas between the loading and unloading station 75 and the onshore facility 77 for a significant distance, for example 5km, which makes it possible to keep the methane carrier 70 a significant distance from the shore during loading and unloading operations.

To generate the pressure required for the transfer of the liquefied gas, pumps loaded in the vessel 70 and/or pumps provided at the onshore facility 77 and/or pumps provided at the loading and unloading station 75 are used.

While the invention has been described in connection with several particular embodiments, it will be clear that the invention is in no way limited thereto and that it encompasses all technical equivalents of the means described, as well as combinations thereof, if they fall within the scope of the invention.

Use of the verb "to comprise" or "to comprise" and its conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim. Unless otherwise indicated, reference to "a" or "an" for an element or step does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements or steps.

In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing an adhesive tape (26) for installing a sealed and thermally insulated cabinet in a supporting structure (1), said supporting structure (1) comprising an inner surface (10) defining an inner space (9),

the method comprises the following steps:

determining a plurality of gaps (27) distributed between a plurality of measuring points on an outer surface of the sealed and insulated tank and an inner surface (10) of the supporting structure (1), the gaps (27) being determined at the measuring points parallel to a thickness direction of the sealed and insulated tank, the gaps (27) being determined according to a mounting position of the sealed and insulated tank in an inner space (9) of the supporting structure (1), a three-dimensional size of the sealed and insulated tank and the inner space (9) of the supporting structure (1),

Providing a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36), the plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36) comprising an integer t of cross-sectional dimensions (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36), the integer t being smaller than a total number of said gaps of the plurality of gaps (27), the plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36) having an upper limit that is greater than a rectangular cross-section associated with a largest gap of the plurality of gaps (27), the associated rectangular cross-section having a predetermined width and a height equal to the largest gap of the plurality of gaps (27),

-manufacturing an adhesive tape (26) for application between an inner surface (10) of a support structure (1) and an outer surface of the sealed and insulated box, the cross-sectional dimensions of the adhesive tape being defined according to the determined gap (27), the adhesive tape (26) being manufactured with a cross-sectional dimension selected from the plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36).

2. The manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein, for one of the plurality of gaps (27), an adhesive tape (26) is manufactured having a cross-sectional dimension equal to the smallest cross-sectional dimension of these cross-sectional dimensions (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36) that is greater than or equal to the rectangular cross-section associated with the gap, the associated rectangular cross-section having the predetermined width and a height equal to the gap.

3. The method of manufacturing of claim 1 or 2, wherein the step of providing a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (36) comprises:

calculating a gap occurrence frequency of the plurality of gaps (27),

-calculating a plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (36) from the gap occurrence frequency and the determined gaps (27), such that each gap of the plurality of gaps (27) can be associated with one cross-sectional dimension of the plurality of cross-sectional dimensions (36) that is immediately larger than a rectangular cross-section associated with the gap, and such that an accumulated difference between the rectangular cross-section associated with the gap of the plurality of gaps (27) and the cross-sectional dimension (36) associated with the gap is limited.

4. The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the setting of the integer t and/or the calculation of the plurality of cross-sectional dimensions is performed on a construction unit selected from a plurality of boxes, a single box, a flat wall of a polyhedral box and a portion of a flat wall.

5. The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein an integer t of a cross-sectional dimension is less than or equal to 10.

6. The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, further comprising:

three-dimensional measurement of the interior space (9) of the support structure (1),

Determining the size and shape of the sealed and insulated box from the three-dimensional measurements to allow insertion of the sealed and insulated box into the interior space (9) of the supporting structure (1),

-determining the installation position of the sealed and insulated tank in the interior space (9) of the supporting structure (1) on the basis of the three-dimensional measurement of the interior space (9) of the supporting structure (1) and the defined size and shape of the sealed and insulated tank.

7. A method of manufacturing as claimed in claim 6, wherein the sealed and insulated tank comprises a plurality of insulating blocks (11), the insulating blocks (11) comprising a floor defining the outer surface of the sealed and insulated tank, and wherein defining the mounting location of the sealed and insulated tank comprises defining the anchoring location of the plurality of insulating blocks (11) on the inner surface (10) of the support structure (1).

8. The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein for each insulating block (11), the measurement points comprise the points of the bottom plate of the insulating block (11) when the insulating block (11) is in the anchored position.

9. A method of manufacturing as claimed in claim 8, wherein the supporting structure comprises at least one flat supporting wall (2, 3, 4, 5), the sealed and insulated tank comprising a tank wall comprising a plurality of insulating blocks (11) intended to be anchored to the supporting wall (2, 3, 4, 5), the insulating blocks (11) having an inner surface (22) parallel to the bottom plate, the inner surface (22) forming a supporting surface for a sealing film of the tank wall, the method further comprising:

-determining a reference plane (21) for the support wall,

and wherein the anchoring position of the insulating block (11) is defined such that the inner surface (22) of the insulating block (11) has a slope of less than a threshold angle with respect to the reference plane (21) when the insulating block (11) is in the anchoring position.

10. The manufacturing method according to claim 9, wherein the threshold angle is smaller than Arctan (10 ^-2 )。

11. The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein the adhesive tape (26) is manufactured to have a length less than or equal to the size of the base plate of the heat insulating block (11).

12. A storage device comprising a support structure and a sealed and insulated box mounted in the interior space of the support structure, the storage device comprising an adhesive tape (26) manufactured according to any one of claims 1 to 11 applied between the interior surface of the interior space of the support structure and the exterior surface of the sealed and insulated box.

13. A storage device according to claim 12 in the form of a vessel (70) for transporting a cold liquid product, the vessel comprising a double hull forming the support structure.

14. A transfer system for a cold liquid product, the system comprising a storage device as claimed in claim 13, an insulated conduit (73, 79, 76, 81) arranged to connect a sealed insulated tank (71) mounted in the hull to a floating or onshore storage device (77), and a pump for driving the cold liquid product through the insulated conduit from the floating or onshore storage device into the sealed insulated tank of the vessel or from the sealed insulated tank of the vessel into the floating or onshore storage device.

15. A method of loading or unloading a storage device according to claim 13, wherein cold liquid product is transported from the floating or onshore storage device (77) into the sealed insulated tank (71) of the vessel or from the sealed insulated tank (71) of the vessel into the floating or onshore storage device (77) through insulated piping (73, 79, 76, 81).