JPS59152201A - Method of hydrogen storage and storage container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the rate of hydrogen occlusion in an alloy, by stacking a pair of containers having the same shape and each having a path of thermal medium therein, attaching a hydrogen gas pipe between the containers, and dropping the hydrogen occlusion alloy from the upper container to the lower container. CONSTITUTION:The container 1 having the inlet 4 and the outlet 6 of hydrogen occlusion alloy at the top is furnished with a spiral built-in path 10 of thermal medium. A pair of containers 1 are stacked together, the outlet 6 of the upper container 1 is connected to the inlet 4 of the lower container, a perforated bottom plate 7 and a gate valve 8 are inserted between the containers, and a hydrogen gas supply pipe 9 is connected to the connection part. When the hydrogen occlusion alloy 4 in the upper container 1 is dropped through the perforated bottom plate 7 into the lower container 1, the alloy occludes hydrogen gas supplied from the pipe 9, and is collected in the lower container as hydrogenated alloy. The occluded hydrogen can be released easily from the alloy by passing a thermal medium through the spiral path 10 in the container 1 thereby heating the hydrogenated alloy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hydrogen storage method and storage container.

Hydrogen is widely used in various industrial fields, and hydrogen storage and
There is a need for efficient, safe and easy transportation.

Traditionally, hydrogen has been stored and transported in containers as high-pressure hydrogen gas or liquid hydrogen, but due to the large amount of energy required to achieve high pressure or ultra-low temperatures, hydrogen storage alloys have recently been used. Attempts to use it are being actively considered.

A hydrogen storage alloy is an alloy that has the ability to store hydrogen fb.There are various hydrogen storage alloys that are already known. When depressurized and heated, it releases hydrogen and absorbs heat. Note that when the hydrogen storage alloy is brought into contact with pressurized hydrogen, it absorbs hydrogen and becomes a metal hydride. Usually, to make a hydrogen storage alloy absorb hydrogen, it is sufficient to contact it with high-pressure hydrogen at room temperature, and to release hydrogen from a metal hydride, a heat medium such as hot water is passed between the metal hydrides.

Hydrogen storage methods and storage containers using hydrogen storage alloys that have been studied to date include the following.

In order to bring the hydrogen storage alloy into sufficient contact with hydrogen, it is housed in a porous metal container such as a wire mesh, punched metal, or foamed metal, and a plurality of these porous metal containers are arranged at predetermined intervals in the container. There are many voids inside the container,
The metal container itself reduces space within the container. Hydrogen storage alloy has a volume of approximately 30% when it stores hydrogen.
%, the container must have a porosity of 50 to 40%. Furthermore, since high pressure is required when storing hydrogen, a high-pressure container is used. Furthermore, by repeatedly absorbing and desorbing hydrogen in the hydrogen storage alloy, the lumpy hydrogen storage alloy becomes finely powdered, and the hydrogen passage holes in the porous metal storage body become clogged, and the heat generated during storage causes the fine powder to become pulverized. Solidification occurs due to sintering, leading to a decrease in reaction efficiency.

Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to reduce the porosity as much as possible, prevent the consolidation of the hydrogen storage alloy, and increase the storage speed so that it can be used practically. This hydrogen storage alloy is made to absorb hydrogen by contacting it with hydrogen. In addition, if the reaction of absorbing or desorbing hydrogen is carried out only in the falling space,
The container can be manufactured as a low-pressure container, and it is also possible to utilize the exothermic or endothermic reaction heat in this part by incorporating it into a heat exchange system.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the container 1 is made of, for example, an aluminum alloy and has a conical shape with a large diameter at the top and a small diameter at the bottom, and four supporting legs 2 are hung from the bottom surface of the container 1. fixes the square tube fork guide 3. A hydrogen storage alloy inlet 4 is opened in the upper part of the container 1 and can be opened and closed with a cover plate 5. A discharge port 6 for the hydrogen storage alloy is opened in the lower part of the container 1, a porous bottom plate 7 made of a grid or punched metal is provided to cover the discharge port 6, and a gate valve is provided above the porous bottom plate 7 to open and close the discharge port 6. 8 is slidably provided. The porous bottom plate 7 and the gate valve 8 can be omitted if they are not necessary due to the shape of the container 1 or the like. Further, a hydrogen supply pipe 9 is connected below the porous bottom plate 7 of the discharge port 6, and a heat medium passage pipe 10 for hot water, heated air, steam, etc. is arranged in a spiral in the container 1, and its inlet pipe part 10a
And the outlet pipe portion 10b is made to protrude from the upper surface of the container 1.

Next, the operation will be explained.

First, the container 1 containing the hydrogen storage alloy A is placed on the empty container 1 so that the input port 4 and the discharge port 6 of the lower container 10 are continuous. Next, the gate valve 8 of the upper container 1 is opened, and the hydrogen storage alloy A contained in the upper container 1 is allowed to fall. When a certain hydrogen storage alloy is selected, a pressure higher than the hydrogen equilibrium dissociation pressure is supplied to the hydrogen supply pipe 9. For example, 7-8 kg/
Hydrogen is brought into contact with the falling hydrogen storage alloy A through approximately cJ of hydrogen, and the metal hydride that has stored hydrogen is placed in the lower container 1.
It is stored through the input port 4. Even after the hydrogen storage alloy A in the upper container 1 falls and completes its movement to the lower container 1, the pressure above the hydrogen equilibrium dissociation pressure is maintained for a while. Note that it is also possible to remove the heat generated during storage by passing cooling water through the heat medium passage pipe 10 of the lower container 1. Thereafter, the upper container 1 is lowered, and the inlet 4 of the lower container 1 is closed with the lid plate 5 to tighten the carp.

In order to release hydrogen, the heat medium 5- is passed through the heat medium passage pipe 1o of the container 1 (the lower container 1 described above) containing the metal hydride obtained by storing hydrogen in the hydrogen storage alloy. Then, hydrogen is released from the metal hydride and flows out from the exit side of the hydrogen supply pipe 9.

In FIG. 3, there is no hydrogen circulation, and in FIG. 4, hydrogen is circulated and hydrogen is stored in the hydrogen storage alloy.

The containers 1 are placed one above the other with valves 11 such as butterfly valves interposed between them, and in FIG. kg/cl hydrogen generation source 13, and the downstream side is connected to a needle valve 14, respectively. Also, the fourth
In the figure, if you select a certain hydrogen storage alloy, the upstream side will have 7~
8 kg/la+! receiver tank 15, pressure 9~
A 10 kg/ctA compressor 16 is connected, and a purge tank 19 containing hydrogen is interposed with a flow M adjustment valve 18 that automatically adjusts the flow rate by detecting the pressure of a pressure gauge 17 provided in the receiver tank 15. A butterfly valve 20 and a filter 21 are connected to the downstream side.
It is connected to the compressor 16 through the intermediary of the compressor 16.

As described above, the present invention provides a method and a storage container for storing hydrogen by dropping a hydrogen storage alloy and bringing hydrogen into contact with the falling hydrogen storage alloy. Since hydrogen is stored in the storage alloy and its volume expands, there is no need for the container to have a large porosity.Also, since hydrogen is stored in the middle of falling, a porous metal body can be stored in a conventional container. The porosity can be further reduced without the need to provide a porosity of about 10%, and hydrogen can be efficiently stored and transported. In addition, since hydrogen only needs to be brought into contact with the falling hydrogen storage alloy, the hydrogen supply pressure can range from 7 to 7 if a specific hydrogen storage alloy is selected.
Since it weighs about 8 kg/-, there is no need for an expensive high-pressure container.
Can be stored in a normal low pressure container. Furthermore, since hydrogen is stored while the hydrogen storage alloy is dropped, it prevents the hydrogen storage alloy from solidifying, increases the contact area with hydrogen, accelerates the storage speed, and shortens the time required for storage, making it practical for use. It becomes like this.

In this way, since hydrogen is stored when the hydrogen storage alloy falls, there is no need to provide a porous metal storage body or the like in the container, and the structure of the container is extremely simplified and mass production is facilitated. Further, if the containers are used as described above, it becomes possible to replace the hydrogen storage alloy between the containers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part thereof, Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a system for storing hydrogen in a hydrogen storage alloy without circulating hydrogen. Figure, 4th
The figure is a system diagram for circulating hydrogen and storing hydrogen in a hydrogen storage alloy. A...Hydrogen storage alloy applicant Yoshiteru Takagi, agent of Japan Aluminum Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A hydrogen storage method characterized by dropping a hydrogen storage alloy from an upper container of the same structure to a lower container, and making hydrogen come into contact with the hydrogen storage alloy during the fall so that the hydrogen is stored. (2) A space is provided in which the hydrogen storage alloy can contact and react with hydrogen when it is dropped between containers, and the hydrogen storage alloy that has come in contact with hydrogen and absorbed hydrogen when it falls is accommodated and hydrogen is stored. A hydrogen storage container characterized by