A metallic lithium storage device

Abstract

The present invention provides a lithium metal storage device. The lithium metal storage device includes a tank body, an armored heating wire and a movable bracket disposed on the outer surface of the tank body, a heating rod disposed at least partially within the tank body, a thermocouple, and a liquid level gauge; a pressurizing device, an observation unit, and an infusion pipeline disposed on the tank body; a vent pipeline disposed below the tank body, and a docking valve disposed on the vent pipeline. The armored heating wire and the heating rod constitute a heating structure for heating solid lithium metal; the thermocouple and the heating structure are linked to form a temperature control system for controlling the tank body temperature; the infusion pipeline is disposed above the tank body; the liquid level gauge is used to measure the liquid level of lithium metal in the tank body; the observation unit is disposed on the upper portion of the tank body, is made of glass, and is provided with an illumination unit for illuminating the tank body interior; and the observation unit is used for observing the tank body interior. The metal lithium storage device provided by the present invention uses a sealed tank body to store metal lithium, which is filled with argon for protection. The tank body is equipped with a heating device, so that lithium can be taken out at any time according to demand and quantity, which is safe and convenient.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of lithium-boron alloys, and in particular to a metallic lithium storage device. Background Art

[0002] Demand for lithium metal products is increasing at a rate of approximately 10% per year, with global annual production reaching approximately 3,000 tons and annual demand reaching approximately 4,000 tons. Current domestic demand is 2,500 tons per year, with 600 tons exported annually. With the continued development of my country's economy and science and technology, the lithium metal sector is poised to expand further. With the continued growth of the lithium metal sector and related fields, some high-tech and advanced lithium metal customers are placing higher demands on the transportation, storage, and quality of lithium metal. The technology in this project is currently one of the safest and most effective methods for storing lithium metal, and it can meet the storage and quality requirements of customers in high-tech and advanced industries, including the military industry. Therefore, this technology holds great promise in the evolving lithium metal industry.

[0003] Chinese patent CN201516969U discloses a container for storing viscous liquids, comprising a barrel and a barrel stand. The barrel is cylindrical in shape, with a feed inlet and a vent valve on its upper end surface, and a bottom valve on its lower end surface. The barrel stand is a square bracket composed of metal rods, to which the barrel is fixed. Several vent tubes are located within the barrel, with their ends located on the upper and lower end surfaces of the barrel, respectively. The upper and lower ends of the vent tubes are sealed to the upper and lower end surfaces of the barrel, respectively, and the upper and lower ends of the vent tubes are connected to the atmosphere. This container for storing viscous liquids is easy to load, unload, and clean, and is reusable. Furthermore, the vent tubes provided within the barrel allow air to circulate within the vent tubes, accelerating the heat dissipation of the stored liquid. This significantly helps prevent the viscosity of high-temperature macromolecular resins from decreasing due to slow cooling during storage, making it particularly suitable for storing viscous liquids. However, the container mentioned in this patent cannot completely isolate the stored items from contact with air, and the chemically active metallic lithium will quickly oxidize in the air, affecting its use and even causing danger. Therefore, it is not suitable for the transportation and storage of metallic lithium. For example, Chinese patent CN101776426A provides an explosion-proof container for storing civilian blasting equipment during transportation. The explosion-proof container includes a container can and a sealing cover. The container can is composed of an inner tube and an outer tube. The sealing cover is composed of a top plate and a bottom plate. A fixing column with an explosion venting hole is provided between the top plate and the bottom plate. The explosion venting hole of the fixing column is provided with an explosion venting bolt. The key points are that the top plate and the bottom plate of the sealing cover are convex arc surfaces, the sealing cover is connected to the outer tube of the container can by a movable hinge, and a number of locking parts are provided between the sealing cover and the outer tube of the container can; an annular groove is provided at the outer edge of the bottom of the sealing cover, and the tube mouth of the outer tube of the container can cooperates with the annular groove at the bottom of the sealing cover; an annular groove is provided on the end face of the tube mouth of the outer tube of the container can, and a sealing ring is installed in the annular groove. However, this container cannot meet the requirements of canning metallic lithium in liquid state, heating and heat preservation, and providing argon sealing protection, so it is not suitable as a container for transporting and storing liquid metallic lithium. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention is designed to address the shortcomings of the prior art. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a lithium metal storage device that is safe, reliable, convenient, and readily available, allowing for on-demand and measured lithium extraction. The present invention utilizes sealed tanks for storing lithium metal, protected by argon gas, and equipped with heating devices, enabling safe and convenient on-demand and measured lithium extraction. To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0005] A metallic lithium storage device comprises a tank body, an armored heating wire and a movable bracket arranged on the outer surface of the tank body, a heating rod at least partially arranged in the tank body, a thermocouple, and a liquid level gauge, a pressurizing device, an observation piece and a perfusion pipeline arranged on the tank body, a vent pipeline arranged below the tank body and a docking valve arranged on the vent pipeline, the armored heating wire and the heating rod constitute a heating structure, the heating structure is used to heat solid metallic lithium, the thermocouple and the heating structure are linked to form a temperature control system, the temperature control system is used to control the temperature of the tank body, the perfusion pipeline is arranged above the tank body, the liquid level gauge is used to measure the liquid level of metallic lithium in the tank body, the observation piece is arranged at the upper part of the tank body, the observation piece is made of glass material, and a lighting part is provided on the observation piece, the lighting part is used to illuminate the inner cavity of the tank body, and the observation part is used for personnel to observe the inner cavity of the tank body.

[0006] Furthermore, the outer layer of the tank body is provided with a heat-insulating layer, and the inner surface of the tank body is ground and polished, with a surface roughness of less than 0.2 Ra.

[0007] Furthermore, the pressurizing device is connected to argon gas, and the argon gas is used to make the internal pressure of the tank reach positive pressure so that the liquid metal lithium flows out from the vent pipe above the tank body.

[0008] Furthermore, there is a filter at the head of the vent pipe to filter out impurities in the metallic lithium.

[0009] Furthermore, the pressurizing device has a pressure gauge, and a steam trap is provided on the pressure gauge.

[0010] Furthermore, a feed port is provided on the tank body, and both the feed port and the vent pipe are provided with the armored heating wire.

[0011] Furthermore, there is a vent pipe below the tank body, and there is a docking valve on the vent pipe.

[0012] Furthermore, the liquid level meter is a continuous feedback liquid level meter, which can monitor the amount of liquid metal lithium inside the tank in real time.

[0013] Furthermore, the observation piece is provided with a lighting portion and an observation portion, wherein the lighting portion is used to illuminate the inner cavity of the tank body, and the observation portion is used for personnel to observe the inner cavity of the tank body.

[0014] Furthermore, the movable bracket is arranged around and at the bottom of the tank body, and a plurality of rollers are provided on the movable bracket.

[0015] The lithium metal storage device provided by this invention utilizes independently designed argon-filled canned storage technology, eliminating the problem of traditional aluminum-plastic bag packaging being easily damaged and causing lithium metal deterioration. Furthermore, the lithium metal storage cans are reusable, reducing environmental pollution. A dual heating system (internal heating rods and external armored heating devices) ensures gradient heating of the lithium metal within the can while achieving rapid liquefaction. The outer shell of the tank is insulated to ensure that the heated lithium metal remains liquid for a long time, thus achieving energy savings and consumption reductions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the implementation methods. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some implementation methods of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0017] Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a metallic lithium storage device provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 A schematic structural diagram of a metallic lithium storage device from another perspective provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 3 A schematic structural diagram of a metallic lithium storage device from another perspective provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] The names corresponding to the reference numerals in the accompanying drawings are:

[0021] Tank body 1 Armored heating wire 2 Mobile bracket 3

[0022] Heating rod 4 Pressurizing device 5 Thermocouple 6

[0023] Observation piece 7 Liquid level gauge 8 Valve 9

[0024] Vent line 10 Vent line 11 Filling line 12

[0025] Thermocouple trap 13 Filter 14 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The following are preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art may make several improvements and modifications without departing from the principles of the present invention, and these improvements and modifications are also considered to be within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0027] A metal lithium storage device of the present invention, please refer to Figures 1 to 2The relevant figures include a tank body 1, an armored heating wire 2 and a movable bracket 3 provided on the outer surface of the tank body, a heating rod 4 at least partially provided in the tank body, a thermocouple 6, a liquid level gauge 8, a pressurizing device 5 and an observation piece 7 provided on the tank body, and a filling pipeline 12, a valve 9 provided on the filling pipeline, a venting pipeline 10 extending to the bottom of the tank body, and a venting pipe 11 provided at the bottom of the tank body. The outer layer of the tank body 1 is provided with an insulation layer to ensure that the heated metallic lithium can remain in liquid state for a long time, thereby achieving energy saving and consumption reduction; the armored heating wire and the heating rod 4 constitute a heating structure, and the heating structure adopts a dual heating method to achieve rapid liquefaction of solid metallic lithium. The thermocouple 6 is linked with the heating structure to form a temperature control system, and the temperature control system is used to control the temperature of the tank body. The temperature control system uses a thermocouple to measure the temperature of the metallic lithium in the furnace body, and controls the power of the heating structure according to the temperature to control the temperature inside the tank body. The pressurizing device 5 is connected to high-purity argon (99.999%), and the argon gas is used to make the internal air pressure of the tank body reach positive pressure so that the liquid metallic lithium flows out from the vent pipe below the tank body. There is a filter 14 at the head of the vent pipe to remove the metallic lithium Impurities are filtered and removed, and the pressurizing device has a pressure gauge. A steam trap is provided in front of the pressure gauge pressure-taking pipeline to remove lithium vapor and other impurities and prevent pipeline blockage; the filling pipeline is a liquid outlet pipeline, and the filling pipeline 12 is located above the tank body 1; the liquid level gauge is used to accurately measure the amount of metallic lithium inside the tank body; the observation piece 7 is located on the upper part of the tank body and is made of glass. The observation piece 7 is provided with a lighting part and an observation part to facilitate observation of the internal situation of the tank body. Specifically, the lighting part includes but is not limited to an LED lamp, and the observation part is used for personnel to observe the inner cavity of the tank body; a movable bracket 3 is provided around and at the bottom of the tank body 1, and a plurality of rollers are provided on the movable bracket, which can move the tank body while ensuring the stability of the tank body, and the rollers can be locked to prevent the tank body from shifting.

[0028] In this embodiment, a docking valve may be further provided on the venting pipeline, and the docking valve is used for docking with vacuum equipment and the like.

[0029] In this embodiment, the interior of the tank body is ground and polished, and the surface roughness is required to be less than 0.2 Ra to prevent metallic lithium from adhering to the inner surface of the tank body.

[0030] In this embodiment, the vent pipe head is a liquid outlet pipe head. By adding a filter at the liquid outlet pipe head, the filter specification is 2um to prevent the outflow of metallic lithium oxidation impurities and the like caused by impurities in the recycled argon gas.

[0031] In this embodiment, the liquid level gauge is a continuous feedback type liquid level gauge that can detect the amount of metallic lithium inside the tank in real time. Specifically, the liquid level gauge is replaced by a continuous feedback type liquid level gauge from the original system consisting of a high-level liquid level gauge and a low-level liquid level gauge, which can detect the level of metallic lithium inside the tank in real time.

[0032] In this embodiment, the observation piece is provided with a lighting hole, which is used to illuminate the interior of the tank, and the manhole is used for personnel observation.

[0033] Before storing liquid lithium metal, the tank 1 is dried and subjected to a three-step argon extraction and three-step argon injection process until the atmosphere inside the tank 1 reaches an oxygen content of 30 ppm and a dew point below -40°C. The liquid lithium metal is then connected to the filling pipe 10, valve 9 is opened, and the heating device for the filling pipe 10 is installed. Once the filling pipe 10 is connected, the liquid lithium metal is directly injected into the tank 1. Injection is stopped when the liquid level gauge 8 indicates that the target value has been reached. During the filling process, the interior of the tank is constantly monitored through the observation panel 7. After filling, the tank 1 is allowed to cool naturally, and the liquid lithium metal solidifies into a solid state for easy transportation. After the tank is transported to the customer's factory, the heating device is turned on to heat the tank when it is needed, and the emptying pipe heating device is opened. The tank can be used as needed and then cooled naturally after use. This liquid lithium metal transportation and storage device has been tested in the field and has proven to be extremely safe, reliable, and convenient to install, debug, use, and operate. It also provides excellent storage conditions for liquid lithium metal and fully ensures safety during transportation, making it a very suitable device for transporting and storing liquid lithium metal.

[0034] A metal lithium storage device of the present invention, please refer to Figures 1 to 2 On the basis of the previous technical solution, it can also be: the temperature control device is a digital automatic temperature control system. After the system temperature is manually set, the system adjusts the power of the heating device according to the real-time temperature of the tank to keep the tank temperature constant.

[0035] A metal lithium storage device of the present invention, please refer to Figures 1 to 2 On the basis of the previous technical solution, the pressurizing device may also include a pressure gauge and a control system. When the pressure reaches a set value, the pressurizing device automatically stops adding argon gas. When the pressure value is lower than the set value, the pressurizing device automatically starts adding argon gas.

[0036] A metal lithium storage device of the present invention, please refer to Figures 1 to 2 On the basis of the above technical solution, the liquid level meter can be linked with the feed inlet valve, and when the tank reaches the maximum liquid level, the feed inlet valve is automatically closed.

[0037] The lithium metal storage device provided by the present invention adopts an independently designed argon-filled tank storage technology, which solves the problem of traditional aluminum-plastic bag packaging being easily damaged and causing the lithium metal to deteriorate. In addition, the lithium metal storage tank can be reused, reducing environmental pollution. A dual heating system (built-in heating rod and external armored heating device) is used to ensure that the lithium metal in the tank is gradient heated and quickly liquefied. The outer layer of the tank shell is provided with an insulation layer to ensure that the heated lithium metal can remain liquid for a long time, thereby achieving energy saving and consumption reduction. In addition, the lithium metal storage device provided by the present invention can produce a lithium metal storage device that is convenient to use and take out lithium on demand and in quantity, solving the quality risks such as oxidation and nitridation of lithium metal caused by the easy breakage of aluminum-plastic bag storage, and meeting customers' demand for liquid lithium metal. It opens up the market of related high-tech industries and military industries and meets their lithium needs, enhances my country's lithium product scientific and technological innovation capabilities and market competitiveness, and breaks the monopoly of foreign lithium industry giants on high-end products.

[0038] The above embodiments merely represent specific implementations of the present invention. While the descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that a person skilled in the art would be able to make various modifications and improvements without departing from the scope of the present invention, all of which fall within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A metallic lithium storage device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a tank body, an armored heating wire and a movable bracket arranged on the outer surface of the tank body, a heating rod at least partially arranged in the tank body, a thermocouple, a liquid level gauge, a pressurizing device, an observation piece and a perfusion pipe arranged on the tank body, a vent pipe arranged below the tank body and a docking valve arranged on the vent pipe, the armored heating wire and the heating rod constitute a heating structure, the heating structure is used to heat solid metallic lithium, the thermocouple and the heating structure are linked to form a temperature control system, the temperature control system is used to control the temperature of the tank body, the perfusion pipe is arranged above the tank body, the liquid level gauge is used to measure the liquid level of metallic lithium in the tank body, the observation piece is arranged on the upper part of the tank body, the observation piece is made of glass material, the observation piece is provided with a lighting part, the lighting part is used to illuminate the inner cavity of the tank body; the outer layer of the tank body is provided with a thermal insulation layer, the inner surface of the tank body is ground and polished, and the surface roughness is less than 0.2 Ra; the pressurizing device is connected to argon gas, and the argon gas is used to make the air pressure inside the tank body reach positive pressure so that the liquid metal lithium flows out from the vent pipe above the tank body; there is a filter at the head of the vent pipe, which can filter out impurities in the metal lithium; the pressurizing device has a pressure gauge, and the pressure gauge is provided with a steam trap; a feed port is provided on the tank body, and the feed port and the vent pipe are both provided with the armored heating wire; there is a vent pipe under the tank body, and the vent pipe has a docking valve; the liquid level gauge is a continuous feedback type liquid level gauge, which can monitor the amount of liquid metal lithium inside the tank body in real time; the observation part is provided with a lighting part and an observation part, the lighting part is used to illuminate the inner cavity of the tank body, and the observation part is used for personnel to observe the inner cavity of the tank body; the movable bracket is provided around and at the bottom of the tank body, and a plurality of rollers are provided on the movable bracket.

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