Tank Container Surge Baffle with Profiled Flat Elements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surge baffle arrangements in tank containers are complex, difficult to inspect, and pose challenges during the transportation of hazardous bulk liquids due to their intricate structures and cavities, which complicates cleaning and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
The surge baffle arrangement features flat, longitudinally profiled elements with free inner and outer side edges that form a gap for easy cleaning and servicing, and are secured to the tank shell using intermediate elements, allowing for a slender design without closed cavities, enhancing dimensional stability and facilitating installation in curved interiors. The profiling and inclined angles improve access and cleaning efficiency, enabling effective coverage of 40% to 70% of the tank cross-section.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If traditional surge baffle arrangements with double-shelled or tubular sections are used, then dimensional stability is achieved, but the structure becomes complex and difficult to inspect
Solution Approach 1:
The surge baffle is divided into multiple longitudinal elements arranged in parallel, each element being a simple flat strip rather than a complex double-shelled structure. This segmentation allows each element to be structurally simple while the collective arrangement provides the necessary stability through their coordinated positioning and spacing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and removes the complex double-shelled or tubular sections from the design, replacing them with simple flat strips. This extraction eliminates the problematic cavities and complex structures while retaining the essential surge prevention function through the simplified elements.
2Stability of the object's composition
If surge baffle arrangements with closed cavities are used, then structural stability is improved, but inspection and cleaning become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention completely removes closed cavities from the surge baffle design, using only open flat strip elements. This extraction eliminates the inspection and cleaning difficulties associated with enclosed spaces while maintaining structural stability through the arrangement and profiling of the strips.
Solution Approach 2:
The flat strips are given specific local qualities through their cross-sectional profiling (such as L-shaped, U-shaped, or angled configurations) that provide stability at critical locations while maintaining overall structural openness. The profiling is applied locally to achieve stability without creating enclosed cavities.
3Device complexity
If surge baffle elements are designed with flat strips, then structural complexity is reduced, but dimensional stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from considering only the planar arrangement of flat strips to incorporating their three-dimensional cross-sectional profiling. By adding dimensional complexity in the cross-sectional direction (through L-shapes, U-shapes, or angled profiles), the simple flat strips gain enhanced dimensional stability while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple flat strip elements are arranged in parallel segments across the tank cross-section. This segmentation allows each individual strip to remain simple while the collective arrangement, combined with their spacing and profiling, provides the necessary dimensional stability through distributed support and resistance to surge forces.
4Ease of manufacture
If surge baffle elements are joined directly to tank shell, then installation is simplified, but stress on tank shell increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces intermediate elements as mediators between the surge baffle flat strips and the tank shell. These intermediate elements serve as connection members that distribute the loads and stresses more evenly, reducing the stress concentration on the tank shell while maintaining installation simplicity through a modular connection system.
5Reliability
If surge baffle arrangement covers larger tank cross-section, then anti-surge performance is improved, but cleaning access is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The surge baffle system is segmented into multiple longitudinal elements spaced apart from each other, creating gaps and channels between them. This segmentation allows the system to cover a large portion of the tank cross-section for effective surge prevention while simultaneously providing access pathways for cleaning operations to reach all surfaces including the tank shell and baffle elements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
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AI summary
The invention relates to a surge baffle arrangement (3f, m, r) for tank containers comprising, arranged transversely to a longitudinal axis of the tank, surge baffle elements (31, 33, 35) interspercing the tank interior and joined by their ends (91, 92) to a tank shell (2) defining the tank interior (7). The surge baffle elements (31, 33, 35) are engineered as flat longitudinally profiled elements oriented vertical in the profile direction and comprising free inner and outer side edges (37, 39) in the profile direction. The invention also relates to a tank container which comprises such a surge baffle arrangement.