Multi-Walled Fluid Storage Tank Pressure Gradient Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fluid storage devices face limitations in increasing volume efficiency and mass capacity due to size and weight restrictions, often requiring thicker, stronger, and more expensive materials to handle higher pressures, which is not feasible in compact applications like automotive or aerospace.
Innovation Solution
A multi-shell storage device design with pressure-controlled spacings between shells, where the distance between outermost layers is minimized, and inner shells are maximized to store more mass, allowing for higher pressures without increasing overall tank size or weight, using traditional materials and control valves to manage pressure differences safely.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the wall thickness is increased to handle higher pressures, then the tank can store more mass, but the weight and construction cost significantly increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tank is divided into multiple concentric shells (typically 3-5 shells) with controlled spacing between them. Each shell experiences a fraction of the total pressure differential, allowing the use of thinner walls while maintaining the ability to store gas at high overall pressures. The pressure gradient is distributed across the shell interfaces rather than concentrated on a single thick wall.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-dimensional pressure containment approach to a multi-dimensional gradient structure. By creating radial pressure gradients across multiple shell interfaces, the system achieves higher mass storage density without proportionally increasing wall thickness or weight.
2Quantity of substance
If the tank size is increased to store more gas volume, then the storage capacity increases, but the tank becomes unusable in compact applications
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the pressure parameter distribution across multiple shells, creating a gradient where inner shells experience higher pressures than outer shells. This allows the same external volume to contain significantly more compressed gas by utilizing the cubic relationship between pressure and gas density (PV=nRT), achieving 2-5 times more mass storage in the same footprint.
3Quantity of substance
If stronger materials are used to handle higher pressures, then the tank can store more mass, but the construction cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the pressure containment function across multiple shells, each shell can use standard, cost-effective materials and thicknesses. The cumulative effect of multiple shells handles the high pressure requirements without needing expensive high-strength materials for each individual shell.
4Weight of moving object
If the wall thickness is reduced to save weight, then the tank weight decreases, but the tolerable pressure difference diminishes
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure tolerance requirement is segmented across multiple shell interfaces. Each thin-walled shell only needs to tolerate a fraction of the total pressure differential, maintaining structural integrity while keeping individual wall thicknesses minimal for weight savings.
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-walled storage tanks use pressure differences between walls/shells to maximize fluid mass storage for tank size by reducing or minimizing the distance between the outer most layers of a multi-layer storage device, and keeping the middle one(s), particularly the innermost space, as large as possible, while having shell walls of substantially the same material and thickness, with no wall being thicker than the inner shell wall.