Battery Shredding with Cooling and Stabilization for Fire Risk Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current battery shredding processes require a time-consuming discharge process in salt water, which is costly and unreliable, especially for varying battery shapes and activation states, limiting efficiency and safety.
Innovation Solution
A battery shredding system that replaces the discharge process with a cooling and stabilization process using a coolant and stabilizer, allowing for safe and efficient shredding of batteries regardless of shape or activation state, without the need for water immersion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a discharge process using salt water immersion is used, then fire and explosion risks are reduced, but equipment investment and maintenance costs increase due to water tank requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the water tank and discharge process from the battery recycling system. Instead of immersing batteries in salt water for discharge, the system directly shreds activated batteries using advanced shredding technology that inherently manages thermal and chemical risks without requiring separate discharge equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/chemical discharge process (salt water immersion) with a direct mechanical shredding process. The shredding system is designed to handle activated batteries directly, substituting the multi-step discharge-then-shred sequence with a single integrated shredding operation that manages risks through design rather than preliminary chemical treatment.
2Reliability
If a discharge process is performed before shredding, then safety is improved, but the total processing time increases significantly (2 hours for 3 lbs, 8 hours for 570 lbs)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the discharge function and shredding function into a single integrated process. The shredding system is designed to simultaneously manage the thermal, chemical, and mechanical aspects of processing activated batteries, eliminating the sequential discharge-then-shred workflow and achieving both safety and efficiency in one operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary risk management through design features built into the shredding equipment itself, such as controlled feeding mechanisms, temperature monitoring, and appropriate atmosphere management, rather than requiring preliminary discharge action. This allows activated batteries to be processed immediately without waiting for discharge completion.
3Reliability
If salt water immersion discharge is used, then electrochemical energy is removed, but the process is too slow for efficient recycling operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the slow electrochemical discharge process with a rapid mechanical shredding process that is designed to handle activated batteries directly. The shredding system incorporates features to manage thermal and chemical risks during the mechanical process, eliminating the time-consuming electrochemical discharge step entirely.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the fundamental parameters of the energy removal process by transitioning from electrochemical methods (slow, hours-long discharge in salt water) to mechanical methods (rapid shredding completed in minutes). The shredding parameters are optimized to manage thermal and chemical aspects while achieving size reduction and material separation much faster than electrochemical discharge.
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 approach reduces equipment costs and time, enhances process stability, and eliminates the risk of fires and explosions, while improving environmental friendliness by eliminating waste water and materials.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling unit that allows an object including one or more batteries to be shredded to be placed therein to perform a cooling process on the object in response to a state condition for one or more of a type, a specification, and an input amount of the object using a liquefacient in which an inert gas is liquefied
Implementation Method 2
cool the object with one or more coolants from among a plurality of different types of coolants in response to the state condition
Implementation Method 3
the stabilization unit mixes or combines the shredded material in the shredding unit with a stabilizer in response to the state condition to perform a stabilization process on the shredded material
Data Source
AI summary
The present specification relates to an embodiment of a battery shredding system and a battery shredding method that cools an object with a coolant in response to a state condition of the object, shreds the cooled material into flake shapes, and mixes or combines the shredded material with a stabilizer in response to the state condition.