A sealed and thermally insulating tank wherein the distance between two adjacent corrugations of the corrugated metal sheets of the sealing membrane is equal to a predetermined corrugation interval io, the sealing membrane comprising, around a through-element: two notched rectangular metal plates 3io wide in the first direction and 7io long in the second direction, which are symmetrical to one another, each notched rectangular metal plate having three outer edges disposed in line with a plurality of anchor plates and welded onto the first plurality of anchor plates and an inner edge having a notch formed to avoid cutting a square window through which the through-element passes, and two metal retrofit plates disposed between the non-notched portions of the inner edges of the two notched rectangular metal plates.

This application relates to a liquefied natural gas storage apparatus. The apparatus includes a heat insulated tank and liquefied natural gas contained in the tank. The tank has heat insulation sufficient to maintain liquefied natural gas therein such that most of the liquefied natural gas stays in liquid. The contained liquefied natural gas has a vapor pressure from about 0.3 bar to about 2 bar. The apparatus further includes a safety valve configured to release a part of liquefied natural gas contained in the tank when a vapor pressure of liquefied natural gas within the tank becomes higher than a cut-off pressure. The cut-off pressure is from about 0.3 bar to about 2 bar.

The present invention provides a control device that includes a first temperature detection unit that detects a partition wall temperature of a tank main body in which liquefied gas is contained, and a second temperature detection unit that detects a temperature of a skirt that supports the tank main body. The control device further includes a temperature difference acquisition unit that acquires a temperature difference between the partition wall temperature detected by the first temperature detection unit and the temperature of the skirt which is detected by the second temperature detection unit, and a determination unit that determines whether or not a joint between the tank main body and the skirt is rapidly cooled by the liquefied gas on the basis of the partition wall temperature and the temperature difference.

An apparatus, system and method for capture, utilization and sendout of latent heat in boil off gas (BOG) onboard a cryogenic storage vessel is described. A liquefied gas vessel comprises a cryogenic cargo tank onboard a liquefied gas vessel, the cargo tank comprising a liquefied gas and a BOG, a latent heat exchanger fluidly coupled to a stream of the liquefied gas and a stream of the BOG, wherein the latent heat exchanger transfers a heat between the BOG stream and the liquefied gas stream to produce a condensed BOG, means for combining the condensed BOG and the liquefied gas stream to obtain a combined stream, the means for combining the condensed BOG and the liquefied gas stream fluidly coupled to the latent heat exchanger, and a liquefied gas regasifier onboard the vessel and fluidly coupled to the combined stream, wherein the liquefied gas regasifier regasifies the combined stream.

The present invention provides eductors comprising: a component having a metal surface: and a hydrophobic surface layer applied thereto, directly or through an intermediate layer. The surface layer comprises a self-assembled monolayer prepared from a fluorinated material having the structure:

##STR00001##

wherein A is an oxygen radical or a chemical bond; n is 1 to 20; Y is H, F, C.sub.nH.sub.2n+1 or C.sub.nF.sub.2n+1; X is H or F; b is at least 1, m is 0 to 50, p is 1 to 20, and Z is an acid group or an acid derivative. Also provided is a method of reducing deposition of a friction reducer on a metal surface of a component of an eductor, comprising: contacting the surface with a fluorinated material in a diluent, wherein the fluorinated material has the structure above; forming a film on the metal surface; and introducing the friction reducer into the apparatus.

The present invention provides methods of reducing friction on a surface of an apparatus that stores or transports a gas, comprising: (a) contacting the surface either directly or through an intermediate organometallic layer with a fluorinated material in a diluent, wherein the fluorinated material has the following structure:

##STR00001##

wherein A is an oxygen radical or a chemical bond; n is 1 to 20; Y is H, F, C.sub.nH.sub.2n+1 or C.sub.nF.sub.2n+1; X is H or F; b is at least 1, m is 0 to 50, p is 1 to 20, and Z is an acid group or an acid derivative; (b) forming a hydrophobic surface layer on the surface; and (c) introducing the gas into the apparatus.

The present invention provides treated gravel pack screens comprising a metal surface and a hydrophobic surface layer applied thereto, directly or through an intermediate layer. The surface layer comprises a self-assembled monolayer prepared from a fluorinated material having the structure:

##STR00001##

wherein A is an oxygen radical or a chemical bond; n is 1 to 20; Y is H, F, C.sub.nH.sub.2n+1 or C.sub.nF.sub.2n+1; X is H or F; b is at least 1, m is 0 to 50, p is 1 to 20, and Z is an acid group or an acid derivative. Also provided is a method of reducing deposition of a contaminant on a metal surface of a gravel pack screen, comprising: contacting the surface with the above fluorinated material in a diluent, directly or through an intermediate layer; forming a hydrophobic surface layer on the surface; and introducing a fluid through the gravel pack screen.

The present invention provides treated, transportable ISO tanks comprising an interior metal surface and a hydrophobic surface layer applied thereto, directly or through an intermediate layer. The surface layer comprises a self-assembled monolayer prepared from a fluorinated material having the structure:

##STR00001##

wherein A is an oxygen radical or a chemical bond; n is 1 to 20; Y is H, F, C.sub.nH.sub.2n+1 or C.sub.nF.sub.2n+1; X is H or F; b is at least 1, m is 0 to 50, p is 1 to 20, and Z is an acid group or an acid derivative. Also provided is a method of reducing deposition of a friction reducer on a surface of an apparatus that stores or transports the same, comprising: contacting the surface with the above fluorinated material in a diluent, directly or through an intermediate layer; forming a film on the surface; and introducing the friction reducer therein.

A heat insulation structure for corner parts of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tank includes a secondary insulation wall arranged on an inner wall of a hull, a secondary sealing wall disposed on the secondary insulation wall, a primary insulation wall arranged on the secondary sealing wall, and a primary sealing wall disposed on the primary insulation wall. The heat insulation structure includes a corner assembly finishing an edge of the primary sealing wall at a corner part of the storage tank to complete sealing of the storage tank. The corner assembly includes an endcap sheet finishing each of four corners of the primary sealing wall provided to each surface of the storage tank to seal the four corners. The endcap sheet includes an endcap corrugation and an elongated corrugation extending in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the endcap corrugation extends.

A cryogenic tank, or a support structure of a cryogenic tank, is constructed from a number of panels of aluminum extrusion sheets having integrated in-line cooling channels. These channels carry a cooling fluid to absorb heat from the contents of the cryogenic tank, thus cooling the contents. Boil-off vapor from contents of the cryogenic tank or cold helium from another tank may be circulated through the channels to maintain temperatures of the contents in the cryogenic tank, which may be a propellant such as liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen.