Lithium-Ion Battery Roasting with Zoned Heating Rate Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing waste lithium-ion battery roasting apparatuses have inefficiencies in heat treatment due to single furnace door configurations, which hinder the improvement of heat treatment efficiency and useful metal recovery rates.
Innovation Solution
A waste lithium-ion battery roasting apparatus featuring a transport mechanism with a cylindrical body in a reducing or low-oxygen atmosphere, a heating mechanism that individually controls heating temperatures along the transport direction, and a controller that adjusts heating temperatures based on the transport speed to maintain a predetermined temperature increase rate.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a single furnace door configuration is used for feeding and discharging heat-resistant containers, then the device structure is simple, but the heat treatment efficiency is low due to sequential operations
Solution Approach 1:
The single furnace door is segmented into multiple independent furnace doors (first furnace door for feeding, second furnace door for discharging) positioned at different locations on the cylindrical furnace body. This allows simultaneous or independent operation of feeding and discharging processes, eliminating the sequential constraint and improving heat treatment efficiency without requiring a completely new furnace structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The furnace doors are arranged in different spatial positions (different dimensions) on the cylindrical furnace body rather than sharing the same opening. This spatial separation enables parallel operations of feeding and discharging, transforming the time-sequential process into a space-parallel process, thereby improving productivity while maintaining structural simplicity.
2Productivity
If the temperature increase rate is increased to improve heat treatment speed, then the heat treatment efficiency is improved, but the useful metal recovery rate decreases due to smaller grain size
Solution Approach 1:
The heating system transitions from static uniform heating to dynamic variable heating, where the temperature increase rate can be adjusted at different time stages and spatial positions. The controller dynamically modifies heating parameters to achieve different temperature increase rates during different phases of the heating process, enabling both high-speed heat treatment and controlled grain growth.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating mechanism applies different heating intensities to different regions of the waste lithium-ion batteries during the heating process. By creating local variations in temperature increase rate, the system can optimize both the overall heat treatment efficiency and the local grain structure development, thereby improving metal recovery rate while maintaining processing speed.
3Ease of manufacture
If uniform heating is applied throughout the cylindrical body, then the heating mechanism is simple, but the temperature distribution is not optimized for different stages of heat treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The heating mechanism is segmented into multiple independent heating elements positioned at different locations along the cylindrical furnace body. Each heating element can be independently controlled to provide different heating intensities at different positions, enabling optimized temperature distribution for various heat treatment stages while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating system enables dynamic changes in heating parameters (temperature, heating rate) at different spatial positions and time stages. The controller adjusts heating parameters to match the specific requirements of different heat treatment phases, achieving precise temperature distribution control without requiring a complex heating mechanism design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enables continuous receipt and discharge of waste lithium-ion batteries, improving heat treatment efficiency and enhancing the recovery rate of useful metals like cobalt through controlled temperature increase rates.
Implementation Method 1
a heating mechanism that heats an outer wall of the cylindrical body to increase an internal temperature of the cylindrical body
Implementation Method 2
a transport mechanism including a cylindrical body whose one end is a receiving inlet and whose another end is a discharging outlet, the transport mechanism receiving a waste lithium-ion battery through the receiving inlet, transporting the waste lithium-ion battery inside the cylindrical body toward the discharging outlet
Data Source
AI summary
A waste lithium-ion battery roasting apparatus includes: a transport mechanism including a cylindrical body, the cylindrical body containing an internal atmosphere that is a reducing atmosphere or a low-oxygen atmosphere; a heating mechanism that heats an outer wall of the cylindrical body to increase an internal temperature of the cylindrical body, and controls heating temperatures individually at which the heating mechanism heats the outer wall at different respective positions in a transporting direction in which the transport mechanism transports a waste lithium-ion battery; and a controller that controls the heating temperatures, at which the heating mechanism heats the outer wall, in accordance with a transporting speed at which the transport mechanism transports the waste lithium-ion battery, such that a temperature increase rate of the waste lithium-ion battery transported inside the cylindrical body is a predetermined temperature increase rate.