Marine liquid ammonia fuel filling system

By using a floating platform and filling system during the liquid ammonia refueling process on ships, combined with springs and bolts to limit swaying, heat-insulated and high-pressure resistant hose connections, and pressure control methods, the safety and stability issues during liquid ammonia refueling have been solved, achieving a safe and controllable refueling process.

CN121828607AActive Publication Date: 2026-04-10CHINA SHIPBUILDING HENGYU ENERGY (SHANGHAI CO LTD
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Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2026-03-11
Publication Date
2026-04-10

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

When refueling a ship with liquid ammonia, safety must be ensured to avoid leaks caused by excessive pressure and sloshing during the refueling process. Ammonia is corrosive and explosive, so effective buffering and pressure control measures are required.

Method used

A floating platform is used to connect the tanker truck and the ship, with springs and bolts limiting sway. Insulated and high-pressure resistant hoses are used to connect the LNG arm to the tanker truck. The filling system monitors the filling process and controls the filling speed and heat loss through pressure regulation. The ship's refrigeration system is used to maintain a constant fuel tank temperature.

Benefits of technology

It achieves safety and stability during the process of refueling liquid ammonia on ships, avoids vaporization caused by shaking and heat loss, and ensures the safety and controllability of the refueling system.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of marine fuel filling, in particular to a marine liquid ammonia fuel filling system which comprises the following steps: S1, collecting data; s2, the real-time refrigeration power of the ship fuel bin in the filling process is calculated; the working state of a refrigerating system in the ship fuel bin is controlled; and S3, the filling speed is regulated and controlled through the difference value between the maximum allowable refrigeration power and the real-time refrigeration power of the ship fuel bin. By adopting the technical scheme, heat loss exists in the filling process, and the lost heat is far greater than the heat loss speed of the ship fuel bin in a closed state, so that more parts of injected liquid ammonia are gasified, and the liquid ammonia is completely gasified. Therefore, the injected fuel cannot be excessively gasified after entering the fuel bin by increasing the refrigerating power of the ship fuel bin, so that the pressure of the whole filling system is controllable, and the filling safety is guaranteed.
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Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of marine fuel filling, in particular to a marine liquid ammonia fuel filling system. BACKGROUND

[0002] Ammonia is a colorless gas with lower density than air under ambient conditions, and the boiling point is -33.5℃ under ambient pressure. Ammonia is a toxic gas with obvious irritating odor. Low concentration of ammonia has obvious stimulating effect on mucous membrane, and high concentration can cause tissue lysis and necrosis; ammonia can form explosive mixture with air, and can cause combustion and explosion when encountering fire or high heat, and the explosion limit is 15.7% to 27.4%; ammonia has certain corrosiveness.

[0003] Therefore, when filling liquid ammonia as fuel for a ship, safety must be paid attention to, and leakage caused by excessive pressure must be avoided to ensure the safety of filling. SUMMARY

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to provide a marine liquid ammonia fuel filling system to solve the problems existing in the prior art.

[0005] The above technical purpose of the present application is achieved by the following technical scheme:

[0006] A marine liquid ammonia fuel filling system, comprising an LNG arm, a tank car and a filling system, a floating platform is fixedly installed at the tail of the tank car, the LNG arm is fixedly installed at the top of the floating platform, and the filling system is fixedly installed on the tank car and used for controlling the LNG arm.

[0007] By adopting the above technical scheme, because the tank car is used to fill liquid ammonia fuel for the ship docked at the berth, the ship will also sway with the waves of seawater or river water when it is docked, so a buffer module needs to be connected between the tank car and the ship to avoid rigid connection of the tank car and the ship. The floating platform is a good buffer module, the LNG arm is installed on the floating platform, and the distal end of the LNG arm needs to be fixed with the filling port of the ship during filling to ensure the sealing performance. Therefore, the LNG arm fixed to one end of the floating platform needs to be connected with the inside of the storage tank of the tank car through a heat-insulating high-pressure hose, and the filling system is mainly used for monitoring the entire filling process to ensure that the liquid ammonia fuel is safely and stably injected into the fuel tank of the ship.

[0008] In further embodiments, the floating platform comprises a bottom plate and a top plate, the bottom plate is fixedly connected with the tank car, a plurality of springs are fixedly installed at the top of the bottom plate, and the top plate is fixedly installed at the top of the springs, and the axis of each spring is vertically arranged.

[0009] By adopting the above technical scheme, when actually used, the through holes penetrating up and down are arranged at the top four corners of the top plate and the bottom plate, when not filling, the bolts are transmitted from the top of the top plate and penetrated out from the bottom of the bottom plate, and then the nuts are locked to limit the relative movement range of the top plate and the bottom plate, so as to avoid the LNG arm from shaking randomly in the process of moving the tank car.

[0010] In a further embodiment, the filling system comprises a low-temperature submerged centrifugal pump arranged at the bottom of the storage tank of the tank car, a power monitoring module for monitoring the working power of the low-temperature submerged centrifugal pump, and a flow meter for measuring the real-time flow rate inside the LNG arm; the top plate and the bottom plate of the floating platform are each provided with a through hole penetrating up and down, and a bolt for limiting the relative movement range of the top plate and the bottom plate is arranged in the through hole; the LNG arm is fixed to one end of the floating platform and communicates with the inside of the storage tank of the tank car through a heat-preservation high-pressure hose; the power monitoring module comprises a voltage transformer and a current transformer for collecting the real-time working voltage and current of the low-temperature submerged centrifugal pump.

[0011] The filling system further comprises a pressure regulation method for controlling the pressure during filling, and the pressure regulation method comprises the following steps:

[0012] Step S1, collecting data, collecting the real-time working current and voltage of the low-temperature submerged centrifugal pump through the power monitoring module, detecting the pressure inside the fuel tank of the ship through the pressure sensor of the fuel tank of the ship, and obtaining the internal temperature of the storage tank of the tank car, the ambient temperature, the internal temperature of the LNG arm, and the internal temperature of the fuel tank of the ship through the temperature collection unit;

[0013] Step S2, calculating the real-time refrigeration power of the fuel tank of the ship during filling , and controlling the working state of the refrigeration system inside the fuel tank of the ship;

[0014] Step S3, regulating the filling speed by the difference between the maximum allowable refrigeration power of the fuel tank of the ship and the real-time refrigeration power .

[0015] By adopting the above technical scheme, there is heat loss during filling, and the lost heat is much greater than the heat loss speed of the fuel tank of the ship in a closed state, which will cause more parts of the injected liquid ammonia to be gasified, so it is necessary to increase the refrigeration power of the fuel tank of the ship to make the injected fuel not be gasified too much after entering the fuel tank, so as to make the pressure of the entire filling system controllable and ensure the safety of filling.

[0016] In a further embodiment, the step S2 further comprises: ​

[0017] Step S21: Set up the heat exchange and power calculation model for the fuel tank;

[0018] Step S22: Determine the maximum cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank;

[0019] Step S23: Set up a safe cooling power control model.

[0020] In a further embodiment, the infusion rate control step of step S3 includes:

[0021] Step S31: Based on the maximum allowable cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank With real-time cooling power The difference between them is used to calculate the maximum permissible infusion rate, expressed in cubic meters per minute.

[0022] Step S32: Set the operating power of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump;

[0023] Step S33: The cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump operates at 98% of its set power.

[0024] In a further embodiment, setting , It refers to the cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tanks when they are not being filled. M represents the current mass of ammonia fuel in the fuel tank, in kilograms. The ambient temperature is calculated in Fahrenheit. These are constants related to the tank structure, materials, and heat transfer coefficient, with units of W / K and W / (kg·K), respectively.

[0025] In a further embodiment, setting , This refers to the real-time power output of the ship's fuel tanks during the refueling process. Injected traffic is The fuel injection temperature is Storage temperature is If the specific heat capacity of ammonia is C, then the power required to cool the injected fuel is... , Add heat load to the filling system.

[0026] In summary, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0027] 1. Calculations show that heat loss occurs during the refueling process, and the rate of heat loss is much greater than that of the ship's fuel tank in a closed state. This will cause more of the injected liquid ammonia to be vaporized. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank to prevent excessive vaporization of the injected fuel after it enters the fuel tank, thereby making the pressure of the entire refueling system controllable and ensuring the safety of refueling. Attached Figure Description

[0028] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the dispensing system of the present invention.

[0029] In the diagram, 1 is the floating platform; 2 is the LNG boom; and 3 is the tank truck. Detailed Implementation

[0030] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0031] It should be noted that in the description of this invention, any descriptions of orientation, such as up, down, front, back, left, right, etc., indicating orientation or positional relationships, are based on the orientation or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the purpose of facilitating the description of this invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed or operated in a specific orientation, and should not be construed as a limitation of this invention.

[0032] Example 1:

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, a marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system includes an LNG arm 2, a tank truck 3, and a filling system. A floating platform 1 is fixedly installed at the rear of the tank truck 3, the LNG arm 2 is fixedly installed on the top of the floating platform 1, and the filling system is fixedly installed on the tank truck 3. The filling system is used to control the LNG arm 2. The floating platform includes a bottom plate and a top plate. The bottom plate is fixedly connected to the tank truck 3. Multiple springs are fixedly installed on the top of the bottom plate, and the top plate is fixedly installed on the top of the springs. The axis of each spring is vertically arranged. The filling system includes a cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump, a power monitoring module, and a flow meter located at the bottom of the storage tank in the tank truck 3. The power monitoring module is used to monitor the operating power of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump, and the flow meter is used to measure the real-time internal flow velocity of the LNG arm 2.

[0034] Pressure regulation methods include the following steps:

[0035] Step S21: Set up the heat exchange and power calculation model for the fuel tank. For a new energy ship using ammonia fuel as fuel, the real-time power of its fuel storage tank is... Operating power is , This represents the power supplied to the fuel tanks during normal navigation or anchoring. The power is required during the refueling process. Because the fuel tank comes into contact with the external environment during refueling (the filling system consisting of tank truck 3 and LNG arm 2), the power needs to be increased. Also, because fuel is being continuously injected, the power needs to be adjusted according to the fuel injection flow rate to keep the internal temperature of the fuel tank constant and prevent excessive vaporization of ammonia fuel.

[0036] To ensure real-time cooling capacity during refueling, external ammonia fuel is injected through tanker truck 3. The injected fuel temperature may be higher than the storage temperature, and the refueling pipeline's contact with the environment introduces additional heat load. Therefore, Need to be Based on this, the flow rate is increased and dynamically adjusted according to the injection flow rate to ensure a constant temperature. Let the injection flow rate be... The fuel injection temperature is Storage temperature is If the specific heat capacity of ammonia is C, then the power required to cool the injected fuel is... In addition, the refueling process also incurs additional heat load. The total power is: In actual use, This is related to flow rate or can be considered a constant, requiring real-time adjustment through control algorithms. To maintain a constant temperature, this parameter It can be obtained through testing, such as the heat transfer of the entire refueling pipeline during the refueling process, or it can be understood as the heat exchanged with the outside world during the process of liquid ammonia being injected into the ship's fuel tank from inside the tanker of tanker truck 3 through hoses and LNG arm 2.

[0037] about , It can be understood as a constant value, which is only related to the remaining fuel in the ship's fuel tank and the ambient temperature. The higher the ambient temperature, the more stable the fuel supply. The larger the ship, the more fuel it has in its fuel tanks. The larger, M represents the current mass of ammonia fuel in the fuel tank, in kilograms. The ambient temperature is calculated in Fahrenheit. These are constants related to the tank structure, materials, and heat transfer coefficient, with units of W / K and W / (kg·K), respectively.

[0038] Regarding step S22, determining the maximum cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank, the cooling capacity of each ship's fuel storage tank has an upper limit, which can be obtained directly from the ship's end.

[0039] Regarding step S23, setting a safe cooling power control model, in order to cope with emergencies, the maximum cooling power in actual use needs to be set to between 90% and 95% of the maximum cooling power of the ship's fuel tank.

[0040] The real-time operating current I and voltage U of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump are collected by the power monitoring module, and the real-time shaft power of the pump is calculated as P_pump = √3·U·I·cosφ·η, where cosφ is the power factor and η is the motor efficiency. These two parameters can be obtained from the pump manufacturer's characteristic curve. This power data is used to determine whether the pump is operating in the high-efficiency range and serves as a reference for subsequent calculations.

[0041] The real-time pressure P_tank inside the ship's fuel tank is collected at least once per second by the ship's onboard fuel tank pressure sensor. The pressure data is the primary indicator for judging the safety status. When P_tank approaches the set safety threshold, the control system should immediately take measures to reduce speed or stop refueling.

[0042] Meanwhile, the system needs to acquire temperature data at multiple key points through temperature acquisition units, such as Pt100 platinum resistance temperature sensors, including: the liquid ammonia temperature T_truck inside the storage tank of tank truck 3, the ambient temperature T_env at the refueling site, the liquid ammonia temperature T_arm in the flow channel inside LNG arm 2 (sensors can be embedded at the joints of LNG arm 2), and the liquid ammonia temperature T_tank inside the ship's fuel tank. These temperature data are aggregated to the central control unit through a PLC (programmable logic controller) or DCS (distributed control system).

[0043] Every ship's fuel tank refrigeration system (usually a reliquefaction unit or refrigeration unit) has its rated maximum refrigeration capacity. This power value is a hard constraint, representing the upper limit of the system's hardware capabilities. Before the refueling operation begins, the control unit needs to obtain this parameter through the ship's data interface or by manual input. This is used to determine the maximum allowable filling rate and prevent the required cooling power from exceeding the system's capacity, which could lead to cooling failure and temperature runaway.

[0044] To allow for adjustment margins in the control system and to cope with sudden environmental changes or equipment performance fluctuations, the refrigeration system should not be pushed to its limits. Therefore, this method sets a maximum allowable refrigeration power. The maximum permissible cooling capacity during actual use is set to between 90% and 95% of the maximum cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank, i.e. This design ensures that the cooling capacity still has room to be adjusted upwards when the system needs fine-tuning or when there is a minor disturbance, avoiding loss of control due to hitting the ceiling.

[0045] After clarifying the maximum permissible cooling capacity that a ship's fuel tank can safely provide. and the base heat load in the non-fueling state Then, the remaining cooling capacity that can be used to cool the injected fuel and offset the additional heat from the pipes can be calculated. , This difference The safe flow rate during the refueling process is directly determined, therefore Must meet Therefore, the maximum permissible mass flow rate can be derived. , ; in the initial control When the value is small or negligible, a simplified formula can also be used: Estimation is required; since flow meters typically measure volumetric flow rate, it is necessary to convert mass flow rate to volumetric flow rate, expressed in cubic meters per minute (m³ / min) or liters per minute (L / min), for easy understanding by operators. The conversion formula is as follows: ; where ρ is the density of liquid ammonia at the current temperature.

[0046] At the specific execution level of infusion rate control, the following sub-steps are included:

[0047] Step S31: The central control unit calculates the maximum allowable injection rate (cubic meters / minute) under the current operating conditions in real time based on the above model. This rate value is used as the target control value of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump.

[0048] Step S32: Based on the target injection rate, the required pump speed or motor frequency is deduced from the pump's characteristic curve, and then the operating power of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump is set. Since the pump's power and flow rate are approximately cubic, accurately setting the power is key to ensuring precise flow rate.

[0049] Step S33: In actual control, to avoid power overshoot or oscillation, the controller does not directly output 100% of the set power, but first executes at 98% of the set power. This 2% margin serves as a control dead zone, preventing frequent pump adjustments due to minor fluctuations in the feedback signal, thus making the system operation more stable. Subsequently, through real-time feedback from the flow meter, a PID control algorithm is used to fine-tune the pump power, ensuring that the actual flow rate accurately and smoothly approaches the target injection rate.

[0050] In the description of this invention, unless otherwise explicitly defined, terms such as "setting," "installing," and "connecting" should be interpreted broadly, and those skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention in conjunction with the specific content of the technical solution.

[0051] This specific embodiment is merely an explanation of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention. After reading this specification, those skilled in the art can make modifications to this embodiment without contributing any inventive step, but such modifications are protected by patent law as long as they are within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system, characterized in that: The system includes an LNG arm, a tank truck, and a filling system. A floating platform is fixedly mounted at the rear of the tank truck. The LNG arm is fixedly mounted on top of the floating platform, and the filling system is fixedly mounted on the tank truck. The filling system controls the LNG arm. The floating platform includes a bottom plate and a top plate. The bottom plate is fixedly connected to the tank truck. Multiple springs are fixedly mounted on the top of the bottom plate, and the top plate is fixedly mounted on top of the springs. The axis of each spring is vertically oriented. The filling system includes a cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump, a power monitoring module, and a flow meter located at the bottom of the tank truck's storage tank. The power monitoring module monitors the operating power of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump, and the flow meter measures the real-time internal flow velocity of the LNG arm. The top and bottom plates of the floating platform each have through holes at their four corners, with bolts inserted through these holes to limit the relative movement of the top and bottom plates. The LNG arm is fixed to one end of the floating platform and connected to the inside of the tank truck's storage tank via an insulated, high-pressure resistant hose. The power monitoring module includes a voltage transformer and a current transformer to collect the real-time operating voltage and current of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump. The refueling system also includes a pressure control method for controlling the pressure during the refueling process, the pressure control method comprising the following steps: Step S1: Data acquisition. The real-time operating current and voltage of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump are acquired through the power monitoring module. The internal pressure of the ship's fuel tank is detected through the ship's onboard fuel tank pressure sensor. The internal temperature of the tank truck's storage tank, the ambient temperature, the internal temperature of the LNG arm, and the internal temperature of the ship's fuel tank are obtained through the temperature acquisition unit. Step S2: Calculate the real-time cooling power of the ship's fuel tank during the refueling process. ; and through Control the operating status of the internal refrigeration system of the ship's fuel tank; Step S3: Measure the maximum permissible cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank. With real-time cooling power The difference in injection rate is used to regulate the infusion rate.

2. The marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step S2 further includes: Step S21: Set up the heat exchange and power calculation model for the fuel tank; Step S22: Determine the maximum cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank; Step S23: Set up a safe cooling power control model.

3. A marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The infusion rate control step in step S3 includes: Step S31: Based on the maximum allowable cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank With real-time cooling power The difference is used to calculate the maximum permissible infusion rate; Step S32: Set the operating power of the cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump according to the maximum injection rate; Step S33: The cryogenic submersible centrifugal pump operates at 98% of its set power.

4. A marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system according to claim 3, characterized in that, set up This refers to the cooling capacity of a ship's fuel tank in a non-filled state. M represents the current mass of ammonia fuel in the fuel tank, in kilograms. The ambient temperature is calculated in Fahrenheit; α and β are constants related to the tank structure, materials, and heat transfer coefficient, with units of W / K and W / (kg·K), respectively.

5. A marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system according to claim 4, characterized in that, set up This refers to the real-time cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tanks during the refueling process. Injected traffic is The fuel injection temperature is Storage temperature is If the specific heat capacity of ammonia is C, then the power required to cool the injected fuel is... , Add heat load to the filling system.

6. A marine liquid ammonia fuel refueling system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The maximum allowable cooling power It is 90% to 95% of the maximum cooling capacity of the ship's fuel tank.

Citation Information

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