Gas companies keep a big tank of gas on hand.This tank usually has a frame above it, several stories high.What is it for?
The gas tank is not full. As I understand it a old style gasometer is not chilled, but is stored in sufficient quantities at moderate pressure that it remains liquid. The tank is adjusted up and down the frame as appropriate to preserve these storage conditions for different stocks of gas.
picmr
The tank itself is increased in volume? I hope o-rings are not involved.They would be pretty big and o-rings are usually not the best solution.
Traditional gasometers consist of an open ended tank which floats in a deep pool of water:
|-----------|
| gas |
| |
====| |===========| |===water/ground level
| | | |
| |
| water |
|_____________|
Gas is fed in and removed by pipes which come in from beneath and come up just clear of the water line (not in diagram).
When gas was manufactured from coal the gasometers were located at the gas works and used to store production to cover peak usage times. Nowadays with piped natural gas they are still used to act as local resevoirs to help keep pressure.
Darn it, my diagram got squished when I posted it. Blast those proportional fonts :mad:
Check out Biogas Ron Shannon (Australia) for further explanation and diagram of this and other gas storage, production etc. ideas. This part is about a quarter of the way through the paper.
“What is a gasometer? A gasometer is simply a variable-volume storage tank for gas, normally at a fairly low pressure suitable for the appliances that use it. A fixed dimension container for gas suffers from a problem when delivering it’s gas to the user site in that the pressure will vary from quite high when the container is full, to quite low when it is nearly empty. A gasometer combines the functions of storage, over-pressure safety valve and pressure regulation in one structure - an ideal permaculture device! This is achieved by having one gas-tight tank float upside-down in another tank of water with the gas being stored beneath the floating tank. As more gas is produced, it is stored in the gasometer and the floating tank rises to accommodate the increased volume. Conversely, as gas is consumed, the floating tank floats lower. In this way, the gas pressure is kept constant at a pressure determined by the weight of the floating tank no matter what the volume of the stored gas.”