A liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with a skirt

Abstract

The application discloses a liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with a skirt, which comprises an inner spherical tank, an insulation layer, an outer spherical tank, an inner spherical tank skirt assembly and an outer spherical tank skirt assembly; the outer spherical tank is arranged outside the inner spherical tank; the inner spherical tank skirt assembly comprises an upper inner spherical tank skirt assembly, a cold insulation box and a lower inner spherical tank skirt assembly arranged from top to bottom; the cold insulation box comprises a long circular groove formed by welding a cold insulation box bottom plate and a cold insulation box side plate and an insulation block placed in the long circular groove; the top of the cold insulation box side plate is welded with a limiting block below a cold insulation box cover plate; the lower inner spherical tank skirt assembly comprises a rib plate, a lower inner spherical tank skirt and a filling hole; the outer spherical tank support assembly comprises an upper outer spherical tank skirt and a lower outer spherical tank skirt; the liquid hydrogen spherical tank storage device is supported on a foundation through the outer spherical tank skirt assembly; the overall support performance is reliable, the intrinsic safety of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank storage device is ensured, the heat leakage of the support column is reduced, and the evaporation loss is reduced.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of petrochemical industry, and relates to a liquid hydrogen storage technology, in particular to a liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with a skirt. BACKGROUND

[0002] Hydrogen is an excellent energy carrier, with the advantages of high efficiency, cleanliness, no pollution and sustainability, and is one of the most promising clean energy. The key technologies of hydrogen energy utilization include hydrogen production, storage and transportation, and application. Among them, hydrogen storage is a key link in the hydrogen energy industry chain. At present, hydrogen transportation and storage are mainly in the form of high-pressure gaseous hydrogen. Compared with gaseous hydrogen storage, liquid hydrogen storage has the advantages of high purity, low long-distance transportation cost, and high filling efficiency.

[0003] Liquid hydrogen is a colorless, odorless and transparent liquid, with a boiling point of -252.8℃ at standard atmospheric pressure, and a density of 70.79kg / m3. The density of liquid hydrogen at standard atmospheric pressure is 845 times higher than that of gaseous hydrogen. Hydrogen is difficult to liquefy due to its low latent heat of vaporization. Currently, there are three main hydrogen liquefaction processes: pre-cooling Linde-Hampson process, Claude process and helium refrigeration liquefaction process. Large-scale hydrogen liquefaction devices mainly use the pre-cooling Claude process.

[0004] Liquid hydrogen storage requires the use of ultra-low temperature liquid storage containers with good thermal insulation performance. According to the use form of liquid hydrogen storage tanks, they can be divided into fixed type, mobile type and tank container. Fixed liquid hydrogen storage tanks generally include cylindrical tanks (vertical and horizontal) and spherical tanks. The heat loss evaporation loss of the storage tank is proportional to the specific surface area (S / V) of the storage tank. The spherical tank has the smallest specific surface area, so the heat loss evaporation area of the spherical tank is the smallest under the same volume. From the perspective of mechanics, the spherical tank is better than the cylindrical tank in terms of mechanical strength and stress distribution. From the geometric perspective, the spherical tank has a smaller surface area and requires less steel area under the same volume and pressure. Therefore, the spherical tank is an ideal fixed liquid hydrogen storage tank.

[0005] Liquid hydrogen is a medium that is easily affected by external heat leakage. Therefore, higher requirements are needed for the design of the support structure of the liquid hydrogen storage equipment. In addition to meeting the requirements of reliable support, the heat leakage of the support structure should be minimized.

[0006] Patent CN110921124A provides a double-layer liquid storage spherical tank, which includes an inner spherical tank, an outer spherical tank, a plurality of support columns, a plurality of inner reinforcing plates and a plurality of outer supporting plates. The structure of the above-mentioned double-layer liquid storage spherical tank ensures the stability of the connection between the support column and the outer spherical tank through the strengthening design, guarantees the sealing property of the double-layer spherical tank, and eliminates the risk factors of safety accidents caused by medium leakage, but this structure is not suitable for low-temperature medium storage.

[0007] Patent CN213930419U discloses a double-layer low-temperature liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure, which comprises a cavity-containing spherical outer container, a cavity-containing spherical inner container and a plurality of support structures. SUMMARY

[0008] In order to solve the problems of large heat leakage of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank equipment support structure and the fact that the inner spherical tank cannot freely shrink and expand during liquid hydrogen loading and unloading, the present application provides a liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with a skirt.

[0009] The present application provides a liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with a skirt, which comprises an inner spherical tank, an insulation layer, an outer spherical tank, an inner spherical tank skirt assembly and an outer spherical tank skirt assembly. The inner wall of the inner spherical tank is in contact with liquid hydrogen, the outer spherical tank is arranged outside the inner spherical tank, and the insulation layer is arranged between the inner and outer spherical tanks and is vacuumized. The inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly is composed of an inner spherical tank upper skirt and an inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate, and the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate is provided with an oblong hole. The cold insulation box comprises an oblong groove formed by welding a cold insulation box bottom plate and a cold insulation box side plate, and an insulation block placed in the oblong groove, and the top of the cold insulation box side plate is welded with a limiting block below a cold insulation box cover plate. The inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly comprises a rib plate, an inner spherical tank lower skirt and a filling hole, the top of the rib plate and the inner spherical tank lower skirt is connected with the cold insulation box bottom plate, and the filling hole is uniformly arranged on the inner spherical tank lower skirt along the circumference. The outer spherical tank skirt assembly comprises an outer spherical tank upper skirt and an outer spherical tank lower skirt, the outer spherical tank upper skirt is arranged directly below the inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly and is connected with the outer wall of the outer spherical tank, and the outer spherical tank lower skirt is connected with the outer spherical tank upper skirt.

[0010] As an improved scheme, the straight edge length of the oblong hole in the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate is determined by thermal expansion calculation and is rounded upwards.

[0011] As a further improved scheme, the inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly further comprises a backing plate, the bottom of the inner spherical tank lower skirt is connected with the backing plate, and the backing plate is welded on the inner side of the outer spherical tank, which can enhance the support capacity of the outer spherical tank wall.

[0012] As a further improved scheme, the inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly and the cold insulation box are connected together through the cold insulation box cover plate and the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate, and the cold insulation box bottom plate and the inner spherical tank lower skirt are welded together. After installation, the gap between the inner spherical tank upper skirt and the inner spherical tank is filled with elastic felt.

[0013] As a further improvement, the cold insulation box also includes bolts, nuts, and non-metallic gaskets. Bolts are welded above the cover plate of the cold insulation box, and the bottom plate of the inner spherical tank skirt seat is connected to the cover plate by bolts and nuts. Non-metallic gaskets are provided between the bottom plate of the inner spherical tank skirt seat and the cover plate of the cold insulation box, as well as between the nuts and the cover plate of the cold insulation box, to reduce the coefficient of friction.

[0014] As a further improvement, the upper skirt assembly and the lower skirt assembly of the inner spherical tank are installed eccentrically during installation. The upper skirt assembly is farther from the centerline of the spherical tank than the lower skirt assembly, and the distance difference is determined by thermal expansion calculations.

[0015] As a further improvement, the lower skirt of the outer spherical tank is the same as the upper skirt of the outer spherical tank but made of different materials. The lower skirt of the outer spherical tank is provided with anchor bolt seats and inlet / outlet holes.

[0016] As a further improvement, the inner spherical tank lower skirt, the outer spherical tank upper skirt, and the outer spherical tank lower skirt are aligned in the middle diameter.

[0017] As a further improvement, the space between the inner and outer spherical tanks is evacuated to 5-10 Pa after the insulation material is stacked to form an insulation layer. Commonly used insulation materials are one or more of solid foam, powder and fiber.

[0018] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0019] 1) The liquid hydrogen spherical tank storage equipment is supported on the foundation by the outer spherical tank skirt assembly, which has reliable overall support performance and ensures the inherent safety of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank storage equipment;

[0020] 2) The inner spherical tank is supported inside the outer spherical tank by the inner spherical tank skirt assembly. A cold insulation box is provided between the upper and lower skirt assemblies of the inner spherical tank and wrapped with cold insulation elastic felt. This reliably supports the inner spherical tank while reducing the heat leakage of the support column, ensuring the liquid hydrogen evaporation rate and reducing evaporation loss.

[0021] 3) A non-metallic pad with a reduced friction coefficient is provided between the upper support of the inner spherical tank and the cold insulation box, which is conducive to the radial sliding of the upper skirt of the inner spherical tank and absorbs the thermal expansion displacement of the inner spherical tank. Attached Figure Description

[0022] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with a skirt according to the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 for Figure 1 Detailed view of the central support structure;

[0024] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Detailed drawing of the bottom plate of the upper skirt support of the inner spherical tank;

[0025] Figure 4 For Figure 1 Detail view of the cold insulation box;

[0026] Figure 5 For Figure 1 A view of the filling hole;

[0027] Figure 6 For Figure 1 View of the inner spherical tank lower skirt from above.

[0028] In the figure: 1 - inner spherical tank, 2 - outer spherical tank, 3 - thermal insulation layer, 4 - inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly, 5 - cold insulation box, 6 - inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly, 7 - outer spherical tank upper skirt, 8 - outer spherical tank lower skirt, 9 - anchor bolt seat, 10 - access hole, 11 - inner spherical tank upper skirt, 12 - elastic felt, 13 - inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate, 14 - cold insulation box bottom plate, 15 - cold insulation box side plate, 16 - cold insulation box cover plate, 17 - bolt, 18 - nut, 19 - non-metallic pad, 20 - thermal insulation block, 21 - rib plate, 22 - inner spherical tank lower skirt, 23 - filling hole, 24 - pad. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0030] As Figures 1-6 shown, the liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt described in the embodiment includes an inner spherical tank 1 and an outer spherical tank 2, the inner spherical tank 1 is suspended in the cavity of the outer spherical tank 2, and a thermal insulation layer 3 is arranged between the inner spherical tank 1 and the outer spherical tank 2; an inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly 4, a cold insulation box 5, and an inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly 6 are arranged on the inner spherical tank 2 for supporting the inner spherical tank 1; an outer spherical tank upper skirt 7 and an outer spherical tank lower skirt 8 are arranged outside the outer spherical tank 2 for supporting the entire liquid hydrogen spherical tank storage device.

[0031] As Figure 1 shown, the inner spherical tank 1 and the outer spherical tank 2 in the embodiment are stacked with thermal insulation materials, the thermal insulation materials are vacuumized to about 5-10 Pa after being stacked, forming a thermal insulation layer 3, and achieving thermal insulation protection for the inner spherical tank 1. The thermal insulation materials generally include foams, powders, and fibers.

[0032] As Figure 2 and Figure 3 shown, the inner spherical tank 1 and the inner spherical tank upper skirt 11 are filled with elastic felt 12, and the bottom of the inner spherical tank upper skirt 11 is connected with the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate 13. Long circular holes are arranged on the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate 13, and the length of the long circular holes is calculated by thermal expansion and rounded up.

[0033] As Figure 2 and Figure 4As shown, the inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly 4 is connected with the cold insulation box 5 through bolt and nut connection, and the lower part of the cold insulation box 5 is connected with the inner spherical tank lower support assembly 6 through welding. The cold insulation box 5 is formed into a long circular groove by a cold insulation box bottom plate 14, a cold insulation box side plate 15 and a cold insulation box cover plate 16, and an insulating block 20 is placed in the long circular groove. The insulating block 20 is required to have good heat insulation performance and pressure resistance at the same time. The cold insulation box cover plate 16 is provided with a bolt 17. During installation, the cold insulation box cover plate 16 is connected with the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate 13 through the bolt 17 and a nut 18, and a non-metallic pad 19 is arranged between the cold insulation box cover plate 16 and the inner spherical tank upper skirt bottom plate 13. When the nut 18 is tightened, it is noted that the first nut is loosened back by 1-2 threads after being tightened, and then the second nut is locked, so that the inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly 4 can slide freely. At the same time, the center line of the inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly 6 is not on the same straight line as the center line of the inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly 4, and the inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly 6 is closer to the center line of the spherical tank device.

[0034] As shown in Figure 2 , the inner spherical tank lower skirt 22 is connected with the cold insulation box bottom plate 14 and is provided with a rib plate 21. A plurality of filling holes 23 are formed in the upper part of the inner spherical tank lower skirt 22, and the filling holes 23 are in the shape of an arched door opening, which facilitates the filling of the insulating material. The lower part of the inner spherical tank lower skirt 22 is connected with a backing plate 24, and the backing plate 24 is connected with the inner wall of the outer spherical tank 2, thereby further improving the bearing capacity of the outer spherical tank 2 and ensuring that the outer spherical tank 2 does not locally fail due to partial load.

[0035] As shown in Figure 6 , the cold insulation box bottom plate 14 and the filling hole 23 are each 10, and they are staggered and distributed along the circumference on the inner spherical tank lower skirt 22.

[0036] As shown in Figure 1 , the outer spherical tank 2 is connected with the outer spherical tank skirt 7, the outer spherical tank upper skirt 7 is welded with the outer spherical tank lower skirt 8, the bottom of the outer spherical tank lower skirt 8 is provided with a anchor bolt seat 9, the anchor bolt seat 9 is fixed on the concrete foundation through anchor bolts, the outer spherical tank lower skirt 9 is provided with access holes 10, and the two access holes 10 are arranged at an angle of 180°.

[0037] As shown in Figure 1 , the inner spherical tank lower skirt 22, the outer spherical tank upper skirt 7 and the outer spherical tank lower skirt 8 need to be aligned in the design and installation process.

[0038] The above description is only a typical example of the present application and does not limit the present application in any form. Any skilled person in the art can make changes or modifications to the above technical content without departing from the scope of the technical solution of the present application. Any equivalent changes made to the above examples in accordance with the technical essence of the present application shall be regarded as equivalent examples within the scope of the technical solution of the present application.

Claims

1. A support structure for a liquid hydrogen spherical tank with a skirt, characterized in that: The support structure includes an inner spherical tank, an insulation layer, an outer spherical tank, an inner spherical tank skirt assembly, and an outer spherical tank skirt assembly. The outer spherical tank is located outside the inner spherical tank, and an insulation layer is provided between the inner and outer spherical tanks and evacuated. The inner spherical tank skirt assembly includes, from top to bottom, an upper inner spherical tank skirt assembly, a cold insulation box, and a lower inner spherical tank skirt assembly. The inner spherical tank is supported on the upper inner spherical tank skirt assembly. The upper inner spherical tank skirt assembly includes an upper inner spherical tank skirt and an upper inner spherical tank skirt base plate, with an elongated hole formed in the upper inner spherical tank skirt base plate. The cold insulation box includes a cold insulation box base plate and a cold insulation layer. The side plate of the box is welded to form an elongated groove and an insulation block is set in the groove. The top of the side plate of the cold insulation box is welded to the limiting block below the cover plate of the cold insulation box. The inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly includes a stiffening plate, an inner spherical tank lower skirt, and filling holes. The stiffening plate and the top of the inner spherical tank lower skirt are connected to the bottom plate of the cold insulation box. Filling holes are evenly opened along the circumference of the inner spherical tank lower skirt. The outer spherical tank skirt assembly includes an outer spherical tank upper skirt and an outer spherical tank lower skirt. The outer spherical tank upper skirt is arranged directly below the inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly and is connected to the outer wall of the outer spherical tank. The outer spherical tank lower skirt is connected to the outer spherical tank upper skirt.

2. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The length of the straight edge of the elongated hole opened on the bottom plate of the inner spherical tank skirt is determined by thermal expansion calculation and rounded upwards.

3. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The inner spherical tank lower skirt assembly also includes a pad, the bottom of which is connected to the pad, and the pad is welded to the inside of the outer spherical tank.

4. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The inner spherical tank upper skirt assembly and the cold insulation box are connected to the inner spherical tank upper skirt base plate through the cold insulation box cover plate. The cold insulation box base plate is welded to the inner spherical tank lower skirt. After installation, the gap between the inner spherical tank upper skirt and the inner spherical tank is filled with elastic felt.

5. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The cold insulation box also includes bolts, nuts, and non-metallic gaskets. Bolts are welded above the cover plate of the cold insulation box, and the bottom plate of the inner spherical tank skirt seat is connected to the cover plate by bolts and nuts. Non-metallic gaskets are provided between the bottom plate of the inner spherical tank skirt seat and the cover plate of the cold insulation box, as well as between the nuts and the cover plate of the cold insulation box.

6. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The upper skirt assembly of the spherical tank and the lower skirt assembly of the inner spherical tank are installed eccentrically. The upper skirt assembly of the inner spherical tank is farther from the center line of the spherical tank than the lower skirt assembly of the inner spherical tank. The distance difference is determined by thermal expansion calculation.

7. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lower skirt of the outer spherical tank has the same specifications as the upper skirt of the outer spherical tank, but different materials. The lower skirt of the outer spherical tank is equipped with anchor bolt seats and inlet / outlet holes.

8. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner spherical tank lower skirt, the outer spherical tank upper skirt, and the outer spherical tank lower skirt are aligned in the middle diameter.

9. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank support structure with skirt according to claim 1, characterized in that: The space between the inner and outer spherical tanks is evacuated to 5-10 Pa after the insulation layer is formed by stacking insulation material. The insulation material is one or more of solid foam, powder and fiber.

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