Liquefied gas storage facility comprising polygonal load-bearing structure

Abstract

To improve the layout strategy so as to arrange a bottom wall in angular sectors to keep the angular-sector angles consistent and the sheet lengths consistent, without making the layout more complex.SOLUTION: A storage facility has: a load-bearing structure that comprises a bottom wall and a vertical load-bearing wall composed of N vertical load-bearing panels; and a tank that comprises a bottom wall and a vertical wall. The bottom wall has a plurality of angular sectors. A corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector has first corrugations. The corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector has a plurality of metal plates arranged to form ring portions. The ring portions consist of a set of complete metal plates. The total number of first corrugations provided on the ring portions increases in a direction of the vertical wall. The total number is increased only every M successive ring portion, where M is a natural integer greater than or equal to 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a liquefied gas storage facility and a manufacturing method for constructing the facility. More specifically, the liquefied gas storage facility has a load-bearing structure with a bottom wall in the shape of a regular polygon. [Background technology]

[0002] A liquefied gas storage installation comprising a load-bearing structure with an interior space defined by a bottom load-bearing wall and a sealed, insulated tank placed in the interior space of the load-bearing structure is described in FR 2 912 385 or FR 3 121 196. The tank comprises a bottom wall arranged on the bottom load-bearing wall and a vertical wall arranged on a vertical load-bearing wall.

[0003] The vertical wall comprises a plurality of vertical panels, the bottom wall comprises a plurality of sectors, the sectors being images of one another upon rotation, the bottom wall having a polygonal shape, each side of the regular polygon corresponding to one of the vertical panels.

[0004] The number of vertical panels is set to 56, for example.

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

[0006] The sealing membrane of the vertical walls has vertical corrugations. As for the sealing membrane of the bottom wall, it has first corrugations spaced apart from each other by a corrugation pitch, the first corrugations being oriented along a sector axis perpendicular to the vertical panels connected to said angular sector. The corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector of the bottom wall comprises a plurality of rectangular metal plates welded to each other in a fluid-tight manner, whereby the metal plates are arranged to form ring sections arranged one after the other along the sector axis. The term "ring section" applies to a set of a plurality of complete metal plates. In other words, the edges of the ring sections are formed by the edges of the metal plates. The ring sections arranged in a plurality of different angular sectors are connected to each other to form a ring surrounding a central part of the bottom wall.

[0007] The prior art applies an angular sector layout technique that seeks to establish a relationship between the corrugation pitch of the first corrugation and the length of the metal plate, and in particular establishes the angle of the angular sector to reduce the number of different parts in one angular sector, and the relationship between the corrugation pitch and the length of the metal plate determines the width of the ring portion.

[0008] However, when the corrugation pitch is changed, and especially when this pitch is increased, the above layout techniques are no longer able to maintain consistent angular sector angles and / or consistent metal plate lengths, which reduces the number of possible solutions. Summary of the Invention

[0009] One idea behind the present invention is to improve the layout technique to place the bottom wall in the angular sector to maintain consistency of the angular sector angle without adding additional complexity to the layout and to maintain consistency of the sheet length.

[0010] An object of the invention is in particular to achieve a membrane layout which allows the corrugation pitch to be greater than the increment in length of the outer edge of the ring section between two successive rings, said increment being close to the width of the ring section multiplied by the sector angle.

[0011] In one embodiment, the present invention provides a liquefied gas storage facility comprising a load-bearing structure having an interior space defined by a bottom load-bearing wall and vertical load-bearing walls, the bottom load-bearing wall having an outline of a regular polygon with N sides, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 4, the vertical load-bearing wall being comprised of N vertical load-bearing panels forming a polygonal cylindrical surface with the regular polygon as a directrix, each of the N sides of the polygon corresponding to an intersection between the bottom load-bearing wall and one of the vertical load-bearing panels, the liquefied gas storage facility further comprising: The present invention relates to a sealed tank installed in a tank bed, the sealed tank comprising a bottom wall disposed on the bottom load bearing wall and a vertical wall disposed on the vertical load bearing wall, the vertical wall being comprised of N vertical panels, each vertical panel of the vertical wall being fixed to one of the N vertical load bearing panels, the bottom wall comprising a plurality of angular sectors, the plurality of angular sectors being images of each other by rotating about a vertical axis through a predetermined angle equal to k×360° / N, where k is a positive integer less than or equal to half N, and each angular sector of the bottom wall is a a sector of the bottom wall connected to at least k of the N vertical panels of the vertical wall, the sealed tank having a corrugated sealing membrane in contact with the liquefied gas, the corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector of the bottom wall having a plurality of first corrugations oriented along a sector axis perpendicular to a first vertical panel selected from the N vertical panels of the vertical wall, the first corrugations being spaced apart from one another by a regular corrugation pitch, the corrugated sealing membrane of each angular sector of the bottom wall being in fluid communication with one another, a plurality of metal plates tightly welded together, the metal plates being arranged to form successive rings along the sector axis, each ring consisting of a set of a plurality of complete metal plates and having inner and outer edges perpendicular to the sector axis, the total number of first corrugations per ring section increasing in the direction of the vertical panel, the total number of first corrugations per ring section only increasing for each successive M of the ring sections,Here, M is a natural number greater than or equal to 2.

[0012] In other words, therefore, the total number of first corrugations per ring section is constant for each group of M consecutive ring sections.

[0013] With this configuration, by increasing the total number of corrugations for each M ring section, the regular corrugation pitch of the first corrugations and the width of the ring sections can be varied by the factor M. This allows the realization of a layout solution with constant values ​​of the angular sector angles and in particular constant values ​​of the size of the sheets constituting each ring section, depending on whether the value of the regular corrugation pitch is large or small, by the factor M.

[0014] Specifically, in the prior art, the relationship between the width L of the ring portion, the regular corrugation pitch P, and the angular sector angle A is described by the following formula:

[0015] tan(A / 2)=P / L

[0016] Therefore, the coefficient M is inserted into the above formula as follows:

[0017] tan(A / 2)=P / (M×L)

[0018] In this way, for example, if the regular corrugation pitch P is significantly increased compared to the corrugation pitch of the prior art, the factor M allows the angular sector angle values ​​and metal sheet sizes to be kept within acceptable ranges.

[0019] According to an embodiment, the storage facility may have one or more of the following features:

[0020] In one embodiment, the sealing membrane comprises a first ring portion, a second ring portion and a third ring portion, which are arranged along the sector axis in the direction of the first vertical panel, and the total number of the first corrugations of the first ring portion is equal to N1, the total number of the first corrugations of the second ring portion is equal to N1 and the total number of the first corrugations of the third ring portion is equal to N2, where N1 and N2 are natural numbers, for example N2=N1+2. This case corresponds to the case where the coefficient M=2.

[0021] In one embodiment, the sealing membrane comprises a first ring portion, a second ring portion, a third ring portion and a fourth ring portion, which are arranged along the sector axis in the direction of the first vertical panel, and the total number of the first corrugations of the first ring portion is equal to N1, the total number of the first corrugations of the second ring portion is equal to N1, the total number of the first corrugations of the third ring portion is equal to N1 and the total number of the first corrugations of the fourth ring portion is equal to N2, where N1 and N2 are natural numbers, for example N2=N1+2. This case corresponds to the case where the coefficient M=3.

[0022] In one embodiment, the or each ring portion comprises a plurality of rectangular metal plates.

[0023] In one embodiment, each ring portion has a width extending along the sector axis between the inner edge and the outer edge of the ring portion, the width being equal for a number of the ring portions, in particular for consecutive ring portions along the sector axis.

[0024] In one embodiment, the width of the ring portion near the center of the bottom wall and / or the width of the ring portion near the vertical wall is different from the width of the other ring portions, preferably the widths of the other ring portions are equal to each other.

[0025] In one embodiment, a width of at least one of said ring portions is different from the equal widths of said plurality of ring portions, for example equal to a whole fraction of said equal widths of said plurality of ring portions.

[0026] In one embodiment, the regular corrugation pitch exceeds the width of one of the ring portions multiplied by a predetermined angle.

[0027] In one embodiment, N is an even number, preferably 4 or greater.

[0028] In one particular embodiment, N is 8 to 56. In another particular embodiment, N is 56. In another particular embodiment, N is 8.

[0029] In one embodiment, the integer k is equal to the number of vertical panels in the vertical wall divided by the number of angular sectors in the bottom wall of the tank.

[0030] In one embodiment, said regular corrugation pitch is greater than or equal to 400 mm, preferably greater than or equal to 800 mm, preferably between 800 and 1200 mm, for example equal to 1000 mm.

[0031] For example, when N=56 and the width of the ring portion is 3000 mm, the regular corrugation pitch is 1020 mm, and the natural number M can be 3.

[0032] In one embodiment, the or each ring part of one said angular sector comprises at least one corrugated metal connecting plate arranged on one side edge of said ring part, said corrugated metal connecting plate being configured to connect said ring part to said ring part of an adjacent angular section, said corrugated metal connecting plates connecting said ring parts being aligned with each other in a radial direction inclined to said sector axis, said radial direction preferably being inclined to said sector axis at an angle equal to half of said predetermined angle.

[0033] In one embodiment, the sealing membrane of the or each angular sector of the bottom wall has a radial corrugation arranged near one edge of the angular sector and extending in the radial direction.

[0034] In one embodiment, the first corrugation of the or each angular sector includes a first full corrugation extending a distance from the junction of the bottom wall and the vertical wall to a central ring portion near the center of the bottom wall, and a first partial corrugation, the first partial corrugation being interrupted by a corrugation break located a short distance from the radial corrugation where the first partial corrugation intersects one of the corrugated metal connecting plates.

[0035] The radial corrugations of the angular sectors are formed in the corrugated metal connecting plate.

[0036] The corrugated metal connection plate of one ring part in row A is identical to the corrugated metal connection plate of one ring part in row A+B, for example, for a central ring part located near the center of the bottom wall, row A is 1, where row is defined as a natural number, incrementing by 1 along the sector axis towards the vertical wall, A is a natural number greater than or equal to 1, and B is a natural number greater than or equal to 2.

[0037] In one embodiment, the natural number B is equal to the natural number M.

[0038] In one embodiment, the sealing membrane of the or each angular sector of the bottom wall includes a plurality of second corrugations spaced apart from one another, the second corrugations extending at least partially perpendicular to the first corrugations.

[0039] In one embodiment, the corrugation break of the first partial corrugation is located between two adjacent second corrugations.

[0040] In one embodiment, a vessel for transporting cryogenic liquid products comprises a double hull and the above-mentioned storage facility arranged in the double hull.

[0041] In one embodiment, the present invention also provides a system for transferring cryogenic liquid products, the system comprising a vessel as described above, an insulated pipe arranged to connect the tank installed in the hull of the vessel to a floating or onshore storage facility, and a pump for driving a flow of cryogenic liquid product from the floating or onshore storage facility to the tank of the vessel or from the tank of the vessel to the floating or onshore storage facility via the insulated pipe.

[0042] In one embodiment the invention also provides a method for loading or discharging a vessel as described above, comprising flowing cryogenic liquid product in an insulated pipe from a floating or onshore storage facility to the tanks of the vessel or from the tanks of the vessel to the floating or onshore storage facility.

[0043] The present invention will be better understood and other objects, details, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of several specific embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which the specific embodiments are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present invention. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0044] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a partial perspective cross-sectional view of a liquefied gas storage facility. [Diagram 2] 2 is a top view of the storage facility of FIG. 1, with the polygonal outline of the load support structure of FIG. 1 being more easily visible in one embodiment; FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of the outer ends of an angular sector of the bottom wall of a tank and portions of the vertical walls as viewed from the inside of a prior art liquefied storage facility. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an angular sector of the bottom wall and portions of the vertical walls of the tank of the first embodiment as seen from inside the liquefied gas storage facility. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a portion of an angular sector of the bottom wall and portions of the vertical walls of a tank of the second embodiment as viewed from inside the liquefied gas storage facility. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a top view of a sealing membrane of a sector of the bottom wall of a tank installed in a liquefied gas storage facility of one embodiment, as viewed from inside the facility. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a detail view VII of FIG. 6 showing the ring portion in detail. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 is a schematic extract of a methane carrier equipped with marine tanks and a terminal for loading and unloading operations of said tanks. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0045] As mentioned above, the invention relates to the manufacture of a liquefied gas storage facility, which in the following description will be designated by the reference number 1. The facility 1 is capable of storing liquefied gas, in particular liquefied natural gas (LNG), at a temperature of about -162°C and at atmospheric pressure, or of storing other liquefied gases.

[0046] The facility 1 mainly comprises a load support structure 10 and a sealed, insulated tank 20 installed in the internal space of the load support structure 10.

[0047] First, the load support structure 10 will be described.

[0048] The load-bearing structure 10 comprises a bottom load-bearing wall 11 and a vertical load-bearing wall 12. The installation 1 may be for a coastal installation, in which case the bottom load-bearing wall 11 is typically horizontal, to scale, i.e. located in a plane perpendicular to the direction of gravitational acceleration, which is indicated in the figure by a vertical axis Z. The bottom load-bearing wall 11 may be installed at ground level or, in some cases, below ground level. The load-bearing structure 10 is made, for example, of concrete.

[0049] In what follows, the case of an installation 1 located on a coast and with a horizontal bottom load-bearing wall 11 is considered in particular, although it is noted that the following description is applicable to any orientation of the bottom load-bearing wall 11 relative to the direction of the gravitational acceleration.

[0050] The profile of the bottom load-bearing wall 11 has the shape of a regular polygon with N sides, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 4. Installations 1 in which N is 8 or 56 are particularly advantageous.

[0051] In addition to the bottom load-bearing wall 11, the load-bearing structure 10 also includes a vertical load-bearing wall 12. As can be best seen in Figure 1, the vertical load-bearing wall 12 defines a polygonal cylindrical surface, the polygon of which is defined by the contour of the bottom load-bearing wall 11 as the directrix of the polygon. The vertical load-bearing wall 12 extends in a vertical direction, which is perpendicular to the plane of the bottom load-bearing wall 11, within dimensional tolerances.

[0052] 1 and 2, the vertical load bearing wall 12 is comprised of N vertical load bearing panels 14. Corresponding to each of the N sides of the polygonal outline of the bottom load bearing wall 11, there is an intersection 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 of which corresponds to a vertex of the polygonal outline of the bottom load bearing wall 11.

[0053] An embodiment of a sealed, insulated tank 20 that can be installed in the interior space of the load support structure 10 will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 8. The tank 20 comprises a bottom wall 21 disposed on the bottom load support wall 11 and a vertical wall 22 disposed on the vertical load support wall 12. The bottom wall 21, like the bottom load support wall 11, has a contour in the shape of a regular polygon with N sides.

[0054] The vertical wall 22 is composed of N vertical panels 24. Corresponding to each of the N sides of the polygonal outline of the bottom wall 21, there is an intersection between the bottom wall 21 and one of the vertical panels 24. The vertical panels 24 are connected to each other by corner edges 23, each of which corresponds to a vertex of the polygonal outline of the bottom wall 21.

[0055] The bottom wall 21 includes a number of angular sectors 25. The sectors 25 are images of each other by rotation about a vertical axis, an axis that extends parallel to the vertical panels 24. This vertical axis passes through a point located near the geometric center of the bottom load-bearing wall 11. Specifically, when an angular sector 25 is connected to two vertical panels 24, the sectors 25 are images of each other by rotation through an angle equal to 4×180° / N. This precisely repeating structure allows the same parts to be used to build each angular sector 25.

[0056] In the examples shown in figures 3 and 6, N = 56, and in the example shown in figure 2, N = 8. To avoid cluttering the drawing, only one sector 25 is depicted in figure 6.

[0057] The bottom wall 21 and the vertical walls 22 comprise, from the load-bearing structure 10 towards the interior space of the tank 20, a secondary insulating barrier, a secondary sealing membrane, a primary insulating barrier and a primary sealing membrane 70 in contact with the liquefied gas contained in the tank 20. The bottom wall 21 and the vertical walls 22 can be manufactured using modular elements. These modular elements can correspond to the GST® technology marketed by the applicant. Thus, reference can be made to US Pat. No. 6,035,795 for a description of the particular modular elements and to WO 2022 / 200536 for other details of said technology not described here.

[0058] The primary sealing membrane 70 of the bottom wall 21 is mainly composed of an array of rectangular metal plates 71. The primary sealing membrane 70 further comprises a metal connecting plate 71A at one of the side edges of the sector 25. The metal connecting plate 71A has an overall trapezoidal shape and allows the sector 25 to be connected to the adjacent sector 25, thereby completing the primary sealing membrane 70.

[0059] The primary sealing membrane 70 is corrugated, which allows it to withstand the thermal contraction phenomenon caused by contact with the liquefied gas. More specifically, the primary sealing membrane 70 has at least radial corrugations 72 on the bottom wall 21, i.e. the corrugations 72 are parallel to each other and extend from the center of the tank 20 towards the vertical panel 24 along a sector axis X perpendicular to the vertical axis Z.

[0060] The first corrugations 72 are spaced apart from one another by a regular corrugation pitch 26. Additionally, the primary sealing membrane 70 typically includes second corrugations 73 that are perpendicular to the first corrugations 72. As shown particularly in Figure 3, the plates 71 and 71A each include a corrugated portion that defines the corrugations 72 and 73 when the plates 71 and 71A are aligned.

[0061] 6, the rectangular metal plates 71 are arranged to form ring portions 75 aligned in succession along the sector axis X. A metal connecting plate 71A extends each ring portion 75, thereby forming a ring surrounding the center of the bottom wall 21 with all the angular sectors.

[0062] The corrugated metal connection plates 71A of the ring portion 75 are aligned in a radial direction, which is inclined with respect to the sector axis X at an angle equal to half the angular sector angle 25. The sealing membrane 70 of each angular sector 25 of the bottom wall 21 is provided with 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 connection plate 71A.

[0063] Figure 3 shows the prior art and is a perspective view of the radially outer end of an angular sector 25 as viewed from inside the installation 1 and a portion of the vertical wall 22 of the tank 20. Figure 3 does not show the vertical load-bearing panel 14 of the vertical load-bearing wall 12.

[0064] In the vertical walls 22, the metal sealing membrane 170 consists mainly of an array of rectangular metal plates 171 with vertical corrugations 172, i.e. corrugations 172 extending parallel to the vertical axis Z and parallel to the vertical load-bearing panels 14. The vertical corrugations 712 are spaced apart from one another by a regular corrugation pitch 26.

[0065] The metal sealing membrane 170 also typically includes horizontal corrugations 173 that are perpendicular to the vertical corrugations 172 and completely circumnavigate the tank 20. As shown in Figure 3, each of these metal plates 171 has corrugated portions that define the corrugations 172, 173 when the metal plates 171 are aligned.

[0066] As shown in Figures 3 to 5, each angular sector 25 is connected to a full vertical panel 241 of the N vertical panels 24 and to two vertical half panels 242, each half of a vertical panel 24 of the N vertical panels 24 of the vertical wall 22. The full vertical panel 241 is located at the center of the angular sector 25, and the vertical half panels 242 are located on each side of the full vertical panel 241. The angular sectors 25 are shown diagrammatically by dotted lines in Figure 2. A sector axis X is defined here for each angular sector 25 as passing through the center of the tank 20 and perpendicular to the corresponding full vertical panel 241.

[0067] In the prior art shown in FIG. 3, the metal plate 71 and the metal connection plate 71A are extended by the metal connection plate 74 along the complete vertical panel 241 and the vertical half panel 242, and the metal connection plate 74 supports the corrugation portion arranged in the continuous portion of the corrugation portion of the metal plates 71 and 71A, so that the first corrugation 72 continues to a distance equivalent to the corner connection part 69. Such corner connection part 69 is described in detail in WO 2022 / 200536. Thus, in the prior art, the first corrugation 72 continues to a distance equivalent to the complete vertical panel 241 and the vertical half panel 242, and is continuously connected to the vertical corrugation 172 using the corner connection part 69.

[0068] As explained at the beginning, in such a prior art layout, where a regular corrugation pitch 26 is used to define the continuity between the first corrugations 72 of the bottom wall 21 and the vertical corrugations 172 of the vertical wall 22, the incremental difference in diameter between two storage facilities using said layout is determined by the increase or decrease of one vertical corrugation 172 per vertical panel 24 (and thus the increase or decrease of the first corrugation corresponding to said vertical corrugation 172). The incremental difference in diameter is therefore proportional to the regular corrugation pitch 26. The number of options for the dimensions of such facilities is therefore limited, all of which become problematic when the length of the regular corrugation pitch 26 is large.

[0069] Figures 4 and 5 show two embodiments of the storage installation 1, which, unlike the prior art shown in Figure 3, locally break the correlation between the vertical corrugations 172 and the corresponding first corrugations 72. In these figures, the solid lines show the edges of the plates 71, 71A, 171 and the connections 28 of the bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22, whereas the dashed lines show the corrugations 72, 73, 77, 172, 173. Similarly in Figure 6, the solid lines show the edges of the plates 71, 71A, whereas the dashed lines show the corrugations 72, 73, 77.

[0070] As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the continuity of the first corrugations 72 and the vertical corrugations 172 in the full vertical panels 241 of each angular sector 25 is ensured as in the prior art, but in each vertical half panel 242, the vertical corrugations 172 are not continuous with the first corrugations 72.

[0071] Specifically, for each angular sector 25, a differential corrugation pitch 27, which is shorter than the regular corrugation pitch 26, is introduced between each vertical half panel 242 and the full vertical panel 241. Thus, the two vertical corrugations 172 that define the differential corrugation pitch 27 include a differential corrugation 174 disposed in the vertical half panel 242 as shown in Figures 4 and 5. Thus, the differential corrugation 174 and the other vertical corrugations 172 located between the differential corrugation 174 and the outer edge of the half panel are misaligned and thus not continuous with the first corrugation 72 of the bottom wall 21.

[0072] Thus, the presence of the differential corrugation pitch 27 makes it possible to add an intermediate dimensional solution between two layouts having only a regular corrugation pitch 26, which can be varied by the value of the differential corrugation pitch 27.

[0073] By providing the first corrugations 72 and the vertical corrugations 172 which end abruptly at the junction between the vertical half-panel 242 and the bottom wall 21, the flexibility of the sealing membrane at said junction can be influenced.

[0074] This is why it is advantageous to extend the first corrugations 72 or the vertical corrugations 172 slightly beyond said junctions, so as to extend onto the vertical wall 22 or onto the bottom wall 21. Such an extension locally improves the flexibility of the sealing membrane.

[0075] Thus, in the first embodiment shown in Figure 4, the vertical corrugations 172 of each vertical half-panel 242 are extended to the bottom wall 21 by a vertical corrugation continuation 175, so that the vertical corrugations 172 extend to the bottom wall 21. However, this extension to the bottom wall 21 remains localized. In particular, the vertical corrugation extension 175 ends at the bottom wall 21 at a short distance from the second corrugation 73 located near the junction of the bottom wall 21 with the vertical wall 22.

[0076] 5, the first corrugation 72 is also extended to the vertical half-panel 242 by a first corrugation extension 76, so that the first corrugation 72 extends to the vertical wall 22. However, this extension to the vertical wall 22 remains localized. In particular, the first corrugation extension 76 ends at the vertical wall 22 at a certain distance from the horizontal corrugation 173 located near the junction of the bottom wall 21 with the vertical wall 22.

[0077] In an embodiment not shown, it is also contemplated that the first corrugations 72 and the vertical corrugations 172 extend to the vertical wall 22 and the bottom wall 21, respectively.

[0078] 6 shows a top view of the primary sealing membrane 70 of an angular sector 25 of the bottom wall 21 in one embodiment. As mentioned above, the metal plates 71 of each angular sector 25 are arranged to form rings 75 arranged one after the other along the sector axis X. The width of the rings 75 along the axis X corresponds for most of the metal plates 71 to the length of these plates 71.

[0079] However, not all of the metal plates 71 are the same size. Thus, in the example of FIG. 6, the metal plates 71 are four different sizes. That is, the metal plate 71 of dimension "X1" has one first corrugation 72 and three second corrugations 73, one of which passes through the center of the metal plate 71; the metal plate 71 of dimension "X2" has in this example a length along the axis X equal to the length of the plate "X1" and a width in the direction perpendicular to the axis X smaller than the width of the plate "X1", the metal plate 71 of dimension "X3" has a width equal to that of the plate "X2" and a length less than half the length of the plate "X2", so that the plate "X3" comprises one second corrugation 73; - Metal plate 71 of dimension "X4" does not have a first corrugation 72 since its width is smaller than the width of plate "X3", and the sum of the lengths of plate "X3" and plate "X4" is equal to the length of plate "X2" (or plate "X1").

[0080] In the example shown in FIG. 6, the angular sector 25 extends from the center of the bottom wall 21 toward the vertical wall 22 as follows: a first ring part 75 comprising two of the metal plates 71 arranged side by side with the metal plates of dimension "X3"; - a second ring part 75 comprising two "X2" metal plates arranged side by side; a third ring part 75 comprising two "X1" metal plates arranged side by side; a fourth ring part 75 comprising two "X1" metal plates on each side of which is arranged an "X4" metal plate, followed along the axis X by an "X3" plate; a fifth ring part 75 comprising two "X1" plates with an "X2" plate arranged on each side; a sixth ring part 75, which has the same pattern as the third ring part, but with the addition of two "X1" plates; a seventh ring part 75 with two additional "X1" plates in a pattern similar to that of the fourth ring part 75; has.

[0081] Similarly, the metal connection plates 71A are not all the same size, and also show a pattern that is repeated every three ring portions 75 in the example of FIG.

[0082] As already mentioned, the prior art applies a layout technique by angular sectors 25, which seeks to establish a relationship between the corrugation pitch 26 of the first corrugations 72 and the length of the metal plate 71 or the width of the ring section 75, and in particular establishes the angle of the angular sector 25 to reduce the number of different parts in one angular sector 25. Thus, the total number of first corrugations 72 of the ring section 75 increasing in the direction of the vertical wall 22 is increased by further increasing two first corrugations 72 on each side of the angular sector 25 for each successive ring section 75. Specifically, in the prior art, the relationship between the width L of the ring section, the regular corrugation pitch P and the angle A of the angular sector is described by the following formula:

[0083] tan(A / 2)=P / L

[0084] However, when the corrugation pitch is large as shown in FIG. 6, i.e., when the corrugation pitch is 1020 mm in a plate of size 3000×1000 mm, the above layout technique is unable to ensure consistent angular sector angles without significantly increasing the size of the plate 71.

[0085] 6 with a corrugation pitch of 1020 mm, the total number of first corrugations 72 of a ring section 75 only increases for every three consecutive ring sections 75. This factor of three in this example thus allows the angle values ​​of the angle sectors 25 and the size of the metal sheet 71 to be kept within acceptable ranges.

[0086] Thus, the first corrugation 72 of each angle sector 25 includes, as shown in FIG. 6, a first complete corrugation 721 extending from the connection between the bottom wall 21 and the vertical wall 22 to a central ring portion 75 near the center of the bottom wall 21, and a first partial corrugation 722, the first partial corrugation 722 being interrupted by a corrugation discontinuity 723. Specifically, the first partial corrugation 722 is interrupted when the first partial corrugation 722 crosses the corrugated metal connection plate 71A. Thus, the corrugation discontinuity 723 is located at a slight distance from the radial corrugation 77 of the angle sector 25 or the adjacent angle sector. Furthermore, the corrugation discontinuity 723 is located between two adjacent second corrugations 73.

[0087] In this way, by stopping the first partial corrugation 722 at the corrugated metal connecting plate 71A, it is possible to limit the maximum corrugation pitch between the radial corrugation 77 and the first corrugation 72 closest to the radial corrugation 77 while maintaining a minimum distance between the radial corrugation 75 and the first partial corrugation 722.

[0088] Figure 7 shows in detail one of the ring parts 75 of the angular sector 25 shown in Figure 6. This figure shows in particular the particular assembly of the metal plates 71 and the metal connection plates 71A. Furthermore, in this ring part 75, one of the first partial corrugations 722 crosses one of the metal connection plates 71A, thereby forming a corrugation break 723.

[0089] 8, a cutaway view of a methane carrier 100 shows a sealed, insulated tank 112, of prismatic overall shape, mounted within the double hull 102 of the vessel 100. The tank wall comprises a primary sealing membrane in contact with the LNG contained in the tank, a secondary sealing membrane disposed between the primary sealing membrane and the double hull 172 of the vessel 100, and two insulating barriers disposed between the primary sealing membrane and the secondary sealing membrane, and between the secondary sealing membrane and the double hull 102, respectively.

[0090] As will be appreciated, suitable connectors can be used to connect the loading pipes 103 located on the upper deck of the vessel to an offshore or port terminal for transferring the LNG cargo to or from the tanks 112.

[0091] FIG. 8 shows an example of a marine terminal with a loading station 105, a subsea pipe 106 and a shore storage facility 1. The loading station 105 is a fixed offshore facility consisting of a movable arm 104 and a column 108 supporting the movable arm 104. The movable arm 104 supports a bundle of insulated hoses 109 that can be connected to a loading pipe 103. The movable arm 104 can be adjusted in direction to suit any size of methane carrier. A connecting pipe (not shown) runs inside the column 108. The loading station 105 allows unloading from the methane carrier 100 to the shore storage facility 1 and loading from the shore storage facility 1 to the methane carrier 100. The onshore facility includes a liquefied gas storage tank 20 and a connecting pipe 111 that is connected to the loading station 105 via the subsea pipe 106. The undersea pipe 106 is for transporting liquefied gas over long distances, such as 5 km, between the loading station 105 and the coastal storage facility 1, allowing the methane carrier 100 to be anchored far away from the shore during loading and unloading operations.

[0092] To generate the pressure required for the transport of the liquefied gas, pumps installed on the ship 100 and / or pumps installed in the shore storage facility 1 and / or pumps installed in the loading station 105 are used.

[0093] Although the present invention has been described with reference to several specific embodiments, it is clear that the present invention is in no way limited to these specific embodiments, and that all technical equivalents of the above-mentioned means and combinations thereof are included in the present invention, provided they fall within the scope of the present invention.

[0094] Use of the verbs "include", "have" or "comprise" and their conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim.

[0095] In the claims, any reference signs in parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A liquefied gas storage facility (1) comprising a load-bearing structure (10) having an interior 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) has the shape of a regular polygon with N sides, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 4; The vertical load support wall (12) is composed of N vertical load support panels (14) and forms a polygonal cylindrical surface with the regular polygon as a directrix; each of the N sides of the polygon corresponds to an intersection between the bottom load-bearing wall (11) and one of the vertical load-bearing panels (14); The liquefied gas storage facility (1) further comprises a sealed tank (20) installed within the interior space of the load-supporting structure (10); The sealed tank (20) comprises a bottom wall (21) disposed on the bottom load-bearing wall (11) and a vertical wall (22) disposed on the vertical load-bearing wall (12), The vertical wall (22) is composed of N vertical panels (24), Each vertical panel of the vertical wall (22) is fixed to one of the N vertical load-bearing panels (14); The bottom wall (21) comprises a number of angular sectors, the plurality of angular sectors are images of each other by rotating about a vertical axis (Z) through a predetermined angle equal to k×360° / N, where k is a positive integer less than or equal to half N; Each angular sector (25) of the bottom wall (21) is connected to at least k of the N vertical panels (24) of the vertical wall (22); The sealed tank (20) is provided with a corrugated sealed membrane (70, 170) in contact with the liquefied gas; the corrugated sealing membrane (70, 170) of each angular sector (25) of the bottom wall (21) has a plurality of first corrugations (72) oriented along a sector axis (X) perpendicular to a first vertical panel connected to said angular sector (25); the first corrugations (72) are spaced apart from one another by a regular corrugation pitch; the corrugated sealing membrane (70, 170) of each angular sector (25) of the bottom wall (21) comprises a number of metal plates (71) welded together in a fluid-tight manner, The metal plates (71) are arranged to form ring portions (75) arranged in sequence along the sector axis (X), Each of said ring portions (75) is made up of a plurality of complete sets of said metal plates; the total number of the first corrugations (72) per ring portion (75) increases in the direction of the vertical panel; The total number of the first corrugations (72) per ring portion (75) increases only for each successive M ring portions (75), where M is a natural number equal to or greater than 2. A storage facility (1).

2. The ring portion (75) has an inner edge and an outer edge perpendicular to the sector axis (X), each said ring portion (75) has a width extending along said sector axis (X) between said inner edge and said outer edge of said ring portion (75); The width is equal for a plurality of the ring portions (75).

2. The storage facility (1) according to claim 1.

3. the width of the ring portion (75) near the center of the bottom wall (21) and / or the width of the ring portion (75) near the vertical wall (22) is different from the width of the other ring portions (75); Preferably, the widths of the other ring portions (75) are equal to each other.

3. The storage facility (1) according to claim 2.

4. The regular corrugation pitch is greater than or equal to 400 mm, preferably greater than or equal to 800 mm, preferably between 800 and 1200 mm, for example equal to 1000 mm; Storage facility (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. Each ring portion (75) of one of said angular sectors (25) comprises at least one corrugated metal connection plate (71A) arranged on one side edge of said ring portion (75), the corrugated metal connecting plate (71A) is configured to connect the ring portion (75) to the ring portion (75) of an adjacent angular sector (25); the corrugated metal connection plates (71A) connecting the ring portions (75) are aligned with each other in a radial direction inclined to the sector axis (X); The radial direction is preferably inclined with respect to the sector axis (X) at an angle equal to half the predetermined angle. Storage facility (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. the sealing membrane of the angular sector (25) of the bottom wall (21) has a radial corrugation (77) arranged near one edge of the angular sector (25) and extending in the radial direction, 6. Storage facility (1) according to claim 5.

7. The first corrugation (72) of the angular sector (25) is a first complete corrugation (721) extending a distance from a junction (28) between the bottom wall (21) and the vertical wall (22) to a central ring portion (75) near the center of the bottom wall (21); A first partial corrugation (722); Including, the first partial corrugations (722) are interrupted by corrugation discontinuities (723) located at a distance from the radial corrugations (77) at the locations where the first partial corrugations intersect with one of the corrugated metal connection plates (71A); 7. Storage facility (1) according to claim 6.

8. the radial corrugations (77) of the angular sector (25) are formed in the corrugated metal connecting plate (71A); Storage facility (1) according to claim 6 or 7.

9. The corrugated metal connection plate (71A) of one ring part (75) of row A is identical to the corrugated metal connection plate (71A) of one ring part (75) of row A+B, where the rows are defined as natural numbers, incrementing along the sector axis (X) going towards the vertical wall (22); A is a natural number greater than or equal to 1, and B is a natural number greater than or equal to 2. Storage facility (1) according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

10. the sealing membrane of one angular sector (25) of the bottom wall (21) includes a plurality of second corrugations (73) spaced apart from one another; said second corrugations (73) at least partially extend perpendicular to said first corrugations (72); Storage facility (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. The corrugation discontinuity (723) of the first partial corrugation (722) is disposed between two adjacent second corrugations (73). Storage facility (1) according to claim 10, which recites claim 7.

12. It is a coastal storage facility. Storage facility (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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