KR200473912Y1 - THERMALLY INSULATING FLUID-TIGHT TANK, thanker and transfer system for a cold liquid product - Google Patents

Abstract

In the liquid-tight tank, the fastening member 31 is secured to the central region of the plate 26 through the secondary impermeable membrane in the clearance between the four adjacent heat insulating members 13 of the main insulating barrier. The clearance around the fastening member is bounded by the corresponding edge area of the heat insulating members. The fastening member includes a peripheral collar 32 that is liquid-tightly welded to the secondary impermeable membrane. The edge section 41 of the insulating element is always placed on the semi-opaque membrane in line with each part of the plate 26 of the support element. The edge of the edge zone 41 is in the form of a circular arc centered on the fastening member 31 and extending around the collar 32.

Description

{THERMALLY INSULATING FLUID-TIGHT TANK, thank you and transfer system for a cold liquid product}

The present invention relates to the field of thermally insulating fluid-tight tanks disposed within a support structure for containing fluids, and more particularly to a membrane-lining tank for containing hot or cold liquids, will be.

There is known an insulating liquid-tight tank disposed in the hull of a tanker for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) having a high methane content. Such tanks are described, for example, in FR-A-2798902.

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According to one embodiment, the present invention provides an insulating liquid tight tank having a generally rectangular prismatic shape disposed within a support structure for containing fluid, the insulating liquid tight tank comprising a bottom wall, a ceiling wall and side walls,
Each wall of the tank successively comprising a main impermeable membrane intended to contact the fluid, a main insulating barrier, a secondary impermeable membrane and an auxiliary insulating barrier;

Metal strips and parallel weld flanges, the longitudinal edges of the parallel sheet-metal strips being raised so as to protrude toward the interior of the tank, the parallel weld flanges being arranged in the lower Are maintained on the insulating barrier and protrude toward the interior of the tank between the two sheet-metal strips to form liquid tight welds with adjacent elevated longitudinal edges;

Each of the insulating barriers comprises an assembly of side-by-side insulating elements arranged in a parallelepipedal shape, the edges of the insulating elements of the main insulating barrier being aligned with the edges of the insulating elements of the auxiliary insulating barrier;

The retaining members fastened to the support structure are disposed at the corners of the insulation elements and cooperate with the edge portions of the insulation elements to define the insulation element of the main insulation barrier against the auxiliary opaque membrane with the insulation elements of the auxiliary insulation barrier ;

Wherein the holding member comprises:

A rigid portion extending through the thickness of the auxiliary insulating barrier in the clearance between the edges of the four insulating elements of the auxiliary insulating barrier,

A plate that is flush with the secondary impermeable membrane and that is secured to the rigid portion to have a support surface parallel to the secondary impermeable membrane, and

A clamping piece secured in the central zone of the plate through the secondary impermeable membrane in a gap between the edges of the four adjacent heat insulating elements of the main insulating barrier, Wherein the clamping piece comprises a clamping piece comprising a peripheral collar which is liquid-tightly welded to the semi-opaque membrane to provide continuity of the semi-opaque membrane,

Characterized in that the edge zones of the insulation elements are arranged on the secondary opaque membrane in line with respective parts of the plate of the retaining member and the edge of the edge zone has the form of an arc centered on the clamping piece and extends around the collar do.

According to embodiments, such tanks may have one or more of the following arrangements.

According to one embodiment, the edge of the collar, which is welded to the secondary opaque membrane, is circular with a radius equal to or smaller than the radius of the arc of the insulating element.

According to one embodiment, the difference between the radius of the arc and the radius of the collar is less than 10 mm.

Such tanks may, for example, form part of a land storage facility for storing LNG, or may form part of a floating structure on the coast or offshore, in particular an LNG (methane) tanker, an FSRU Recharge units), FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading units), and the like.

According to one embodiment, the tanker for conveying the low temperature liquid product comprises a double hull and the aforementioned tank disposed in a double hull.

According to one embodiment, the present invention also provides a method of loading or unloading such a tanker, wherein the cold liquid product is introduced into the tank of the tanker from a floating or land storage facility through an insulating pipe, To a floating or land storage facility.

According to one embodiment, the present invention also provides a delivery system for a low temperature liquid product, said delivery system comprising a tanker as described above, an insulating pipe arranged to connect a tank installed in the hull of the tanker to a floating or land storage facility And a pump for transferring the stream of cold liquid product from the floating or land storage facility to the tanker's tank or from the tanker's tank through the insulating pipe to the floating or land storage facility.

The formation formed on the basis of the present design is to improve the strength of the auxiliary impermeable membrane of the tank wall under critical conditions such as the rupture of the lower insulation element.

Certain aspects of the present invention originate from the idea of providing insulating elements of a primary insulating barrier with a support that compensates for the support provided by the insulating elements of the secondary insulating barrier. Certain aspects of the present design begin with the idea of positioning such support by limiting the risk of shearing, particularly of the semi-opaque membrane, without compromising the continuity of the semi-opaque membrane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects, details, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, Will become more apparent throughout the course of the detailed description of the invention.

1 is a partial cutaway view of a tank wall;
Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the fastening member which can be used in the wall of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of detail III of the wall of Figure 1;
4 is a plan view along arrow IV in Fig. 3;
Figure 5 is a schematic cut-away view of a tank for a methane tanker and a terminal for loading / discharging such a tank.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the insulating liquid-tight wall to show the structure of the insulating liquid-tight wall. Such a structure may be applied on extended surfaces having various orientations, for example to cover the bottom, ceiling, and sidewalls of the container. Thus, the orientation of Fig. 1 is not limited in terms of advantages.

The tank wall is attached to the wall of the support structure (1). Conventionally, " above " refers to a position located closer to the interior of the container, and the term "below" refers to the location of the support structure 1, regardless of the orientation of the tank wall relative to the earth's gravitational field. As shown in FIG.

The tank wall has an auxiliary insulating barrier 2, an auxiliary sealing barrier 3 held on top of the auxiliary insulating barrier 2, a main insulating barrier 4 held on the auxiliary sealing membrane 3, 4). ≪ / RTI >

The auxiliary insulating barriers (2) consist of a plurality of parallelepiped-shaped auxiliary insulating boxes (6) arranged side by side so as to substantially cover the inner surface of the supporting structure (1). Each of the auxiliary insulating boxes 6 comprises a parallelepiped plywood box, and the parallelepiped plywood box includes therein a partition 7 inserted between the plywood floor panel and the plywood upper panel 8. The bottom wall of the box 6 projects laterally beyond the two short sides of the box so that the stud 9 cooperating with a member for fastening the box 6 to the support structure in this projecting part To be fixed to the corner. Each box 6 is filled with a heat insulating particulate material, for example pearlite. The bottom plate of each box 6 is placed on a curable resin bead 10, which is itself supported on the support structure 1. [ The purpose of the curable resin bead 10 is to compensate for the difference between the theoretical surface provided for the support structure and the incomplete surface resulting from the manufacturing tolerances and the forces of the boxes 6 relative to the support structure 1 For uniform distribution. A paper sheet (not shown) is inserted between the resin bead 1 and the support structure 1 to prevent the boxes from sticking to the support structure 1. [ The upper panels (8) of the secondary insulation boxes (6) further comprise a pair of parallel grooves (11) in the form of an inverted T to receive bracket type weld flanges. The portion of the weld flange projecting upwardly from the panels 8 serves to secure the auxiliary sealing barrier. The auxiliary sealing barrier is made up of a plurality of Invasive lakes with elevated edges, having a thickness of about 0.7 mm. The raised edges of each strut 11 are welded to the weld flanges described above.

Mounted on the auxiliary sealing barriers 3 is a main insulating barrier consisting of a plurality of main insulating boxes 13 having a similar structure to the auxiliary insulating box 6. Each main insulation box 13 is made of a rectangular parallelepiped box made of plywood having a height less than the height of the box 6, which is filled with a particulate material such as pearlite. The primary insulation boxes 13 also include internal partitions 15, a floor panel and an upper panel 14. The top panel 14 includes two grooves 16 in the general form of an inverted T and also receives weld flanges (not shown) where the raised edges of the strike 17 of the main sealing barrier are welded. The gap between the two grooves 11 or 16 of one and the same box 6 or 13 corresponds to the width of the strike 12 or 17. The gaps between adjacent edges and grooves of one and the same box correspond to the half width of the strike so that the strike overlaps the two adjacent boxes.

Furthermore, the bottom panel of the main heat-insulating box 13 projects above the short sides of the main heat-insulating box so that laths 21 can be placed on the protruding parts of the bottom panel so as to cooperate with the fastening members, .

A member for fastening the primary and secondary insulating barriers to the support structure will now be described with reference to Fig. The fastening member includes a bushing 22 and the base of the bushing is welded to the support structure 1 and is welded to a position corresponding to the gaps in the corners of the four adjacent auxiliary insulation boxes 6. The bush 22 has a first rod 23 that is threaded into the bush. The rod 23 passes between the adjacent boxes 6. Intermediate spaces between the boxes 6 are filled with glass wool packing to ensure continuity of the auxiliary insulating barrier. The metal support plate 24 is mounted on the rod 23 to clamp the stud 9 to the support structure 1 by means of a nut (not shown). A laminate piece 25 is mounted on the plate 24 to serve as a spacer between the plate 24 and the top plate 26 and to reduce the thermal bridge to the support structure. The plywood piece 25 has a housing 28 intended to receive the threaded end of the rod 23 and its nuts and also two drill holes intended for passage of fastening bolts (not shown). The head of each fastening bolt is supported in a recess 27 provided in the top plate 26. The height of this arrangement is determined so that the top plate 26 is flush with the top panels 8 of the auxiliary thermal insulation boxes 6.

The top plate 26 further includes a central threaded bore 29 intended to receive the threaded base 30 of the fastening piece 31. In service, the threaded base 30 also passes through the drill hole provided through the strut 17 of the auxiliary sealing barrier. The clamping piece 31 includes a collar 32 and the collar 32 is welded to the periphery of the strike 11 around the drill hole to restore the seal of the auxiliary seal barrier. An upper rod 33 to which the upper nut 34 is screwed is extended on the fastening piece 31 so as to clamp the small metal plate 35 to the rut 21 of the main heat insulating box 13. One or more washers 36 may also be inserted between the upper nut 34 and the small plate 35. Here again, the intermediate space between the faces provided in the rut 21 of the main insulating boxes 13 is filled with glass wool packing to ensure the continuity of the main insulating barrier.

3 shows the main insulating barrier in the fastening member in detail, and the part of the fastening member protruding above the strake 17 is omitted. Reference numeral 40 denotes a bottom panel of the main heat-insulating box 13. The fastening members are always arranged at the corners of four adjacent main insulating boxes 13, one main insulating box being omitted in Fig.

The edge zone of the floor panel 40 is always placed on the strut 17 in line with the plate 26 of the mating member. The edges of the floor panel are always cut so as to form a sufficient clearance to place the fastening piece 31 (not shown). This cutout 41 has the form of a circular arc concentric with the central bore 29 of the plate 26 and thus the circular appearance of the collar 32. Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 4, the cutouts 41 of the four boxes are disposed substantially circumferentially. In Fig. 4, the boxes 13 are shown by the floor panel 40, and the rest are omitted.

This arrangement enables a very significant area of the bottom panel 40 to be aligned with the plate 26 of the fastening member. In the case of breakage by buckling of the lower auxiliary insulation box, the edge of the main insulation box 13 is thus supported by a rigid fastening member directly supported on the support structure 1. [

Under such critical conditions, the load support on the strut 17 and plate 26 is very high. However, even in the case of the primary insulation box 13, which partly slides against the plate 26, due to the relatively large distance existing between the edge of the floor panel 40 and the edge of the plate 26, The risk of shear deformation of the strut 17 between the edges is reduced. The portion of the edge that is substantially parallel to the edge 42 of the plate 26 is very small because the edge of the cutout 41 is circular so that the shear of the strike 17 between these two edges It also contributes to reducing the risk of deformation.

As one example, the diameter of the collar may be about 38 mm, and the diameter of the corresponding cutout 41 may be about 46 mm.

The above-described techniques for forming an insulated liquid-tight wall can be used in various types of containers and can be used to construct walls of LNG containers, for example, on land equipment or in floating structures such as methane tankers or other vessels. have.

5 shows a thermally insulated liquid-tight tank 71 of a general shape of a prism, which is mounted in the double hull 72 of the tanker, on the cutting path of the methane tanker 70. Fig. The walls of the tank 71 include a main impermeable barrier intended to contact the LNG contained within the tank, a secondary impermeable barrier disposed between the tanker's double hull 72 and the main impermeable barrier, Between the permeable barrier and the secondary impermeable barrier and the double hull 72, respectively.

As known per se, a loading / discharge pipe 73 disposed on the upper deck of the tanker can be connected by a suitable connector to the sea or to the port terminal to transfer LNG from tank 71 or into the tank .

5 shows an example of a sea-facing terminal including a loading / unloading station 75, a subsea pipe 76, and a land equipment 77. Fig. The loading / unloading station 75 is a stationary offshore installation including a movable arm 74 and a tower 78 supporting the movable arm 74. The movable arm 74 supports a group of insulated flexible hoses 79 that can be connected to the loading / The steerable movable arms 74 are all assembled to methane tanker templates. A connecting pipe (not shown) extends into the tower 78. The loading / unloading station 75 serves to load the methane tanker 70 from the land equipment 77 and to discharge the tanker 70 to the land equipment. The onshore installation includes a connection pipe 81 connected to the loading / unloading station 75 via the liquefied gas storage tank 80 and the underside pipe 76. The seabed pipe 76 serves to transfer the liquefied gas between the loading / unloading station 75 and the onshore equipment 77 over a large distance, for example 5 km, so that the methane tanker 70 can be used during the loading / It is possible to stay a long distance away from the beach.

A pump included in the tanker 70 and / or a pump included in the land equipment 77 and / or a pump included in the loading / unloading station is used to generate the pressure necessary to transfer the liquefied gas.

Although the present invention has been described with respect to several specific embodiments, it is evident that the present invention is not limited to a few specific embodiments, but includes both technical equivalents of the described means and their combinations within the scope of the present invention Do.

The use of the verb " comprise "or " include ", and uses of the terms does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim. The use of an indefinite article "a" or "an" for an element or steps does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements or steps unless otherwise stated.

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

Claims (5)

A thermally insulating fluid-tight tank having a prismatic shape disposed within a support structure for containing liquid,
Bottom wall; Ceiling wall; And sidewalls,
- each wall of the tank continuously contains a main impermeable membrane (5), main insulating barrier (4), auxiliary impermeable membrane (3) and secondary insulating barrier (2) in contact with the fluid held in the tank ;
- each impermeable membrane comprises parallel sheet-metal strips (12, 17) and parallel welding flanges, the longitudinal edges of the parallel sheet-metal strip being raised and projecting towards the interior of the tank Said parallel weld flanges being retained on a lower insulating barrier and projecting toward the interior of said tank between two sheet-metal strips to form adjacent liquid-tight edges and liquid-tight welds;
Characterized in that each of the insulating barriers comprises an assembly of side-by-side insulating elements (6, 13) of a flat hexahedral shape, the edges of the insulating elements (13) of said main insulating barriers being connected to the insulating elements ≪ / RTI >
- the retaining members (22, 23) fastened to the support structure are arranged at the edges of the insulating elements (6, 13) and cooperate with the edge portions (21) of the insulating elements Maintaining said insulating elements (13) with respect to said auxiliary impermeable membrane (3) and with the insulating elements of said auxiliary insulating barrier with respect to said supporting structure (1);
The holding member comprises:
- rigid portions (22-26) extending through the thickness of said auxiliary insulating barrier at a clearance between the edges of the four insulating elements (6) of said auxiliary insulating barrier,
A plate (26) secured to said rigid portion at the same height as said auxiliary opaque membrane (3) and having a support surface parallel to said auxiliary opaque membrane, and
A clamping piece (31) passing through said auxiliary impermeable membrane in the clearance between the edges of four adjacent heat insulating elements (13) of said main insulating barrier (4) and fixed to the central region of said plate, Wherein a perimeter clearance is bounded by a corresponding edge area of the insulating elements of said main insulating barrier and said clamping piece is welded to said auxiliary impermeable membrane in a liquid- (31) including a peripheral collar (32)
, ≪ / RTI &
The edge zones (41) of the insulating elements are arranged on the auxiliary impermeable membrane (3) in line with respective parts of the plate (26) of the holding member,
Characterized in that the edge of the edge zone (41) is in the form of a centering arc on the clamping piece (31) and extends around the collar (32)
Insulated watertight tank.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the edge of the collar (32), which is welded to the secondary opaque membrane, is circular with a radius equal to or less than the radius of the arc of the insulating elements (13)
Insulated watertight tank.
3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the difference between the radius of the arc and the radius of the collar is less than 10 mm,
Insulated watertight tank.
A tanker (70) for carrying a low temperature liquid product,
The tanker has a double hull (72) and a tank (71) according to any one of claims 1 to 3 arranged in the double hull.
Tankers for carrying low temperature liquid products.
A delivery system for a low temperature liquid product,
(73, 79, 76, 81) arranged to connect a tank (71) provided in the hull of the tanker to a floating or land storage facility (77) And a pump for transferring a stream of cold liquid product through said insulated pipe from said floating or land storage facility to said tanker's tank or from said tank's tank to said floating or land storage facility.
Delivery system for low temperature liquid products.

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