Apparatus for storing and transporting a cryogenic fluid on-board a ship

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9915397-B2
Application number	US-201615547246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2016
Priority date	Jan 30, 2015
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus for storing and transporting a cryogenic fluid. The apparatus is carried onboard a ship. The apparatus including a sealed and thermally insulating tank intended for the storage of the cryogenic fluid in a state of liquid-vapor diphasic equilibrium, the apparatus including at least two sealed pipes passing through the tank in such a way as to define a passage for the removal of the vapor phase of the cryogenic fluid from inside to outside the tank, the two sealed pipes each including a collection end opening inside the tank at the level of the sealing membrane of the top wall. The collecting ends of two sealed pipes open to the inside of the tank at the level of two zones of the top wall which are situated at two opposite ends of the top wall.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for storing and transporting a cryogenic fluid, which apparatus is carried onboard a ship ( 1 ), the apparatus comprising a sealed and thermally insulating tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 102 , 202 ) intended for the storage of the cryogenic fluid in a state of liquid-vapor diphasic equilibrium, said tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 102 , 202 ) having a horizontal top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ), comprising, in the thickness direction from the outside toward the inside of the tank, at least one thermally insulating barrier ( 18 , 20 , 118 , 120 ) and one sealing membrane ( 21 , 121 ) intended to be in contact with the cryogenic fluid;
the apparatus comprising at least two sealed pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) passing through the tank in such a way as to define a passage for the removal of the vapor phase of the cryogenic fluid from inside to outside the tank, the two pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 222 , 223 ) each comprising a collection end opening inside the tank at the level of the sealing membrane ( 21 , 121 ) of the top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 );
the collecting ends of said two pipes opening to the inside of the tank at the level of two zones of the top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ) which are situated at two opposite ends of said top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ), each of the pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 222 , 223 ) being connected to a vapor collector ( 26 , 159 , 264 ) arranged outside the tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 102 , 202 ), the or each vapor collector ( 26 , 159 , 264 ) being connected to a flare stack ( 7 ) and/or to a vapor-phase gas utilization circuit via a safety relief valve ( 42 , 160 ).

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which said two ends of the top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ) are opposite in a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ship ( 1 ).

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which said two ends of the top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ) are opposite in the longitudinal direction of the ship.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which the collecting ends of said two pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 ) open at the level of two diagonally opposite corner zones of the top wall ( 13 ).

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , comprising four sealed pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 ) each having a collecting end opening to the inside of the tank at the level of the sealing membrane ( 21 , 121 ) of the top wall ( 13 , 113 ) and each defining a passage for the removal of the vapor phase and in which apparatus the top wall ( 13 , 113 ) has a rectangular shape, the collecting ends of the four pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) opening at the level of four corner zones of the top wall ( 13 , 113 ) in such a way that when the ship is immobilized in an inclined position in which it has an inclination in terms of trim and/or of listing, at least one of the four pipes opens at the level of the uppermost point of the top wall and is able to remove the vapor phase of the cryogenic fluid.

6. The installation as claimed in claim 1 , in which each vapor collector ( 26 ) is connected to a vapor injection pipe ( 41 ) which passes through the tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) and opens inside the tank below a tank height corresponding to a maximum tank fill level so that said injection pipe is able to reinject the vapor collected via the vapor collector ( 26 ) into the liquid phase of the cryogenic fluid stored in the tank when the tank is filled with liquefied natural gas to a height corresponding to said maximum fill level, each vapor collector ( 26 ) or each vapor injection pipe ( 41 ) being equipped with a pump able to deliver the collected vapor into the liquid phase of the cryogenic fluid.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , in which the vapor injection pipe ( 41 ) comprises an injection lance ( 49 ) extending inside the tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) and having a plurality of bubbling orifices ( 50 ) for reinjecting the vapor phase into the liquid phase of the cryogenic fluid stored in the tank.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , comprising an emergency shaft ( 48 ) passing through the top wall ( 13 ) of the tank and allowing an emergency pump to be lowered into the tank, and in which the injection lance ( 49 ) is mounted removably in said emergency shaft ( 48 ).

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , comprising a loading/unloading tower ( 45 ) extending over the entire height of the tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ), suspended from the top wall ( 13 ) of the tank, the loading/unloading tower ( 45 ) supporting one or more unloading lines ( 47 ) which are each associated with a respective unloading pump supported by the loading/unloading tower, said loading/unloading tower furthermore supporting said emergency shaft ( 48 ).

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which the tank is bordered by two transverse cofferdams ( 10 ) positioned one on each side of the tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) and each delimited by a pair of transverse bulkheads ( 8 , 9 ), and in which each of the pipes ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) passes through one of the transverse bulkheads ( 8 , 9 ) of the cofferdam ( 10 ) adjoining the zone of the top wall ( 13 ) at the level of which said pipe ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) opens and is connected to a vapor collector ( 26 ) at least partially housed in said cofferdam ( 10 ).

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , in which each collector ( 26 ) is connected to the two pipes ( 22 , 25 or 23 , 24 ) which open at the level of the corner zones adjoining the cofferdam ( 10 ) in which said collector ( 26 ) is at least partially housed.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 , comprising a plurality of tanks ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) separated from one another by transverse cofferdams ( 10 ), and in which apparatus each collector ( 26 ) housed in a cofferdam separating two tanks ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) is connected to the two pipes ( 22 , 25 and 23 , 24 ) of each of the two adjacent tanks which open at the level of the corner zones adjoining the cofferdam ( 10 ) in which said collector ( 26 ) is housed.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which each pipe ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 222 , 223 ) comprises a portion equipped with a compensator ( 40 ) allowing said pipe ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) to be fixed to the transverse bulkhead ( 9 ) of the cofferdam through which bulkhead it passes and having corrugations providing the pipe ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) with flexibility to allow it to contract when the tank is cooled.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which each pipe ( 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ) comprises a double-walled tube comprising two concentric walls and an intermediary space between the two concentric walls which is under vacuum and/or lined with an insulating material.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , in which the tank ( 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 102 , 202 ) has a longitudinal dimension extending in the longitudinal direction of the ship ( 1 ) and has a polyhedral overall shape defined by a horizontal top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ), a bottom wall ( 12 , 112 , 212 ), transverse walls and lateral walls, the transverse walls and the lateral walls connecting the bottom wall ( 12 , 112 , 212 ) and the top wall ( 13 , 113 , 213 ; each wall ( 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ) comprising, in the thickness direction from the outside toward the inside of the tank, at least one thermally insulating barrier ( 18 , 20 , 118 , 120 ) and one sealing membrane ( 21 , 121 ) intended to be in conta

Assignees

• Gaztransport Et Technigaz

Inventors

• Jean Pierre
• Chapot Karim

Classifications

• F17C2205/0352

  Pipes · CPC title

• F17C2205/0355

  Insulation thereof · CPC title

• F17C2205/0332

  Safety valves or pressure relief valves · CPC title

• B63B25/16 Primary

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

• F17C2201/052

  large (>1000 m3) · CPC title