VEHICULE/CONTENEUR

VEHICLE/VESSEL

Abrégé anglais

ABSTRACT
A vehicle/vessel having at least one compartment for trans-
porting a material therein, in particular a material which
must he maintained at a temperature which is higher than an
ambient temperature, whereby at least one thermally insu-
lating support is provided for supporting, in an at least
substantially thermally insulating manner, said at least one
compartment with respect to the other part of said vehicle/
vessel.

Revendications

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A vehicle/vessel having at least one compartment for
transporting a material therein, in particular a
material which must be maintained at a temperature
which is higher than an ambient temperature, charac-
terized in that at least one thermally insulating
support is provided for supporting, in an at least
substantially thermally insulating manner, said at
least one compartment with respect to the other part of
said vehicle/vessel.
2. A vehicle/vessel according to Claim 1,
that said at least one thermally insulating support
freely supports said at least one compartment, i.e.
leaving a pace between the walls of said at least one
compartment and the walls of the vehicle/vessel.
3. A vehicle/vessel according to claim 1 or 2, charac-
terized in that said at least one thermally insulating
support contains upper means having such a low coeffi-
cient of friction that said at least one compartment
can move across said at least one thermally insulating
support.
4. A vehicle/vessel according to claim 3, characterized in
that the thermal properties of said upper means are
such that said means are thermally resistant to the
higher temperature at which the material must possibly
be maintained, and that the mechanical properties of
said upper means are such that said upper means are
mechanically resistant to the weight load of said at
least one compartment.

5. A vehicle/vessel according to claim 3 or 4, charac-
terized in that said at least one thermally insulating
support furthermore contains intermediate means having
thermally insulating properties.
6. A vehicle/vessel according to claim 5, characterized in
that said intermediate means are compressible and have
pressure-distributing properties.
7. A vehicle/vessel according to claim 3, 4, 5 or 6,
characterized in that said at least one thermally
insulating support furthermore contains lower means
having thermally insulating properties.
8. A vehicle/vessel according to any one of the preceding
claims 3 - 7, characterized in that said means are at
least partially provided in a holder.
9. A thermally insulating support obviously suitable for
use in a vehicle/vessel according to any one of the
preceding claims.

Description

~ICLE~E S~L
~he inventi~n relate~ ~o a vehicle~ves~el having at leas~ one
c4mpartmen~ ~or oontaining a material t.h~rein, in particular
a material which ~ust be maintained a~ a temperat~re which is
higher ~han an ambient temperatur~.
such a vehicl~/vessel i~ generally ~nown. The disad~antage of
known vehicleslvessels tship~) ha~ing internal ¢ompartments
for tran~porting ~herein in par~cular ohemical~, which must
~o be maintained at a ce~ain ~empera~ur~, ~.g. 200 ~C, in ~aid
ao~partment, is that preci~ly beGause th~ internal aompar~
~ents ha~e ~ fix~d (mechaniaal) conn~ntion to ~he shiplæ
sid~, sai~ shipl~ ~ide and the çompartmen~ wall~ may b~
~ub~ct~to enorm~u~ materi~l str~s3es. tnd~ed~ i~ the
15 chemical~ have a temper~ture o~ e.g. 200 C and ~he w~ter
~urroundin~ the vRs~el h~ a tempera~ure o~ e.g. 10 ~C, there
ls a temperatur~ fall of a~ mu~h as 190 C. The ~buve
matorial ~tr~fi~s le2d to ~rack~ in the ship'~ ~ide ~nd the
compartment w~lls.
2Q In order to overcome the ~b~ve drawba~k it has al~eady been
propos~ ~o fix ~he c~mpart~ents to ~he de~k in~tead o~ to
th~ s~ip'~ 61d~. ~n praatice this 601ution di~ not ~p~e~r to

be satisfa~tory, sin~e mat~rial ~tresses ar~ pr~duced in t~e
deck after al', ~s a result of the difference in temperature
between the deck - whlch is in communicatio~ with the
sur~ounding air - and the compar~ments, ~:ith all its ~dver~e
ef~ects ~cra~k~).
The object of ~he inventi~n is to provide a vehicletvessel
having at least one compartment which is parti~ularly
~uitable for ~r~nsportin~ therein a m~terial which must be
main~ained at a higher temperature ~han an a~bient ~empera-
0 ~ure, whereby the m~terial stres~es in the vehicle~vessel asa result of temperatu~e ~i~ference~ rem~in a~ an ~coeptable
level.
.
In order to ac~omplish that objective ~ vehicle/vessel of the
kind mentioned in the preamble is characterized in that at
` 15 least one ~hermally insulating ~uppo~t i5 p~o~ided for
supporting, in an at leas~ subs~antially ther~ally insulating
~:- manner, s~id at least one compartment with respect to the
other part o~ ~aid vehicle~vessel.
One e~bodiment of a vehicle/vessel according to the inven~ior.
is characterized in ~hat ~aid at least one ~hermally insu-
lating ~upport freely supp~rts ~aid at le~t ~ne ~om~artment,
i.e. leaving a ~pace between the w~118 of ~id a~ least one
c~mpar~men~ and the walls of ~he vehicleJYe~17 Such ~ spacQ
: is especially i~portant ~ince there is to ~e ~o ~echanical
th~rma~ contac~ ~etwee~ said at le~t ~ne c~mpartment and
for example the w~ of the ves el e.g. ~s a result o~ wave
moYement~ oI tne ~essel.
- Another embodim~nt of ~ vehi~lelvessel accordi~g to the
- ih~entiOn is characterized in that oeaid at lea~t one ~her-
mally insul~ting oupport cont~ins upp~r me~ns having s~¢~ ~
low coeff icient of friction that ~aid at least one compart-
ment can move across sQid at le~st one therm~lly insulating
:

suE~port .
Anothel embodiment of a ~ehicle~vessel accordi~lg to the
inventlon is characterized in that the thermal prc)perties of
said upper ~eans are such that said means are therm~lly --
re~i.st~nt to the higher te~perature at whi.ch the material
must possibly be maintained, and that the mechanical proper~
tie~ of s~id up~er means are such that said upper means are
~echanically resistant to the weight load of said at least
one compartment. I~ e.g. asphalt - which m~st be maintain~d
0 at a ~ixed temperature o~ ~bo~t 200 C - l~ t~ansported in an
internal compartment in a vessel according to the invention,
said upper means must in any case stand u~ to s~id te~pera~
ture of 20~ ~C, whilst more~v~r ~he ~pper means mu~t be able
to bear a w~igh~ load o~` e.gA ~0 tons.
Another embodiment of a vehicle/ves~e~l according ~o the
inventlon is characteri~ed in that fi~id at least one ther-
mally in~ulating support furthermore contains .inte~nediate
means navin~ ~hermally insulating propert.ies.
Ano~her embodiment of a vehicle/ves~l accordins to the
invention is ch~racteri2~d in that said in~ermediate means
are compr~ssible and have pr~ssure-distributiny properties~
Sa~d pressure-~istri~uting propertie~ in paxticular function
~o prevent that, i~ e.g. a poin~ lo~d is ~xer~ed at several
~ocations on the support, the whole will d~orm.
Another embodiment of a vehicle/vessel accor~ing to the
invention is characterized in that said at least one
thermally insulating support furthermore contains lower
means having thermally insulating properti s. In the
aforementioned case of asphalt having a temperature of
200 being transported said thermally insulating proper-
ties are preferably such that the temperature which said
lower means give off at their bottom sides is about
70 C or less.
Another embodiment of a vehicle/vessel according to the

inven~ion is characterized in that said means are at leact
partially E~rovid~d in ~ holder.
The inv~n~ion ~urthermore relat~s to a thermally insula~ing
support o~viously suitable for use in a vehicle/ves~el
5 accordilg ~ the inventi~n.
The invention will be further explained with reference t~
Figures i 1 l~Gtrated in a drawing, whereln
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal di~r~mmatic sec~ion o~ a
~hermally insul~tiny ~upport o~ a vehicle~vessel
1~ accordi~g to the inv~n~ion;
~igure 2 shows a cross-seotion th~re.of; and
Figure 3 sh~ws a perspeati~e ~iew thereo~.
Figure 1 shows a therm~lly in~lati~g suppor~ 1 providad with
upper means 2 ha~ing a low coef~i~ient of fri~ion, in order
to make it possible for a bottbm wall o~ compar~ments of a
ve}li~le/vessel accordin~ to the inventiQn - s~pp~r~ed on a
lQwer support 3 - to ~lide thereover~ Th~ &onst~u~t~on of
said upper mean~ 2, a~ r~gards ~heir aomposition, i ~uch
tha~ said upper ~ean~ can a~ply ~t~nd ~p ~o a kemper~ture ~f
e.g. 20D ~C - being the temperature ~ whi~h ~sph~lt is to be
: maintained duri~ tran~port - an~ the w~ig~t o~ the compart-
ments (app. ~o tons). Th~ upper means 2 are pre~rably made
a material which is known b~ ~he n~e ~ t'~r~T~M Polyether-
imide ~esin". This ~pecific m~te~ial has e.g. ~he following
proper~ies: tensile ~trength. 40 Nl~m2 ~t 190 C; ~lexural
modulus. 3~0D N/mm2; impact strength: ~ 3~ Nm; heat defl~c-
tion tempera~ure: 200 VC at l.B~ N~mm~
Furthermore in~eL~ediate means 5 ~re pro~ided, ~ai~ interme-
diate means being compressibl~ ~nd ha~ing th~rmally insu-

l~ting and presssure-~l.Lstributing propertie~. The inter~e-
diate means ~ are in this Ga~e e.g. a mat of silicone rubber
(e.g. a Yiny~. methyl ~ilicone ~olymer compounded at an
optimum resi~tance ~o ageing). Additlonally lower ~eans 6
having thermally insulating properties are pr~sent, e.g,
EPDM-rubber ~e.g. an ethylene propylene terpolymer having no
~ou~le Gompounds ln ~he main chain, ~ a result o~ whi~h a
gre~t temperature resistance and a great ~ohesion ~re
obtained). The whole is contained in a m~tal holder 7 with
upright walls ~, ~o that at high weight loads ~he rubbers do
~o bulge out ~aterally.
In Figures 2 and 3 ~orresponding part~ ~ve been given the
same ref erenCe nume. als .
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Dessin représentatif