Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F17—STORING OR DISTRIBUTING GASES OR LIQUIDS
  • F17C—VESSELS FOR CONTAINING OR STORING COMPRESSED, LIQUEFIED OR SOLIDIFIED GASES; FIXED-CAPACITY GAS-HOLDERS; FILLING VESSELS WITH, OR DISCHARGING FROM VESSELS, COMPRESSED, LIQUEFIED, OR SOLIDIFIED GASES
  • F17C13/00—Details of vessels or of the filling or discharging of vessels
  • F17C13/12—Arrangements or mounting of devices for preventing or minimising the effect of explosion ; Other safety measures
  • F17C13/123—Arrangements or mounting of devices for preventing or minimising the effect of explosion ; Other safety measures for gas bottles, cylinders or reservoirs for tank vehicles or for railway tank wagons
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F17—STORING OR DISTRIBUTING GASES OR LIQUIDS
  • F17C—VESSELS FOR CONTAINING OR STORING COMPRESSED, LIQUEFIED OR SOLIDIFIED GASES; FIXED-CAPACITY GAS-HOLDERS; FILLING VESSELS WITH, OR DISCHARGING FROM VESSELS, COMPRESSED, LIQUEFIED, OR SOLIDIFIED GASES
  • F17C2205/00—Vessel construction, in particular mounting arrangements, attachments or identifications means
  • F17C2205/01—Mounting arrangements
  • F17C2205/0103—Exterior arrangements
  • F17C2205/0115—Dismountable protective hulls

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for protecting a container and a container equipped with this device. It has become common to use composite materials to make containers intended to contain a fluid under pressure. These containers can be tanks, reservoirs or bottles, and can be made in particular from glass, aramid or carbon fibers embedded in a matrix. This type of container generally comprises a cylindrical side wall and rounded ends, commonly called “domes", as well as a connection end piece located at the top of one and / or the other of these domes.
• the bases of the domes are the thinnest parts of the wall of a container and therefore the most fragile. An impact or a fall on one of these domes produces delamination of the internal layers of the composite material, which leads to a reduction in the mechanical resistance of the container to the pressure of the fluid and, consequently, to a risk of rupture of this container.
• the present invention aims to remedy these drawbacks by providing a simple and inexpensive protection device to implement, not significantly weighing down the container, and ensuring perfect protection of this container in the event of a fall, whatever the angle formed by the axis of this container with the impact surface.
• this protection device includes:
• a shell of material resistant to punching shaped to envelop at least the whole of a dome of the container, delimiting a space between its internal face and the external face of the wall of the container;
• This device is therefore produced independently of the container, that is to say without the installation of a protective insert and winding of fibers during the manufacture of the container.
• the device By its shape which envelops at least the whole of the dome, and by the complete filling of the space existing between said shell and the wall of the container, the device ensures a perfect distribution of the impacts that the container can be brought to undergo, with possible compression of the compressible material to absorb this shock at the time of this impact.
• this device makes it possible to effectively protect the dome of the container whatever the angle that the axis of this container forms with the impact surface at the time of impact.
• the shell can be made in particular of synthetic resin, in particular of thermoplastic resin such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene or polycarbonate, while said compressible material can be expanded polystyrene, a polyurethane or polyethylene foam, or any other expanded synthetic material.
• the device is shaped to cover not only the entire dome of the container, but also the portion of the side wall of the container adjacent to the base of this dome.
• the device can have a substantially constant thickness, that is to say that the shell can thus "follow" the wall of the container; preferably, however, this shell has, on the side of the side wall of the container, a wall substantially parallel to the axis of the container and, on the side of the top of the dome of the container, a wall perpendicular to this axis, these two walls connecting to each other by a rounded area.
• the device has a significantly increased thickness compared to the thinnest part of the dome, which further improves the protection of the container against "oblique" falls.
• the device comprises, when it is intended to equip a container comprising a connection end piece located at the top of a dome, an annular projection whose height is such that it extends beyond the free end of this tip when the device is placed on this dome.
• the device can be fixed irremovably to the container, by any suitable means, in particular by gluing; it can also be removably mounted on this container, to allow a periodic inspection of the wall of the latter.
• this end piece is threaded at its free end and the device is shaped to surround this end piece so that the outer face of the shell comes back from the threaded free end of the end piece, and includes a threaded ring suitable for being screwed onto said end piece and to bear on said shell for mounting of the device on the dome.
• Figure 1 is a half view while it is mounted on a tank, in longitudinal section
• Figures 2 to 4 are views in longitudinal section on a reduced scale, in case of fall respectively (i) “vertical ", that is to say with the axis of the reservoir substantially perpendicular to the impact surface at the time of this impact, (ii)” oblique “, that is to say with this axis forming an angle of substantially 45 ° with said impact surface at the time of impact and (iii) "horizontal”, that is to say with this axis forming a slight or zero angle with said surface, at the time of impact.
• FIG. 1 represents a part of the side wall 1 a and of the rounded end 1 b, called "dome", of a tank 1 made of composite material, this tank being equipped with a device 2 for protecting its wall against shocks or falls.
• the reservoir 1 is of the type intended to contain a pressurized fluid, and comprises a wall 5 of composite material, an internal lining wall 6 and a metal end piece 7 for the connection of this reservoir 1 to the installation to be supplied with fluid .
• the end piece 7 comprises a tubular part 7a, threaded and tapped at its free end, and a circular base 7b.
• the tapping of part 7a allows the aforementioned connection while the thread allows the screwing of a tapped ring 8, which ensures the removable mounting of the device 2 on the tank 1.
• the base 7b is sandwiched between the walls 5 and 6, to ensure the solid mounting of the nozzle 7 on the reservoir 1.
• the device 2 comprises an outer shell 10, which envelops the whole of the dome 1 b as well as a portion of the wall 1 a adjacent to the base of this dome 1 b, and a filling 1 1 of compressible material, occupying the entire space delimited by the external face of the wall 5, by the part 7a of the end piece 7 and by the internal face of the shell 10.
• the latter is made of a material resistant to punching, in particular of thermoplastic resin such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene or polycarbonate. It has, on the side of the wall 1a, a wall 10a substantially parallel to the axis of the reservoir 1, and, on the side of the top of the dome 1b, a wall 10b perpendicular to this same axis, these walls 10a and 10b are connecting to each other by a rounded area 10c. It follows from this structure that the filling 1 1 has a significant thickness opposite the part of the dome 1 b which is on the side of the wall 1 a, part in which this dome 1 b has the smallest thickness.
• the shell 10 further comprises an annular projection 12 whose height is such that it extends beyond the free end of the end piece 7 and of the ring 8 when the device 2 is mounted on the reservoir 1.
• the material constituting the filling 1 1 is capable of absorbing a shock or an impact thanks to its compressibility, this material possibly being expanded polystyrene, polyurethane foam or any other expanded synthetic material.
• the device 2 By its shape enveloping not only the dome 1 b but also said portion of the wall 1 a, and by the filling 1 1 which occupies the entire space existing between said shell 10 and the wall of the tank 1, the device 2 ensures a perfect distribution of the impacts that this reservoir may have to undergo.
• FIG. 2 shows more particularly that the projection 12 perfectly protects the end piece 7 as well as the ring 8, and therefore the wall of the reservoir 1, against any direct impact in the event of a "vertical" fall.
• Figure 3 shows that the rounded wall 10c and the maximum thickness of the filling 1 1 opposite this wall 10c perfectly protect the part of the dome 1b located on the side of the wall 1a.
• Figure 4 shows that the wall 10a provides perfect protection of the dome 1b and of the wall 1a in the event of a "horizontal" fall.
• the end piece 7 and the ring 8 allow the removable mounting of the device 2 on the tank 1, so that this device 2 does not prevent an inspection of the wall of this tank 1.
• the invention thus provides a device making it possible to remedy the drawbacks of homologous devices of the prior art since it is simple and inexpensive to implement, that it does not significantly weigh down the container, and that it ensures perfect protection of this container in the event of a fall, whatever the angle between the axis of this container and the impact surface.
• the invention is not limited to the embodiment described above by way of example but that it embraces, on the contrary, all the variant embodiments.
• the external lateral face of the projection 12 can be in the extension of the wall 10a.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Buffer Packaging (AREA)
• Rigid Containers With Two Or More Constituent Elements (AREA)
• Details Of Rigid Or Semi-Rigid Containers (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=9544707

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (11)

Families Citing this family (14)

Family Cites Families (9)

• 1999
  • 1999-04-19 FR FR9905055A patent/FR2792392B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2000
  • 2000-04-18 BR BRPI0009853-1A patent/BR0009853B1/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2000-04-18 EP EP00920834A patent/EP1192389B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-04-18 AR ARP000101810A patent/AR023537A1/es active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-04-18 DE DE60017256T patent/DE60017256T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2000-04-18 CA CA002367515A patent/CA2367515C/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-04-18 CN CN00805294.8A patent/CN1109216C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2000-04-18 JP JP2000612666A patent/JP2002542443A/ja active Pending
  • 2000-04-18 AT AT00920834T patent/ATE286580T1/de active
  • 2000-04-18 WO PCT/FR2000/001010 patent/WO2000063611A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2000-04-18 ES ES00920834T patent/ES2232438T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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