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US 4,472,946 AGranted
Cryogenic storage tank with built-in pump
OwnerEugene B. Zwickinventor
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OwnerEugene B. Zwickinventor
Estimating the term…
A cryogenic storage tank with a built-in pump for pumping cryogen directly from the primary storage container consistent with low boil-off losses of cryogen has an outer vessel, an inner vessel and an evacuated insulation space therebetween. A pump mounting tube assembly extends into the interior of the inner vessel and includes an inner pump mounting tube and an outer pump mounting tube joined at their lower rims to define an insulating jacket between the two tubes. The inner pump mounting tube is affixed at its upper end to the outer vessel while the outer pump mounting tube is affixed at its upper end to the inner vessel. The inner pump mounting tube defines a relatively long heat path into the cryogenic container and is itself insulated from the liquid cryogen by a pocket of trapped gas formed within the inner pump mounting tube by heated cryogen. A pump may be introduced through the inner pump mounting tube and is also insulated against contact with liquid cryogen by the trapped gas such that only the lowermost end of the pump is immersed in cryogen thereby minimizing heat leakage into the tank.
A low boil-off cryogenic tank for use with a built-in pump comprising:
A cryogenic storage tank with a built-in pump comprising an outer vessel, an inner vessel and an insulation space therebetween, an outer tube within said inner vessel connected at its upper end to said inner vessel, an inner tube within said outer tube connected at its upper end to said outer vessel, said outer and inner tubes being joined at their lower rims to define an annular space between said inner and outer tubes communicating with said insulation space, the inner tube thus being in thermal contact with the relatively warm outer vessel and the outer tube being in thermal contact with the cryogen cooled inner vessel connected to said inner tube at its lower end.
A cryogenic storage tank with a built-in pump comprising an insulated vessel, a pump mounting tube extending vertically through the wall of said insulated vessel and having an open lower end, said pump mounting tube having an inner surface thermally insulated from the vessel wall in contact with cryogen stored in said vessel and the outer surface of the pump mounting tube, and a cryogenic pump extending into said vessel through said pump mounting tube said pump having a cryogen intake disposed below said lower end of the mounting tube, said pump mounting tube being closed at its upper end so as to contain a pocket of vaporized cryogen in its interior.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.