Thermally insulated enclosure containing equipment intended to operate at a temperature below 0°c

Abstract

Insulated enclosure having at least one surface that is planar, containing at least one piece of equipment intended to operate at a temperature below 0° C., the interior space of the enclosure being intended to be at a pressure below atmospheric pressure and being filled with thermal insulation, and the thermal insulation being made up of a multitude of spherical beads made of thermally insulating material.

1 . A thermally insulated enclosure having an interior space, the thermally insulated enclosure comprising:
 at least one outer surface that is planar;   at least one piece of equipment (C, SR) intended to operate at a temperature below 0° C. disposed entirely within the interior space of the thermally insulated enclosure;   wherein the interior space of the enclosure is configured to operate at a pressure below atmospheric pressure and be at least partially filled with thermal insulation,   wherein the thermal insulation comprises, in respect of at least three-quarters of a volume of the interior space, a multitude of spherical beads made of thermally insulating material and which are hollow,   wherein the spherical beads have a diameter of at most 1 mm and have a crush strength such that the volume of an entity formed by the multitude of spherical beads would reduce by at most 10% when the entity made up of the multitude of beads are subjected to a pressure of 0.1 MPa.   
     
     
         2 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , of which the walls are not thick enough to withstand the vacuum if the insulator had a crush strength such that its volume would reduce by more than 10% when the enclosure was evacuated to a pressure below 10 −1  mbara. 
     
     
         3 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , of parallelepipedal shape. 
     
     
         4 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , in which the spherical beads are made of glass. 
     
     
         5 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , having a minimum volume of 12 m 3 . 
     
     
         6 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , wherein the enclosure comprises a container that is a parallelepipedal metal box of standardized dimensions designed for transporting goods, equipped at least at one corner with a grab component allowing the enclosure to be lashed down and transshipped. 
     
     
         7 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , wherein the equipment is selected from the group consisting of at least one column configured to perform an exchange of heat and/or of material, at least one heat exchanger, at least one storage facility, at least one phase separator, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         8 . The thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 7 , wherein the equipment is a column (C) or a heat exchanger (SR), the equipment being of parallelepipedal shape. 
     
     
         9 . A method for filling the thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of: placing at least one item of equipment inside the enclosure; filling the enclosure with the multitude of spherical beads; closing the enclosure; and at least partially evacuating the interior space inside the enclosure. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the enclosure is filled with the spherical beads through an opening formed by removing a sheet metal panel that forms part of a wall of the enclosure or that constitutes a wall of the enclosure. 
     
     
         11 . A method of separation at a temperature below 0° C. by distillation and/or scrubbing, using the thermally insulated enclosure according to  claim 1 , wherein the interior space is filled with insulation and is evacuated to a pressure below atmospheric pressure.