Modularized square solid hydrogen storage tank, loading method thereof and solid hydrogen storage unit

Abstract

The invention provides a modularized square solid hydrogen storage tank, a charging method thereof and a solid hydrogen storage unit. The modularized square solid hydrogen storage tank comprises a shell, a front end plate and a breather pipe, the cross section of the shell is square, the front end of the shell is open, and the rear end of the shell is sealed. The shell is used for containing a hydrogen storage block prefabricated by a hydrogen storage material. The front end plate is used for covering a front end opening of the shell and is sealed with the shell. The breather pipe and the front end plate are integrally formed, and most of the breather pipe is located in the shell. A plurality of vent holes are formed in the pipe wall of the vent pipe, and the vent pipe is used for sleeving the hydrogen storage block. A plurality of square solid hydrogen storage tanks can be combined for use to form a solid hydrogen storage unit. The square solid hydrogen storage tank is simple in structure, convenient to process and low in manufacturing cost. After the hydrogen storage material is pretreated into the hydrogen storage blocks, only the hydrogen storage blocks need to penetrate through the breather pipe one by one in the filling process of the hydrogen storage tank, so that the filling time is shortened, and the filling uniformity is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a solid-state hydrogen storage container, in particular to a modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank, and belongs to the technical field of hydrogen storage. Background Art

[0002] Hydrogen energy is low-carbon and environmentally friendly, and the only product of its combustion is water. It is an important carrier for the terminal to achieve green and low-carbon transformation. Hydrogen storage and transportation technology is a key link in the utilization of hydrogen energy, and it is also the biggest difficulty restricting the large-scale application of hydrogen energy. At present, the main storage and transportation methods of hydrogen are: high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage, liquid hydrogen storage and transportation, solid hydrogen storage, organic liquid hydrogen storage, etc. Among them, solid hydrogen storage has the advantages of high hydrogen storage density, safety and reliability, and long service life.

[0003] In the prior art, solid-state hydrogen storage containers are generally designed to be circular, and the hydrogen storage material is filled therein in powder or granular form, which has the disadvantages of long filling time, low filling density, and large equipment volume. Summary of the invention

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is that the filling time of powder or granular hydrogen storage materials in a solid hydrogen storage container is long and the filling density is low.

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the first aspect of the present invention provides a modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank, comprising:

[0006] The shell has a square cross section, an open front end and a sealed rear end; the shell is used to accommodate a hydrogen storage block prefabricated from a hydrogen storage material; the hydrogen storage block is slightly smaller than the cross section of the shell;

[0007] A front end plate, the front end plate is used to cover the front end opening of the shell and is sealed with the shell;

[0008] The ventilation pipe is integrally formed with the front end plate, and most of the ventilation pipe is located behind the front end plate; a plurality of ventilation holes are arranged on the pipe wall of the ventilation pipe, and the ventilation pipe is used to cover the hydrogen storage block.

[0009] In some embodiments, the front end plate is fixed to the housing by bolts.

[0010] In some embodiments, the ventilation holes are evenly distributed on the wall of the ventilation tube.

[0011] In some embodiments, the ventilation pipe is located at an axial position of the shell, and a cross-section of the ventilation pipe is circular.

[0012] In some embodiments, the hydrogen storage block is in the shape of a thick disc with a circular mounting hole in the center.

[0013] The second aspect of the present invention provides a method for charging the above-mentioned square solid-state hydrogen storage tank, comprising the following steps:

[0014] (1) The hydrogen storage material is made into a plurality of thick disc-shaped hydrogen storage blocks, and a mounting hole is opened in the center of the hydrogen storage block;

[0015] (2) Open the front end plate and put the hydrogen storage bodies on the ventilation pipes one by one;

[0016] (3) Close the front end plate to seal the hydrogen storage body in the square solid hydrogen storage tank.

[0017] A third aspect of the present invention provides a solid-state hydrogen storage unit, which is formed by combining the above-mentioned square solid-state hydrogen storage tanks to form a hydrogen storage unit of any scale.

[0018] In some embodiments, the solid-state hydrogen storage unit comprises:

[0019] A plurality of square solid-state hydrogen storage tanks are arranged to form a hydrogen storage tank assembly;

[0020] An outer frame, the inner shape of which matches the outer periphery of the hydrogen storage tank assembly, and the outer frame is used to accommodate the hydrogen storage tank assembly;

[0021] The hydrogen transmission pipeline consists of a main pipe and several branch pipes, each of which is connected to the main pipe; each square solid hydrogen storage tank is connected to a branch pipe.

[0022] In some embodiments, a valve is provided on each branch pipe.

[0023] In some embodiments, the outer frame is provided with reinforcing ribs.

[0024] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0025] (1) The square solid-state hydrogen storage tank has a simple structure, is easy to process and has low manufacturing cost.

[0026] (2) During use, the four corner gaps between the square solid hydrogen storage tank and the disc-shaped hydrogen storage block serve as expansion space for the hydrogen storage material after absorbing hydrogen, which not only reduces the expansion stress inside the hydrogen storage tank, but also utilizes all the internal space of the hydrogen storage tank.

[0027] (3) After the hydrogen storage material is preprocessed into hydrogen storage blocks, the filling process of the hydrogen storage tank only requires putting the hydrogen storage blocks one by one on the ventilation pipe, which not only shortens the filling time but also increases the uniformity of the filling. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a square solid-state hydrogen storage tank provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a square solid-state hydrogen storage tank provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in which a plurality of hydrogen storage blocks are installed inside.

[0030] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a single shape of a hydrogen storage block provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] The meanings of the symbols in the above drawings are as follows:

[0032] 100 Solid Hydrogen Storage Tank

[0033] 110 Housing

[0034] 120 front end plate

[0035] 130 Ventilation pipe

[0036] 210 Hydrogen Storage Block

[0037] 211 Round mounting hole

[0038] 220 Hydrogen Storage Block

[0039] 230 Hydrogen Storage Block DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] The words "first", "second" and similar terms used in this specification and claims do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. The words "one" or "an" and similar terms do not indicate a quantity limitation, but indicate the existence of at least one. In the description of this patent, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more.

[0041] In the description of this patent, words such as "including" or "having" and the like mean that the elements or objects appearing before "including" or "having" include the elements or objects listed after "including" or "having" and their equivalent elements, and do not exclude other elements or objects.

[0042] In the description of this patent, when an element is referred to as being "fixed to / mounted on (or similar terms)" another element, it may be directly on the other element or there may be intervening elements. When an element is considered to be "connected to" another element, it may be directly connected to the other element or there may be intervening elements at the same time. On the contrary, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" another element, there are no intervening elements.

[0043] In the description of this patent, the terms "front", "rear", "up", "down", "left", "right", "horizontal", "lateral", "longitudinal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing this patent and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be understood as a limitation on this patent.

[0044] The present invention provides a modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank, which aims to solve the defects of existing solid-state hydrogen storage containers, such as long filling time, low filling density, and large equipment volume. The solid-state hydrogen storage tank adopts a modular design, which is convenient for combining multiple hydrogen storage tanks and is suitable for hydrogen storage needs of various scales. At the same time, by prefabricating the hydrogen storage material into a thick disc-shaped hydrogen storage block and sleeved the hydrogen storage block on the ventilation pipe, the filling time can be shortened, the filling efficiency can be improved, and the hydrogen storage density can be increased.

[0045] The overall structural diagram of the modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank is as follows: Figure 1 The solid-state hydrogen storage tank 100 is mainly composed of a shell 110, a front end plate 120, a vent pipe 130 and other components. The solid-state hydrogen storage tank 100 has a simple structure, convenient processing and low manufacturing cost.

[0046] The shell 110 is made of a pressure-resistant metal material. The shell 110 is in the shape of a cube and has a square cross section. The front end of the shell 110 is open and the rear end is sealed. The interior of the shell 110 is used to accommodate hydrogen storage blocks prefabricated from hydrogen storage materials. The total length of the shell 110 is several times the width of the cross section, so that it can accommodate many hydrogen storage blocks, such as Figure 2 shown.

[0047] The front end plate 120 and the shell 110 are made of the same material. The front end plate 120 covers the front end opening of the shell 110 and is sealed with the shell 110 to prevent hydrogen leakage and avoid safety hazards. Preferably, the front end plate 120 is fixed to the shell 110 by bolts (not shown in the figure), the bolt connection is firm, and it is easy to disassemble, so that the front end plate 120 is completely separated from the shell 110. A sealing structure (not shown in the figure) is provided at the connection between the front end plate 120 and the shell 110, such as a sealing ring. The center of the front end plate 120 is connected to the vent pipe 130. Preferably, the vent pipe is circular. In other embodiments, the vent pipe can be other shapes, such as square. Preferably, the vent pipe 130 is integrally formed with the front end plate 120, and the vent pipe 130 can be inserted into the rear end close to the shell 110, and the end of the vent pipe 130 is fixed to the shell 110.

[0048] Preferably, the vent pipe 130 is located at the axial position of the shell 110, and a plurality of hydrogen storage blocks can be mounted on the vent pipe 130, such as Figure 2 The hydrogen storage block 210, hydrogen storage block 220, hydrogen storage block 230, etc. are shown in the figure. Preferably, the vent pipe 130 is in the shape of a round tube: firstly, the round tube has high strength and can carry multiple hydrogen storage blocks without deformation; secondly, the round tube has low surface friction, making it easier to install the hydrogen storage blocks on the vent pipe 130. The first hydrogen storage block to be installed must pass through almost the entire vent pipe 130 before it can be installed in place, requiring the outer wall of the vent pipe 130 to be smooth in order to further reduce friction.

[0049] The wall of the vent pipe 130 is evenly distributed with a plurality of vent holes (not shown in the figure). After the hydrogen enters the vent pipe 130 from the inlet, it diffuses evenly toward the hydrogen storage block through the vent holes, and then reacts chemically with the solid hydrogen storage material in the hydrogen storage block, thereby achieving hydrogen solidification and safe storage.

[0050] The hydrogen storage block 210 is in the shape of a thick disc, and a circular mounting hole 211 is provided in the center thereof. Figure 3 As shown. The diameter of the circular mounting hole 211 is close to the outer diameter of the vent pipe 130. The hydrogen storage block 210 is formed by processing a powdered solid hydrogen storage material. Then, a circular mounting hole 211 is dug out in the center of the disc-shaped hydrogen storage block 210. Alternatively, when processing the hydrogen storage block with a powdered solid hydrogen storage material, a small cylinder is placed in the middle of the mold. After the hydrogen storage block 210 is processed, the small cylinder is taken out to form a circular mounting hole 211.

[0051] Solid hydrogen storage materials in powder or granular form are not convenient to store and transport. After the solid hydrogen storage materials are prefabricated into hydrogen storage blocks, their storage and transportation are more convenient and safer than those in powder or granular form, and are less likely to be contaminated by impurities.

[0052] The hydrogen storage block needs to be loaded into the solid hydrogen storage tank 100, including the following steps:

[0053] (1) Unscrew the multiple bolts on the front end plate 120 of the solid hydrogen storage tank 100 and remove it, and then reversely withdraw the front end plate 120 with the vent pipe 130 until they are completely separated from the shell 110.

[0054] (2) The hydrogen storage blocks are placed one by one on the vent pipe 130, and each hydrogen storage block is closely adjacent to the hydrogen storage blocks on both sides, such as Figure 2 The hydrogen storage blocks 210, 220 and 230 shown in FIG. Adjacent hydrogen storage blocks may also be separated by some space to accommodate the volume expansion of the hydrogen storage blocks after being heated and reduce the expansion stress.

[0055] (3) After the front end plate 120 is installed in place, the bolts are tightened. At this time, the hydrogen storage block is filled.

[0056] From the above filling steps, it can be seen that after the hydrogen storage material is pre-processed and formed, it is only necessary to put the hydrogen storage blocks one by one on the ventilation pipe 130, which not only shortens the filling time but also increases the uniformity of filling. During the process of charging and discharging hydrogen, the four corner gaps between the square solid hydrogen storage tank 100 and the circular hydrogen storage block serve as expansion space for the hydrogen storage material after absorbing hydrogen, which not only reduces the expansion stress inside the solid hydrogen storage tank 100, but also makes full use of all the internal space of the solid hydrogen storage tank 100.

[0057] Furthermore, a hydrogen storage unit of any size can be formed by combining multiple solid-state hydrogen storage tanks 100 in an outer frame. The number and arrangement of the solid-state hydrogen storage tanks to be combined are determined according to the site conditions, and then an outer frame is prepared, the internal shape of the outer frame matches the outer peripheral contour of the hydrogen storage tank assembly. The solid-state hydrogen storage tanks are placed in the outer frame and arranged close to each other to form a hydrogen storage tank assembly.

[0058] A set of hydrogen delivery pipelines (not shown in the figure) is configured for the hydrogen storage unit. The hydrogen delivery pipeline consists of a main pipe and several branch pipes, each of which is connected to the main pipe. Each square solid-state hydrogen storage tank 100 is connected to a branch pipe. Preferably, a valve is provided on each branch pipe to control the operation of each solid-state hydrogen storage tank 100 individually, which is flexible and free.

[0059] When the hydrogen storage block is over-expanded, it will squeeze the outer wall of the solid hydrogen storage tank 100, causing it to deform outward. Reinforcement ribs can be set on the outer frame of the hydrogen storage unit, and the reinforcement ribs can be selected according to the specific use pressure of the equipment to prevent the outer wall of the solid hydrogen storage tank 100 from deforming.

[0060] The present invention has the following advantages:

[0061] (1) Improved loading efficiency: After the hydrogen storage material is prefabricated into a hydrogen storage block, it can be directly mounted on the ventilation pipe, shortening the loading time and improving the uniformity of the loading.

[0062] (2) Stable structure and space saving: The square hydrogen storage tank design facilitates modular combination of multiple tanks, and the space utilization rate between hydrogen storage tanks is high, which is conducive to meeting large-scale hydrogen storage needs.

[0063] (3) Expansion stress release: There are four corner gaps between the square hydrogen storage tank shell and the circular hydrogen storage block, which can not only relieve the expansion pressure of the hydrogen storage material after absorbing hydrogen, but also avoid the damage of the hydrogen storage material to the shell, thereby extending its service life.

[0064] The preferred specific embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above. It should be understood that a person skilled in the art can make many modifications and changes based on the concept of the present invention without creative work. Therefore, any technical solution that can be obtained by a person skilled in the art through logical analysis, reasoning or limited experiments based on the concept of the present invention on the basis of the prior art should be within the scope of protection determined by the claims.

Claims

1. A modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank, characterized in that: include: A shell, the cross section of which is square, the front end of which is open and the rear end is sealed; the shell is used to accommodate a hydrogen storage block prefabricated from a hydrogen storage material; A front end plate, the front end plate is used to cover the front end opening of the shell and seal with the shell; A ventilation pipe is formed integrally with the front end plate, and most of the ventilation pipe is located behind the front end plate; a plurality of ventilation holes are provided on the wall of the ventilation pipe, and the ventilation pipe is used to fit the hydrogen storage block.

2. A modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank according to claim 1, characterized in that: The front end plate is fixed to the housing by bolts.

3. A modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ventilation holes are evenly distributed on the tube wall of the ventilation tube.

4. A modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ventilation pipe is located at the axial position of the shell, and the cross section of the ventilation pipe is circular.

5. A modular square solid-state hydrogen storage tank according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hydrogen storage block is in the shape of a thick disc, and a circular mounting hole is provided in the center thereof.

6. The method for charging a square solid-state hydrogen storage tank according to claim 1, characterized in that: The steps include: The hydrogen storage material is made into a plurality of thick disc-shaped hydrogen storage blocks, and a mounting hole is opened in the center of the hydrogen storage block; Open the front end plate and mount the hydrogen storage bodies on the ventilation pipes one by one; The front end plate is closed to seal the hydrogen storage body in the square solid-state hydrogen storage tank.

7. A solid-state hydrogen storage unit, characterized in that: The square solid-state hydrogen storage tanks described in claim 1 are combined to form the hydrogen storage unit of any scale.

8. A solid-state hydrogen storage unit according to claim 7, characterized in that: include: A plurality of the square solid-state hydrogen storage tanks are arranged to form a hydrogen storage tank assembly; An outer frame, the inner shape of which matches the outer periphery of the hydrogen storage tank assembly, and the outer frame is used to accommodate the hydrogen storage tank assembly; The hydrogen transmission pipeline is composed of a main pipe and a plurality of branch pipes, each of which is connected to the main pipe; each of the square solid hydrogen storage tanks is connected to one of the branch pipes.

9. A solid-state hydrogen storage unit according to claim 8, characterized in that: A valve is provided on each of the branch pipes.

10. A solid-state hydrogen storage unit according to claim 8, characterized in that: The outer frame is provided with reinforcing ribs.

Images