KR20200084872A - Sealed insulated tank comprising a device for anchoring the primary insulating panel to the secondary insulating panel - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sealed adiabatic tank carried on a ship, each tank wall comprising a secondary adiabatic barrier, a secondary sealing membrane, a primary insulating barrier and a primary sealing membrane; The primary insulating panel of each wall of the ballast zones 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 is a secondary insulating panel of the wall of the ballast zones 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 by a primary anchoring device. Being anchored in; The primary insulating panel outside each wall of the ballast zones 8, 10, 15, 16 is anchored to the secondary insulating panel of the wall outside the ballast zones 8, 10, 15, 16 by a secondary anchoring device. Become; The first anchoring device is provided with n1 elastic members, respectively, and the second anchoring device is provided with n2 elastic members, each of which gives elastic anchoring, and is arranged to provide solid anchoring of the primary insulating panel on the secondary insulating panel, n2 is an integer of 0 or more, and the stiffness K2 of the second anchoring device is lower than the stiffness K1 of the first anchoring device.

Description

Sealed insulated tank comprising a device for anchoring the primary insulating panel to the secondary insulating panel

The present invention relates to the field of sealed adiabatic membrane tanks for storing and/or transporting fluids such as cryogenic liquids.

Sealed adiabatic membrane tanks are especially used to store liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Application WO2014/170588 discloses a sealed adiabatic tank for storing liquefied natural gas embedded in a ship's double hull. Each tank wall has a multi-layer structure, and is arranged continuously from the outside of the tank toward the inside, a secondary insulating barrier attached to the rod-bearing structure, a secondary sealing membrane supporting the secondary insulating barrier, and a secondary sealing membrane And a primary sealing membrane designed to contact the primary insulating barrier supporting the primary insulating barrier and the liquefied natural gas contained in the tank and to support the primary insulating barrier.

In the aforementioned document, the insulating barrier has a plurality of primary insulating panels that are anchored to the secondary insulating panel of the secondary insulating barrier using an anchoring device. All anchoring devices are equipped with a spring washer stack that ensures elastic anchoring of the primary insulation panel to the secondary insulation panel. This elastic anchoring enables the primary insulating panel to be retained relative to the secondary insulating panel, while allowing a small relative movement of the primary insulating panel relative to the secondary insulating panel. This helps limit the stress that is likely to be applied to the primary and secondary insulating panels in the anchoring zone. However, these sealed tanks are not completely satisfactory. In particular, such anchoring devices require a large number of Belleville washer stacks, which increases the cost of the tanks equipped with such anchoring devices and their manufacturing complexity.

The central concept of the present invention involves proposing a sealed insulated tank in which the insulating panel is anchored more simply and cheaply.

According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a sealed insulated tank carried on a ship, the vessel having a double hull comprising an inner hull and an outer hull forming a load bearing structure for the sealed insulated tank; The double hull is designed to receive liquid such as sea water and has a ballast compartment defined between the inner hull and the outer hull within the ballast-zone; The tank has a tank wall fixed to the inner hull; Each tank wall has at least one insulating barrier comprising an insulating panel fixed to the inner hull and a sealing membrane supporting the insulating panel, arranged continuously in the thickness direction of the tank wall;

The tank wall is a ballast-zone wall, a ballast-zone wall and a non-ballast-zone wall fixed to the inner hull at the same height as at least one of the ballast compartments in the thickness direction of the ballast-zone wall, wherein the non-ballast A non-ballast-zone wall fixed to the inner hull so that it is not at the same height as any of the ballast compartments in the thickness direction of the zone wall;

At least one of the insulating panels of the ballast-zone wall-is anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull using a first anchoring device;

At least one of the insulating panels of the non-ballast-zone wall is anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull using a second anchoring device;

Each of the first anchoring devices exerts an elastic force that presses the ballast-zone wall insulation panel towards the inner hull while enabling relative movement of the insulation panel in the thickness direction of the tank wall relative to the load supporting structure during deformation of the inner hull. There are provided n1 elastic members arranged to make; n1 is an integer of 1 or more; The first anchoring device has a rigidity K1 opposite to the relative movement of the insulating panel with respect to the load-bearing structure in the thickness direction of the tank wall;

Each of the second anchoring devices is subjected to an elastic force that presses the non-ballast-zone wall insulation panel towards the inner hull while n2 arranged to enable relative movement of the insulation panel relative to the load-bearing structure during deformation of the inner hull. An elastic member is provided; n2 is an integer of 0 or more; The second anchoring device has a stiffness K2 opposite to the relative movement of the insulating panel relative to the load supporting structure in the thickness direction of the tank wall; Stiffness K2 is greater than K1.

It is noted that, in fact, the main force for generating stress in the anchoring zone of the insulating panel comes from deformation of the inner hull in the ballast zone when seawater is shipped into the ballast compartment. Indeed, the inner hull is deformed by the movement of seawater inside the ballast compartment. This results in deformation of the insulating panel which results in a pronounced force on the anchoring area of the insulating panel. Conversely, in a non-ballast-zone wall, the second anchoring device is only subjected to the forces mainly caused by heat shrinkage. However, these forces are considerably smaller than the forces exerted by the deformation of the inner hull in the ballast-zone wall, which results in a greater stiffness K2 of the second anchoring device.

According to another preferred embodiment, such a tank can have one or more of the following features:

According to one embodiment, n2 is less than n1. In this case, the elastic member of the first anchoring device and the elastic member of the second anchoring device may be the same.

According to another embodiment, n2 is equivalent to n1. In this case, the elastic member of the first anchoring device and the elastic member of the second anchoring device must be different, and the rigidity of the elastic member of the first anchoring device is less than that of the second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, at least one of the insulating panels of each ballast-zone wall is anchored using a first anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, each tank wall comprises a secondary insulating barrier comprising a secondary insulating panel continuously fixed to the inner hull from the outside of the tank toward the inside, a secondary sealing membrane supporting the secondary insulating panel, A primary insulating barrier comprising a plurality of primary insulating panels supporting a secondary sealing membrane and a primary sealing membrane designed to support the primary insulating panel and contact the liquefied natural gas contained in the tank.

According to one embodiment, the first anchoring device anchors at least one of the primary insulating panels of the ballast-zone wall to at least one of the secondary insulating panels of the ballast-zone wall; The second anchoring device anchors at least one of the primary insulating panels of the non-ballast-zone wall to at least one of the secondary insulating panels of the non-ballast-zone wall.

In this case, the stress-prone force on the anchoring area of the primary insulation panel is even greater because the primary insulation panel straddles some secondary insulation panels. In addition, anchoring at least one of the primary insulating panels more resiliently on at least one of the secondary insulating panels is in the ballast zone because a more robust anchoring of the primary insulating panel in the ballast zone will require the latter mechanical strengthening. desirable.

According to one embodiment, most or all of the primary insulating panel of each ballast-zone wall is anchored to the secondary insulating panel of the ballast-zone wall by a first anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, at least one of the primary insulating panels of each non-ballast-zone wall is anchored to at least one of the secondary insulating panels of the non-ballast-zone wall by a second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, most or all of the primary insulating panel of each non-ballast-zone wall is anchored to the secondary insulating panel of the non-ballast-zone wall by a second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, the first anchoring device anchors at least one of the secondary insulation panels of the ballast-zone wall to the inner hull; The second anchoring device anchors at least one of the secondary insulating panels of the non-ballast-zone wall to the inner hull.

According to one embodiment, most or all of the secondary insulating panel of each ballast-zone wall is anchored by a first anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, most or all of the primary insulating panel of each non-ballast-zone wall is anchored by a second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, the first anchoring device anchors at least one of the primary insulating panels of the ballast-zone wall to the inner hull; The second anchoring device anchors at least one of the primary insulating panels of the non-ballast-zone wall to the inner hull.

According to one embodiment, each of the first and second anchoring devices has pins anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull and retaining members mounted on the pins; The retaining member is held on a pin and cooperates with the bearing surface of the insulating panel anchored by the first or second anchoring device to hold it towards the inner hull.

According to one embodiment, each pin is anchored to one of the secondary insulating panels.

According to one embodiment, the pin is anchored to the inner surface of the secondary insulating panel, that is, to the surface of the secondary insulating panel facing the secondary sealing membrane.

According to one embodiment, the pin has a thread that cooperates with a nut that holds the retaining member towards the inner hull.

According to one embodiment, each elastic member is a spring washer, such as a Belleville washer, which is coupled on a pin between the nut and the retaining member to provide an elastic force for pressing the retaining member against the bearing surface. .

According to one embodiment, the first anchoring device has a spacer sleeve that slides onto each pin and is held towards the inner hull by a nut, the spacer sleeve being a cylindrical centering portion mounted inside the spring washer to center it and It has an annular flange that presses the spring washer against the retaining member.

According to one embodiment, each second anchoring device has a spacer sleeve that is slid onto each pin and held by the nut towards the rod-bearing structure, the spacer sleeve having a flange supporting the retaining member.

According to one embodiment, the second anchoring device does not have an elastic member and is therefore arranged to ensure robust anchoring.

According to one embodiment, the spacer sleeve of one of the first anchoring devices and the spacer sleeve of one of the second anchoring devices are the same, and the flange of the spacer sleeve is in the middle of the spacer sleeve to define a cylindrical centering portion longer than half of the spacer sleeve. Off-center, the spacer sleeve of the first anchoring device and the spacer sleeve of the second anchoring device pass through the cylindrical centering portion of the first anchoring device through n1 spring washers of the first anchoring device and of the second anchoring device. The cylindrical centering portion has an inverted orientation such that it is disposed between the flange and the nut.

According to one embodiment, the flange is disposed at one end of the spacer sleeve.

According to one embodiment, the spacer sleeve of the first anchoring device and the spacer sleeve of the second anchoring device are the same, and the flange of the spacer sleeve is off-center with respect to the middle of the spacer sleeve and limits two cylindrical parts of different lengths And the longer cylindrical portion of the spacer sleeve of the first anchoring device passes through the spring washer of the first anchoring device while the shorter cylindrical portion of the spacer sleeve of the second anchoring device passes through the borehole of the retaining member.

According to one embodiment, each primary insulating panel has a sturdy outer plate and a layer of insulating polymer foam secured to the sturdy outer plate, the layer of insulating polymer foam having a recess extending into the layer of insulating polymer foam and being rigid A bearing surface is formed on the outer plate.

According to one embodiment, a sturdy outer plate is attached to the edge of each primary insulating panel to form a bearing surface on the edge of each primary insulating panel, each cooperating with a retaining member of one of the first and second anchoring devices. Against the layer of insulating polymer foam.

According to one embodiment, each primary insulating panel straddles at least four secondary insulating panels.

According to one embodiment, the equivalent stiffness of the elastic members of each first anchoring device is less than the equivalent stiffness of the elastic members of each second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, the tank wall also has a mixing wall having a portion not equal in height to any of the ballast compartments and a portion having the same height as at least one of the ballast compartments; At least one of the insulating panels of the mixing wall is anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull by a second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, the tank has an overall polyhedral shape and has front and rear transverse walls extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the upper wall, the lower wall, the ship and the side wall, and the upper wall, the lower wall and the side wall are the longitudinal direction of the ship. Extends and connects the front and rear transverse walls; The front transverse wall, rear transverse wall and top wall are each non-ballast-zone walls.

According to one embodiment, the tank has at least four sidewalls, two of the sidewalls are vertical sidewalls and two of the sidewalls are upper inclined sidewalls, each of which connects the upper wall to one of the vertical sidewalls.

According to one embodiment, each of the two upper inclined sidewalls is a respective mixing wall. The inner hull with the same height as the upper inclined sidewall is less stressed by the ballast than in the ballast wall. In fact, first the upper inclined sidewalls only partially contact the ballast compartment. Second, the hydrostatic pressure in the ballast compartment, which is the same height as the upper inclined sidewall, is lower. As a result, a second anchoring device can be provided on the upper inclined sidewall, such as a non-ballast-zone wall.

According to one embodiment, the other tank walls, ie the bottom wall, the vertical side wall and the bottom slope wall are ballast-zone walls.

Such tanks can be, for example, part of a land storage facility for storing LNG or can be installed on coastal or deep-sea floating structures, in particular liquefied natural gas carriers, floating storage and floating LNG storage and regasification facilities (FSRU) ), floating oil production, storage and unloading (FPSO) equipment.

According to one embodiment, the vessel used to transport the fluid has a double hull and the aforementioned tank disposed within the double hull, the double hull having an inner hull forming the load-bearing structure of the tank.

According to one embodiment, the invention also provides a method of loading and unloading from such a vessel, wherein the fluid is from a land or floating storage facility to a tank of the ship or from a tank of the ship to a land or floating storage facility. It is channeled through an insulated pipe.

According to one embodiment, the present invention also provides a fluid transport system, wherein the system is used for land or via an insulated pipe and an insulated pipe arranged to connect a tank installed on the ship's hull to a land or floating storage facility as described above. And a pump for driving the fluid from the floating storage facility to the ship's tank or from the ship's tank to the land or floating storage facility.

The present invention may be better understood from the following detailed description of some specific embodiments of the invention given as non-limiting examples only with reference to the accompanying drawings, and further objects, details, features and advantages are more clear. Is presented.
1 is a perspective sectional view of a double hull of a ship and a sealed adiabatic tank fixed inside the double hull.
2 is a perspective cross-sectional view of a double hull of a ship showing a ballast compartment designed to be filled with sea water to stabilize the ship.
3 is a perspective cross-sectional view of the tank wall.
4 is a partial schematic view of a sealed adiabatic storage tank showing ballast-zone and non-ballast-zone.
5 is a schematic view of an anchoring device for anchoring a primary insulating panel of a ballast-zone wall according to the first embodiment.
6 is a detailed view of the spacer sleeve of the anchoring device of FIG. 5.
7 is a schematic view of an anchoring device for anchoring a primary insulating panel of a ballast-zone wall according to a second embodiment.
8 is a schematic view of an anchoring device for anchoring a primary insulating panel of a non-ballast-zone wall according to the first embodiment.
9 is a schematic view of an anchoring device for anchoring a primary insulating panel of a non-ballast-zone wall according to the second embodiment.
10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a liquefied natural gas carrier tank having a wall as shown in FIG. 3 and a loading/unloading terminal for such a tank.
11 is a perspective cross-sectional view of the wall of a tank according to another embodiment.
12 is a schematic view of an anchoring device for anchoring primary and secondary insulating panels of a ballast-zone wall according to a third embodiment.
13 is a schematic view of an anchoring device for anchoring primary and secondary insulating panels of a non-ballast-zone wall according to a third embodiment.

Typically, the terms "outer" and "inner" are used to refer to the inside and outside of a tank to determine the relative position of one element relative to another.

1 and 2 show the double hull 1 of the ship. The double hull 1 has an outer hull 2 and an inner hull 3 forming a load-bearing structure for the sealed adiabatic membrane tank 4. The inner hull 3 comprises a plurality of walls that define the general shape of the tank 4 which is generally polyhedral. The inner hull 3 and the outer hull 2 are connected to each other by a plurality of metal sheets 5.

As shown in Fig. 2, the double hull 1 has a ballast-zone 6 at its lower part, where a ballast compartment 7 is formed. The ballast compartment 7 is formed between the inner hull 3 and the outer hull 2 of the double hull 1. The ballast compartment 7 is designed to receive liquid such as sea water. These ballast compartments 7 are filled with sea water, especially when the tank of the ship is not full to ensure the stability of the ship.

4 shows the overall polyhedral shape of the tank 4 according to one embodiment. The tank 4 has a plurality of walls 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 respectively arranged on each wall of the inner hull 3. The tank 4 has a horizontal upper wall 8 and a lower wall 9, and two horizontal (front and rear) horizontal walls 10. The front transverse wall is not shown in FIG. 4. Each of the two transverse walls 10 extends in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ship. The tank 4 also has side walls 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. The upper wall 8, the lower wall 9 and the transverse walls 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 extend in the longitudinal direction of the ship and connect the front and rear transverse walls 10 to each other. In the illustrated embodiment, the transverse wall 10 is octagonal. In addition, the side walls are two vertical side walls (13, 14), two upper inclined side walls (15, 16) each connecting one of the vertical side walls (13, 14) to the upper wall (8) and each vertical side wall ( 13, 14) and two lower inclined side walls 11, 12 connecting one of the lower walls 9 to one another.

The tank walls 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 are in the ballast-zone 6 of the double hull 1, i.e. in the inner hull 3, which is level with the ballast compartment 7 Ballast-zone walls maintained against; A non-ballast-zone wall maintained outside the ballast-zone 6 of the double hull 1, i.e., not level with the ballast compartment 7, but with respect to the inner hull 3; And a mixing wall (15, 16) fixed only to the inner hull leveling only a part of the ballast compartment (7). In FIG. 4, the ballast-zone wall is hatched, while the non-ballast-zone wall is empty and the mixed wall has a + sign. In other words, the lower wall 9, the vertical side walls 13, 14 and the lower inclined side walls 11, 12 are ballast-zone walls, and the upper wall 8 and the front and rear transverse walls 10 are non-ballast- Zone wall. The upper inclined side walls 15 and 16 are mixed walls. The ballast-zone wall is more susceptible to stress than the non-ballast-zone wall due to deformation of the inner hull 3 of the ballast-zone 6 when seawater is shipped to the ballast compartment 7.

3 shows a multi-layer structure of each wall of the tank according to one embodiment. Each wall is continuously arranged in the thickness direction from the outside of the tank toward the inside, the secondary insulating barrier 17 fixed to the inner hull 3, the secondary sealing membrane supporting the secondary insulating barrier 17 ( 18), a primary insulating membrane 19 supporting the secondary sealing membrane 18 and a primary sealing membrane 20 designed to contact liquefied natural gas contained in the tank.

The secondary insulating barrier 17 is a plurality of secondary insulating panels anchored to the inner hull 3 using resin cords (not shown) and/or pins (not shown) welded to the inner hull 3 ( 21). The secondary insulating panels 21 have a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and are arranged side by side in parallel rows separated from each other by a gap 22 providing an assembly gap. The gap 22 is filled with an insulating blanket made of, for example, glass wool, mineral wool or open-cell soft synthetic foam. Each secondary insulating panel 21 has an insulating polymer foam layer 24 sandwiched between a rigid inner plate 25 and a rigid outer plate 26. The inner and outer rigid plates 25, 26 are, for example, plywood plates bonded to the insulating polymer foam layer 24. The insulating polymer foam can be a polyurethane-based foam in particular.

The secondary sealing membrane 18 has a plurality of corrugated metal sheets, each of which is substantially rectangular. The corrugated metal sheet is offset relative to the secondary insulating panel 21 of the secondary insulating barrier 17 such that each of the corrugated metal sheets jointly extends over four adjacent secondary insulating panels 21. The pleats protrude towards the outside of the tank 4, ie towards the inner hull 3. The corrugation of the corrugated metal sheet is seated in a slot formed in the rigid inner plate 25 of the secondary insulating panel 21.

Adjacent corrugated metal sheets are wrapped-welded together. Further, the corrugated metal sheet is welded to the metal plate 23 fixed to the rigid inner plate 25 of the secondary insulating panel 21. The corrugated metal sheet has a blank to accommodate the pins 27 along the same longitudinal edge and at the same four corners, which are fixed to the rigid inner plate 25 of the secondary insulating panel 21 and the primary insulating barrier ( It is intended to secure 19) to the secondary insulating barrier 17.

In addition, the primary insulating barrier 19 has a plurality of primary insulating panels 28 that are substantially rectangular parallelepipeds. In the illustrated embodiment, the primary insulating panel 28 is a secondary insulating panel 21 of the secondary insulating barrier 17 such that each primary insulating panel 28 covers four secondary insulating panels 21. ).

Each primary insulating panel 28 is a layer of an insulating polymer foam 29 sandwiched between two rigid plates, a rigid outer plate 30 and a rigid inner plate 31, for example a polyurethane based insulating polymer foam Have The inner and outer rigid plates 31, 30 are made of plywood, for example.

A metal plate 32 is mounted on the rigid inner plate 31 of each insulating panel 28 to fix the corrugated metal sheet of the primary sealing membrane 20. The primary sealing membrane 20 is obtained by assembling a plurality of corrugated metal sheets. Each corrugated metal sheet is substantially rectangular. The crease protrudes toward the inside of the tank.

In the illustrated embodiment, each primary insulating panel 28 has one or more recesses 33 along two longitudinal edges and one recess 34 in each corner thereof. Each recess 33, 34 extends into the rigid inner plate 31 and passes through the entire thickness of the layer of insulating polymer foam 29. In each recess 33, 34, the rigid outer plate 30 projects beyond the layers of the insulating polymer foam 29 and the rigid inner plate 31 to form a bearing zone that cooperates with the anchoring device. Each recess 33 formed along one edge of one of the primary insulating panels 28 is disposed opposite the recess 33 formed on the opposite edge of the adjacent primary insulating panel 28. This allows a single anchoring device to interact with two bearing surfaces each belonging to two adjacent primary insulating panels 28. Further, each recess 34 formed in one of the corners of the primary insulating panel 28 is opened to face the recess 34 formed in the adjacent corner of the three adjacent primary insulating panels 28. Thus, the four recesses 34 together form a cross-shaped sheet. This allows a single anchoring device to cooperate with the four bearing surfaces of four adjacent primary insulating panels 28.

In other embodiments (not shown), recesses are not formed at the edges of the primary insulating panel 28. In this case, each recess is formed by a shaft, for example a cylindrical shaft, passing through a layer of rigid inner plate 31 and insulating polymer foam 29. The rigid outer plate 30 forming the bottom of the recess is provided with an orifice designed to form a bearing surface that receives the pin 27 and cooperates with the anchoring device.

5 shows in detail the first anchoring device 35 anchoring the primary insulating panel 28 to the secondary insulating panel 21 at the ballast-zone wall.

Each first anchoring device 35 has a pin 27 that is secured to a rigid inner plate 25 of one of the secondary insulating panels 21.

In the illustrated embodiment, the anchoring plate 36 is placed on a sheet formed on a rigid inner plate 25. In addition, the rigid inner plate 25 has an edge 37 that covers a portion of the anchoring plate 36 to hold the anchoring plate 6 against the layer of insulating polymer foam 24. However, the anchoring plate 36 can be secured to the inner surface of the secondary insulating panel 21 by any other means, for example gluing.

Further, the pin 27 passes through an orifice formed in the secondary sealing membrane 18 having the same height as the blank formed at the edges of two adjacent metal sheets of the secondary sealing membrane 18, for example.

The pin 27 has a threaded end that cooperates with a threaded borehole formed in the anchoring plate 36 to securely connect the pin 27 to the primary insulating panel 28. The pin 27 has a shoulder 38 supporting the secondary sealing membrane 18 in the direction of the inner hull 3 with respect to the edge of the orifice. The secondary sealing membrane 18 is also hermetically welded to the anchoring plate around the pin 27 to ensure continuous sealing.

Each first anchoring device 35 also has a retaining member 39 fixed to the pin 27. To this end, the retaining member 39 has a bore hole sliding over the pin 27. The retaining members 39 each have feet 40 seated inside one of the recesses 34. Thus, at the corner of the primary insulating panel 28, the retaining member 39 is X-shaped, and each of the four feet 40 is a recess 34 of one of the four adjacent primary insulating panels 28. Settles in. In the illustrated embodiment, the retaining member 39 is curved such that the central region of the retaining member 39 having a borehole through which the pin 27 passes is not in the same plane as the foot 40.

Each foot 40 of the retaining member 39 supports one of the bearing surfaces 41, i.e., a rigid inner plate 31 and a portion of the rigid outer plate 30 protruding beyond the insulating polymer foam layer 29. Thus, each bearing surface 41 is sandwiched between one of the feet 40 of the retaining member 39 and the secondary sealing membrane 18.

The nut 42 cooperates with the thread of the pin 27 to anchor the retaining member 39 to the pin 27. The nut 42 is associated with a plain washer 43 that is also mounted on the pin 27. In addition, the first anchoring device 35 has n1 spring washers 44, such as a Belleville washer that slides on the pin 27 between the nut 42 and the retaining member 39, which is a secondary insulating panel. It provides elastic fixation of the primary insulating panel 28 to the (21). n1 is an integer of 1 or more.

In addition, the first anchoring device 35 has an optional spacer sleeve 45 shown in detail in FIG. 6, which ensures the relative centering of the spring washer 44. To this end, the spacer sleeve 45 is slid onto the pin 27 between the spring washer 44 and the plain washer 43. The spacer sleeve 45 has two cylindrical portions 46, 47 disposed on both sides of the flange 48. The flange 48 is not centered in the middle of the spacer sleeve 45 such that the flange 48 forms two cylindrical portions 46, 47 of different lengths. Each of the two cylindrical parts 46 and 47 has an outer diameter that is first smaller than the inner diameter of the spring washer 44 and secondly smaller than the diameter of the bore hole in the retaining member 39 through which the pin 27 passes. Nevertheless, the outer diameter of the cylindrical parts 46, 47 is larger than the inner diameter of the plain washers 43. Further, the outer diameter of the flange 48 is larger than the inner diameter of the spring washer 44. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5, the cylindrical portion 47 of the spacer sleeve 45 is inserted into the spring washer 44 to center the washer. In addition, the nut 42 carries the cylindrical portion 46 of the spacer sleeve 45 through the plain washer 43 and the spring washer 44 is thus compressed between the flange 48 and the retaining member 39.

7 shows in detail the first anchoring device 49 anchoring the primary insulation panel 28 to the secondary insulation panel 21 in the ballast-zone wall according to the second embodiment. In this embodiment, the recess 51 is not formed at the edge of the first insulating panel 28, but passes through the rigid inner plate 31 and the insulating polymer foam layer 29 of the primary insulating panel 28. It is formed by a shaft. In this embodiment, the pin 27 of the anchoring device 49 passes through an orifice formed in the rigid outer plate 30. The first anchoring device 49 shown in FIG. 7 is different from the anchoring device 35 described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 in the form of a retaining member 50. Indeed, in this embodiment, the retaining member 50 is a washer that slides over the pin 27 and sandwiches between the spring washer 44 and the bearing zone 41 of the rigid inner plate 30 of the primary insulation panel. .

8 shows in detail the second anchoring device 52 anchoring the primary insulating panel 28 to the secondary insulating panel 21 of the non-ballast-zone wall according to the first embodiment. The second anchoring device 52 differs from the first anchoring device 35 described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 in that there is no spring washer 44 acting on the nut 42 and the retaining member 39. Do. As a result, the flange 48 of the spacer sleeve 45 directly supports the retaining member 39.

Therefore, the second anchoring device 52 firmly anchors the primary insulating panel 28 to the secondary insulating panel 21. In the non-ballast-zone wall, the second anchoring device 52 is primarily subjected to a force caused by heat shrinkage. When the tank 4 is cooled, that is, when liquefied natural gas is shipped to the tank 4, the primary and secondary insulating panels 28, 21 and fins 27 are heat-shrinked. If the second anchoring device provides elastic anchoring, the amplitude of the relative movement of the pit of the retaining member 39 relative to the bearing surface 41 of the primary insulating panel 28, which may be caused by heat shrinkage, is very small. It should be noted. In practice, this amplitude is the difference in shrinkage in the thickness direction of the tank between the part of the pin 27 extending between the anchoring plate 37 and the retaining member 39 on the one hand and the rigid outer plate 40 on the other hand. It depends only on. Since the length of the portion of the pin 27 in question and the thickness of the rigid outer plate 40 are relatively small, the amplitude of the relative movement caused by heat shrinkage is on the order of hundreds of millimeters and can therefore be neglected. This eliminates the need to provide spring washers to compensate for this shrinkage difference. A slight deformation of the rigid outer plate 30 by the retaining member 39 when placing the anchoring device 52 will be sufficient to continue holding the primary insulating panel 28 after cooling.

FIG. 9 shows in detail a second anchoring device 53 anchoring the primary insulation panel 28 to the secondary insulation panel 21 in a non-ballast-zone wall, according to a second embodiment. In this case, the second anchoring device 53 is designed to be disposed within the recess 53 as described with reference to FIG. 7. The second anchoring device 53 is different from the first anchoring device 49 as shown in FIG. 7 in that there is no spring washer. As a result, the flange 48 of the spacer sleeve 45 directly supports the retaining member 50.

It can also be seen that the same spacer sleeve 45 as the spacer sleeve disclosed in Figure 6 is used in this embodiment. However, the orientation of the spacer sleeve 45 is reversed with respect to the orientation in FIGS. 5 and 7. In practice, by providing a spacer sleeve 45 in which the flange 48 is not centered longitudinally, the spacer sleeve 45 is required by directing the reversible and longer cylindrical portion 47 towards the secondary insulating barrier 17. The spring washer 44 is mounted on the anchoring device (as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 ), or, conversely, the shorter cylindrical portion 46 is directed towards the secondary insulating barrier 17. By this, it can be used as needed, where the anchoring device (as shown in FIG. 9) does not have a spring washer and the flange 48 of the spacer sleeve 45 makes direct contact with the retaining member 39. Therefore, this standard spacer sleeve 45 can be used regardless of whether the anchoring device has a spring washer.

Further advantageously, the recesses 33, 34, after assembly of the anchoring devices 35, 49, 52, 53 to ensure the continuity of the primary insulating barrier 19 in the recesses 33, 34, 51 An insulating plug (not shown) is located in 51).

In other embodiments, the second anchoring device 53 may also include a spring washer. In any case, however, the stiffness K1 of the first anchoring device, which is opposite to the relative movement of each insulating panel in the thickness direction of the tank wall, is strictly less than the corresponding stiffness K2 of the second anchoring device.

According to one embodiment, the second anchoring device has n2 spring washers, where n2 is an integer less than n1. Thus, the two anchoring devices can use the same spring washer, which facilitates the production of the tank.

According to another embodiment, the spring washer of the second anchoring device is different from the spring washer of the first anchoring device. In this case, the numbers n2 and n1 may also be the same.

The primary insulating panel 28 of the mixed wall, ie the upper inclined sidewalls 15, 16, can also be anchored using a second anchoring device according to one of the variations described above.

12 shows a multilayer structure of a tank wall according to another embodiment.

The secondary insulating barrier 17 is composed of a plurality of parallel secondary insulating panels 21. Each secondary insulating panel 21 extends in the thickness direction of the wall between the bottom plate 54, the cover plate 55 and the bottom plate 54 and the cover plate 55, and an insulating lining, for example pearlite It is a parallelepiped box made of plywood, for example, with a partition 56 defining a compartment filled with. The bottom plate 54 projects transversely on the two opposing sides of the box, allowing the cleats 57 to be fixed to each corner of the box on these protrusions.

The primary insulating barrier 19 is also composed of a plurality of juxtaposed primary insulating panels 28. The structure of the primary insulating panel 28 is substantially similar to that of the secondary insulating panel 21. The dimension of the primary insulating panel 28 is the same as that of the secondary insulating panel 21 except for the thickness in the thickness direction of the tank, which may be smaller than the thickness of the secondary insulating panel 21. The bottom plate 58 of the primary insulating panel 28 projects transversely on two opposing sides of the box, allowing the cleats 57 to be fixed to each corner of the box on these protrusions.

The secondary sealing membrane 18 has a continuous metal strike layer with raised edges. The strike is welded through its raised edge to a parallel welding support fixed to a slot formed in the cover plate 55 of the secondary insulating panel 21. The primary sealing membrane 20 has a continuous metal strike layer with a similar structure and raised edges. The strike is welded to a parallel weld support fixed to a slot formed in the cover plate of the primary insulating panel 28 through the raised edge.

Metal strikes are made, for example, of Invar®, an alloy of iron and nickel, which generally has an expansion coefficient of 1.2·10 ^-6 to 2·10 ^-6 K ^-1 .

12 shows a first anchoring device 60 for anchoring the primary and secondary insulating panels 28, 21 of the ballast-zone wall. The first anchoring device 60 has a socket 61 which is fixed to the inner hull 3 at four corners of four adjacent primary insulating panels 21. Each socket 61 accommodates a nut 62 to which the lower end of the pin 63 is screwed. The first anchoring device 60 also has a retaining member 64 fixed to the pin 63. To this end, the retaining member 64 has a bore hole that slides onto the pin 63. The holding member 64 is, for example, a metal plate. The retaining member 64 supports a cleat 57 to hold the secondary insulating panel 21 relative to the inner hull 3. The nut 65 cooperates with the thread of the pin 63 to secure the retaining member 64 to the pin 63. Further, the anchoring device 60 has a set of n1 spring washers 66, where n1 is an integer of 1 or more. The spring washer 66 is, for example, a Belleville washer. The spring washer 66 is slid onto the pin 63 between the nut 65 and the retaining member 64 to provide elastic anchoring of the secondary insulating panel 21 to the inner hull 3.

In the illustrated embodiment, the nut 65 has a cylindrical centering portion 67 that is inserted into the spring washer 66 and centers the washer. Also in the illustrated embodiment, the lock washer 68 is welded locally to the pin 63 over the nut 65 to secure the nut 65 in position on the pin 63.

Further, the first anchoring device 60 has a plate 69 fixed to the holding member 64. A spacer element 82 made of wood, for example, is disposed between the retaining member 64 and the plate 69. The thickness of the spacer element 82 allows the plate 69 to be flush with the cover panel 55 of the secondary insulating panel 21. The spacer element 82 has a center sheet designed to receive the top of the pin 63, nut 65, lock washer 68 and spring washer 66. The spacer element 82 also has a borehole designed to be traversed by screws 83 that allow the plate 69 to be securely connected to the retaining member 64.

In addition, the plate 69 includes a central threaded borehole that receives the threaded base of the pin 84. The pin 84 passes through a hole formed through the strike of the secondary sealing membrane 18. The pin 84 has a flange 85 welded to its periphery around the hole, to ensure sealing of the secondary sealing membrane 18. The pin 84 has a threaded upper end screwed to the nut 87 to clamp the retaining member 86 against the cleat 59 of the primary insulating panel 28. The anchoring device 60 also slides onto the pin 84 between the nut 87 and the retaining member 86 and provides a bevelville washer that provides elastic anchoring of the primary insulating panel 28 to the plate 69. It has the same at least one spring washer 88.

FIG. 13 shows a second anchoring device 89 anchoring the primary and secondary insulating panels 28, 21 of the non-ballast-zone wall. The second anchoring device 89 is different from the first anchoring device 60 in that there are n2 spring washers 66 between the nut 65 and the retaining member 64 as shown in FIG. 13.

In this embodiment, the spring washers 66 and 88 of the second anchoring device 89 are the same as the spring washers of the first anchoring device 60. In addition, the number n2 of the spring washers 66 is an integer equal to 0 first or greater than 0 and second less than n1, whereby the rigidity K1 of the first anchoring device 60 is the rigidity of the second anchoring device 60 Smaller than K2. Thus, the number of spring washers 66, 88 required to build the tank can be reduced.

In another embodiment, as described above, the spring washer of the second anchoring device is different from the spring washer of the first anchoring device. In this case, as long as the stiffness K1 of the first anchoring device 60 is smaller than the stiffness K2 of the second anchoring device 60, the number n2 and n1 may also be the same.

In addition, the upper inclined side walls 15, 16 of the tank having such a multi-layer structure can also be anchored using the second anchoring device 89 according to one of the above-described variations.

Referring to FIG. 10, a cross-sectional view of a liquefied natural gas carrier 70 shows a sealed and insulated tank 71 in the form of an overall prism mounted on the ship's double hull 72. The wall of the tank 71 has a primary sealing membrane designed to contact LNG contained in the tank, a secondary sealing membrane disposed between the primary sealing membrane and the ship's double hull 72, and a primary sealing membrane and a secondary sealing, respectively. It has two insulating barriers arranged between the membranes and between the secondary sealing membrane and the double hull 72.

In a known manner, the loading/unloading pipe 73 disposed on the upper deck of the ship can be connected to a sea or port terminal using suitable connectors to transport LNG cargo to or from the tank 71.

10 shows an exemplary maritime terminal including a loading/unloading point 75, a submarine line 76, and a land facility 77. The loading/unloading point 75 is a static offshore facility that includes a movable arm 74 and a column 78 holding the movable arm 74. The movable arm 74 carries an insulated hose bundle 79 that can be connected to the loading/unloading pipe 73. The oriented movable arm 74 can be employed on any size liquefied natural gas carrier. The connecting line (not shown) extends into the column 78. The loading/unloading point 75 enables loading and unloading of the liquefied natural gas carrier 70 to and from the land facility 77. The facility has a liquefied gas storage tank 80 and a connecting line 81 which leads to a loading/unloading point 75 via subsea line 76. The subsea line 76 allows liquefied gas to be transported between the loading/unloading point 75 and the land facility 77 over a long distance of, for example, 5 km, which liquefied natural gas carriers during loading and unloading operations It is possible to keep 70 away from the shore.

To create the pressure required to transport the liquefied gas, a pump mounted on the ship 70 and/or a pump installed on the land facility 77 and/or a pump installed on the unloading point 75 are used.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with some specific embodiments, the present invention is expressly not limited thereto, and includes all technical equivalents of the described means and combinations thereof when within the scope of the present invention.

The use of the verbs “comprises” or “includes” the verbs, including compound cases, does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps in addition to those mentioned in the claims.

In the claims, reference signs in parentheses should not be understood as limiting the claims.

Claims (18)

As a sealed adiabatic tank (4) carried on a ship,
The ship has a double hull (1) comprising an inner hull (3) and an outer hull (2) forming a load bearing structure for the sealed insulated tank (4); The double hull 1 is designed to receive a liquid, such as sea water, and a ballast compartment 7 defined between the inner hull 3 and the outer hull 2 is ballast-zone 6 Bring within; The tank 4 has tank walls 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 fixed to the inner hull 3; Each tank wall includes at least one insulating barrier (17, 19) comprising an insulating panel (21, 28) fixed to an inner hull and a sealing membrane (18, 20) supporting the insulating panel (21, 28). Have continuously in the thickness direction of the tank wall;
The tank wall is a ballast-zone wall (9, 11, 12, 13, 14), which is in the thickness direction of the ballast-zone wall at the same height as at least one of the ballast compartments (7) to the inner hull (3). Fixed ballast-zone walls (9, 11, 12, 13, 14), and non-ballast-zone walls (8, 10), such as any of the ballast compartments in the thickness direction of the non-ballast-zone wall A non-ballast-zone wall (8, 10) secured to the inner hull (3) so as not to be tall;
At least one of the insulating panels 28 of the ballast-area walls 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 is anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull 3 using a first anchoring device 35, 49 Become;
At least one of the insulated panels 28 of the non-ballast-zone walls 8, 10, 15, 16 is directly or indirectly attached to the inner hull 3 using a second anchoring device 52, 53, 89. Anchored;
Each of the first anchoring devices 35, 49, 60 exerts an elastic force to press the ballast-zone wall insulation panel 28 toward the inner hull 3 while applying a load-bearing structure during deformation of the inner hull 3 Is provided with n1 elastic members 44, 66, 88 arranged to enable relative movement of the insulating panel 28 in the thickness direction of the tank wall with respect to; n1 is an integer of 1 or more; The first anchoring device has a stiffness K1 opposite to the relative movement of the insulating panel 28 with respect to the load supporting structure 3 in the thickness direction of the tank wall;
Each of the second anchoring devices 52, 53, 89 exerts an elastic force to press the non-ballast-zone wall insulation panel 28 towards the inner hull 3 while supporting the load during the deformation of the inner hull 3 Is provided with n2 elastic members 44, 66, 88 arranged to enable relative movement of the insulating panel 28 with respect to; n2 is an integer of 0 or more; The second anchoring device has a stiffness K2 opposite to the relative movement of the insulating panel 28 with respect to the load supporting structure 3 in the thickness direction of the tank wall; Stiffness K2 is greater than K1, sealed insulated tank (4). According to claim 1,
n2 is smaller than n1, the sealed adiabatic tank (4). The method of claim 1 or 2,
Each tank wall includes a secondary insulating barrier 17 including a secondary insulating panel 21 continuously fixed to the inner hull from the outside of the tank toward the inside, and 2 supporting the secondary insulating panel 21 A primary insulating barrier 18 including a primary sealing membrane 18, a plurality of primary insulating panels 28 supporting the secondary sealing membrane 18, and a tank supporting the primary insulating panel 28 and the tank (4) A sealed adiabatic tank (4) comprising a primary sealing membrane (20) designed to contact liquefied natural gas contained in it. The method of claim 3,
The first anchoring device (35, 49) is at least one of the primary insulating panel of the ballast-zone wall (9, 11, 12, 13, 14) of the ballast-zone wall (9, 11, 12, 13, 14) ) At least one of the secondary insulation panels 21;
The second anchoring device secondary to at least one of the primary insulating panels 28 of the non-ballast-zone walls 8, 10, 15, 16 of the non-ballast-zone walls 8, 10, 15, 16 A sealed insulated tank (4), anchoring to at least one of the insulating panels (21). The method of claim 3,
The first anchoring device 60 anchors at least one of the secondary insulation panels of the ballast-zone walls 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 to the inner hull 3;
The second anchoring device (89) anchors at least one of the secondary insulation panels of the non-ballast-zone walls (8, 10, 15, 16) to the inner hull (3). The method of claim 3 or 5,
The first anchoring device 60 anchors at least one of the first insulating panels of the ballast-zone walls 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 to the inner hull 3;
The second anchoring device (89) anchors at least one of the primary insulation panels of the non-ballast-zone walls (8, 10, 15, 16) to the inner hull (3). The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Each of the first and second anchoring devices 35, 49, 52, 53, 60, 89 has pins 27, 63, 84 anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull 3 and the pins 27, 63 , 84) with retaining members 39, 50, 65, 86 mounted on it; The retaining members 39, 50, 65, 86 are held on the pins 27, 63, 84 and the insulating panel anchored by the first or second anchoring device to hold it towards the inner hull 3 A sealed adiabatic tank (4), cooperating with bearing surfaces (41, 57, 59) of (28). The method of claim 7,
The pins (27, 63, 84) have a threaded insulated tank with a thread cooperating with the nuts (42, 65, 87) holding the retaining members (39, 50, 64, 86) towards the inner hull (3) (4). The method of claim 8,
Each elastic member is provided between the nuts 42, 65, 87 and the retaining members 39, 50, 64, 86 to provide elastic force to press the retaining member against the bearing surfaces 41, 47, 59. A sealed adiabatic tank (4), which is a spring washer (44, 66, 88) coupled on pins (27, 63, 84). The method of claim 9,
The first anchoring device (35, 49) has a spacer sleeve (45) that is slid onto each pin (27) and held towards the inner hull (3) by a nut (42), the spacer sleeve (45) Has a cylindrical centering portion 47 mounted inside the n1 spring washers 44 and an annular flange 48 for pressing the n1 spring washers 44 against the retaining members 39, 50 to center it, Sealed insulating tank (4). The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10,
n2 is equal to 0 and each second anchoring device 52, 53 has a spacer sleeve 45 that slides onto each pin 27 and is held by the nut 42 towards the secondary insulating barrier 17. A sealed heat insulating tank (4) having a spacer sleeve (45) and a flange (48) supporting the retaining members (39, 50). The method of claim 10 and 11,
The spacer sleeve 45 of one of the first anchoring devices 35, 49 and the spacer sleeve 45 of one of the second anchoring devices 52, 53 are the same, and the flange 48 of the spacer sleeve is a spacer sleeve Out of center with respect to the middle of the spacer sleeve 45 to define a cylindrical centering portion longer than half of the spacer sleeve of the first anchoring device and the spacer sleeve of the second anchoring device are of the first anchoring devices 35, 49. Cylindrical centering portion 47 passes through the n1 spring washers 44 of the first anchoring devices 35 and 49 and the cylindrical centering portion 47 of the second anchoring devices 52 and 53 is connected to the flange 48. A sealed adiabatic tank (4) having an inverted orientation to be arranged between the nuts (42). The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
The tank wall also has a mixing wall (15, 16) having a portion not equal in height to any of the ballast compartments and a portion equal in height to at least one of the ballast compartments; At least one of the insulating panels of the mixing walls (15, 16) is anchored directly or indirectly to the inner hull by a second anchoring device (52, 53, 89), a sealed insulated tank (4). The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13,
The tank 4 has an overall polyhedral shape, and the front and rear extend across the longitudinal direction of the upper wall 8, the lower wall 9, the vessel and the side walls 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. With the transverse wall 10, the upper wall 8, the lower wall 9 and the side walls 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 extend in the longitudinal direction of the vessel and the front and rear transverse walls (10); the front transverse wall, the rear transverse wall (10) and the top wall (8) are sealed non-ballast-zone walls, respectively. The method of claim 13 and 14,
The tank 4 has at least four side walls 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, two of the side walls being vertical side walls 13, 14 and two of the side walls being upper inclined side walls ( 15, 16), each of which connects the upper wall 8 to one of the vertical side walls 13, 14; Each of the two upper inclined sidewalls 15, 16 is one of the mixing walls, a sealed adiabatic tank 4. A ship (70) used for fluid transportation,
Said ship has a double hull (72) and a tank (71) according to any one of claims 1 to 15 disposed inside the ship. As a fluid transport system,
The insulated pipes (73, 79, 76, 81) and the insulated pipe arranged to connect the ship (70) according to claim 16, the tank (71) installed on the ship's hull to the land or floating storage facility (77). And a pump for driving the fluid from the land or floating storage facility to the ship's tank or from the ship's tank to the land or floating storage facility. A method for loading or unloading a ship 70 according to claim 16,
Fluid is channeled through the insulated pipes 73, 79, 76, 81 from the land or floating storage facility 77 to the ship's tank 71 or from the ship's tank 71 to the land or floating storage facility 77. , Way.

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