Crushing treatment method and crushing treatment system for battery

Abstract

A crushing treatment method and a crushing treatment system for a battery are used for treating a battery to be discarded, and the crushing treatment method for the battery comprises a low-temperature discharging step and a crushing step. In the low-temperature discharge step, the battery is cooled to a low-temperature discharge temperature between-60 DEG C and 0 DEG C by gas in direct contact with the battery for discharging. In the crushing step, the cooled battery is subjected to crushing treatment under the condition that the temperature is controlled to be not higher than the crushing temperature so as to form a plurality of crushed particles, and the crushing temperature ranges from-10 DEG C to 10 DEG C. According to the invention, the battery is cooled to the low-temperature discharge temperature by the gas in direct contact with the battery, so that the battery is prevented from being burnt during subsequent crushing, the safety of the process is ensured, cooling liquid such as saline water or liquid nitrogen does not need to be used, the pollution can be reduced, and the space cost of equipment is saved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a battery processing method and a processing system, and in particular to a battery crushing processing method and a crushing processing system. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of economy, the number of batteries in use has reached a new high every year, and the number of discarded batteries has also gradually increased. Therefore, how to deal with these discarded batteries has become an important issue in today's society. If the processing process is not appropriate, it will easily cause environmental pollution and waste of resources. These factors have prompted battery recycling to become an emerging industry.

[0003] In today's battery recycling industry, discarded batteries are usually crushed for subsequent reuse. However, if the residual energy of the battery is not released before crushing and disassembling, the discarded battery is prone to short circuit and release a large amount of heat, which may lead to combustion, explosion and other hazards. Therefore, for safety reasons, the industry usually discharges the discarded batteries before the crushing process.

[0004] At present, most of the industry chooses to immerse the waste batteries in salt water or liquid nitrogen to cool them down, so that the batteries can be discharged slowly. For example, the method for recovering lithium from waste lithium-ion batteries or parts thereof disclosed in the publication of Taiwan Invention Patent No. 202107764A of China proposes in the description that before the lithium-ion batteries are mechanically crushed or shredded, the lithium-ion batteries can be pre-immersed in a conductive liquid (such as sodium sulfate or a similar aqueous solution of metal salts) for discharge, and the crushing process is performed in water to prevent the formation of a flammable environment.

[0005] However, these methods have their own disadvantages. For example, cooling and discharging by soaking in salt water will generate a large amount of waste water and waste gas, and may also damage the components of the battery with recycling value, which is not only environmentally friendly but also not economically efficient. While cooling and discharging the waste battery by soaking in liquid nitrogen can improve the discharge efficiency, it requires a larger equipment storage space, and safety prevention facilities need to be installed around the equipment storing liquid nitrogen, which increases the space equipment cost. Summary of the invention

[0006] The object of the present invention is to provide a battery crushing method which can avoid environmental pollution and reduce space equipment costs.

[0007] The battery crushing treatment method of the present invention is used to treat batteries to be discarded, and comprises a low-temperature discharge step and a crushing step.

[0008] The low temperature discharge step is to cool the battery to a low temperature discharge temperature by gas cooling in direct contact with the battery for discharge, and the low temperature discharge temperature is between -60°C and 0°C.

[0009] The crushing step is to crush the cooled battery under the condition of not higher than the crushing temperature to form a plurality of crushed particles, and the crushing temperature is between -10°C and 10°C.

[0010] Preferably, in the battery crushing method of the present invention, the low-temperature discharge temperature is between -40°C and -20°C, and the size of the crushed particles is between 1 cm and 2 cm.

[0011] Preferably, in the battery crushing method of the present invention, in the low-temperature discharge step, after the battery is cooled to the low-temperature discharge temperature, the battery is further punctured to perform perforation discharge.

[0012] Preferably, the battery crushing processing method of the present invention further comprises a drying step and a screening step performed after the crushing step, wherein the drying step is to dry the crushed particles by heat treatment to remove residual electrolyte in the crushed particles, and the screening step is to sort the crushed particles that have passed the drying step according to at least one of size and material properties.

[0013] Another object of the present invention is to provide a battery crushing processing system.

[0014] Therefore, the battery crushing and processing system of the present invention is used to process batteries to be discarded, and includes a low-temperature discharge device, a conveying device, and a crushing device.

[0015] The low-temperature discharge device includes a cooling unit and a sensing unit connected to the cooling unit by signal. The cooling unit has a cooling chamber for placing the battery and a temperature controller. The temperature controller controls the chamber temperature of the cooling chamber, thereby using the gas in the cooling chamber to cool the battery. The sensing unit is used to sense the chamber temperature to generate a temperature sensing signal, and the temperature controller can adjust the temperature of the cooling chamber according to the temperature sensing signal.

[0016] The conveying device is disposed downstream of the cooling unit and is used for guiding the cooled batteries out of the cooling unit.

[0017] The crushing device is arranged at one end of the conveying device opposite to the low-temperature discharge device, and includes a crushing unit and a temperature control unit. The crushing unit has a container for accommodating the battery guided out from the conveying device, and a crushing member for crushing the battery to form a plurality of crushed particles. The temperature control unit is arranged adjacent to the container and is used to adjust the internal temperature of the container.

[0018] Preferably, in the battery crushing processing system of the present invention, the low-temperature discharge device further comprises a perforating unit disposed between the cooling unit and the conveying device, for performing perforating discharge on the cooled battery.

[0019] Preferably, the battery crushing processing system of the present invention further comprises a drying device disposed downstream of the crushing unit, and a sorting device disposed downstream of the drying device, wherein the drying device removes residual electrolyte in the crushed particles by heat treatment, and the sorting device has at least one sorting unit, which sorts the crushed particles passing through the drying device according to at least one of size and material properties.

[0020] Preferably, in the battery crushing processing system of the present invention, the at least one sorting unit is selected from a size screening machine, a magnetic separator, an eddy current separator or a specific gravity separator.

[0021] Preferably, in the battery crushing processing system of the present invention, the cooling chamber is defined by a chamber body, the temperature controller is a heat exchanger having a plurality of cooling tubes arranged on the side walls of the chamber body, and a supply member for supplying a water-cooling liquid, the supply member is connected to the sensing unit signal, and the flow rate of the water-cooling liquid is adjusted according to the temperature sensing signal.

[0022] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the battery is cooled to the low-temperature discharge temperature by gas cooling in direct contact with the battery to prevent the battery from burning during subsequent crushing, thereby ensuring the safety of the process, and eliminating the use of chemical coolants such as salt water or liquid nitrogen, thereby significantly reducing the generation of chemically contaminated waste liquid and saving equipment space costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a battery crushing processing system of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram, auxiliary Figure 1 Describe the positional relationship of the components of the crushing and processing system;

[0025] Figure 3 It is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the battery crushing method of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0027] Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that similar elements are represented by the same reference numerals in the following description. In addition, it should be noted that the drawings of the present invention are only for showing the relative relationship between the structures or positions of the elements, and are not related to the actual sizes of the elements.

[0028] See also Figure 1 and Figure 2 The embodiment of the battery crushing and processing system of the present invention is used to process batteries to be discarded, and includes a low-temperature discharge device 2, a conveying device 3, a crushing device 4, a drying device 5, and a sorting device 6. In this embodiment, the battery is a lithium battery as an example for description.

[0029] The low-temperature discharge device 2 includes a cooling unit 21 , a sensing unit 22 signal-connected to the cooling unit 21 , and a perforating unit 23 .

[0030] The cooling unit 21 has a chamber body 211, a cooling chamber 212 defined by the chamber body 211 and used to place the battery, and a temperature controller 213. The temperature controller 213 controls the chamber temperature of the cooling chamber 212 to cool the battery by cooling the battery through gas directly contacting the battery (air cooling). The sensing unit 22 is connected to the temperature controller 213 by signal, and is used to sense the chamber temperature of the cooling chamber 212 to generate a temperature sensing signal. The temperature controller 213 can adjust the chamber temperature according to the temperature sensing signal.

[0031] In this embodiment, the temperature controller 213 is a heat exchanger having a plurality of cooling tubes (not shown) disposed on the side wall of the chamber body 211 and a supply member (not shown) for supplying a water-cooling liquid to the cooling tubes. The supply member adjusts the flow rate of the water-cooling liquid according to the temperature sensing signal measured by the sensing unit 22, thereby controlling the chamber temperature of the cooling chamber 212.

[0032] The perforating unit 23 is disposed between the cooling unit 21 and the conveying device 3 and is used to puncture the cooled battery to perform perforation discharge, so as to forcibly release the residual power of the battery.

[0033] In some embodiments, the perforating unit 23 is disposed in the cooling chamber 212. When the battery is cooled to a predetermined temperature, or the chamber temperature of the cooling chamber 212 is reduced to a predetermined temperature, the perforating unit 23 can puncture the cooled battery to perform perforation discharge.

[0034] The conveying device 3 is disposed downstream of the cooling unit 21 and the perforating unit 23 , and is used to output the battery after being cooled and perforated and discharged.

[0035] In this embodiment, the conveying device 3 is as follows Figure 1 The embodiment shown has a plurality of conveyor belts 31 connected end to end, but the embodiment is not limited thereto.

[0036] The crushing device 4 is disposed at an end of the conveying device 3 opposite to the low-temperature discharge device 2 , and includes a crushing unit 41 and a temperature control unit 42 .

[0037] The crushing unit 41 has a container 411 for accommodating the battery guided out from the conveying device 3 and a crushing member 412 for crushing the battery to form a plurality of crushed particles. The temperature control unit 42 is disposed adjacent to the container 411 and is used to adjust the internal temperature of the container 411.

[0038] In this embodiment, the temperature control unit 42 has a temperature sensor (not shown) for measuring the internal temperature of the container 411, and a nitrogen supply component (not shown). The nitrogen supply component adjusts the flow rate of nitrogen into the container 411 according to the detection result of the temperature sensor, thereby controlling the internal temperature of the container 411, so that the battery can be crushed in a low temperature environment (between -10°C and 10°C).

[0039] The drying device 5 is disposed downstream of the crushing unit 41 to remove the residual electrolyte in the crushed particles by heat treatment. The drying device 5 is selected from a drying machine, a dryer or other heat treatment equipment.

[0040] The sorting device 6 has two sorting units 61, which sort the crushed particles passing through the drying device 5 according to at least one of size and material properties. In this embodiment, one of the sorting units 61 disposed adjacent to the drying device 5 is a magnetic separator for sorting magnetic materials, and the other sorting unit 61 is a size screening machine for size sorting the crushed particles after magnetic separation, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0041] In other embodiments, depending on the different screening conditions, the sorting device 6 has one or more different types of sorting units 61 to sort the crushed particles according to at least one of size and material properties. The sorting unit 61 can be selected from a size screening machine, a magnetic separator, an eddy current separator for sorting different metal types, or a specific gravity separator.

[0042] In this embodiment, the battery crushing system further comprises a conveyor belt 81 disposed downstream of the drying device 5, and a crusher 82 disposed between the conveyor belt 81 and the sorting device 6. The conveyor belt 81 is used to transport the crushed particles after drying to the crusher 82. The crusher 82 is used to perform secondary crushing on the crushed particles to ensure that the size of the crushed particles after drying meets expectations.

[0043] It should be noted that in other embodiments, the conveyor belt 81 and the crusher 82 may not be provided as required, so as to directly guide the dried crushed particles from the drying device 5 to the sorting device 6, without being limited to the above example.

[0044] Compared with the existing battery crushing process, the waste batteries are first cooled and discharged by soaking in salt water or liquid nitrogen, and then the subsequent crushing process is performed, which will generate a large amount of waste liquid. The crushing processing system described in the present invention uses the cooling unit 21 to cool the battery by directly contacting the gas of the battery (air cooling) to cool and discharge the battery, thereby eliminating the use of salt water, liquid nitrogen or other chemicals. Therefore, the generation of waste liquid can be reduced, environmental pollution can be avoided, and the battery can be prevented from being contaminated by chemicals during the cooling process, thereby reducing the recycling value. In addition, when the same number of waste batteries are cooled, discharged and crushed, since the crushing processing system of the embodiment of the present invention does not require the installation of additional storage equipment for storing salt water or liquid nitrogen, the equipment space cost can be reduced by at least half.

[0045] Related References Figure 3 , illustrating an embodiment of the battery crushing method of the present invention, which is performed using the aforementioned crushing system. The crushing method includes a low-temperature discharge step 71, a crushing step 72, a drying step 73, and a screening step 74.

[0046] The low temperature discharge step 71 is to use the cooling unit 21 to cool the battery to a low temperature discharge temperature by directly contacting the battery with gas (air cooling) to perform cooling discharge, and after the battery is cooled to the low temperature discharge temperature, the cooled battery is perforated and discharged through the perforation unit 23. The low temperature discharge temperature refers to the surface temperature of the battery, and is between -60°C and 0°C. Preferably, the low temperature discharge temperature is between -40°C and -20°C.

[0047] Specifically, when the battery is cooled to the low-temperature discharge temperature, the battery can be prevented from burning due to a large amount of heat generated during the subsequent crushing step 72 , thereby improving the safety of the battery during the crushing process.

[0048] Then, the conveying device 3 is used to guide the battery after cooling and perforation discharge to the crushing device 4 and then to the container 411. The crushing step 72 is to use the temperature control unit 42 to adjust the internal temperature of the container 411, so as to control the cooled battery to be no higher than a crushing temperature, and use the crushing member 412 to crush the battery to form the crushed particles. The size of the crushed particles is between 1 cm and 2 cm, and the crushing temperature is between -10°C and 10°C, so that the cooled battery can still be crushed in a low temperature environment to avoid the battery from burning due to the large amount of heat generated during the crushing process.

[0049] In this embodiment, the crushing step 72 is to crush the cooled battery at the crushing temperature (between -10°C and 10°C).

[0050] Then, the drying step 73 is performed by using the drying device 5 to dry the crushed particles by heat treatment to remove the residual electrolyte in the crushed particles.

[0051] Then, the screening step 74 is performed using the sorting device 6, and the magnetic material is sorted out from the crushed particles that have passed the drying step 73 through one of the sorting units 61 selected from the magnetic separator. Then, the crushed particles after magnetic separation are sorted according to size through the other sorting unit 61 selected from the size screening machine.

[0052] In other embodiments, the screening step 74 may use different types of sorting units (e.g., a gravity separator or an eddy current separator) depending on different process requirements, and perform sorting based on at least one of the size and material properties (e.g., metal type) of the crushed particles.

[0053] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, between the drying step 73 and the screening step 74, the crusher 82 is used to perform a secondary crushing process on the dried pulverized particles to ensure that the size of the pulverized particles is between 1 cm and 2 cm.

[0054] The following specific example and comparative example illustrate the use of the crushing processing system to perform the low-temperature discharge step 71 and the crushing step 72 on a discarded lithium battery, and use an infrared temperature measuring instrument (model: Ti480PRO, manufacturer: Fluke) to measure an initial surface temperature T11 (i.e., the cooling discharge temperature) and a center initial temperature T12 of the lithium battery before performing the crushing step 72; measure a surface maximum temperature T21 and a center maximum temperature T22 of the lithium battery during the crushing step 72; finally, after the crushing step 72 is completed, measure the temperature T3 of the crushed particles formed, and the results are summarized in Table 1.

[0055] Specific example

[0056] First, the low-temperature discharge step 71 is performed, and the six lithium batteries to be discarded are cooled to 0°C, -10°C, -20°C, -30°C, -40°C and -60°C respectively by using the cooling unit 21 to cool the battery by directly contacting the gas of the battery (air cooling), and then the perforation unit 23 is used to perform perforation discharge. Then, the crushing step 72 is performed, and the crushing unit 41 is used to crush the lithium battery to form a plurality of crushed particles. In the specific example, the infrared temperature measuring instrument is used to measure the initial surface temperature T11 and the initial center temperature T12 of the lithium battery before the crushing step 72, the maximum surface temperature T21 and the maximum center temperature T22 during the crushing step 72, and the temperature T3 of the crushed particles formed after the crushing step 72 is completed.

[0057] Comparative Example

[0058] The crushing method of the comparative example is similar to that of the specific example, except that when performing cooling discharge, the lithium battery to be discarded is cooled to an initial surface temperature T11 of 10° C. before the subsequent crushing process is performed.

[0059] Table 1

[0060]

[0061] It can be seen from Table 1 that compared to the comparative example in which the initial surface temperature T11 of the lithium battery is cooled to 10°C before sequentially performing the processes of perforation discharge and crushing treatment, and burning due to the large amount of heat generated during the crushing treatment, the specific example first cools the initial surface temperature T11 of the lithium battery to between -60°C and 0°C by directly contacting the battery with gas (air cooling), and then performs the subsequent perforation discharge and the crushing step 72. During the crushing treatment, the highest center temperature T22 of the lithium battery is not higher than 90°C, and the highest surface temperature T21 is not higher than 60°C, and no combustion occurs. It can be seen that as long as the initial surface temperature T11 of the lithium battery (the low-temperature discharge temperature) is cooled to no higher than 0°C in the low-temperature discharge step 71, the lithium battery can be prevented from burning during the crushing treatment, which is beneficial to improving the process safety.

[0062] In summary, the battery crushing processing system of the present invention utilizes the cooling unit 21 to cool the battery to the low-temperature discharge temperature by directly contacting the gas of the battery (air cooling), so as to avoid the battery from burning due to the generation of a large amount of heat during the subsequent crushing processing, and eliminates the use of salt water or liquid nitrogen, thereby greatly reducing the generation of waste liquid and avoiding pollution to the environment. At the same time, it also reduces the equipment space cost, so the purpose of the present invention can be achieved.

[0063] However, the above is only an embodiment of the present invention and should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention. All simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims and description of the present invention are still within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A battery crushing method for processing batteries to be discarded, characterized in that: The method comprises a low temperature discharge step, wherein the battery is cooled to a low temperature discharge temperature by using gas directly contacting the battery for discharge, and the low temperature discharge temperature is between -60°C and 0°C; and The crushing step is to crush the cooled battery at a temperature not higher than a crushing temperature to form a plurality of crushed particles, and the crushing temperature is between -10°C and 10°C.

2. The battery crushing method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The low-temperature discharge temperature is between -40°C and -20°C, and the size of the crushed particles is between 1 cm and 2 cm.

3. The battery crushing method according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the low-temperature discharge step, after the battery is cooled to the low-temperature discharge temperature, the battery is punctured to perform perforation discharge.

4. The battery crushing method according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a drying step and a screening step performed after the crushing step. The drying step is to dry the crushed particles by heat treatment to remove the residual electrolyte in the crushed particles. The screening step is to sort the crushed particles that have passed the drying step according to at least one of the size and material properties.

5. A battery crushing processing system for processing batteries to be discarded, characterized in that: A low-temperature discharge device is provided, comprising a cooling unit and a sensing unit connected to the cooling unit by signal, wherein the cooling unit has a cooling chamber for placing the battery and a temperature controller, wherein the temperature controller controls the chamber temperature of the cooling chamber so as to cool the battery using gas in the cooling chamber, wherein the sensing unit is used to sense the chamber temperature to generate a temperature sensing signal, and the temperature controller can adjust the temperature of the cooling chamber according to the temperature sensing signal; A conveying device, disposed downstream of the cooling unit, for conveying the cooled battery out of the cooling unit; and A crushing device is arranged at one end of the conveying device opposite to the low-temperature discharge device, and includes a crushing unit and a temperature control unit. The crushing unit has a container for accommodating the battery guided out from the conveying device, and a crushing piece for crushing the battery to form a plurality of crushed particles. The temperature control unit is arranged adjacent to the container and is used to adjust the internal temperature of the container.

6. The battery crushing system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The low-temperature discharge device further comprises a perforating unit disposed between the cooling unit and the conveying device, and used for performing perforating discharge on the cooled battery.

7. The battery crushing system according to claim 6, characterized in that: It also includes a drying device arranged downstream of the crushing unit, and a sorting device arranged downstream of the drying device, wherein the drying device removes residual electrolyte in the crushed particles by heat treatment, and the sorting device has at least one sorting unit, which sorts the crushed particles passing through the drying device according to at least one of size and material properties.

8. The battery crushing system according to claim 7, characterized in that: The at least one sorting unit is selected from a size screening machine, a magnetic separator, an eddy current separator or a specific gravity separator.

9. The battery crushing system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The cooling chamber is defined by a chamber body, and the temperature controller is a heat exchanger having a plurality of cooling tubes arranged on the side wall of the chamber body and a supply member for supplying water-cooling liquid. The supply member is connected to the sensing unit signal and adjusts the flow rate of the water-cooling liquid according to the temperature sensing signal.

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