Rectangular Pressure Vessel with Perpendicular Ribs to Reduce Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pressure vessels for cooling high-pressure gas face challenges in achieving further weight reduction while maintaining desired strength, with maximum stress occurring at joining portions and requiring additional reinforcement.
Innovation Solution
The pressure vessel design features a vessel body with a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a dividing wall, and ribs extending over the entire circumference along a plane perpendicularly intersecting the dividing wall, providing enhanced reinforcing effects and reducing stress, allowing for thinner walls and weight reduction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If ribs are added to reinforce the vessel body, then strength is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies ribs only at specific locations where stress concentration occurs (joining portions of top/bottom walls with surrounding wall, and vertically middle portion of surrounding wall) rather than uniformly across the entire vessel body. This localized reinforcement approach provides necessary strength while minimizing additional weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from conventional transverse ribs to longitudinal ribs that extend along the length of the vessel body. This dimensional change in rib orientation provides more effective stress distribution and reinforcement efficiency, achieving better strength-to-weight ratio.
2Strength
If wall thickness is increased to maintain strength, then strength is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly increasing wall thickness throughout the vessel body, the patent locally reinforces only the critical stress areas with ribs. This allows the majority of the vessel body to maintain thinner walls while still achieving the required overall strength, thereby reducing weight.
3Stress or pressure
If multiple ribs are added to reduce stress, then stress reduction is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent places ribs only at the two critical stress locations (joining portions and vertically middle portion) rather than distributing them uniformly throughout. This selective placement effectively reduces stress concentration while minimizing the total number of ribs and associated manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing from transverse to longitudinal rib orientation, the patent achieves more effective stress reduction with fewer ribs. The longitudinal orientation allows each rib to span greater distances and provide more comprehensive stress distribution, reducing the overall rib count and simplifying the structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A pressure vessel, comprising: a vessel body having a rectangular parallelepiped shape for containing high pressure gas; a dividing wall in the form of a plate and disposed in the vessel body; and a plurality of ribs disposed on an outer surface of the vessel body. The vessel body includes: a top wall having a rectangular shape; a bottom wall having a rectangular shape and facing the top wall; and a surrounding wall joining a peripheral edge of the top wall and a peripheral edge of the bottom wall. The dividing wall is disposed in the vessel body to define a first chamber having a rectangular parallelepiped shape and a second chamber having a rectangular parallelepiped shape in cooperation with the vessel body. Each of the plurality of ribs extends over an entire circumference of the vessel body and along a plane perpendicularly intersecting the dividing wall.