Modular cryogenic liquid storage systems

A customer station comprising

• (a) a cryogenic liquid storage tank having an interior, a top end, a bottom end, a top nozzle in flow communication with the interior at the top end of the tank, a bottom nozzle in flow communication with the interior at the bottom end of the tank, and an intermediate nozzle in flow communication with the interior located at a point below and adjacent the top end of the tank;
• (b) a piping skid comprising
• (1) a frame;
• (2) a first pipe section mounted on the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a valve disposed between the first end and the second end, wherein the first end is in flow communication with the top nozzle of the cryogenic liquid storage tank;
• (3) a second pipe section mounted on the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a valve disposed between the first end and the second end, wherein the first end is in flow communication with the bottom nozzle of the cryogenic liquid storage tank;
• and
• (4) a tanker fill connection in flow communication with the second end of the first pipe section and the second end of the second pipe section, wherein the tanker fill connection is adapted to receive cryogenic liquid from a cryogenic liquid tanker;
• and optionally
• (c) a vaporizer adapted to vaporize the cryogenic liquid product discharged from the cryogenic liquid storage tank to provide a gaseous product if required.

A modularized customer station comprising

• (a) a cryogenic storage tank of a type selected from the group consisting of a liquefied atmospheric gas storage tank and a liquefied hydrogen storage tank, wherein the tank has a top end, a bottom end, an interior, a top end, a bottom end, a top nozzle at the top end of the tank, a bottom at the bottom end of the tank, wherein each of the top nozzle and the bottom nozzle of the cryogenic liquid storage tank is connected to a piping run that extends to an end at or near ground level, and wherein the ends define first and second connection locations, respectively;
• and
• (b) a piping skid located adjacent the cryogenic storage tank, the piping skid comprising
• (1) a frame;
• (2) a first pipe section mounted on the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a valve disposed between the first end and the second end;
• (3) a second pipe section mounted on the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a valve disposed between the first end and the second end;
• and
• (4) a tanker fill connection in flow communication with the second end of the first pipe section and the second end of the second pipe section, wherein the tanker fill connection is adapted to receive cryogenic liquid from a cryogenic liquid tanker;
• wherein the first end of the first pipe section and the first end of the second pipe section are adjacent the first and second connection locations, respectively, of the piping runs on the cryogenic liquid storage tank when the piping skid is placed beside the cryogenic storage tank.

A method of installing a modularized customer station comprising

• (a) providing a piping skid including
• (1) a frame;
• (2) a first pipe section mounted on the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a valve disposed between the first end and the second end;
• (3) a second pipe section mounted on the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a valve disposed between the first end and the second end;
• and
• (4) a tanker fill connection in flow communication with the second end of the first pipe section and the second end of the second pipe section, wherein the tanker fill connection is adapted to receive cryogenic liquid from a cryogenic liquid tanker;
• (b) providing a cryogenic storage tank of a type selected from the group consisting of a liquefied atmospheric gas storage tank and a liquefied hydrogen storage tank, wherein the tank has a top end, a bottom end, a top nozzle at the top end of the tank, and a bottom nozzle at the bottom end of the tank, wherein the top nozzle is connected to a first piping run that extends to a first end at or near ground level, and wherein the bottom nozzle is connected to a second piping run that extends to a second end at or near ground level;
• (c) placing the cryogenic storage tank adjacent the piping skid such that the first end of the first pipe section is adjacent the first end of the first piping run and the first end of the second pipe section is adjacent the second end of the second piping run;
• and
• (d) connecting the first end of the first pipe section to the first end of the first piping run to place the first pipe section in flow communication with the first piping run, and connecting the first end of the second pipe section to the second end of the second piping run to place the second pipe section in flow communication with the second piping run.

A method of designing a customer station adapted to receive a cryogenic liquid, store the cryogenic liquid, discharge the cryogenic liquid after storage, and either provide the cryogenic liquid as a liquid product to a user or vaporize the cryogenic liquid to provide a gas product to a user, which method comprises:

• (a) selecting design parameters including
• (a1) defining at least two product types including a first product type consisting of nitrogen, oxygen, or argon and a second product type consisting of hydrogen;
• (a2) for each of the product types of (a1) defining a first range of product flow rates and a first pipe diameter for the design of a piping skid and defining a second range of product flow rates and a second pipe diameter for the design of a piping skid;
• (a3) for each of the combinations of (a2), further defining the piping types of uninsulated copper, mechanically-insulated copper, uninsulated stainless steel, mechanically insulated stainless steel, and vacuum-jacketed stainless steel;
• and
• (a4) designing standardized piping skids for one or more of the combinations of (a1) and (a2) and (a3), wherein each piping skid is adapted at least to accept liquid from a cryogenic liquid tanker, transfer the liquid to a cryogenic storage tank, and provide piping to withdraw liquid from the cryogenic storage tank for distribution to the user;
• (b) defining the product requirements of the user including
• (b1) a product type selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen;
• (b2) a product state selected from gas and liquid;
• (b3) a product flow rate or range of product flow rates;
• and
• (b4) a product pressure or range of product pressures;
• (c) if the product state of (b2) is gas, selecting a vaporizer to vaporize the cryogenic liquid from storage;
• (d) selecting a piping skid design from (a4);
• (e) selecting a type of cryogenic liquid storage tank from the group consisting of a liquefied atmospheric gas storage tank and a liquefied hydrogen storage tank;
• and
• (f) designing the customer station comprising a selected piping skid of (d), the cryogenic storage tank of (e), and optionally the vaporizer of (c).