JPS61144496A - Metal hydride container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the filling amount of a metal hydride and to improve heat transfer between the metal hydride and a heat medium by disposing a plurality of cylindrical pipes on the same axis in a cylindrical container to increase the axial dimension of the cylindrical container. CONSTITUTION:A heat insulating material 3 is stretched on the inner surface of a cylindrical container 1, and the cylindrical container 1 is provided with in/out conduits 2, 2 for a heat medium. Further, a plurality of cylindrical pipes 4a-4e made of copper or aluminium having good heat transfer property are disposed on the same axis in the cylindrical container 1. Metal hydride areas 5 and heat medium areas 6 are alternately formed by utilizing the spaces between the cylindrical pipes 4a-4e. The metal hydride areas 5 are respectively blocked up by blocking plates 7a-7f, and a hydrogen in/out pipe 9 is connected to the respective metal hydride areas 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a metal hydride container for storing hydrogen or storing heat by utilizing hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions of metal hydrides.

(B) Prior art In order to promote the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions of metal hydrides in this type of metal hydride container, it is necessary to improve the heat transfer between the heating medium and the metal hydride powder packed bed. That's true.

Note that a metal hydride becomes a metal by dehydrogenation, and in this specification, this case is also referred to as a metal hydride.

For this reason, conventionally, as seen in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 57-154733, a filter tube that transmits hydrogen gas is disposed at the axial center position of the tubular pressure vessel base, and the filter tube and the pressure vessel are connected. The structure was such that a metal hydride was filled in between and a plurality of fins were arranged along the axial direction.

However, according to the above conventional structure, when increasing the amount of metal hydride to be filled inside, increasing the pipe diameter causes problems such as limiting the number of fins and increasing the transmission distance of the metal hydride powder. heat transfer efficiency is significantly reduced. Therefore, the only way to increase the amount of metal hydride charged in the above structure is to increase the axial length of the tubular pressure vessel, which is extremely disadvantageous in terms of installation space, handling, and processability. there were.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention The present invention increases the storage capacity of metal hydride by increasing the radial dimension of the tubular pressure vessel, and also improves the heat transfer between each part of the metal hydride powder and the heat medium. The object of the present invention is to provide a metal hydride container that can be used for various purposes.

(d) Means for solving the problem Therefore, the present invention provides a plurality of metal cylindrical pipes arranged concentrically in a cylindrical container that is equipped with a heat medium inlet and outlet conduit and has a heat insulating material on the inner wall, A metal hydride region and a heat medium region are provided alternately between each of these cylindrical pipes, and both ends of the metal hydride region are closed with closing plates, heat transfer fins are provided inside, and metal hydrogen is filled. A hydrogen inlet/output conduit with a filter is attached to one of the closing plates to draw it out of the cylindrical container to take hydrogen in and out, while a baffle plate is provided in the heating medium area to draw the heat medium out from the heat medium inlet/outlet conduit. The main feature is that it is made to flow.

(e) By increasing the number of cylindrical pipes arranged on the working concentric axis,
A large amount of metal hydride can be stored in the container with a reduced thickness of the metal hydride packed layer. Therefore, there is no need to increase the length in the axial direction, and the installation space, handling, and workability of the metal hydride container are improved. Furthermore, with the configuration of the present invention, the heat medium becomes a turbulent flow due to the baffle plate, and efficiently transmits heat to the metallic cylindrical pipe.

Furthermore, this heat is rapidly transferred to the inside of the metal hydride packed bed by the heat transfer fins, and is efficiently exchanged. In addition, since the metal hydride regions and the heating medium regions are arranged alternately, the heat of the heating medium is transmitted to the metal hydride packed bed from above and below, and the heat between a large amount of metal hydride powder and the heating medium is transferred. Exchange occurs very quickly.

(c) Examples An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a side sectional view of a metal hydride container according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows its AA sectional view. In these figures, a cylindrical container 1 is equipped with a heat medium inlet/output conduit 2 through which a heat medium flows in and out, and a heat insulating material 3 is stretched over the entire inner surface of the cylindrical container 1. Multiple cylindrical pipes 4a, 4b s 4c
, 4d, and 4e are arranged on concentric axes. Metal hydride regions 5 are alternately formed between these cylindrical pipes.
．． A heat medium area 6 is provided. That is.

This metal hydride region 5 is located between the cylindrical pipes 4a and 4b,
It is formed using the space between 4c and 4d and inside 4e. Both ends of the cylindrical pipes 4a and 4b are closed by closing plates 7a and 7b.

Heat transfer fins 8 are provided inside and filled with metal hydride, and a hydrogen inlet/output conduit 9 is attached to the closing plate 7a, and a filter 10 that allows hydrogen to pass through but not metal hydride powder is installed inside of it. provided.

Similarly, between the cylindrical pipes 4c and 4d and inside the cylindrical pipe 4e, closing plates 7c, 7d, 7e, and 7f are attached to both ends of each, and a hydrogen inlet/output conduit 9 is attached to the closing plates 7c and 7e side. together with the filter 10
The interior thereof is provided with heat transfer fins 8 and filled with metal hydride. Further, the hydrogen inlet/outlet conduits 9 attached to each metal hydride region 5 penetrate the end wall of the cylindrical container 1 and are led out of the cylindrical container 1 , are combined into one common hydrogen inlet/outlet conduit 9 , and are connected via an on-off valve 11 . It is connected to a hydrogen storage tank (not shown).

On the other hand, the heat medium area 6 is located between the heat insulating material 3 1i3a and the cylindrical pipe 4a, between the cylindrical pipes 4b and 40, and between the cylindrical pipe 4d.
and 4e. That is, the baffle plate 12 is disposed in the gap between them so that turbulent flow occurs, and a common flow path is formed at both ends thereof, which communicate with the heat medium inlet/outlet conduit 2, respectively.

Here, the cylindrical pipes 4a to 4e and the closing plate 7 to be used are
8 to 7f are preferably made of a material that can withstand hydrogen pressurization and has excellent thermal conductivity, such as aluminum or copper. The heat transfer fins 8 are used to improve the thermal conductivity of the packed bed of metal hydrides, and are preferably made of the same material as the cylindrical pipe, such as aluminum. can be integrally molded, and the inner tube and the outer tube 1, for example, the cylindrical pipes 4a and 4, are connected via the heat transfer fins 8.
It is also possible to use one in which b is integrally molded, thereby making it possible to form a metal hydride region with lower heat transfer resistance and excellent heat exchange ability. Also, baffle board 1
As for 2, a cylindrical pipe or the like with a corrugated surface can be used, which makes the flow of the heat medium turbulent and greatly improves the heat exchange ability.

Therefore, according to the above configuration, since the metal hydride container has a structure in which the metal hydride and the heat medium are alternately contacted through the cylindrical pipes 4a to 4e, the heat transfer area is large and the heat exchange rate is also low. growing. Furthermore, the thickness of the metal hydride powder packed layer, which has a low thermal conductivity, is further reduced by the heat transfer fins 8 in terms of heat conduction, and the heat transfer rate is increased. Heat exchange with the heat medium is also performed smoothly.

Furthermore, even when the amount of metal hydride to be filled is larger, the thickness of the metal hydride powder packed layer can be easily reduced by appropriately increasing the number and diameter of the cylindrical pipes and the number of heat transfer fins. , exhibits excellent heat exchange ability.

(G) Detailed Description of the Invention According to the present invention, as described above, the metal hydride and the heating medium alternately contact each other through one cylindrical pipe, so that the rate of heat exchange between the metal hydride and the heating medium is 1, smooth heat transfer is possible, and a metal hydride container with high heat exchange efficiency can be obtained. In addition, by appropriately selecting the number, diameter, and number of fins of the cylindrical pipes, the thickness of the metal hydride packed layer can be reduced even when the amount of metal hydride packed is large, and the axial dimension can be increased. Therefore, an excellent metal hydride container that requires less installation space and is easy to manufacture and handle can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of a metal hydride container according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A. l... Cylindrical container, 2... Heat medium inlet/output conduit, 3... Heat insulating material, 4a to 4e... Cylindrical pipe, 5... Metal hydride region, 6... Heat medium region, 7a ~7f... Closure plate, 8... Heat transfer fin, 9... Hydrogen in/out conduit, 10
...Filter, 11...Opening/closing valve, 12...Baffle plate.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of metal cylindrical pipes are arranged concentrically in a cylindrical container equipped with a heat medium inlet/output conduit and has a heat insulating material on the inner wall, and metal hydride regions are alternately arranged between each of these cylindrical pipes,
The metal hydride region has both ends closed by closing plates, heat transfer fins are provided inside to accommodate the metal hydride, and one of the closing plates is provided with a hydrogen inlet/output pipe with a filter. A metal hydride container, characterized in that the metal hydride container is configured to be attached and pulled out of the cylindrical container to take in and take out hydrogen, and at the same time, a baffle plate is provided in the heating medium area so that the heating medium flows through the heating medium inlet/output conduit. . (2) The metal hydride container according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical pipe is made of copper or aluminum. (3) A metal hydride container according to claim 1, wherein the inner tube and the outer tube fixed by heat transfer fins provided in the metal hydride region are integrally molded.