FR2480250A1 - EQUIPMENT DEVICE WITH A BLADDER-TANK ADAPTABLE TO THE INSIDE OF A TANK - Google Patents

Abstract

Non-rigid tank-bladder device for the internal equipment of a tank having rigid walls for the storage and the simultaneous or subsequent and alternated transport of several kinds of fluid or several kinds of products having fluid characteristics.

Description

At least the French patent from the Institut Français du Pétrole and the SATAM Company,
Mr. CAPDEVIELLE and Mr. KERMARREC, N 1 602 018, filed on 31 / 1Z / 68 and its four successive additives which followed until 1975, for: "New reservoir structure for the storage and distribution of several fluids, in particular of 'hydrocarbon'.

 It turns out that such devices are not really very practical and their economic breakthrough did not happen on the market for automotive fuel stations as it might have been thought.

 The device and the arrangements which are the subject of the present invention described below make it possible to extrapolate and generalize very widely the subject mentioned above and to put it into practical application on a large scale, in particular on the means of road transport, railways, Fluvial and maritime, on trucks, wagons, tankers, tankers tankers, so-called "pinandiers" for the transport of wines and also on special boats called "LNG carriers", for the transport of liquefied gases, without this list is limiting.

 The problem to be solved is to transport with the said vehicles, products other than that for which they were originally confused and manufactured, such as crude oils, hydrocarbons, wines, liquefied gases, without mixing or fouling, no pollution whatsoever between the products, be it liquids, pulverulent materials or very severely gravulometric in nature, such as cereals, loose cement, feed from pelleted cattle, flours, etc.

 For example, an oil tanker on the so-called "return" path may transport pure water, or cement, or corn or mixed cargo depending on the allocation of tanks previously equipped according to the principle of this patent filing. .

 Loading and unloading can be done according to existing port equipment or to be created, both at the usual docking docks and on other neighboring or distant docks, at "specialized" ports of call if necessary, located in principle and preferably on the usual routes of these boats.

This principle obviously also applies to road, rail or river vehicles.

 It should be noted that depending on the absolute separation of the filling and emptying outlets of the various products involved, due to the total separation of the mouths, valves and conduits as well as the pumps, the emptying and filling of one and the other product are, if necessary, simultaneous to advantageously achieve a certain balance of hydrostatic character in the whole of the load and the vehicle, so that the separative wall of the products is not subjected temporarily to excessive mechanical stress in certain cases, depending on the densities of the products handled.

 All this is a source of profitability by saving time and reducing downtime.

 According to one embodiment of the invention, the interior of the tank tank would be equipped with a tight, flexible, expandable and expandable bladder, capable of inflating like a bottle, until completely filling. , the volume of the bottom rigid tank.

 Depending on what is explained above and according to a rational and reasoned operating procedure for filling one product and emptying the other, there is no need for an "auxiliary" liquid under pressure as it is clearly specified in patent I 602 018 and in its additions.

If the technical feasibility possibilities
Manufacture of flexible reservoirs in all the necessary dimensions may be temporarily limited, because the need has not been felt until now, depending on the principle that the need and the Function create the organ, the large desirable bladders are Feasible .

In an intermediate situation, it suffices to "subdivide" the excessively large volume of very large tanks with several elementary bladders, grouped by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ... according to the volume to be occupied, adjoining bladders and juxtaposed for filling and simultaneous emptying as it is always possible to
Use the technical means already available; the natural physical phenomenon of pressures and counterpressures in itself achieves the balance of all of these elementary loads in the rigid enclosure of the base tank.

 On the other hand, with regard to the general safety of goods and people, the device described contributes to a marked improvement in this safety by reducing the risks of explosion of the gases usually in suspension in the tanks of road and rail vehicles, river or sea that have contained petroleum, hydrocarbons, liquefied gases, alcohols.

 On the other hand, the device described participates in the reduction of so-called degassing operations which too often results in considerable pollution of maritime and river waters when they are not operated in accordance with regulations, but on the contrary in violation, at sea.

 Figure (I) below is a perspective view in "cutaway" of a rigid tank and flexible expandable bladder of its internal equipment.

 Figure (II) is a perspective view in the case of equipment, for example, with four elementary bladders of internal equipment.

 Figure (III) specifies the standard provisions, in principle, in the case of a tank and a bladder with lower outlets, since they are accessible in the case of road or rail vehicles.

 All fixing accessories, mechanical immobilization, connections, valves, strainers, piping, inspection hatches, manholes, level, temperature and other measurement systems are in shape and form. 'traditional use, already in use and are not the subject of the inventive idea of this deposit.

 According to one embodiment of the invention, in the fairly common case of a rigid parrallelipedic tank, in Figures (I), tII3 ~ we have: the tank (1) rigid base, its connection (2) initial filling and emptying, in (33 there is the additional connection of the expandable bladder equipment (4).

 In (3) and in t43 of figure (II) we have the same elements four times for four bladders.

 In Figure (III), in the case of a cylindrical road or railway tank, we see in (53, the outlets and the valves in the low position for the different products A and B contained separately in the casing 43 and between the envelopes (I) and (4).

 It goes without saying that we can, without departing from the scope of the present invention, make various modifications and variants to the forms and arrangements, during the embodiments of what has just been described, because the state of the art allows many variations on the same basic idea.

 It should be noted, that with the same principle of separating bladder, flexible, extensible, of easy adaptation to the basic forms, the special transport wagons called "cereal" for the transport of food products in grain or granules can also be used to transport other products on the way back, moreover that these wagons are often harnessed in large numbers, in chains, to form complete trains or fractions of trains, just as there are trains tank cars for the transport of fluids and petrol or fuel in particular.

 Such systems and such implementations on an industrial scale automatically provide very large savings in various transport energies by reducing consumption of the traction energies of vehicles when they are brought back to the kilometers actually traveled in payload.

 In certain cases, in particular for oil tankers, these will certainly often be equipped with a heating system for crude oils known as "heavy" and dense, not very fluid when cold and it will then be necessary to carry out additional protective equipment. bladders in the tanks, in order to avoid contact of hot, injuring and puncturing parts with flexible materials.

Claims (3)

 in rigid materials (13 characterized by the realization of an absolute separation of Fluids, mat matter or different powder or granular products (A) and (B) contained one in the bladder, the other between the tank and the bladder , intended to equip tankers on trucks, wagons, barges, ships, used for the usual transport of oils, hydrocarbons, wines, liquified gas alcohols or other fluids.  expandable (4), adaptable inside a tank  1. Expandable and flexible bladder-reservoir device 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized by the  Makes the filling and emptying of both  part of the overall volume with one and the other product (A) (B) are completely independent and can be carried out simultaneously or separately, successively and alternately, without the need for an external fluid under pressure. 3. Device according to claims 1 and 2 above,  characterized by the reduction or elimination of opera  degassing, washing and re-engagement of tank-tanks on certain land, river and maritime vehicles and making it possible to improve safety by reducing the risk of explosion after unloading certain dangerous materials.