A scalable and prismatic pressure vessel for transport and storage of natural gas

Abstract

This paper deals with a new, innovative concept for storage and transportation of gas, notably natural gas under cryogenic, liquefied, and pressurized conditions. This new prismatic pressure vessel design differs largely from traditional pressure vessels that typically are cylindrical or spherical shell structures. The current design principle is based on balancing the pressure on opposite outer walls by way of an internal, force transferring tension structure. This internal structure has the appearance of a lattice; thus, this type of tank is termed the "Lattice Pressure Vessel" (LPV). The LPV is fully modular and scalable in the three spatial directions. It has the potential of becoming a key component to facilitate the transition from heavy fuel oil and marine fuel oil to the much cleaner natural gas and hydrogen as fuel for propulsion of ships. The paper describes design principles, outlines how computational analyses have been verified by comparing results with four different, instrumented test tanks. Moreover, a series of examples of pressure vessel designs are given which illustrate the benefits of structural efficiency as well as the ability of fitting such pressure vessels within the limited space on board ships.