Liquefied gas storage facility comprising polygonal load support structure

Abstract

The present invention relates to a liquefied gas storage facility comprising: a load support structure having a bottom wall and a vertical load support wall, the vertical load support wall being composed of N vertical load support panels; and a can comprising a bottom wall and a vertical wall, the bottom wall comprising a plurality of angular sectors, the corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector having a first corrugation, the corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector comprising a plurality of metal plates arranged to form a loop portion, the loop portion comprises a set of complete metal sheets in which the total number of first corrugations present on the loop portion increases in the direction of the vertical wall, said total number increasing only per M consecutive loop portions, where M is a natural integer greater than or equal to 2.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquefied gas storage facility and a marking-out method for constructing the facility. More specifically, the liquefied gas storage facility includes a load-bearing structure having a bottom wall in the shape of a regular polygon. Background Art

[0002] From documents FR-A-2912385 or FR-A-3121196 a liquefied gas storage facility is known, comprising a load-bearing structure having an internal space delimited by a bottom load-bearing wall and a sealed and thermally insulated tank mounted in the internal space of the load-bearing structure. The tank comprises a bottom wall arranged on the bottom load-bearing wall and a vertical wall arranged on the vertical load-bearing wall.

[0003] The vertical wall has a plurality of vertical panels, the bottom wall has a plurality of sector areas which are similar to each other by rotation, and the bottom wall has a regular polygonal shape, each side of the regular polygon corresponds to one of the vertical panels.

[0004] The number of vertical panels is chosen to be equal to 56, for example.

[0005] The sealed and thermally insulated tank includes a corrugated sealing membrane for contact with the liquefied gas and a thermally insulating barrier between the sealing membrane and the load-bearing structure.

[0006] The sealing membrane of the vertical wall comprises a vertical corrugated portion. As for the sealing membrane of the bottom wall, the sealing membrane of the bottom wall comprises a first corrugated portion, which is spaced apart from each other by the corrugated portion spacing and is oriented along the axis of the fan-shaped area perpendicular to the vertical panel connected to the angular fan-shaped area. The corrugated sealing membrane of each angular fan-shaped area of ​​the bottom wall comprises a plurality of rectangular metal plates, which are welded together in a fluid-tight manner so that the plurality of rectangular metal plates are arranged to form a ring-shaped portion continuously juxtaposed along the axis of the fan-shaped area. The term ring-shaped portion is applicable to a complete metal plate in a group. In other words, the edge of the ring-shaped portion is composed of the edge of the metal plate. The ring-shaped portions located in each angular fan-shaped area are linked together to form a ring-shaped portion around the central part of the bottom wall.

[0007] The related technology adopts a layout strategy based on the angular fan-shaped area, attempting to establish a connection between the corrugation pitch of the first corrugated portion and the length of the metal plate, thereby limiting the width of the ring-shaped portion and the angle of the angular fan-shaped area, so as to significantly reduce the number of different components in the angular fan-shaped area.

[0008] However, by varying the corrugation pitch, and particularly as the pitch increases, the layout strategy can no longer maintain consistent angular sector angles and / or consistent sheet metal lengths, thereby reducing the number of possible solutions. Summary of the invention

[0009] One idea of ​​the present invention is to improve the layout strategy, where the bottom wall is arranged in the form of angular sectors, to keep the angles of the angular sectors consistent and the length of the sheet consistent without making the layout more complicated.

[0010] One object of the invention is in particular to create a membrane layout that allows a corrugation pitch greater than the length increment of the outer edge of the loop between two consecutive loops. This length increment is close to the width of the loop multiplied by the sector angle.

[0011] According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a liquefied gas storage facility, the liquefied gas storage facility comprising:

[0012] A load-bearing structure having an inner space defined by a bottom load-bearing wall and a vertical load-bearing wall, wherein the contour of the bottom load-bearing wall has a shape of a regular polygon with N sides, N being an integer greater than or equal to 4,

[0013] The vertical load bearing wall is composed of N vertical load bearing panels and forms a polygonal cylindrical surface with the regular polygon as a directrix of the vertical load bearing wall, wherein an intersection between the bottom load bearing wall and one of the vertical load bearing panels corresponds to each of the N sides of the polygon; and

[0014] A sealed tank is installed in the inner space of the load-bearing structure, and the sealed tank includes a bottom wall arranged on the bottom load-bearing wall and a vertical wall arranged on the vertical load-bearing wall.

[0015] The vertical wall comprises N vertical panels, each vertical panel in the vertical wall being fixed to one vertical load bearing panel in the N vertical load bearing panels,

[0016] The bottom wall comprises a plurality of angular sector-shaped areas, the angular sector-shaped areas being similar to each other by rotating around a vertical axis by a predetermined angle, the predetermined angle being equal to k×360° / N, wherein k is a positive integer less than or equal to half of N, each angular sector-shaped area of ​​the bottom wall being connected to at least k vertical panels of the N vertical panels of the vertical wall,

[0017] The sealed tank includes a corrugated sealing membrane for contact with the liquefied gas.

[0018] wherein the corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector of the bottom wall has a first corrugation oriented along an axis of the sector, the axis of the sector being perpendicular to a first vertical panel selected from the N vertical panels of the vertical wall, the first corrugations being spaced apart from each other by a regular corrugation spacing,

[0019] Wherein, the corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector area of ​​the bottom wall includes a plurality of metal plates welded together in a fluid-tight manner, the metal plates are arranged to form annular parts continuously juxtaposed along the axis of the sector area, each annular part includes a group of complete metal plates and has an inner edge and an outer edge, the inner edge and the outer edge are perpendicular to the axis of the sector area, wherein the total number of the first corrugated portions of each annular part arranged on the annular part increases along the direction of the first vertical panel, and the said total number of each annular part increases only in a manner of every M consecutive annular parts, wherein M is a natural integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0020] In other words, therefore, the total number of each loop-like portion in each group of M consecutive loop-like portions is constant.

[0021] By these characteristics, by increasing the total number of corrugations per M ring-shaped portions, it is possible to adjust the layout strategy which relates the regular corrugation spacing of the first corrugation portion to the width of the ring-shaped portion by a factor M. Thus, the factor M makes it possible to obtain a layout solution with consistent values ​​of the angles of the angular sectors and, in particular, of the size of the sheet constituting each ring-shaped portion, depending on higher or lower values ​​of the regular corrugation spacing.

[0022] Specifically, in the related art, the width L of the ring-shaped portion, the regular corrugated portion pitch P, and the angle A of the angular fan-shaped area are related by the following formula:

[0023] tan(A / 2)=P / L

[0024] Therefore, substituting the factor M into the equation, it becomes as follows:

[0025] tan(A / 2)=P / (M*L)

[0026] Thus, the factor M makes it possible to keep the values ​​of the angles of the angular sector areas and the metal sheet dimensions within acceptable ranges when, for example, the regular corrugation pitch P is significantly increased compared to the corrugation pitch of the related art.

[0027] Depending on the implementation, such a storage facility may have one or more of the following features.

[0028] According to one embodiment, the sealing film comprises a first ring-shaped portion, a second ring-shaped portion and a third ring-shaped portion, which are arranged in sequence along the axis of the sector area and the direction of the first vertical panel, the total number of first corrugated portions in the first ring-shaped portion is equal to N1, the total number of first corrugated portions in the second ring-shaped portion is equal to N1, and the total number of first corrugated portions in the third ring-shaped portion is equal to N2, wherein N1 and N2 are natural positive integers, for example, N2 is equal to N1+2. This situation corresponds to the factor M being equal to 2.

[0029] According to one embodiment, the sealing film comprises a first annular portion, a second annular portion, a third annular portion and a fourth annular portion, which are arranged in sequence along the axis of the fan-shaped area and the direction of the first vertical panel, the total number of first corrugations in the first annular portion is equal to N1, the total number of first corrugations in the second annular portion is equal to N1, the total number of first corrugations in the third annular portion is equal to N1, and the total number of first corrugations in the fourth annular portion is equal to N2, wherein N1 and N2 are natural positive integers, for example, N2 is equal to N1+2. This situation corresponds to the factor M being equal to 3.

[0030] According to one embodiment, one or each ring-shaped portion comprises a plurality of rectangular metal plates.

[0031] According to one embodiment, each annular portion has a width extending along the axis of the fan-shaped area and between the inner and outer edges of the annular portion, and the width is equal in multiple annular portions in the annular portion, in particular, is equal in continuous annular portions along the axis of the fan-shaped area.

[0032] According to one embodiment, the width of the ring-shaped portion located near the central part of the bottom wall and / or the width of the ring-shaped portion located near the vertical wall is different from the widths of the other ring-shaped portions, and the widths of the other ring-shaped portions are preferably the same as each other.

[0033] According to one embodiment, the width of at least one of the ring-shaped portions is different from the equal width of the plurality of ring-shaped portions, for example, the width of at least one of the ring-shaped portions is equal to an integer fraction of the equal width of the plurality of ring-shaped portions.

[0034] According to one embodiment, the regular corrugation pitch is greater than the width of one of the loop-shaped portions multiplied by the predetermined angle.

[0035] According to one embodiment, N is an even number and is preferably greater than or equal to four.

[0036] According to one particular embodiment, N is comprised between 8 and 56. According to another particular embodiment, N is equal to 56. According to another particular embodiment, N is equal to 8.

[0037] The integer k is equal to the number of vertical panels of the vertical wall divided by the number of angular sectors of the bottom wall of the tank. According to one embodiment, k is equal to 1 or 2.

[0038] According to one embodiment, the regular corrugation pitch is greater than or equal to 400 mm, preferably greater than or equal to 800 mm, preferably comprised between 800 mm and 1200 mm, for example equal to 1000 mm.

[0039] For example, when N is equal to 56 and the width of one of the ring-shaped portions is equal to 3000 mm, the regular corrugation pitch may be equal to 1020 mm and the natural integer M may be equal to 3.

[0040] According to one embodiment, a ring-shaped portion or each ring-shaped portion of the angular sector-shaped area includes at least one corrugated metal connecting plate located on a lateral edge of the ring-shaped portion, and the corrugated metal connecting plate is configured to connect the ring-shaped portion to the ring-shaped portion of the adjacent angular sector-shaped area, and the corrugated metal connecting plates connecting the ring-shaped portions are aligned with each other in the radial direction, and the angle of inclination of the radial direction relative to the axis of the sector-shaped area is preferably equal to half of the predetermined angle.

[0041] According to one embodiment, the sealing membrane of the or each angular sector of the bottom wall comprises a radial corrugation located close to one edge of the angular sector, the radial corrugation extending in a radial direction.

[0042] According to one embodiment, the first corrugated portion of the angular sector-shaped area or each angular sector-shaped area includes a first complete corrugated portion and a first partial corrugated portion, wherein the first complete corrugated portion extends from the connecting portion between the bottom wall and the vertical wall to a central ring-shaped portion close to the central portion of the bottom wall, and the first partial corrugated portion is interrupted by a corrugated interruption portion, wherein the first partial corrugated portion intersects with a corrugated link plate in the corrugated metal connecting plate at the corrugation interruption portion, and the corrugation interruption portion is positioned to be at a certain distance from the radial corrugated portion.

[0043] According to one embodiment, the radial corrugations of the angular sector-shaped regions are formed on the corrugated metal web.

[0044] According to one embodiment, the corrugated metal connecting plates of the annular portions of row A are the same as the corrugated metal connecting plates of the annular portions of row A+B, wherein, for example, for the central annular portion positioned close to the central portion of the bottom wall, row A is equal to 1, wherein the rows are defined as natural integers increasing by 1 along the axis of the fan-shaped area toward the vertical wall, A is a natural integer greater than or equal to 1, and B is a natural integer greater than or equal to 2.

[0045] According to one embodiment, the natural integer B is equal to the natural integer M.

[0046] According to one embodiment, the sealing membrane of the or each angular sector of the bottom wall comprises second corrugations which are spaced apart from one another and extend at least partially perpendicularly to the first corrugations.

[0047] According to one embodiment, the corrugation interruption portion of the first partial corrugation portion is located between two adjacent second corrugation portions.

[0048] According to one embodiment, a vessel for transporting cold liquid products has a double hull and the above-mentioned storage facility is arranged in the double hull.

[0049] According to one embodiment, the present invention also provides a system for transporting cold liquid products, which system includes the above-mentioned ship, an insulated pipeline arranged to connect a tank installed in the hull of the ship to a floating or onshore storage facility, and a pump, which is used to drive the flow of cold liquid product from the floating or onshore storage facility through the insulated pipeline to the tank of the ship or to drive the flow of cold liquid product from the tank of the ship through the insulated pipeline to the floating or onshore storage facility.

[0050] According to one embodiment, the present invention also provides a method for loading or unloading from such a vessel, wherein the cold liquid product is transferred from a floating or onshore storage structure to a tank of the above-mentioned vessel or from a tank of the above-mentioned vessel to a floating or onshore storage structure through an insulated pipeline. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] The invention will be better understood and further objects, details, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description of a number of particular embodiments of the invention, given by way of non-limiting illustration only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0052] Figure 1 Partial, perspective and cutaway views of a liquefied gas storage facility are depicted.

[0053] Figure 2 It is observed from above Figure 1 A view of a storage facility can discern an exemplary embodiment Figure 1 The polygonal profile of the load-bearing structural member.

[0054] Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of the outer end of the angular sector-shaped area of ​​the bottom wall and part of the vertical wall of the tank as seen from the inside of a liquefied storage facility according to the prior art.

[0055] Figure 4It is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an angular sector-shaped region of a bottom wall and a portion of a vertical wall of a tank as seen from the inside of a liquefied gas storage facility according to a first embodiment.

[0056] Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an angular sector-shaped region of a bottom wall and a portion of a vertical wall of a tank as seen from the inside of a liquefied gas storage facility according to a second embodiment.

[0057] Figure 6 Depicted is a view from above of a sealing membrane of an angular sector-shaped area of ​​a bottom wall of a tank installed in a liquefied gas storage facility as seen from the interior of the liquefied gas storage facility according to one embodiment.

[0058] Figure 7 yes Figure 6 View of detail VII, more particularly depicting the ring-shaped portion.

[0059] Figure 8 is a cutaway schematic diagram of a methane carrier, including the ship's tank and the dock used for loading / unloading from the tank. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0060] As mentioned above, the present invention relates to forming a liquefied gas storage facility, which in the following description is indicated by reference numeral 1. The facility 1 is capable of storing liquefied gas, in particular liquefied natural gas (LNG), or other liquefied gases at a temperature of about -162°C and at atmospheric pressure.

[0061] The installation 1 mainly comprises a load-bearing structure 10 and a sealed and thermally insulated tank 20 mounted in the inner space of the load-bearing structure 10 .

[0062] First, the load bearing structure 10 is described. The load bearing structure 10 includes a bottom load bearing wall 11 and a vertical load bearing wall 12.

[0063] The installation 1 is intended to be located on shore. The bottom load-bearing wall 11 is generally horizontal, that is to say, within dimensional tolerances, it lies in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the acceleration due to gravity, indicated in the figure by the vertical axis Z. The bottom load-bearing wall 11 may be at ground level or may be below ground level. The load-bearing structure 10 is made of concrete, for example.

[0064] The case where the installation 1 is located on shore will be considered in more detail below, wherein the bottom load bearing wall 11 is horizontal. However, it should be noted that the following description applies to any orientation of the bottom load bearing wall 11 relative to the direction of the acceleration due to gravity.

[0065] The profile of the bottom load-bearing wall 11 is intended to have the shape of a regular polygon with N sides, N being an integer greater than or equal to 4. Installations 1 in which N is equal to 8 or 56 are particularly advantageous.

[0066] In addition to the bottom load-bearing wall 11, the load-bearing structure 10 also includes a vertical load-bearing wall 12. Figure 1 As best seen in FIG. 1 , the vertical load bearing wall 12 forms a polygonal cylindrical surface having as its directrix the polygon formed by the polygonal contour of the bottom load bearing wall 11. The vertical load bearing wall 12 extends in a vertical direction, i.e., within the dimensional tolerance range, the vertical load bearing wall 12 extends in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the bottom load bearing wall 11.

[0067] See also Figure 1 and Figure 2 , the vertical load bearing wall 12 is composed of N vertical load bearing panels 14, and for each of the N sides of the polygonal profile of the bottom load bearing wall 11, a corresponding intersection is provided between the bottom load bearing wall 11 and one of the vertical load bearing panels 14. The vertical load bearing panels 14 are connected to each other by corner edges 13, each corner edge 13 corresponding to a vertex of the polygonal profile of the bottom load bearing wall 11.

[0068] Now refer to Figures 1 to 8 One embodiment of a sealed and thermally insulated tank 20 that can be installed in the interior space of the load-bearing structure 10 is described. The tank 20 includes a bottom wall 21 placed on the bottom load-bearing wall 11 and a vertical wall 22 placed on the vertical load-bearing wall 12. Like the bottom load-bearing wall 11, the bottom wall 21 has the outline of a regular polygon with N sides.

[0069] The vertical wall 22 is composed of N vertical panels 24. For each of the N sides of the polygonal profile of the bottom wall 21, a corresponding intersection is provided between the bottom wall 21 and each of the vertical panels 24. The vertical panels 24 are connected to each other by corner edges 23, each corner edge 23 corresponding to a vertex of the polygonal profile of the bottom wall 21.

[0070] The bottom wall 21 comprises a plurality of angular sectors 25. The sectors 25 resemble one another by rotating about a vertical axis, i.e., about an axis extending parallel to the vertical panels 24, which passes through a point located near the geometric center of the bottom load-bearing wall 11. More specifically, in the case where the angular sectors 25 are connected to two vertical panels 24, the sectors 25 resemble one another by rotating through an angle equal to 4×180° / N. By means of this precisely repeated structure, each angular sector 25 can be constructed using the same parts.

[0071] exist Figure 3 and Figure 6 In the example depicted, N=56, and Figure 2 In the example depicted, N = 8. In order not to overload the diagram, Figure 6 Only one sector-shaped area 25 is depicted.

[0072] The bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22 include a secondary heat insulating barrier, a secondary sealing film, a primary heat insulating barrier and a primary sealing film 70 for contact with the liquefied gas contained in the tank 20 from the load bearing structure 10 toward the inner space of the tank 20. The bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22 can be produced using modular elements. These modular elements can correspond to the Therefore, reference may be made to US6035795 for a description of certain modular elements and to WO2022 / 200536 for other details of the technology not described herein.

[0073] The primary sealing membrane 70 of the bottom wall 21 is mainly composed of juxtaposed rectangular metal plates 71. On one of the lateral edges of the fan-shaped area 25, the primary sealing membrane 70 also includes a metal connecting plate 71A. The metal connecting plate 71A is trapezoidal in shape as a whole and allows the fan-shaped area 25 to be connected to the adjacent fan-shaped area 25, thereby making the primary sealing membrane 70 complete.

[0074] The primary sealing film 70 is corrugated to allow the primary sealing film 70 to withstand the thermal contraction caused by contact with the liquefied gas. More specifically, at the bottom wall 21, the primary sealing film 70 has at least a radial corrugated portion 72, that is, the corrugated portions are parallel to each other and extend from the center of the tank 20 toward the vertical panel 24 along the sector area axis X, and the sector area axis X is perpendicular to the vertical axis Z.

[0075] The first corrugations 72 are spaced apart from each other at regular corrugation intervals 26. In addition, the primary sealing membrane 70 generally has a second corrugation 73 perpendicular to the first corrugation 72. As depicted in the figure, in particular, Figure 3As depicted in , the plates 71 , 71A each have a corrugated portion which together form the corrugated portions 72 , 73 when the plates 71 and 71A are juxtaposed.

[0076] like Figure 6 As more particularly depicted in FIG. 1 , the rectangular metal plates 71 are arranged to form ring portions 75 that are continuously juxtaposed along the sector axis X. The metal connecting plate 71A extends each of the ring portions 75 so that the metal connecting plate 71A and the ring portions 75 together with all the angular sector regions form a ring extending around the central portion of the bottom wall 21.

[0077] The corrugated metal connecting plates 71A of the ring-shaped portion 75 are aligned with each other in the radial direction. The radial direction is inclined relative to the sector axis X by an angle equal to half the angle of the angular sector 25. The sealing membrane 70 of each angular sector 25 of the bottom wall 21 includes a radial corrugation 77 located near one edge of the angular sector 25. The radial corrugation 77 extends in the radial direction and is formed on the corrugated metal connecting plate 71A.

[0078] Figure 3 Describes the prior art, Figure 3 The radially outer ends of the angular sector-shaped area 25 and parts of the vertical wall 22 of the tank 20 are shown in perspective from the inside of the installation 1 . Figure 3 The vertical load bearing panels 14 of the vertical load bearing walls 12 are not shown.

[0079] At the vertical wall 22, the metal sealing membrane 170 is mainly composed of juxtaposed rectangular metal plates 171 and has vertical corrugations 172, i.e., the corrugations 172 extend parallel to the vertical axis Z and parallel to the vertical load bearing panel 14. The vertical corrugations 712 are spaced apart from each other at regular corrugation intervals 26.

[0080] Likewise, the metal sealing film 170 generally has a horizontal corrugation 173 which is perpendicular to the vertical corrugation 172 and forms a complete circuit of the tank 20. Each of these metal plates 171 has a corrugated portion which together constitutes the corrugations 172, 173 when the metal plates 171 are juxtaposed. Figure 3 What is visible.

[0081] like Figures 3 to 5As shown, each angular sector area 25 is connected to a complete vertical panel 241 among the N vertical panels 24 on the one hand, and to two vertical half panels 242 on the other hand, each half panel 242 corresponding to half of a vertical panel 24 among the N vertical panels 24 of the vertical wall 22. The complete vertical panel 241 is centered on the angular sector area 25, and the vertical half panels 242 are located on each side of the complete vertical panel 241. The angular sector area 25 is Figure 2 Here, the sector axis X of each angular sector 25 is defined as passing through the center of the tank 20 and perpendicular to the corresponding complete vertical panel 241.

[0082] In the existing technology Figure 3 In the embodiment, the metal plate 71 and the metal connecting plate 71A are extended by the metal connecting plate 74 to align with the complete vertical panel 241 and the vertical half panel 242, and the metal connecting plate 74 carries the corrugated portion located in the continuation of the corrugated portion of the metal plate 71, 71A so that the first corrugated portion 72 continues to the corner connector 69. These corner connectors 69 are described in more detail in the document WO2022 / 200536. Therefore, in the related art, the first corrugated portion 72 continues to the complete vertical panel 241 and the vertical half panel 242 so as to be continuously connected to the vertical corrugated portion 172 using the corner connector 69.

[0083] As described in the background, with the following type of layout of the related art: the layout requires that the first corrugation 72 of the bottom wall 21 has continuity with the vertical corrugation 172 of the vertical wall 22 through the regular corrugation spacing 26, the incremental difference in diameter between two storage facilities using this layout is determined by adding or removing one vertical corrugation 172 (and therefore also the associated first corrugation) per vertical panel 24. Therefore, the incremental difference in diameter is proportional to the regular corrugation spacing 26. Therefore, the number of size options for such a facility is limited, which becomes more problematic when the regular corrugation spacing 26 is long.

[0084] Figure 4 and Figure 5 Two embodiments of the storage device 1 are depicted, wherein Figure 3 Unlike the related art depicted in , the correlation between the vertical corrugated portion 172 and the first corrugated portion 72 associated therewith is partially disconnected. In these figures, the solid lines represent the edges of the plates 71, 71A, 171 and the connecting portion 28 between the bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22, while the dotted lines represent the corrugated portions 72, 73, 77, 172, 173. Similarly, in Figure 6 In FIG. 7 , the solid lines represent the edges of the plates 71 , 71A, while the dotted lines represent the corrugated portions 72 , 73 , 77 .

[0085] If you can Figure 4 and Figure 5 It can be seen that for each angular sector area 25, the continuity of the first corrugated portion 72 and the vertical corrugated portion 172 at the complete vertical panel 241 is retained in the same manner as in the related art. However, at each vertical half panel 242, the vertical corrugated portion 172 is discontinuous with the first corrugated portion 72.

[0086] Specifically, for each angular sector area 25, a single corrugation spacing 27 shorter than the regular corrugation spacing 26 is introduced between each vertical half panel 242 and the full vertical panel 241. Therefore, the two vertical corrugations 172 defining the single corrugation spacing 27 include a single corrugation 174 located on the vertical half panel 242, as can be seen in FIG. Figure 4 and Figure 5 Therefore, the single corrugated portion 174 and the other vertical corrugated portions 172 located between the single corrugated portion 174 and the outer edge of the half panel are not aligned and are therefore discontinuous with the first corrugated portion 72 of the bottom wall 21 .

[0087] Therefore, the provision of the individual corrugation pitches 27 makes it possible to add an intermediate dimensional solution between two layouts that only include regular corrugation pitches 26 , which can be adjusted by the value of the individual corrugation pitches 27 .

[0088] The abrupt end of the first corrugated portion 72 and the vertical corrugated portion 172 at the connection between the vertical half panel 242 and the bottom wall 21 may affect the flexibility of the sealing film at the connection.

[0089] That is why it is advantageous to extend some of the first corrugations 72 or vertical corrugations 172 beyond the connection so that the first corrugations 72 or vertical corrugations 172 extend respectively onto the vertical wall 22 or bottom wall 21. Such extension thus locally increases the flexibility of the sealing membrane.

[0090] Therefore, in Figure 4 In the first embodiment shown, the vertical corrugated portion 172 of each vertical half panel 242 is extended to the bottom wall 21 through the vertical corrugated portion continuing portion 175, so that the vertical corrugated portion 172 is carried on the bottom wall 21. However, the extension to the bottom wall 21 is still partial. Specifically, the vertical corrugated portion extending portion 175 is interrupted at a distance on the bottom wall 21 from the second corrugated portion 73 located near the connection between the bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22.

[0091] Similarly, in Figure 5In the second embodiment shown, the first corrugated portion 72 is extended to the vertical half panel 242 by the first corrugated portion extension 76, so that the first corrugated portion 72 is carried on the vertical wall 22. However, this extension to the vertical wall 22 is still partial. Specifically, the first corrugated portion extension 76 is interrupted on the vertical wall 22 at a distance from the horizontal corrugated portion 173 located close to the connection between the bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22.

[0092] In an embodiment not shown, it is also conceivable that the first corrugations 72 and the vertical corrugations 172 extend onto the vertical wall 22 and the bottom wall 21 , respectively.

[0093] Figure 6 Depicted is a primary sealing membrane 70 of an angular sector 25 of a bottom wall 21 seen from above according to one embodiment. As previously described, the metal plates 71 of each angular sector 25 are arranged to form loops 75 juxtaposed successively along the sector axis X. For the vast majority of the metal plates 71, the width of the loops 75 along the axis X corresponds to the length of these plates 71.

[0094] However, the metal plates 71 do not all have the same size. Figure 6 In the example of FIG. 7 , the metal plate 71 has four different sizes, namely:

[0095] - a metal plate 71 of size "X1", the metal plate 71 comprising a first corrugated portion 72 and three second corrugated portions 73, one of the three second corrugated portions 73 passing through the middle of the metal plate 71,

[0096] a metal plate 71 of dimension “X2”, which in the example has a length on axis X equal to that of the plate of dimension “X1” and a width orthogonal to axis X less than that of the plate of dimension “X1”,

[0097] a metal plate 71 of dimension “X3” having a width equal to that of the plate of dimension “X2” and a length less than half that of the plate of dimension “X2”, so that the plate of dimension “X3” comprises a single second corrugation 73,

[0098] - A metal plate 71 of size "X4", the width of which is smaller than the width of the plate of size "X3", so that the metal plate 71 does not have a first corrugated portion 72, and the metal plate 71 has the following length: the length makes the sum of the length of the plate of size "X3" and the length of the plate of size "X4" equal to the length of the plate of size "X2" (or "X1").

[0099] exist Figure 6In the example depicted, the angular sector-shaped area 25 comprises, from the center of the bottom wall 21 toward the vertical wall 22:

[0100] - a first ring-shaped portion 75, the first ring-shaped portion 75 comprises two metal plates of size "X3" arranged side by side in the metal plate 71;

[0101] - a second ring-shaped part 75, which comprises two metal plates of size "X2" arranged side by side;

[0102] - a third ring-shaped part 75, which comprises two metal plates of size "X1" arranged side by side;

[0103] a fourth annular portion 75 comprising two metal plates of dimension “X1”, on each side of which, along the axis X, there is provided a metal plate of dimension “X4” and subsequently a metal plate of dimension “X3”;

[0104] - a fifth ring-shaped part 75, which comprises two plates of size "X1", on either side of which plates of size "X2" are arranged;

[0105] a sixth annular portion 75 having a similar pattern to the third annular portion and two additional “X1” plates;

[0106] - A seventh annular portion 75 having a similar pattern to the fourth annular portion 75 and two additional "X1" plates.

[0107] Similarly, not all metal connection plates 71A have the same size. Figure 6 In the example shown in FIG. 1 , the metal connecting plates 71A also present a pattern that is repeated every three ring-shaped portions 75 .

[0108] As mentioned above, the related art adopts a layout strategy arranged according to the angular sector-shaped area 25, which attempts to establish a connection between the corrugation spacing 26 of the first corrugation 72 and the length of the metal plate 71 or the width of the ring-shaped portion 75 and the angle of the angular sector-shaped area 25, thereby significantly reducing the number of different parts in the angular sector-shaped area 25. Therefore, the total number of first corrugations 72 provided on the ring-shaped portion 75 increases in the direction of the vertical wall 22, and for each consecutive ring-shaped portion 75, two additional first corrugations 72 are added on each side of the angular sector-shaped area 25. Specifically, in the related art, the width L of the ring-shaped portion, the regular corrugation spacing P and the angle A of the angular sector-shaped area are linked together by the following equation:

[0109] tan(A / 2)=P / L

[0110] However, in Figure 6 In the case of the long corrugation pitch depicted in the example shown, ie a corrugation pitch of 1020 mm for a plate of dimensions 3000 mm x 1000 mm, this layout strategy does not allow for consistent angular sector angles to be maintained without significantly increasing the size of the plate 71 .

[0111] Therefore, in Figure 6 In the embodiment depicted, with a corrugation pitch of 1020 mm, the total number of first corrugations 72 on the ring-shaped portion 75 increases only once every three consecutive ring-shaped portions 75. In this example, the factor 3 thus makes it possible to keep the angle value of the angular sector 25 and the size of the metal sheet 71 within an acceptable range.

[0112] Therefore, if Figure 6 As can be seen in the figure, the first corrugated portion 72 of each angular sector-shaped area 25 includes a first complete corrugated portion 721 extending from the connecting portion between the bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22 to the central ring-shaped portion 75 near the center of the bottom wall 21, and a first partial corrugated portion 722 interrupted by a corrugated interruption portion 723. Specifically, when the first partial corrugated portion 722 intersects with the corrugated metal connecting plate 71A, the first partial corrugated portion 722 is interrupted. Therefore, the corrugated interruption portion 723 is positioned at a certain distance from the radial corrugated portion 77 of the angular sector-shaped area 25 or the adjacent angular sector-shaped area. In addition, the corrugated interruption portion 723 is located between two adjacent second corrugated portions 73.

[0113] By stopping the first partial corrugation 722 at the corrugated metal connecting plate 71A, the minimum distance between the radial corrugation 75 and the first partial corrugation 722 can be maintained while limiting the maximum corrugation pitch between the radial corrugation 77 and the first corrugation 72 positioned closest to the radial corrugation 77.

[0114] Figure 7 More specifically described Figure 6 The figure shows a circle-shaped portion 75 of the circle-shaped portion 72 of the angular sector-shaped region 25. The figure particularly shows a specific assembly of the metal plate 71 and the metal connecting plate 71A. In addition, in the circle-shaped portion 75, one of the first part corrugations 722 intersects with one of the metal connecting plates 71A, thereby presenting a corrugation interruption 723.

[0115] Reference Figure 8, a cutaway view of a methane carrier 100 shows a sealed and thermally insulated tank 112 having a prismatic overall shape installed in the double hull 102 of the ship 100. The wall of the tank includes a primary sealing membrane for contact with the LNG contained in the tank, a secondary sealing membrane disposed between the primary sealing membrane and the double hull 102 of the ship 100, and two thermal insulation barriers disposed between the primary sealing membrane and the secondary sealing membrane and between the secondary sealing membrane and the double hull 102, respectively.

[0116] As is known, the loading / unloading pipeline 103 arranged on the deck of the vessel may be connected to a marine or port terminal by means of suitable connectors to transfer the LNG cargo from or to the tank 112 .

[0117] Figure 8 An example of a marine terminal is depicted, which includes a loading and unloading station 105, an underwater pipeline 106 and an onshore storage facility 1. The loading and unloading station 105 is a fixed offshore facility and includes a movable arm 104 and a column 108 supporting the movable arm 104. The movable arm 104 carries a bundle of insulated hoses 109, which can be connected to the loading and unloading pipeline 103. The movable arm 104, which can be oriented, can adapt to methane carriers of all sizes. A connecting pipeline not shown extends inside the column 108. The loading and unloading station 105 makes it possible to load from the onshore storage facility 1 to the methane carrier 100 and unload from the methane carrier 100 to the onshore storage facility 1. The facility has a liquefied gas storage tank 20 and a connecting pipeline 111 connected to the loading and unloading station 105 by an underwater pipeline 106. The underwater pipeline 106 allows the liquefied gas to be transported over long distances, for example 5 kilometers, between the loading and unloading station 105 and the onshore storage facility 1, and this makes it possible to keep the methane carrier 100 far from the coast during loading and unloading operations.

[0118] In order to generate the pressure required for transporting the liquefied gas, a pump carried by the ship 100 and / or a pump equipped at the onshore storage facility 1 and / or a pump equipped at the loading and unloading station 105 is used.

[0119] Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with a number of specific embodiments, it is obvious that the present invention is by no means limited thereto and that the present invention includes all technical equivalents of the means and combinations thereof, provided that these technical equivalents and combinations thereof fall within the scope of the present invention.

[0120] Use of the verb "have", "comprise" or "include" and their conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim.

[0121] In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim.

Claims

1. A liquefied gas storage facility (1), comprising: A load-bearing structure (10), the load-bearing structure (10) having an inner space defined by a bottom load-bearing wall (11) and a vertical load-bearing wall (12), the contour of the bottom load-bearing wall (11) having a shape of a regular polygon with N sides, N being an integer greater than or equal to 4, The vertical load bearing wall (12) is composed of N vertical load bearing panels (14), and the vertical load bearing wall (12) forms a polygonal cylindrical surface with the regular polygon as the directrix of the vertical load bearing wall (12), wherein the intersection between the bottom load bearing wall (11) and one of the vertical load bearing panels (14) corresponds to each of the N sides of the polygon; and a sealed can (20), the sealed can (20) being installed in the inner space of the load-bearing structure (10), the sealed can (20) comprising a bottom wall (21) arranged on the bottom load-bearing wall (11) and a vertical wall (22) arranged on the vertical load-bearing wall (12), The vertical wall (22) is composed of N vertical panels (24), each of which is fixed to one of the N vertical load-bearing panels (14). The bottom wall (21) comprises a plurality of angular sector-shaped areas, the angular sector-shaped areas being similar to each other by rotating around a vertical axis (Z) by a predetermined angle, the predetermined angle being equal to k×360° / N, wherein k is a positive integer less than or equal to half of N, each angular sector-shaped area (25) of the bottom wall (21) being connected to at least k vertical panels of the N vertical panels (24) of the vertical wall (22), The sealed tank (20) comprises a corrugated sealing membrane (70, 170) for contacting with the liquefied gas. The corrugated sealing membrane (70, 170) of each angular sector area (25) of the bottom wall (21) has a first corrugated portion (72) oriented along a sector area axis (X), the sector area axis (X) being perpendicular to a first vertical panel connected to the angular sector area (25), the first corrugated portions (72) being spaced apart from each other by a regular corrugated portion spacing, wherein the corrugated sealing membrane (70, 170) of each angular sector area (25) of the bottom wall (21) comprises a first corrugated portion (72) welded in a fluid-tight manner A plurality of metal plates (71) are arranged together to form ring-shaped parts (75) which are continuously juxtaposed along the axis (X) of the fan-shaped area, each ring-shaped part (75) comprising a group of complete metal plates, and wherein the total number of first corrugated portions (72) of each ring-shaped part (75) present on the ring-shaped part (75) increases along the direction of the first vertical panel, and the total number of each ring-shaped part (75) increases in a manner of only every M consecutive ring-shaped parts (75), where M is a natural integer greater than or equal to 2.

2. The storage facility (1) according to claim 1, wherein: The annular portion (75) has an inner edge and an outer edge perpendicular to the fan-shaped area axis (X), and each annular portion (75) has a width extending between the inner edge and the outer edge of the annular portion (75) along the fan-shaped area axis (X), and the width is equal in multiple annular portions in the annular portion (75).

3. The storage facility (1) according to claim 2, wherein: The width of the annular portion (75) positioned close to the central portion of the bottom wall (21) and / or the width of the annular portion (75) positioned close to the vertical wall (22) is different from the width of other annular portions (75), and the other annular portions (75) preferably have the same width as each other.

4. Storage facility (1) according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The regular spacing of the corrugated portions is greater than or equal to 400 mm, preferably, the regular spacing of the corrugated portions is greater than or equal to 800 mm, preferably, the regular spacing of the corrugated portions is between 800 mm and 1200 mm, for example, the regular spacing of the corrugated portions is equal to 1000 mm.

5. Storage facility (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: Each ring-shaped portion (75) of the angular sector-shaped area (25) includes at least one corrugated metal connecting plate (71A) located on a lateral edge of the ring-shaped portion (75), and the corrugated metal connecting plate (71A) is configured to connect the ring-shaped portion (75) to the ring-shaped portion (75) of the adjacent angular sector-shaped area (25), and the corrugated metal connecting plates (71A) connecting the ring-shaped portions (75) are aligned with each other in the radial direction, and preferably, the radial direction is inclined relative to the axis (X) of the sector-shaped area at an angle equal to half of the predetermined angle.

6. The storage facility (1) according to claim 5, wherein: The sealing membrane of the angular sector-shaped area (25) of the bottom wall (21) comprises a radial corrugated portion (77) located close to an edge of the angular sector-shaped area (25), and the radial corrugated portion (77) extends in the radial direction.

7. The storage facility (1) according to claim 6, wherein: The first corrugated portion (72) of the angular sector-shaped area (25) includes a first complete corrugated portion (721) and a first partial corrugated portion (722), wherein the first complete corrugated portion (721) extends from the connecting portion (28) between the bottom wall (21) and the vertical wall (22) to a central ring-shaped portion close to the central portion of the bottom wall (21), and the first partial corrugated portion (722) is interrupted by a corrugated interruption portion (723), wherein the first partial corrugated portion intersects with one of the corrugated metal connecting plates (71A) at the corrugated interruption portion (723), and the corrugated interruption portion (723) is positioned to be a certain distance away from the radial corrugated portion (77).

8. A storage facility (1) according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein: The radial corrugations (77) of the angular sector-shaped region (25) are formed on the corrugated metal connecting plate (71A).

9. Storage facility (1) according to one of claims 5 to 8, wherein: The corrugated metal connecting plate (71A) of the annular portion (75) of row A is the same as the corrugated metal connecting plate (71A) of the annular portion (75) of row A+B, wherein a row is defined as a natural integer that increases along the axis (X) of the fan-shaped area toward the vertical wall (22), A is a natural integer greater than or equal to 1, and B is a natural integer greater than or equal to 2.

10. Storage facility (1) according to one of claims 1 to 9, wherein: The sealing membrane of the angular sector-shaped region (25) of the bottom wall (21) comprises second corrugations (73) which are spaced apart from each other and extend at least partially perpendicularly to the first corrugations (72).

11. Storage facility (1) according to claims 7 and 10 considered in combination, wherein: The corrugation interruption portion (723) of the first partial corrugation portion (722) is located between two adjacent second corrugation portions (73).

12. Storage facility (1) according to one of claims 1 to 11, wherein: The storage facility (1) is an onshore storage facility.

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