Pressure-Resistant Jacket for Fluid Storage Tank Temperature Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fluid storage tanks with temperature control systems are prone to contamination by a liquid cooling or heating medium when small breakages, such as cracks or pinholes, occur in the tank walls, as the medium flows into the tank, leading to potential quality issues in stored products.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that prevent contamination by maintaining the cooling or heating medium in an enclosed pressure-resistant jacket around the tank at a pressure lower than the tank's internal pressure, using a suction pump and pressure-reduction units to ensure the medium flows out of the tank and not into it, with a multistage construction for larger tanks, and sampling the medium to detect any leaks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a pressurization pump is used to force cooling or heating medium flow in the enclosed pressure-resistant jacket, then temperature control capability is improved, but the risk of medium entering the storage tank through small breakages increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional pressurization approach by using a suction pump to create negative pressure (vacuum) in the enclosed pressure-resistant jacket. Instead of forcing medium into the tank under pressure, the system sucks medium through the jacket wall, creating a pressure differential that prevents leakage into the storage tank while maintaining effective temperature control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potential harm of pressure-driven leakage into a benefit by using suction. The negative pressure created by the suction pump not only prevents medium from entering the storage tank through breakages but also enables detection of such breakages by monitoring medium flow into the suction pump, turning a failure mode into a detectable signal.
2Temperature
If the cooling or heating medium flows under high pressure in the jacket, then temperature control efficiency is improved, but detection of small breakages becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by monitoring the medium flow into the suction pump. When a breakage occurs in the jacket wall, the medium leaks into the suction pump where it can be detected through flow monitoring, level sensors, or analysis of the pumped medium. This continuous feedback enables real-time detection of small breakages that would be invisible in high-pressure conventional systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The suction pump acts as an intermediary that captures and concentrates any medium leaking through jacket breakages. Instead of medium dispersing into the storage tank or environment, it is funneled into the suction pump where detection mechanisms can easily monitor and identify the presence of leaked medium, simplifying breakage detection.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a suction pump is used to maintain negative pressure in the jacket, then contamination prevention is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The suction pump serves multiple functions simultaneously: it maintains negative pressure in the enclosed jacket to prevent contamination, provides temperature control by circulating the cooling or heating medium, and enables breakage detection by collecting and concentrating any leaked medium. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the suction pump's inherent suction function to serve multiple purposes. The same negative pressure that prevents contamination also drives the temperature control circulation and simultaneously enables breakage detection, allowing the system to self-monitor and self-protect without additional complex components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively prevents contamination of the fluid in the storage tank by maintaining a reduced pressure in the jacket, allowing detection of small breakages and ensuring the quality of the stored fluid, while maintaining temperature control.
Implementation Method 1
allowing the cooling or heating medium to flow in the enclosed pressure-resistant jacket at a pressure not higher than the pressure (x atm) applied within the fluid storage tank, preferably at a pressure lower than the pressure (x atm)
Implementation Method 2
A storage tank for storing a large amount of materials has come to be used in accordance with development of industrialization of manufacturing of various products. It is generalized to monitor (control) or maintain the temperature in the tank in compliance with the properties and use of the fluid stored in the tank.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is disclosed herein for detecting cracks of a fluid storage tank due to breakage of a wall of the fluid storage tank. In an example embodiment, the method includes positioning an enclosed pressure-resistant jacket around an outer wall of the fluid storage tank, controlling a temperature of the fluid in the fluid storage tank by allowing a liquid cooling or heating medium to flow in the enclosed pressure-resistant jacket at a pressure lower than a pressure x applied within the fluid storage tank, maintaining the pressure in the pressure-resistant jacket lower than the pressure x, sampling the cooling or heating medium from an air pool provided in a passage of the cooling or heating medium, and analyzing components of the cooling or heating medium, while preventing contamination of the fluid in the fluid storage tank with the liquid cooling or heating medium.