SEALED, THERMALLY INSULATED TANK WITH JUXTAPOSED NON-CONDUCTING ELEMENTS

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sealed, thermally insulated tank capable of improving the cost of the tank, the capacity of a wall to withstand the pressure, or the heat insulation of the wall. SOLUTION: The sealed, thermally insulated tank consists of at least one tank wall fixed to a hull of a floating structure. The tank walls have insulating barriers consisting essentially of juxtaposed non-conducting elements. Each non-conducting element includes a thermal insulation liner arranged in a shape of a layer parallel to the tank walls, and load-bearing partitions rising through the thickness of the thermal insulation liner in order to take up the compression forces. The heat insulation tank is manufactured in a shape of at least one load-bearing structure in which the load-bearing element of the non-conducting element consists of single piece. The single piece has a connection means to firmly connect the load-bearing elements to each other in at least a highest portion of the load-bearing elements, and at least one load-bearing structure of the non-conducting element has a shape of a section of a hollow contour having a predetermined section in the longitudinal axial direction. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI