Liquefied hydrogen loading arm and liquefied hydrogen transport method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10495258-B2
Application number	US-201615743801-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2016
Priority date	Jul 15, 2015
Publication date	Dec 3, 2019
Grant date	Dec 3, 2019

Abstract

A liquefied hydrogen transport method includes connecting first and second loading arms to the manifold while vacuum insulation double tubes of the first and second loading arms are filled with hydrogen gas and air is mixed in piggyback lines; supplying an inactive gas to one of the piggyback lines of the first and second loading arms and taking in a gas mixture of an inactive gas and air from the other of the piggyback lines of the first and second loading arms; supplying hydrogen gas to one of the piggyback lines of the first and second loading arms and taking in a gas mixture of hydrogen gas and an inactive gas from the other of the piggyback lines of the first and second lading arms; and transporting liquefied hydrogen through any one of the vacuum insulation double tubes of the first and second loading arms.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A liquefied hydrogen loading arm configured to transport liquefied hydrogen, the loading arm comprising:
a loading arm support frame structure including a base riser configured to be erected on land, an inboard boom, an outboard boom, and a counterweight attached to a proximal end of the inboard boom;
a flexible vacuum insulation double tube including a metal inner tube, a metal outer tube, and an insulation vacuum layer, the flexible vacuum insulation double tube being disposed in a space below the support frame structure and supported by the support frame structure;
a vacuum insulation double connecting tube connected to a distal end of the vacuum insulation double tube and to a distal end of the outboard boom;
an arm-side opening/closing valve and an emergency release system sequentially interposed in the vacuum insulation double connecting tube from a vacuum insulation double tube side; and
a flexible piggyback line disposed along the vacuum insulation double tube, the flexible piggyback line including:
a proximal end configured to be selectively connected to an inactive gas tubing and a hydrogen gas tubing on land through a land-side opening/closing valve, and
a distal end connected to the vacuum insulation double connecting tube between the arm-side opening/closing valve and the emergency release system.

2. A liquefied hydrogen transport method of transporting liquefied hydrogen with at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms according to claim 1 , the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms being disposed adjacent to each other and the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms being configured to be either (i) connected to each other through a manifold of a liquefied hydrogen transport ship while being connected to the manifold, or (ii) cut off from each other while being connected to the manifold, the method comprising:
connecting the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms to the manifold while a plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms are filled with hydrogen gas and air is mixed in a plurality of piggyback lines;
supplying the inactive gas to a first piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms and supplying a gas mixture of the inactive gas and air to a second piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms;
supplying hydrogen gas to the first piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines and supplying a gas mixture of hydrogen gas and the inactive gas to the second piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines; and
transporting liquefied hydrogen through a vacuum insulation double tube of the plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms.

3. The liquefied hydrogen transport method according to claim 2 , further comprising, upon having transported liquefied hydrogen through the vacuum insulation double tube of the plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes, receiving liquefied hydrogen and hydrogen gas through the plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms while supplying hydrogen gas to one of the piggyback lines of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms.

4. The liquefied hydrogen transport method according to claim 3 , further comprising, upon having received liquefied hydrogen and hydrogen gas through the plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes:
supplying the inactive gas to the first piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines,
supplying hydrogen gas and the inactive gas to the second piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines, and
replacing a gas in the plurality of piggyback lines with the inactive gas.

5. The liquefied hydrogen transport method according to claim 4 , further comprising, upon having replaced the gas in the plurality of piggyback lines with the inactive gas, separating the liquefied hydrogen loading arms from the manifold and mixing air in the plurality of piggyback lines while the plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes of the liquefied hydrogen loading arms are filled with hydrogen gas.

6. A liquefied hydrogen transport method of transporting liquefied hydrogen with at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms according to claim 1 , the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms being disposed adjacent to each other and the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms having a plurality of piggyback lines configured to be either (i) connected to a connecting tubing provided on land through an opening/closing valve interposed in the connecting tubing, or (ii) cut off from the connecting tubing, the method comprising:
connecting the liquefied hydrogen loading arms to the connecting tubing while a plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes of the liquefied hydrogen loading arms are filled with hydrogen gas and air is mixed in the plurality of piggyback lines;
supplying the inactive gas to a first piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines of the at least two liquefied hydrogen loading arms and supplying a gas mixture of the inactive gas and air to a second piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines of the liquefied hydrogen loading arms;
supplying hydrogen gas from a first piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines of the liquefied hydrogen loading arms and supplying a gas mixture of hydrogen gas and the inactive gas to the second piggyback line of the plurality of piggyback lines of the liquefied hydrogen loading arms; and
transporting liquefied hydrogen through a vacuum insulation double tube of the plurality of vacuum insulation double tubes of the liquefied hydrogen loading arms.

Assignees

• Kawasaki Heavy Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Unno Shuntaro
• Takase Tomonori
• Umemura Tomoaki
• Inomata Akihiko

Classifications

• F17C2205/0364

  flexible or articulated, e.g. a hose · CPC title

• F17C2223/0123

  gaseous, e.g. CNG, GNC · CPC title

• F17C2223/0153

  Liquefied gas, e.g. LPG, GPL · CPC title

• F17C2205/0358

  coaxial · CPC title

• F17C2205/0323

  Valves · CPC title