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Temporary Refuge (TR) shelters are an essential safety feature in hazardous environments such as offshore oil rigs, chemical processing plants, and industrial manufacturers. TR shelters provide a safe and secure area for personnel during emergency situations such as gas releases, explosions, or fires. These shelters are designed to keep personnel safe from relevant hazards during major incidents, and are equipped with communications, monitoring and control equipment to ensure personal safety and facilitate safe and complete evacuation if necessary.

One of the critical components of a TR shelter is the independent breathing system. In the event of a hazardous gas release or other emergency, the independent breathing system ensures that the air inside the shelter remains breathable and free from contaminants. This is achieved through a supply of clean air, which is circulated through the shelter using a ventilation system designed to maintain positive pressure inside the shelter.

The independent breathing system typically includes air filtration systems, which remove impurities and contaminants from the air, ensuring that the air inside the shelter is of high quality. The positive pressure system helps to prevent the ingress of harmful gases and contaminants into the shelter, ensuring that the breathable air inside is not compromised.

TR shelters are usually externally installed and have a supply duct to the TR area interior. The control panel is installed internally within the TR area and is designed as a fail-safe system, meaning that clean air will leak out of the shelter in the event of damage or an air seal leak.

TR shelters are not meant to be a permanent solution, but rather a temporary refuge until it is safe for personnel to evacuate or the emergency has been resolved. The shelter should only be occupied for a limited time, and only when the conditions outside the shelter are deemed to be hazardous.

TLS offshore containers are an excellent complement to TR shelters. These containers are designed to provide safe and secure storage of hazardous materials, equipment, and tools in offshore environments. TLS offshore containers are designed to withstand the harsh marine environment and can be used to store a range of equipment and materials, including hazardous chemicals, waste materials, and firefighting equipment.

TLS offshore containers are also designed to meet the highest safety standards, including DNV 2.7-1 and EN12079. These standards ensure that the containers are built to withstand extreme weather conditions and the rough sea, ensuring that the materials and equipment inside remain safe and secure at all times.

In conclusion, TR shelters and TLS offshore containers are essential safety features for workers in hazardous environments. The independent breathing system in TR shelters ensures that the air inside remains breathable and free from contaminants, while TLS offshore containers provide safe and secure storage for hazardous materials, equipment, and tools. These safety features are critical to the health and safety of workers in hazardous environments and are essential components of any safety program.

FEA helps improve the design and accuracy of TLS offshore containers by simulating hazardous or destructive load conditions and failure modes, allowing engineers to understand the physical response of the system.

Here are some of the advantages that FEA brings

• Improved accuracy as any physical stresses that may affect the design is analyzed.
• Improved designs as developers can observe how stresses within one element will affect the material in another connected element.
• Early testing during the development process. Virtual prototyping allows designers to model a variety of designs and materials in a matter of hours, rather than the days or weeks required to produce hard prototypes.
• Increased productivity and revenue as FEA software allows developers to produce higher quality products in a shorter design cycle while using fewer materials.
• Enhanced insight into key design parameters due to the ability to model the interior and exterior of a design. This enables designers to determine how critical factors affect the entire structure, as well as the cause and location of possible failures.
• Optimized use of models, as one common model, can be used to test multiple failure modes or physical events
• Fast calculation times and relatively low investment costs.
• Access to existing experimental results, which can be extracted from the parametric analysis of the validated model and applied to the new model

 
In summary, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) plays a crucial role in improving the design and accuracy of TLS temporary refuge (TR) shelter and blast resistant unit by simulating hazardous load conditions and failure modes.

​The FEA can help all these professionals in the development of parts and products. It will help them to make decisions at all stages of product development and answer questions such as:
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• Will it break?
• Does it deform too much?
• Will it stay together?
• Will it flex?
• Can it be lighter?
• Can it be stronger or more durable?

By using FEA from the start of the development process, you save time and money because FEA allows you to find the right solutions at the product design stage.
 
In today's industries, FEA is now one of the key activities in developing efficient products. Nobody questions the usefulness and power of such a tool.
 
In the design of shelters, explosion-proof containers, if they are designed exactly in accordance with the content of the standard, the design of the shell often does not meet the requirements of the type test. Experienced design engineers, on the other hand, design based on practical experience, and although the designed explosion-proof housing can meet the type test requirements, the weight of the housing is generally heavy and the material and transport costs are high. The use of finite element analysis for design, can effectively shorten the design cycle, while reducing material costs, perfect to meet the application standards, so that new products can be quickly marketed.
 
TLS will take full advantage of the FEA to design and manufacture shelters and blast resistant containers to suit each customer's individual requirements
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With the gradual deepening of the development and utilization of oil and gas resources by human beings, oil and gas exploration and development have shifted from the shallow continental shelf to the deep sea, drilling engineering operations must also be carried out in the ocean away from the continental shelf.
In the event of a fire, explosion, leakage or other critical situation on the platform, the personnel on board can escape to the temporary refuge shelter, guarantee the life safety of the personnel in the temporary shelter within a certain period, and organize the person discuss the escape strategy, and gain time to be rescued.
Features of temporary refuge shelter provided by TLS:

1. The positive pressure system is designed to maintain a certain positive pressure in the temporary shelter compared to the outdoor atmosphere during emergency conditions, preventing toxic gases from outside the container from entering the temporary shelter.
2. The compressed air is stored in the air bottle in the shelter, which can maintain the breathing needs of all the people who escaped to the temporary shelter on the living platform within a certain period.
3. The structure complies with the DNV2.7-1 design, and the thermal insulation and fire protection standards of the shelter are A60 level, ensuring its fire-resistant integrity within 60 minutes.
4. The HVAC system should ensure that the heat on the enclose does not exceed the maximum human tolerance, can resist thermal stress, and can last for 60 minutes in an emergency.
5. The backup supply can ensure that the emergency power supply can activate the HVAC and lighting systems in the event of a mains power cut.

Offshore oil and gas development is recognized as a high-risk industry in the world. Once an accident occurs, it may cause casualties. Therefore, it is particularly important to ensure the safety of personnel in the process of offshore oil and gas development.
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A temporary refuge shelter (TR) is a place for personnel gathering and protection to evacuate, take emergency response measures and wait for rescue in case of fire, explosion and other accidents.
 
The function of temporary shelter (TR) in case of disaster

• Prevent the invasion of toxic gases for a certain period of time
• Maintain a breathable concentration in the container for 1 hour or longer through the air supply system
• Meet the A60 fire rating
• Provide communication, monitoring and control equipment necessary to ensure personal safety.

TLS offshore containers Int. offers an extensive range of containerized blast resistant modular / shelter that are cost effective and flexible. The containerized blast resistant shelters enhance worker safety within hazardous environments. These buildings provide a safe zone for employees and equipment within the process areas in the event of leaked vapor ignition or explosive risk.
Our blast resistant containers are available as standard 20ft, 30ft,  40ft or customized dimension. Those units can be joined together to form larger blast resistant modules.
Blast resistant modules are fitted with split type air conditioning. They have integrated ventilation shut down systems with an optional gas detection system. They also have the option of manual, security controlled or fully automated door system to ensure the appropriate solution.

Please contact us for more information [email protected]