Description

According to a first aspect the invention relates to a pre-fab wall-unit for creating a substantially air tight space enclosable by said pre-fab wall-unit and a standard size shipping container.

According to a second aspect the invention relates to an assembly comprising a pre-fab wall-unit according to the first aspect and a standard size shipping container.

CN201 190437 discloses a positive pressure explosion-protected housing. The housing comprises a housing body having overall dimensions complying with ISO standard containers. The container is provided with a door so as to make the container suitable as a housing for housing for example equipment or personnel. Converting a standard container to such an explosion-protected housing is however relative cumbersome.

Explosion-protected housings are used for instance in explosive dangerous places such as on chemical and petroleum production plants.

An objective of the current invention is to provide a means to reduce the effort to realize an explosion-protected housing.

The objective is obtained by providing a pre-fab wall-unit for creating a substantially air tight space enclosable by said pre-fab wall-unit and a standard size shipping container according to the first aspect of the current invention, wherein said pre-fab wall-unit comprises:

- a wall-unit door for, when said pre-fab wall-unit is mounted to said container, accessing said substantially air tight space;

a pressure device for generating a pressure in said substantially air tight space, wherein said pressure in said substantially air tight space differs from an outside pressure outside said substantially air tight space.

The pre-fab wall-unit is a unit that is pre-fabricated before the actual use of the pre-fab wall-unit to create an explosion-protected housing. The pre-fab wall-unit is designed to enclose together with a shipping container a substantially air tight space. The pre-fab wall-unit is provided with a pressure device for generating a pressure inside said enclosable space for creating a positive pressure or pressure lower than the pressure of the outer air, thereby creating an explosion-protected housing. A wall-unit door is provided in the pre-fab wall-unit for providing access to the inside space enclosable by the pre-fab wall-unit and the shipping container. The shipping container does not necessarily need to be adapted in that for instance a door needs to be made in a side wall of the container. As such, the pre-fab wall-unit is a means to reduce the effort to realize an explosion-protected housing.

It is beneficial if said pre-fab wall-unit comprises coupling means for coupling said pre-fab wall-unit to inner walls of said container for realizing a substantially air tight coupling of said pre-fab wall-unit and said container. The presence of coupling means is beneficial for coupling the pre-fab wall-unit to a standard container without the need of relative strict dimensional tolerance of the outer dimensions of the pre-fab wall-unit.

In this regard, it is advantageous if said coupling means comprise abutment elements for abutting said pre-fab wall-unit against inner walls of said container. Abutment elements are advantageous for abutting the wall-unit to the inner wall at a desired location of said container.

It is beneficial if said coupling means comprise a sealing element for substantially air tight sealing of said pre-fab wall-unit to said inner walls of said container. A sealing element is beneficial to cover a free space between said pre-fab wall-unit and said inner walls of said container for creating said substantially air tight space. In this way dimensional tolerances of said container and/or said pre-fab wall- unit which may result in a gap between said pre-fab wall-unit and said inner walls of said container are closable in a relative practical manner. Leakage between said prefab wall-unit and said inner walls is in use compensated by said pressure device.

In this regard, it is advantageous if said sealing element comprises a rubber strip and/or an inflatable element. A flexible strip and/or an inflatable element are beneficial to reliably seal said pre-fab wall-unit to said inner walls.

In a practical embodiment of the pre-fab wall-unit said pressure device is arranged for providing air to said substantially air tight space to increase said pressure in said substantially air tight space and maintain said increased pressure in said substantially air tight space, wherein said pressure in said substantially air tight space is higher than said outside pressure outside said substantially air tight space. A positive pressure is beneficial for substantially reducing entry of hazardous substance present outside the substantial air tight space into said substantial air tight space.

Preferably, the pressure device is designed to realize a positive pressure meeting requirements set in standards such as I EC 60079-13. Such a positive pressure can exceed 25 Pa inside said substantially air tight space enclosable by said pre-fab wall-unit and a standard size shipping container.

In this regard it is beneficial if said wall-unit comprises an inlet measurement device for measuring a composition of said air provided to said substantially air-tight space by said pressure device. An inlet measurement device such as for example a sensor is beneficial for monitoring the provided air to maintain an explosion protected condition in said substantially air tight space.

In an embodiment of the pre-fab wall-unit, the pre-fab wall-unit comprises an air intake filter for filtering air provided to said substantially air tight space by said pressure device. An intake filter is beneficial for maintaining relative explosion protected conditions in the substantially air tight space. I n addition, the air intake filter is beneficial for realising a reduction of dust and/or sand entering the substantially air tight space for protecting any personnel and equipment present in the substantial air tight space.

In a practical embodiment of the pre-fab wall-unit, wherein said pressure device is arranged for removing air from said substantially air tight space to reduce said pressure in said substantially air tight space and maintain said reduced pressure in said substantially air tight space, wherein said pressure in said substantially air tight space is lower than said outside pressure outside said substantially air tight space. A reduced pressure is beneficial for substantially reducing exit of hazardous substance present inside the substantial air tight space. Such a reduction is beneficial when using said container to house hazardous substances and/or equipment while maintaining relative safe conditions outside said container.

In this regard it is beneficial if said wall-unit comprises an outlet measurement device for measuring a composition of said air removed from said substantially air tight space by said pressure device. An outlet measurement device such as for example a sensor is beneficial for monitoring the air extracted from said substantially air tight space to maintain relative safe conditions outside said container. It is advantageous if said wall-unit comprises a ventilation device, wherein said ventilation device is arranged to allow ventilation of said substantially air tight space in a first state of said ventilation device and to prevent ventilation by said ventilation device in a second state of said ventilation device. Such a ventilation device is advantageous to ventilate the substantially air tight space for instance for refreshing the air inside the substantially air tight space before generating a desired pressure by said pressure device in said substantially air tight space by bringing the ventilation device in the first state.

In this regard it is beneficial if said ventilation device comprises a ventilation measurement element for determining a ventilation rate realised by said ventilation device, at least in said first state of said ventilation device. This is advantageous to determine a desired refreshment rate set in standards such as I EC 60079-13 before using the substantially air tight space.

It is advantageous if said pre-fab wall-unit comprises a second wall- unit door, wherein said wall-unit door and said second wall-unit door are spaced apart for creating an air lock between said substantially air tight space and the outer air. An air lock is beneficial for maintaining relative explosion-protected conditions in the substantially air tight space while a person enters or exits the substantially air tight space.

In an embodiment of said pre-fab wall-unit, said pressure device comprises a fan for providing air to and/or remove air from said substantially air tight space. Providing said pressure device with a fan is a practical way to realize, in use, a desired pressure in the enclosable substantially air tight space.

It is advantageous if said pre-fab wall-unit is a single portable unit. A single portable unit is beneficial to transport and install the unit inside a container.

In a practical embodiment said pre-fab wall-unit is a composite unit, wherein the composite unit comprises a first unit having said wall-unit door for accessing said substantially air tight space and a second unit having said pressure device for generating said pressure in said substantially air tight space. A composite unit is beneficial for transporting the wall-unit in smaller sub-units.

According to a second aspect the invention relates to an assembly comprising a pre-fab wall-unit according to the first aspect of the current invention and a standard size shipping container, wherein said pre-fab wall-unit is mounted to said container for providing said substantially air tight space. The advantages of such an assembly are analogue to the advantages of the pre-fab wall-unit according the first aspect of the current invention.

It is beneficial if said shipping container has an access door provided at an end face thereof for providing access to an interior of said container via said end face, wherein said pre-fab wall-unit is provided such that said substantially air tight space is enclosed by said pre-fab wall-unit and said standard size shipping container when said access door is opened. Providing the pre-fab wall- unit in this way is beneficial for realizing a relative large and good accessible air tight space given a standard shipping container.

In this regard it is advantageous if said pre-fab wall-unit is substantially close to said end face.

It is beneficial if said access door is closable to close said shipping container. This is beneficial for transportation of the assembly.

The present invention will now be explained by means of a description of a preferred embodiment of a pre-fab wall-unit according to the first aspect of the invention, an assembly according to the second aspect of the invention, in which reference is made to the following schematic figures, in which:

Figure 1 is an isometric front view of a preferred embodiment of a pre-fab wall-unit according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-section B-B of the pre-fab wall-unit from figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is an isometric view of a pre-fab wall-unit and a standard sized shipping container;

Figure 4 is an isometric view of an assembly according to the second aspect of the current invention.

Figures 1 and 2 show a pre-fab wall-unit 2. The wall-unit 2 is provided with a wall-unit door 4 for providing access to a second wall-unit door 6 via an airlock 8. Automatic closing devices are provided for automatically closing the wall-unit door 4 and the second wall-unit door 6. A seal is provided for realising a waterproof closure of the wall-unit door 6 in the closed position thereof. The airlock 8 is provided with gas detection means for detection predetermined gasses in the airlock 8 between the wall-unit door 4 and the second wall-unit door 6.

The rear side of the pre-fab wall-unit 2 is in use directed towards the space enclosed by said wall-unit 2 and a standard size shipping container 10. The rear side of the pre-fab wall-unit 2 is provided with an air inlet 12 for letting air via the pre-fab wall-unit 2 in said enclosed space and an air outlet 14 for removing air via the pre-fab wall-unit 2 from said enclosed space. The wall-unit 2 is provided with a pressure device 16 such as a fan for in use pressurizing air before providing the pressurized air to the substantially air tight space through the air inlet 12. The pressurized air provided to the substantially air tight space is climatized using a climatization unit 18. Climatization of the air can either occur before or after pressurizing the air using the pressure device 16. A ventilation device 25 comprising a ventilation fan and a ventilation measurement device is provided in the wall-unit 2. The ventilation device 25 has a ventilation inlet opening at the rear side of the wall- unit 2 and a ventilation outlet opening at the side in use directed to the outer air. The ventilation measurement device comprises a sensor arrangement for measuring air flow in the ventilation device 25 to determine the refresh rate of the substantial air tight space.

The wall-unit 2 is provided with coupling means 20 for realizing a substantially air tight coupling between the wall-unit 2 and the container 10. The coupling means 20 comprise first abutment elements 22, second abutment elements 24 and a sealing element. After placing the wall-unit 2 in a desired position in a container 10 the first abutment elements 22 are moved towards the inside top wall of container 10. The first abutment elements 22 are designed to clamp and/or bolt the wall-unit 2 to the inside top wall of the container 10. The second abutment means 24 at the front and rear side of the wall-unit 2 are moved toward the inside side walls of the container 10 to clamp and/or bolt the wall-unit 2 to the inside side walls of the container 10. The sealing element is not shown in the figures and can be provided between the outer wall 28 of the wall-unit 2 and the inside walls of container 10 to realize a substantially air tight sealing of said wall-unit to said inner walls of said container. The sealing means can for instance comprise a rubber strip and/or an inflatable element. Leakage between the wall-unit 2 and the container 10 is in use compensated by the pressurization device 16.

Figure 6 shows an assembly 30 of wall-unit 2 mounted substantially near the end face of container 10. The first and second abutment elements 22 and 24 are mounted to the inside walls of container 10. The wall-unit 2 is mounted such that the container doors 26 can be closed when the wall-unit is mounted inside container 10. The assembly shown in figure 6 is obtained by placing the pre-fab wall- unit 2 inside said container 10. After placing the wall-unit 2 inside the container 10, the wall-unit 2 is mounted to inner walls of the container 10 by deploying the first and second abutment elements. The sealing element is not shown in figure 6.