Thermally-insulating sealed tank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11796131-B2
Application number	US-202217987354-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 15, 2022
Priority date	Jun 6, 2018
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

The invention relates to a tank wall (1) fixed onto a supporting wall (3) wherein the secondary insulating barrier comprises a plurality of secondary rows (A, B, C) parallel to a first direction and juxtaposed in a second direction at right angles to the first direction according to a repeated pattern. The secondary sealed membrane comprises a plurality of strakes (21) parallel to the first direction, the size of the repeated pattern of the secondary rows (A, B, C) being an integer multiple of the size of a strake (21) in the second direction. The primary insulating barrier (5) comprises a plurality of primary rows parallel to the first direction, and the primary sealed membrane has first corrugations (56) parallel to the first direction and spaced apart by a first regular spacing (58), wherein the size of the repeated pattern of the primary rows is an integer multiple of said first regular spacing (58).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A thermally-insulating sealed tank incorporated in a supporting structure,
the tank comprising a tank wall fixed onto a supporting wall of the supporting structure, the tank wall comprising a primary sealed membrane intended to be in contact with a product contained in the tank, a secondary sealed membrane arranged between the primary sealed membrane and the supporting wall, a primary insulating barrier arranged between the primary sealed membrane the secondary sealed membrane and a secondary insulating barrier arranged between the secondary sealed membrane and the supporting wall,
wherein the secondary insulating barrier comprises a plurality of secondary rows parallel to a first direction, a secondary row comprising a plurality of juxtaposed parallelepipedal secondary insulating panels, the secondary rows being juxtaposed in a second direction at right angles to the first direction according to a repeated pattern,
wherein the secondary sealed membrane comprises a plurality of strakes parallel to the first direction, a strake comprising a flat central portion resting on a top surface of the secondary insulating panels and two raised edges protruding toward the interior of the tank with respect to the central portion, the strakes being juxtaposed in the second direction according to a repeated pattern and welded together gas-tightly at the raised edges, anchoring wings anchored to the secondary insulating panels and parallel to the first direction being arranged between the juxtaposed strakes to hold the secondary sealed membrane on the secondary insulating barrier,
wherein the primary insulating barrier comprises a plurality of primary rows parallel to the first direction, a primary row comprising a plurality of juxtaposed parallelepipedal primary insulating panels, the primary rows being juxtaposed in the second direction according to a repeated pattern,
wherein the primary insulating barrier comprises a bridging element fixed to the top surfaces of at least two adjacent primary insulating panels to avoid a separation of the two primary insulating panels,
wherein the primary retaining members are disposed at the interfaces between the primary rows and cooperate with the primary insulating panels to hold the primary insulating panels on the secondary sealed membrane,
wherein the primary sealed membrane has first corrugations parallel to the first direction and disposed according to a repeated pattern in the second direction and flat portions situated between the first corrugations and resting on a top surface of the primary insulating panels, the primary sealed membrane comprising a plurality of rows of metal sheets parallel to the first direction, a row of metal sheets comprising a plurality of rectangular metal sheets welded together gas-tightly by edge zones, the rows of metal sheets being juxtaposed in the second direction and welded together tightly, the size of a row of metal sheets in the second direction being equal to an integer multiple of the size of the repeated pattern of the primary rows, the rows of metal sheets being offset in the second direction with respect to the primary rows such that welded joints between the rows of metal sheets are situated at a distance from the interfaces between the primary rows.

2. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the or each primary row is superposed straddling two secondary rows and wherein the primary retaining members are supported by the secondary insulating panels.

3. The tank as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the primary rows are offset in the second direction by a half of the size of the repeated pattern of the secondary rows with respect to the secondary rows.

4. The tank as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the interfaces between the primary insulating panels within the or each primary row are offset in the first direction with respect to the interfaces between the secondary insulating panels within the two secondary rows on which the primary row is superposed, and wherein the primary retaining members are supported by the secondary insulating panels at a distance from the edges of the secondary insulating panels.

5. The tank as claimed in claim 2 , wherein a primary retaining member comprises a plate fixed to a cover plate of the secondary insulating panel under the secondary sealed membrane and a rod attached to said plate and passing tightly through the secondary sealed membrane toward the primary insulating barrier.

6. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the supporting wall supports secondary retaining members cooperating with the secondary insulating panels to hold the secondary insulating panels on the supporting wall, and wherein the or each primary row is superposed on a secondary row and wherein the primary retaining members are supported by the secondary retaining members.

7. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first corrugations are spaced apart by a first regular spacing in the second direction.

8. The tank as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the size of a strake in the second direction is an integer multiple of said first regular spacing.

9. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a primary row comprises a plurality of parallelepipedal primary insulating panels juxtaposed according to a repeated pattern and a row of metal sheets of the primary sealed membrane comprises a plurality of rectangular metal sheets juxtaposed according to a repeated pattern, the size of the repeated pattern of the rectangular metal sheets being equal to an integer multiple of the size of the repeated pattern of the primary insulating panels in the first direction.

10. The tank as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the edges of the rectangular metal sheets are offset in the first direction with respect to the edges of the primary insulating panels parallel to the second direction, such that the welded joints between the rectangular metal sheets are situated at a distance from the edges of the primary insulating panels parallel to the second direction.

11. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the primary insulating panels and/or the secondary insulating panels have a square form.

12. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the primary sealed membrane also has second corrugations parallel to the second direction and disposed according to a repeated pattern in the first direction, the flat portions being situated between the first corrugations and between the second corrugations.

13. The tank as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the second corrugations parallel to the second direction are spaced apart by a second regular spacing in the first direction.

14. The tank as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the first corrugations are spaced apart by a first regular spacing in the second direction and wherein the first regular spacing is equal to the second regular spacing.

15. The tank as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the first and second corrugations are continuous at the intersections between first and second corrugations.

16. The tank as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the first and second corrugations are discontinuous at the intersections between the first and second corrugations.

17. The tank as claimed in claim 12 , wherein a rectangular metal sheet of the primary sealed membrane has a size in the first direction substantially equal to an integer multiple of the size of the repeated pattern of the second corrugations.

18. The tank as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a primary insulating panel comprises a bottom plate resting against the primary sealed membrane, an intermediate plate disposed between the

Assignees

• Gaztransport Et Technigaz

Inventors

• Marhem Mathieu
• Durand Francois
• Philippe Antoine
• Herry Mickaël
• Prunier Raphaël
• Delanoe Sébastien
• Deletre Bruno
• Sassi Mohamed

Classifications

• F17C13/001

  Thermal insulation specially adapted for cryogenic vessels (vessels not under pressure with insulation F17C3/02; thermal insulation in general F16L59/00) · CPC title

• B63B27/34

  using pipe-lines {(anchoring arrangements for special vessels with mooring turrets B63B21/507; buoys specially adapted for mooring a vessel and for transferring fluids, e.g. liquids B63B22/021)} · CPC title

• B63B27/24

  of pipe-lines · CPC title

• F17C3/027 Primary

  Wallpanels for so-called membrane tanks · CPC title

• B63B25/16 Primary

  heat-insulated (insulating panelling B63B3/68; heating or cooling B63J) · CPC title