Three-bottoms Pressure Tank with Variable Wall Thickness
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pressure tanks, particularly toroidal designs, face inefficiencies in material usage and safety due to their two-bottom structure, which limits volume increase at lower pressures and requires more material for similar sizes and purposes.
Innovation Solution
A three-bottoms tank design with connected outer and inner shells, featuring varying wall thickness zones in connector pipes and a central inner part that allows for increased volume without material excess, enhancing safety and production efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a two-bottoms toroidal tank structure is used, then the tank can be manufactured with conventional methods, but the volume increase at lower pressures is limited and more material is required for similar sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The tank is divided into three separate bottoms (first bottom, second bottom, and third bottom) instead of the conventional two bottoms. The third bottom is positioned between the first and second bottoms and is connected to both, creating additional internal volume space. This segmentation allows the tank to achieve greater volume at lower pressures without requiring excessive material, as the third bottom effectively utilizes the internal space between the outer shells.
2Reliability
If a two-bottoms toroidal tank structure is used, then the manufacturing process is relatively simple, but the safety is reduced due to limited volume increase before blowout
Solution Approach 1:
By introducing a third bottom between the first and second bottoms, the tank structure is segmented into multiple chambers. This segmentation increases the volume expansion capacity before blowout, thereby improving safety. The third bottom acts as an additional structural element that distributes stress and allows for greater volume increase before failure, while the overall structure remains relatively simple and manufacturable.
3Volume of moving object
If the third bottom is connected to both first and second bottoms, then the volume increase is enhanced, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The third bottom is nested between the first and second bottoms, effectively utilizing the space between the outer shells. This nesting approach allows the third bottom to be connected to both first and second bottoms without significantly increasing manufacturing complexity, as it fits within the existing structural framework. The third bottom can be welded or connected to the first and second bottoms in a straightforward manner, maintaining ease of manufacture while enhancing volume.
4Loss of substance
If varying wall thickness zones are implemented in connector pipes, then material usage is optimized, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The connector pipes are designed with varying wall thicknesses in different zones. The first zone has increased wall thickness for structural strength and safety, while the second zone has reduced wall thickness to optimize material usage. This local quality approach allows the connector pipes to meet strength requirements where needed while reducing material consumption in less critical areas, thereby optimizing overall material usage with manageable manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
Subject of the invention is pressure tank, especially three-bottoms tank, creating beneficially toroidal tank, comprising connected bottoms, equipped with connector pipes for installation, brackets for fastening the tank and cover, type plate, equipment cover, inner bottom, inner shell, divider and is characterized by that the outer, upper bottom (1) together with outer, lower bottom (2) create outer tank shell, whereas inner bottom (4) is connected with the inner shell (3), creating the central, inner part (S) of the tank, and connector pipes (9, 9a, 9b and 14) and flow connectors (15, 15a) have on their length two zones: zone A -with walls of increased thickness and zone B -with walls of reduced thickness, beneficially on the whole circumference of connector, whereas the wall thickness in zone B is between 0,5 up to 1,7 of the thickness of tank elements when the wall thickness is between 0,01 up to 2,9 mm and 0,3 up to 1,4 for walls thick above 2,90 mm.