Stacking heat insulation liquid hydrogen spherical tank

Abstract

The invention discloses a stacked adiabatic liquid hydrogen spherical tank which comprises a liquid hydrogen spherical tank and a support mounted at the bottom of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank, and the liquid hydrogen spherical tank comprises a liquid hydrogen spherical tank outer wall and a liquid hydrogen spherical tank inner wall. The longitudinal partition plates and the transverse porous partition plates are arranged, so that the problem of cavities during small-amplitude shrinkage of the expanded perlite filler is effectively solved, meanwhile, the overall structural strength is improved, and the problem of pressure rise during temperature rise expansion of the expanded perlite filler is solved. The filler supplementing cavity is formed in the top of the longitudinal partition area, and meanwhile, the expanded perlite filler can pass through the transverse porous partition plate, so that when the expanded perlite filler is greatly shrunk, the filler in the filler supplementing cavity is supplemented, and an obvious cavity heat leakage point is prevented from being generated at the top of the liquid hydrogen storage tank. And the gas cooler and the inner-cooling adsorber are arranged, the gas cooler is driven to freeze by using the cooling capacity gradient of the low-temperature hydrogen, and the inner-cooling adsorber is driven to adsorb the gas influencing the heat insulation performance, so that the vacuum degree maintaining time in the liquid hydrogen spherical tank is prolonged.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of liquid hydrogen, and in particular to a stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank. Background Art

[0002] Liquid hydrogen has the advantages of high hydrogen storage density, economical and convenient storage and transportation, and high gas purity after vaporization. It is an irreplaceable and important carrier form in hydrogen energy applications. The boiling point of hydrogen is extremely low (20.37 K), and the temperature difference with the environment is very large. The cold preservation system is the biggest difficulty in the design of liquid hydrogen storage equipment. Since the hydrogen liquefaction process consumes a lot of energy and the gas explosion limit is low after liquid hydrogen evaporates, a reliable cold preservation system is the key to ensuring the economy and safety of liquid hydrogen storage equipment.

[0003] It is generally believed that the heat leakage of a storage tank is proportional to the specific surface area of ​​the container. From geometry, we know that the sphere has the smallest specific surface area among all storage containers of different shapes. It also has the advantages of uniform stress distribution and good mechanical strength. Therefore, large liquid hydrogen storage tanks basically use spherical storage tanks. At present, in large and medium-sized cryogenic storage tanks, the insulation material for the inner and outer tank interlayers is mostly expanded perlite, which is a porous, lightweight granular material with low thermal conductivity and stable chemical properties.

[0004] The inner tank will shrink inward when receiving cryogenic liquid hydrogen, and the expanded perlite in the annular space between the inner and outer tanks will sink downward to fill the gap left by the displacement of the tank body, which will cause the loss of cold insulation material in the upper part of the annular space, and then produce voids and form leakage hot spots.

[0005] At the same time, the increase in the packing density of the expanded perlite also increases the external pressure on the inner tank wall. When the inner tank expands outward due to the increase in temperature, this external pressure will further increase, which may cause the inner tank wall to be unable to withstand the external pressure and become unstable. Summary of the invention

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the shortcomings of the prior art, and a stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank is proposed, which is provided with a longitudinal partition plate and a transverse porous partition plate to separate the expanded perlite filler, and a filler supplement cavity is designed, which can effectively solve the top leakage hot spot caused by the low-temperature contraction of the expanded perlite and the pressure rise during heating. In addition, low-temperature hydrogen is used to freeze the gas generated by the filler, and the adsorbent is cooled to improve the adsorption effect, thereby extending the vacuum maintenance time inside the liquid hydrogen spherical tank.

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions: A stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank comprises a liquid hydrogen spherical tank and a bracket installed at the bottom thereof, wherein the liquid hydrogen spherical tank comprises an outer wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and an inner wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank, wherein the outer wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank are divided into a plurality of longitudinal partition areas by a plurality of longitudinal partition plates, a filler replenishing cavity is arranged at the top of the longitudinal partition area, and the longitudinal partition area is filled with expanded perlite filler, a liquid hydrogen filling pipeline and a hydrogen exhaust pipeline are respectively connected to the top of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank, and the ends of the hydrogen exhaust pipeline are merged after passing through the filler replenishing cavity, and a cooling structure is arranged on the filler replenishing cavity.

[0008] Preferably, the filler replenishing chamber includes a filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover and an inner wall of the filler replenishing chamber, a vacuum extraction structure is arranged between the vacuum cover and the inner wall of the filler replenishing chamber, the inner wall of the filler replenishing chamber is filled with expanded perlite filler, the vacuum cover of the filler replenishing chamber is connected to the outer wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank through a fiberglass reinforced plastic connector, and the interior of the inner wall of the filler replenishing chamber is filled with expanded perlite.

[0009] Preferably, the cooling structure includes a gas freezer and an internally cooled adsorber, the inlets of the low-temperature hydrogen of the gas freezer and the internally cooled adsorber are installed outside the inner wall of the filler replenishing cavity, and the remaining parts are located inside the inner wall of the filler replenishing cavity, and the hydrogen exhaust pipeline is connected to the gas freezer and the internally cooled adsorber in sequence along the air flow direction.

[0010] Preferably, the longitudinal partition area is provided with multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates from top to bottom, and the inner wall of the filler replenishment cavity and the inner wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank are also connected through the transverse porous partition plates, dividing the entire longitudinal partition area into multiple spaces.

[0011] Preferably, the vacuum pumping structure includes a vacuum pumping pipeline, the front end of which is divided into two branches, the first branch is located between the vacuum cover of the filler replenishing chamber and the inner wall of the filler replenishing chamber, the second branch is located between the outer wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank, and the rear end is connected to the vacuum valve.

[0012] Preferably, a liquid hydrogen filling valve and a hydrogen discharge valve are installed at the ends of the liquid hydrogen filling pipeline and the hydrogen discharge pipeline, respectively.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the present invention sets a longitudinal partition plate to achieve longitudinal partition of the expanded perlite filler, sets a transverse porous partition plate to divide the overall filler area into a plurality of small units, effectively solving the problem of voids in the expanded perlite filler when it shrinks slightly, does not affect the overall thermal insulation performance, and at the same time increases the overall structural strength, solving the problem of pressure rise when the expanded perlite filler heats up and expands. A filler replenishment cavity is set at the top of the longitudinal partition area, and since the expanded perlite filler can pass through the transverse porous partition plate, when the expanded perlite filler shrinks significantly, the filler inside the filler replenishment cavity will be replenished, preventing the generation of obvious voids and hot spots at the top of the liquid hydrogen storage tank. A gas freezer and an internally cooled adsorber are set, and the cold gradient of the low-temperature hydrogen is used to drive the gas freezer to freeze and the internally cooled adsorber to adsorb the gas that affects the thermal insulation performance, thereby extending the vacuum maintenance time inside the liquid hydrogen spherical tank. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] In order to more specifically and intuitively illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art are briefly introduced below.

[0015] Figure 1 The present invention provides a structural schematic diagram of a stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure of the longitudinal partition area in the liquid hydrogen spherical tank.

[0016] In the figure: liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1, bracket 2, longitudinal partition plate 3, longitudinal partition area 4, filler replenishment chamber 5, hydrogen discharge pipeline 6, hydrogen discharge valve 7, liquid hydrogen filling pipeline 8, liquid hydrogen filling valve 9, liquid hydrogen spherical tank outer wall 10, liquid hydrogen spherical tank inner wall 11, transverse porous partition plate 12, expanded perlite filler 13, filler replenishment chamber vacuum cover 14, fiberglass connector 15, filler replenishment chamber inner wall 16, gas freezer 17, internally cooled adsorber 18, evacuation pipeline 19, evacuation valve 20. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments.

[0018] Reference Figure 1-2A stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank comprises a liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 and a bracket 2 installed at the bottom thereof. The bracket 2 is installed at the bottom of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 to ensure the stability of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 comprises an outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and an inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank. The outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank are divided into a plurality of longitudinal partition areas 4 by a plurality of longitudinal partition plates 3. A filler replenishing cavity 5 is arranged at the top of the longitudinal partition area 4. The longitudinal partition area 4 is filled with expanded perlite filler 13. The top of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 is respectively connected with a liquid hydrogen filling pipeline 8 and a hydrogen exhaust pipeline 6. The ends of the hydrogen exhaust pipeline 6 pass through the filler replenishing cavity 5 and are merged. A cooling structure is arranged on the filler replenishing cavity 5.

[0019] One end of the hydrogen discharge pipeline 6 is installed on the top of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1, and then it is divided into multiple branches, each of which cools the corresponding filler replenishment chamber 5, and then merges and is emptied through the hydrogen discharge valve 7.

[0020] The liquid hydrogen filling pipeline 8 connects the liquid hydrogen filling valve 9 and the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 in sequence to fill the external liquid hydrogen medium into the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1.

[0021] In this embodiment, the filler replenishing chamber 5 includes a filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover 14 and a filler replenishing chamber inner wall 16. A vacuum extraction structure is arranged between the filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover 14 and the filler replenishing chamber inner wall 16. The filler replenishing chamber inner wall 16 is filled with expanded perlite filler 13. The filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover 14 is connected to the outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank through a fiberglass connector 15. The interior of the filler replenishing chamber inner wall 16 is filled with expanded perlite.

[0022] A filler replenishing cavity 5 is provided at the top of each longitudinal partition 4 for replenishing the expanded perlite when the filler cools and shrinks, so as to prevent the generation of cavities, leaks and hot spots at the top.

[0023] The filler replenishing chamber 5 is composed of a filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover 14 and a filler replenishing chamber inner wall 16, and a vacuum is drawn between the two. The filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover 14 is connected to the outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank through a low thermal conductivity glass fiber reinforced plastic connector 15, and the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishing chamber is filled with expanded perlite.

[0024] In this embodiment, the cooling structure includes a gas freezer 17 and an internally cooled adsorber 18. The inlets of the low-temperature hydrogen of the gas freezer 17 and the internally cooled adsorber 18 are installed on the outside of the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishing cavity, and the remaining parts are located inside the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishing cavity. The hydrogen exhaust pipeline 6 connects the gas freezer 17 and the internally cooled adsorber 18 in sequence along the direction of the air flow.

[0025] The gas freezer 17 and the internal cooling adsorber 18 are both installed on the inner wall 16 of the filling replenishment chamber. The inlet of low-temperature hydrogen is only installed outside the inner wall 16 of the filling replenishment chamber, and the rest is located inside the inner wall 16 of the filling replenishment chamber to freeze and adsorb the outgassing of the insulation material. The low-temperature evaporated hydrogen from the hydrogen discharge pipeline 6 first enters the gas channel of the gas freezer 17. After the gas freezer 17 cools down, it freezes the outgassing of the insulation material. Then, the hydrogen heats up and enters the gas channel of the internal cooling adsorber 18, releasing cold again, improving the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent, and finally the hydrogen is discharged.

[0026] In this embodiment, the longitudinal partition area 4 is provided with multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates 12 from top to bottom, and the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishment cavity is also connected to the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank through the transverse porous partition plates 12, dividing the entire longitudinal partition area 4 into multiple spaces.

[0027] In the longitudinal partition area 4, multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates 12 are arranged from top to bottom, and the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishment cavity is also connected to the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank through the multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates 12, dividing the entire longitudinal partition area 4 into multiple spaces. When the expanded perlite filler shrinks slightly, the multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates 12 will hinder it, without affecting the overall thermal insulation performance; when the expanded perlite filler shrinks significantly, the expanded perlite inside the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishment cavity will pass through the multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates 12 into the filler area below, preventing the generation of cavitation and hot spots.

[0028] In this embodiment, the vacuum pumping structure includes a vacuum pumping pipeline 19, and the front end of the vacuum pumping pipeline 19 is divided into two branches. The first branch is located between the vacuum cover 14 of the filler replenishing chamber and the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishing chamber, and the second branch is located between the outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank. The rear end is connected to the vacuum valve 20.

[0029] The front end of the evacuation pipeline 19 is divided into two branches. The first branch is located between the vacuum cover 14 of the filler replenishment chamber and the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishment chamber, and the second branch is located between the outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank. The rear end is connected to the evacuation valve 20, which can evacuate the above two areas to maintain a high vacuum degree.

[0030] In this embodiment, a liquid hydrogen filling valve 9 and a hydrogen discharge valve 7 are installed at the ends of the liquid hydrogen filling pipeline 8 and the hydrogen discharge pipeline 6, respectively.

[0031] The operating principle of a stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank is as follows: Assuming that all valves are in the closed state, the liquid hydrogen spherical tank is filled with expanded perlite filler.

[0032] (1) Evacuate the air.

[0033] The evacuation pipeline 19 is connected to the vacuum pump and other components, and the evacuation valve 20 is opened to start evacuation. When the vacuum degree of the expanded perlite filler area between the outer wall 10 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank, and the vacuum area between the filler replenishment cavity vacuum cover 14 and the filler replenishment cavity inner wall 16 reaches the requirement, the evacuation valve 20 is closed, and the evacuation is completed. The liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 has good insulation capacity.

[0034] (2) Pre-cooling and filling.

[0035] 1) The liquid hydrogen filling pipeline 8 is connected to the liquid hydrogen source, the liquid hydrogen filling valve 9 and the hydrogen discharge valve 7 are opened, and a small flow rate of liquid hydrogen precooling is started.

[0036] 2) In the initial stage, the inner wall 11 of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank begins to cool down, and the expanded perlite filler 13 in contact therewith begins to cool and shrink. However, under the action of the longitudinal partition plate 3 and the transverse porous partition plate 12, the expanded perlite filler 13 only shrinks in the corresponding space, which does not affect the overall thermal insulation performance.

[0037] 3) As the temperature of the expanded perlite filler 13 continues to decrease, the shrinkage amplitude increases. At this time, the expanded perlite filler at the top will move downward through the porous partition plate 12, and the expanded perlite filler 13 inside the inner wall 16 of the filler replenishment cavity will also move downward to fill the corresponding voids to prevent the generation of leakage hot spots.

[0038] 4) The low-temperature hydrogen from the hydrogen exhaust pipeline 6 first enters the gas channel of the gas freezer 17 to be cooled, causing the hydrogen to heat up. The gas freezer 17 cools down and freezes the excess gas generated by the outgassing of the internal materials. The hydrogen then continues to enter the gas channel of the internally cooled adsorber 18 to cool the adsorbent on the surface of the internally cooled adsorber 18 to improve the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent. Under the combined action of the gas freezer 17 and the internally cooled adsorber 18, the high vacuum degree inside can be maintained for a long time, and the cooling capacity of the low-temperature hydrogen can be utilized in a step-by-step manner to maximize efficiency.

[0039] 5) When the liquid hydrogen level in the liquid hydrogen storage tank 1 reaches the set value, the liquid hydrogen filling valve 9 is closed, the filling is completed, and then the storage state is entered.

[0040] (3) Discharge rewarming.

[0041] When the liquid hydrogen medium in the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 is used up and not refilled in time, the liquid hydrogen spherical tank 1 will slowly recover its temperature until the whole reaches a normal temperature state.

[0042] 1) When the temperature rise is small, the expanded perlite filler 13 will expand slightly. At this time, under the action of the longitudinal partition plate 3 and the transverse porous partition plate 12, the liquid hydrogen storage tank remains stable as a whole, and the longitudinal partition plate 3 and the transverse porous partition plate 12 can also adapt to the increased pressure.

[0043] 2) When the temperature is directly raised to room temperature, the expanded perlite filler 13 will expand significantly. At this time, the expanded perlite 13 moves upward through the transverse porous partition plate 12, and the excess part produced by the expansion enters the filler replenishment cavity inner wall 16. At the same time, the solid gas frozen by the gas freezer 17 begins to vaporize, and the adsorption capacity of the internal cooling adsorber 18 also decreases synchronously. When the internal cooling adsorber 18 cannot completely adsorb the gas produced by the vaporization of the gas freezer 17, the vacuum degree inside the liquid hydrogen storage tank 1 is destroyed, and the vacuum pumping in step (1) needs to be repeated when it is used again.

[0044] The above description is only a preferred specific implementation manner of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can make equivalent replacements or changes according to the technical scheme and inventive concept of the present invention within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, which should be covered by the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank, comprising a liquid hydrogen spherical tank (1) and a bracket (2) mounted at the bottom thereof, characterized in that: The liquid hydrogen spherical tank (1) comprises a liquid hydrogen spherical tank outer wall (10) and a liquid hydrogen spherical tank inner wall (11); the liquid hydrogen spherical tank outer wall (10) and the liquid hydrogen spherical tank inner wall (11) are divided into a plurality of longitudinal partition areas (4) by a plurality of longitudinal partition plates (3); a filler replenishing cavity (5) is provided at the top of the longitudinal partition area (4); the longitudinal partition area (4) is filled with expanded perlite filler (13); the top of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank (1) is respectively connected to a liquid hydrogen filling pipeline (8) and a hydrogen discharge pipeline (6); the ends of the hydrogen discharge pipeline (6) are merged after passing through the filler replenishing cavity (5); and a cooling structure is provided on the filler replenishing cavity (5).

2. The stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank according to claim 1, characterized in that: The filler replenishing chamber (5) comprises a filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover (14) and a filler replenishing chamber inner wall (16); a vacuum extraction structure is provided between the filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover (14) and the filler replenishing chamber inner wall (16); the filler replenishing chamber inner wall (16) is filled with expanded perlite filler (13); the filler replenishing chamber vacuum cover (14) is connected to the outer wall (10) of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank via a glass fiber reinforced plastic connector (15); and the interior of the filler replenishing chamber inner wall (16) is filled with expanded perlite.

3. The stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank according to claim 2 is characterized in that: The cooling structure comprises a gas freezer (17) and an internally cooled adsorber (18); low-temperature hydrogen inlets of the gas freezer (17) and the internally cooled adsorber (18) are installed outside the inner wall (16) of the filler replenishment chamber, and the remaining parts are located inside the inner wall (16) of the filler replenishment chamber; a hydrogen discharge pipeline (6) is connected to the gas freezer (17) and the internally cooled adsorber (18) in sequence along the direction of the gas flow.

4. The stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The longitudinal partition area (4) is provided with multiple layers of transverse porous partition plates (12) from top to bottom, and the inner wall (16) of the filler replenishment cavity is also connected to the inner wall (11) of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank through the transverse porous partition plates (12), thereby dividing the entire longitudinal partition area (4) into multiple spaces.

5. The stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank according to claim 4, characterized in that: The vacuum pumping structure comprises a vacuum pumping pipeline (19), the front end of which is divided into two branches, the first branch being located between the vacuum cover (14) of the filler replenishing chamber and the inner wall (16) of the filler replenishing chamber, the second branch being located between the outer wall (10) of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank and the inner wall (11) of the liquid hydrogen spherical tank, and the rear end being connected to a vacuum pumping valve (20).

6. The stacked insulated liquid hydrogen spherical tank according to claim 5, characterized in that: The ends of the liquid hydrogen filling pipeline (8) and the hydrogen discharge pipeline (6) are respectively installed with a liquid hydrogen filling valve (9) and a hydrogen discharge valve (7).

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