The Safety Design Research of a LNG Carrier Vehicle

LNG is the abbreviation for liquefied natural gas, which is recognized as one of the world’s clean energies. LNG is one product at natural gas that through purification and ultra-low temperature is liquefied. The liquefied natural gas is very suitable for LNG transportation by a truck. China is a big country rich in natural resources. The use of natural gas is in favor of Chinese energy structure adjustment. It has important strategic significance to improve the ecological environment and the quality of people’s lives. A LNG carrier vehicle is a cryogenic liquid tanker truck used to transport liquefied natural gas in an ultra-low temperature environment. Because LNG is flammable, explosive, and cryogenic and so on, it is very important the safety design of LNG carrier vehicle demanded in the road transport safety. LNG carrier vehicles usually consist of LNG cryogenic liquid storage tanks, trailer running gears, piping systems, a control box and other components. Among them prone to accidents are mainly LNG cryogenic liquid storage tanks and safety accessories. This paper dealt with the safety design research to these two systems. The main tasks included the following: 1. The statuses of the development of LNG carrier vehicle were studied to understand the devel-opment of LNG carrier vehicle safety performance, indicating the need for LNG carrier vehicle safety design. 2. The structure and composition of LNG carrier vehicle was studied, and the accident type of LNG transport, in order to indicate the direction for the safety design of LNG carrier vehicle. 3. The main components of LNG carrier vehicle, LNG tanks and vehicle safety accessories were designed and the safety design requirements were kept in mind. 4. A LNG carrier vehicle which general size is 37m3 in China was case studied, and the method of AHP was used to analyze the LNG carrier vehicle to see whether it can achieve safety re-quirements during the transportation. The analysis results show that the LNG carrier vehicle with safety design is able to meet the safety requirements