[ background of the invention ]
In recent decades, as the rate of fossil energy production and consumption has been increasing with the progress of human industrialization, the exhaustion of fossil energy has urgently required the development of new energy acquisition technologies for producing alternative fossil energy products. Among the renewable energy sources, solar energy is an inexhaustible green energy source. The solar energy resource is abundant, if the partial solar energy resource irradiated on the earth surface is utilized, the daily life and production of human beings can be met, and therefore, the solar energy has huge development and utilization potential. However, solar energy resources are significantly affected by day alternation, climate and geographical distribution, resulting in a limitation of direct utilization of solar energy.
The hydrogen is widely concerned by human beings as a fuel with high heat value, zero pollution and high energy density, and particularly, the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen energy is one of effective ways for solving the energy crisis and environmental problems of human beings and is also a hot idea in the field of hydrogen production by current materials. Single crystal TiO has been reported for the first time since professor Fujishima and Honda 19722After the semiconductor is an electrode which has the capability of decomposing water to produce hydrogen when being illuminated, relevant researchers in different countries are all dedicated to improving the efficiency of producing hydrogen by photoelectrolysis and the safety of the system for more than forty years. The solar photocatalytic hydrogen production method is different from the traditional solar photothermal hydrogen production method, and uses a semiconductor material as a catalyst to decompose water under the drive of sunlight to produce hydrogen and oxygen, so that solar energy is converted into chemical energy to be stored in a hydrogen energy source.
The hydrogen production efficiency of the photoelectrolysis water is improved to a certain extent along with the development of new semiconductor materials in recent years. However, the research on the structural design of photoelectrolysis water and hydrogen-oxygen separation is relatively few, and particularly, the research on gas-liquid separation and pressure balance is rarely reported. The hydrogen production by photoelectric decomposition of water generally comprises a sealed cell with two electrodes and a membrane for separating hydrogen and oxygen. The structure is widely applied to hydrogen production by water electrolysis of alkaline or polymer electrolyte membranes, but attention needs to be paid to timely separation and pressure adjustment of hydrogen and oxygen. Because the hydrogen and oxygen generation rates are different, the storage pressures of hydrogen and oxygen tend to differ, which, if directly connected in the hydrogen and oxygen tanks, can affect the performance and subsequent use of the membrane in the cell due to the pressure differential. This requires a pressure balancer to regulate the pressure across the hydrogen and oxygen producing chambers so that the exhaust gas can be maintained at an isobaric pressure. Most of the existing electrolytic water systems store the generated hydrogen and oxygen in corresponding hydrogen tanks and oxygen tanks through steam-water separators, the structure is single, the stability of the storage tanks is poor, the protection performance of the existing hydrogen storage tanks is poor, the damage is easily caused by collision with external sharp objects, and most importantly, certain bias voltage can be generated to influence the efficiency and the service life of membrane separation gas due to the fact that the gas pressure stored in the hydrogen tanks and the oxygen tanks is unbalanced. If the pressure in the gas storage tank is inconsistent due to different ratios of hydrogen and oxygen used under other working conditions, the pressure needs to be readjusted to meet different working conditions. Therefore, a device for adjusting the gas pressure is required to ensure the stored gas pressure is consistent when collecting and storing the hydrogen and oxygen generated by the electrolyzed water, and the subsequent gas collection is not hindered.
[ summary of the invention ]
The present invention aims at overcoming the demerits of available technology, and provides hydrogen and oxygen isobaric storage method and container for photoelectrolysis water and fuel cell to solve the problems of unbalanced hydrogen and oxygen storage pressure, resulting in danger and inconvenience in use.
In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme to realize the purpose:
an oxyhydrogen isobaric storage container for photoelectrolysis water and fuel cells, comprising a housing having an inverted cylindrical barrel shape, the bottom of the housing being sealed by a bottom plate;
a metal telescopic pipe is arranged in the shell, the metal telescopic pipe is in an inverted cylindrical barrel shape, the side wall of the metal telescopic pipe is provided with a corrugated pipe shape, the length direction of the corrugations is the horizontal direction, and the metal telescopic pipe can be stretched along the axis direction of the metal telescopic pipe; the annular lower edge of the metal telescopic pipe is clamped between the bottom of the shell and the bottom plate;
an oxygen chamber is arranged inside the metal telescopic pipe, and a hydrogen chamber is arranged between the metal telescopic pipe and the outer shell; the upper end of the shell is provided with a hydrogen inlet and a hydrogen outlet, and the bottom plate is provided with an oxygen inlet and an oxygen outlet;
the upper end face of the metal telescopic pipe is provided with an internal magnetic block, and the side wall of the shell is provided with an external magnetic block.
The invention is further improved in that:
preferably, the upper surface of the metal telescopic pipe is a plane.
Preferably, the bottom of the outer shell is circumferentially provided with an outer edge protruding outwards, and the bottom of the metal telescopic pipe is clamped between the outer edge and the bottom plate.
Preferably, the metal telescopic tube and the outer shell are coaxial.
Preferably, the diameter of the inner wall of the outer shell is larger than the outer diameter of the cross section of the metal telescopic pipe.
Preferably, the thickness of the shell and the bottom plate is set according to the pressure requirement of an external gas storage cylinder.
Preferably, the outer shell, the lower edge of the metal telescopic pipe and the bottom plate are connected through flanges.
When the pressure of the oxygen chamber is higher than that of the hydrogen chamber, the metal telescopic pipe expands, the volume of the oxygen chamber increases, and the volume of the hydrogen chamber decreases, so that the pressure of the oxygen chamber and the pressure of the hydrogen chamber are balanced;
when the pressure of the hydrogen chamber is higher than that of the oxygen chamber, the metal telescopic pipe contracts, the volume of the oxygen chamber is reduced, and the volume of the hydrogen chamber is increased, so that the pressure of the hydrogen chamber and the pressure of the oxygen chamber are balanced.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:
the invention discloses a oxyhydrogen isobaric storage container for photoelectrolysis water and a fuel cell, which forms an oxygen chamber and a hydrogen chamber through a shell, a metal telescopic pipe and a bottom plate, automatically changes the volume of an air chamber by changing the deformation degree of the metal telescopic pipe to adjust the pressure at two ends of the hydrogen chamber and the oxygen chamber to be balanced, and can relieve the problems of danger, inconvenience in use and the like caused by unbalanced hydrogen and oxygen storage pressure to a great extent. The traditional mode of the hydrogen storage tank and the oxygen storage tank with fixed volumes is optimized into the mode of variable-volume storage, so that the cost of storing hydrogen and oxygen in electrolyzed water can be reduced, the service life and the efficiency of a gas separation membrane (proton exchange membrane) in the electrolysis process are improved, and technical support and reference significance are provided for the research and development of subsequent related technologies and the design of equipment. The device utilizes the volume change of the metal telescopic pipe with high strength and good elasticity to realize the function of automatically changing the volume and the pressure of the hydrogen chamber and the oxygen chamber, can realize automatic pressure regulation aiming at various different gas collection and application environments, and further avoids the complexity and the danger of the system. Aiming at the electrolytic water separation and fuel cell system, the device can greatly ensure the reliability and safety of the gas separation membrane (proton exchange membrane) in the electrolytic water process, improve the service life of the gas separation membrane (proton exchange membrane) and save the cost. The position of the magnetic block on the outer surface of the hydrogen chamber is adjusted by utilizing the attraction between the magnets, the compression degree of the metal telescopic pipe is indicated, the volume change of the hydrogen chamber and the oxygen chamber is monitored in real time, and the safety of the metal telescopic pipe and the two air chambers is further protected.
[ detailed description ] embodiments
The invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings:
in the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention; the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance; furthermore, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly and encompass, for example, both fixed and removable connections; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.
In order to meet the pressure balance and safety of two ends of a self-pressurization hydrogen and oxygen storage system in an electrolytic hydrogen production system, the invention provides a method and a device for isolating a hydrogen chamber from an oxygen chamber by using a metal telescopic pipe 6, automatically adjusting the volume of the two chambers to keep the pressure of the two chambers the same, and further monitoring the volume ratio of the air chamber by combining the position change of a magnetic block.
The invention provides a method and a container for storing hydrogen and oxygen with automatically balanced pressure for hydrogen production by high-pressure water electrolysis, which mainly comprise a hydrogen chamber 8, an oxygen chamber 9, a folding metal telescopic pipe 6, a magnetic block and an air inlet pipeline and an air outlet pipeline. The connection relation and the concrete description among all the devices are as follows:
referring to fig. 2, the housing 10 is a cylinder and is in an inverted cylindrical shape, an outer edge 13 protruding outwards is arranged at the bottom of the side wall of the housing 10, the outer edge is in a flange structure, and the outer edge 13 is perpendicular to the side wall of the housing 10; the metal telescopic pipe 6 is arranged in a cavity in the outer shell 10, the outer shell 10 and the metal telescopic pipe 6 are coaxially arranged, the metal telescopic pipe 6 is a cylinder, the upper end of the metal telescopic pipe is sealed, the metal telescopic pipe is also in an inverted cylinder shape, the bottom 14 of the metal telescopic pipe 6 and the bottom 13 of the outer shell 10 are simultaneously sealed by the bottom plate 12, and the bottom 14 of the metal telescopic pipe, the bottom 13 of the outer shell and the bottom plate 12 have the same outer diameter. The shell 10 and the bottom plate 12 are both made of high-pressure-resistant 316 stainless steel, and the metal telescopic pipe 6 is made of beryllium copper alloy.
Wherein, hydrogen is filled between the outer shell 10 and the metal extension tube 6, which is a hydrogen chamber 8, and oxygen is filled inside the metal extension tube 6, which is an oxygen chamber 9.
Preferably, the thicknesses of the outer shell 10 and the bottom plate 12 are set according to the pressure requirement of the external gas cylinder, more specifically, the thicknesses are determined according to the design pressure and national standard of steel pressure vessels, for example, the thickness is 5.4mm when the pressure of the external gas cylinder is 15 MPa; when the pressure of the external gas storage bottle is 20MPa, the thickness is 6.2 mm; when the pressure of the external gas storage bottle is 25MPa, the thickness is 8.2 mm.
Referring to fig. 3, preferably, the side wall of the metal telescopic tube 6 is in a bellows shape, the folding direction of the bellows shape is a horizontal direction, so that the length direction of each bellows is a horizontal direction, and the upper surface of the metal telescopic tube 6 is a horizontal plane. After the metal telescopic pipe 6 is unfolded, the upper surface of the metal telescopic pipe rises to the highest position to reach the inner wall of the top of the shell, the volume of the oxygen chamber is the largest, and the volume of the hydrogen chamber is the smallest; after compression, the upper surface descends, reaching the compression limit, the upper surface is the lowest, the hydrogen chamber has the largest volume, and the oxygen chamber has the smallest volume. The sum of the hydrogen chamber volume and the oxygen chamber volume remains constant. The inner diameter of the inner wall of the cylindrical outer shell 10 is larger than the maximum outer diameter of the metal telescopic pipe 6, and because the metal telescopic pipe 6 is in a corrugated shape from top to bottom, the distance between the metal telescopic pipe 6 and the inner wall of the outer shell 10 changes regularly along with the compression and expansion of the metal telescopic pipe, and the maximum radial distance is limited to be smaller than the inner diameter of the inner wall of the hydrogen chamber 8, so that the metal telescopic pipe 6 is ensured to have enough expansion space.
More specifically, hydrogen air inlet 1 and hydrogen gas outlet 2 have been seted up to the up end of shell 10, and hydrogen chamber 8 intercommunication, hydrogen air inlet 1 and hydrogen gas outlet 2 all set up to the outstanding tubular structure that makes progress, guarantee the flow that hydrogen can be smooth.
Referring to fig. 4, the bottom plate 12 is provided with an oxygen inlet 11 and an oxygen outlet 5, and both the oxygen inlet 11 and the oxygen outlet 5 are disposed at the bottom of the oxygen chamber 9 and communicated with the oxygen chamber 9. The oxygen inlet 11 and the oxygen outlet 5 are both arranged in a downward protruding tubular structure, so that the oxygen can smoothly flow.
More preferably, the gas circuit is convenient to connect, and the hydrogen inlet 1, the hydrogen outlet 2, the oxygen inlet 11 and the oxygen outlet 5 are all in the vertical direction.
Referring to fig. 1, the outer rim 13 and the bottom plate 12 are fixedly connected along the circumferential direction thereof, the outer rim 13 and the bottom plate 12 are connected in a flange manner, that is, the outer rim 13 and the bottom plate 12 are connected through a plurality of bolts, all the bolts are arranged at equal intervals, and a rubber gasket is arranged between the outer rim 13 and the bottom plate 12 to increase air tightness. The annular bottom edge part 14 of the metal telescopic pipe 6 is provided with holes distributed with the same flanges, and the metal telescopic pipe 6 is clamped between the outer edge 13 and the bottom plate 13 to ensure that the metal telescopic pipe 6 can be fixed between the outer edge 13 and the bottom plate 13.
The magnetic blocks comprise an inner magnetic block 7 and an outer magnetic block 3, the inner magnetic block 7 is fixedly arranged on the upper end face of the metal telescopic pipe 6, and the inner magnetic block 7 is arranged in the hydrogen chamber. The external magnet 3 is arranged on the side wall of the shell 10, preferably, the internal magnet 7 is arranged at the outer edge of the upper end of the metal extension tube 6, so that the distance between the internal magnet 7 and the external magnet 3 is as close as possible. The external magnetic block 3 is arranged in a protective shell, scales are arranged on the protective shell, and the protective shell is arranged on the outer layer wall 10. The external magnetic block 3 can slide along the protective shell under the attraction of the internal magnetic block 7, the volume of the hydrogen chamber and the oxygen chamber inside can be judged according to the position of the external magnetic block 3 of the hydrogen chamber, and the volume ratio is calculated.
Preferably, the inner magnetic block 7 and the outer magnetic block 3 are both high-performance permanent magnets.
The manufacturing process of the device comprises the following steps:
step 1, high-pressure-resistant 316 stainless steel is selected as the material of the shell 10 and the bottom plate 12, and the thickness of the shell 10 and the thickness of the bottom plate 12 are both preferably 6 mm. The side wall and the outer edge 13 of the shell 10, and the connection between the hydrogen inlet 1 and the hydrogen outlet 2 on the side wall are welded or integrally formed, and the bottom plate 12, the oxygen inlet 11 and the oxygen outlet 5 on the bottom plate are also welded or integrally formed, so that the sealing performance of the whole system is improved;
and 2, selecting a bending-resistant beryllium copper alloy to press the telescopic pipe to enable the telescopic pipe to be in a regular corrugated pipe-shaped structure, controlling the formed metal telescopic pipe 6 to be in a cylindrical shape, enabling the lower edge of the corrugated pipe-shaped metal telescopic pipe to be in an outwards-protruding annular shape, enabling the upper surface of the corrugated pipe-shaped metal telescopic pipe 6 to be in a circular flat plate shape, and sealing the upper end of the corrugated pipe.
And 3, fixedly arranging the inner magnetic block 7 at the edge of the upper end face of the metal extension tube 6.
And 4, placing and fixing the rubber gasket matched with the edge of the pressed metal telescopic pipe 6 between the bottom plate 12 and the outer edge 13 and connecting the rubber gasket with the outer edge by using bolts to ensure that the metal telescopic pipe cannot displace.
And 5, adhering a protective shell with scales on the side wall of the shell 10, and putting the external magnetic block 3.
The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.