The invention relates to a method for detection of a leak from a tank for liquid gas, said tank comprising a membrane surrounding the liquid gas, the membrane being surrounded by an insulation space which separates the membrane from a wall, the insulation space being filled an inert gas which is injected and extracted by at least one duct. The detection method comprises the following steps: determining 921 a first variation of mass of inert gas ΔM1 between two moments by measuring the gas added and removed by the duct; calculating 922 a second variation of mass of inert gas ΔM2 corresponding to a difference between two masses of inert gas measured in the insulation space; and comparing 931 the first variation with the second variation, and triggering an alarm if a difference E1 between the first variation and the second variation of mass of inert gas is greater than a first threshold S1.

A method for checking the sealing of a sealed tank for storing a liquefied gas at low temperature, the tank having an inner hull and a secondary sealing membrane, a secondary space that is arranged between the inner hull and the secondary sealing membrane, a primary sealing membrane and a primary space that is arranged between the primary sealing membrane and the secondary sealing membrane is disclosed. The method has the following main steps: generating a pressure lower than the pressure of the primary space in the secondary space using a suction device, measuring the temperature of an outer surface of the inner hull, and detecting the location of a sealing defect of the secondary sealing membrane in the form of a cold spot on the outer surface of the inner hull.

A method of determining an optimum value of at least one first parameter of execution of a process for cooling an internal space of a tank, including testing a plurality of different values of the first parameter, each phase of testing one of the values of the first parameter including cooling the internal space of the tank, the cooling power P.sub.f or the setpoint final temperature T.sub.c being representative of the tested value of the first parameter. The steps include loading liquefied gas into the internal space of the tank after cooling, measuring a variable P1 representative of the pressure inside the thermal insulation barrier and comparing it to at least one particular threshold, and detecting a fault if the variable P1 crosses the at least one particular threshold, and choosing, among the plurality of values tested, the optimum value of the first parameter during the corresponding test phase.

A sealed and thermally insulating tank for transporting and/or storing liquefied natural gas includes a load-bearing structure and a storage structure surrounded by the load-bearing structure. The storage structure includes a first portion and a second portion that are sealed with respect to one another, the first portion and the second portion extending in one and the same plane which is parallel to the load-bearing structure. The tank includes a closure device arranged in the thickness of the storage structure. The closure device includes a first closure member and a second closure member that cooperate with one another to separate the first portion from second portion. One of the closure members includes a first part and a second part that extend in intersecting planes. One of the parts is connected to one of the portions by a fastening device that is arranged in the thickness of the storage structure.

The invention relates to a fluid storage facility, the storage facility comprising a supporting structure (1) and a tank, the tank having at least one tank bottom wall fixed to the supporting structure (1), wherein the bottom wall has a structure with multiple layers superimposed in a direction of thickness, including at least one sealing membrane and at least one thermal insulation barrier arranged between the sealing membrane and the supporting structure (1),

wherein the bottom wall has a sump structure (9) having a rigid container (10, 11) comprising a side wall (12), the container (10, 11) being arranged through the thickness of the bottom wall, and the sump structure (9) comprising at least one fixing means (15) designed to fix the rigid container (11) to the supporting structure (1) at a fixing point,
and wherein the at least one fixing means (15) is configured to allow the relative movement of the side wall (12) of the container (11) with respect to the supporting structure (1) in a transverse direction perpendicular to the side wall (12) at the fixing point of the container (11).

The invention relates to an insulated chamber comprising at least one element that may operate at sub-ambient temperature, the space around the element(s) being filled with solid insulation and means for injecting a gas containing at least 95 mol-% nitrogen into the insulation, at least some of the gas-injection means opening at a position vertically above at least one element to insulate.

A sealed and thermally insulating tank for storing a low-temperature liquefied gas, having an insulating box-section with a bottom panel coming into abutment on a support wall, by means of sealant beads disposed between the support wall and the bottom panel, the sealant beads being disposed in the form of at least one closed outline delimiting at least one confined space between the support wall and the bottom panel, the bottom panel having at least one through passage leading into the confined space to allow gas to circulate between the confined space and an internal space of the insulating box-section.

A method of determining an optimum value of at least one first parameter of execution of a process for cooling an internal space of a tank, including testing a plurality of different values of the first parameter, each phase of testing one of the values of the first parameter including cooling the internal space of the tank, the cooling power P.sub.f or the setpoint final temperature T.sub.c being representative of the tested value of the first parameter. The steps include loading liquefied gas into the internal space of the tank after cooling, measuring a variable P1 representative of the pressure inside the thermal insulation barrier and comparing it to at least one particular threshold, and detecting a fault if the variable P1 crosses the at least one particular threshold, and choosing, among the plurality of values tested, the optimum value of the first parameter during the corresponding test phase.

Sealed and thermally insulating tank comprising a sealed membrane and a thermally insulating barrier with insulating blocks comprising cover panels, the sealed membrane being made up of a corrugated metal membrane comprising a series of parallel corrugations and flat portions between the corrugations and resting on the cover panels, wherein an insulating block is twice the pitch of the corrugations, meaning that a series of corrugations comprises a pair of corrugations situated in line with one insulating block, and wherein the flat portions of the sealed membrane are arranged in line with an internal zone of the cover panels, the sealed membrane being fixed to the thermally insulating barrier by fixing the flat portions of the sealed membrane to the insulating blocks in the internal zone of the cover panels.

Collapsible containers are an attractive alternative to surface-tension propellant management devices (PMDs) for handling cryogenic liquids, as the collapsible container comparatively may 1) allow higher expulsion flow rates than vanes and sponges, 2) significantly reduce operational complexity, and 3) thermally insulate the propellant from environmental heat leaks. Furthermore, while historical cryogenic collapsible containers suffered from the low ductility of polymer films at cryogenic temperatures, the technology disclosed herein shows that the incorporation of folded patterns into the collapsible container substantially increases the reusability of the cryogenic PMD.