JP2003034524A - Feeding device and apparatus for manufacturing alloy or metal compound by using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a feeding device capable of almost successively sending more metal raw materials to a device for the next process, for example a reaction tank, and improving the productivity, and an apparatus for manufactur ing alloys or metal compounds. SOLUTION: The feeding device has a hopper 1 for receiving a lump of metal A consisting of raw materials for manufacturing alloys or metal compounds and a conveying means 2 for conveying a prescribed amount of the metal lump A rearward, and the conveying means 2 has a structure capable of successively sending the lump of metal A while vibrating. The apparatus for manufacturing alloys or metal compounds by using the device is also provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charging device and an alloy or metal compound manufacturing device using the charging device, and more particularly to a charging device having high productivity and an alloy or metal compound manufacturing device using the charging device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art High-purity alloys or metal compounds are used as electronic parts such as semiconductors. In the production of such alloys and metal compounds, it is necessary to quantitatively and accurately supply the raw material metal to the melting tank and the melting tank. In addition, flammable gas such as hydrogen may be generated, and it is necessary to treat it.

For example, in the case of producing alumina of which purity is increased by reducing impurities such as iron and silicon, there is known a method of producing high purity aluminum hydroxide by heating and firing at a high temperature of about 1300 ° C. There is. High-purity aluminum hydroxide is obtained by reacting and dissolving a sodium hydroxide solution in high-purity aluminum to produce sodium aluminate according to the reaction formula shown in Chemical formula 1, and then hydrolyzing this.

[0004]

Embedded image Al + NaOH + H ₂ O → NaAlO ₂ + 3 /
2 ・ H ₂ ↑ Here, it is necessary to take sufficient safety measures against the generated hydrogen, and therefore, the overall leaktightness of hydrogen is prevented by increasing the airtightness of all the devices constituting the reaction system. An inert gas, such as nitrogen, is passed through the system to expel and replace oxygen in the system to create an inert gas atmosphere.

That is, a small lump-shaped ingot of a high-purity metal as a raw material is charged from the upper portion of the opened horizontal cylindrical pusher-type charging machine, and after the charging is completed, the lid is closed and gas leakage is prevented from occurring. All the air in the system including the reactor, the piping system connecting the reactor and the reaction tank, and the system including the reaction tank are expelled to the outside so that the air is sealed and nitrogen is supplied at the same time to replace the air inside. When the replacement of nitrogen in the system is completed, the high-purity metal ingot that has been charged is pushed toward the other side by the piston provided on one side of the charging machine and dropped into the reaction tank from there. , Is mixed with an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide previously filled in the reaction tank to produce sodium aluminate. The generated hydrogen is diluted with nitrogen, and after it is confirmed that the concentration is below a predetermined allowable release concentration, it is discharged from a relief valve or the like from the upper part of the charging machine.

[0006]

However, due to the need for safety measures against hydrogen generated during the reaction, the rate of introduction of high-purity aluminum into the reaction vessel is limited, and there is a limit to increase productivity. . The smaller the lump ingot is, the better it is to supply high-purity aluminum quantitatively and accurately.However, in the case of a pusher type inserter, the lump ingot is a piston that is pushed toward the other side, so the lump ingot is a piston. There is a risk that it will be caught between the cylinder and the cylinder, the size of the lump ingot cannot be made too small, and the degree of freedom in adjusting the blending ratio is limited. Since it took a long time to dissolve and the extrusion speed could not be increased, the productivity could not be increased.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to allow a larger amount of metal raw material to be fed substantially continuously to the next process apparatus such as a reaction tank, thereby improving the productivity. An object of the present invention is to provide a charging device with high production efficiency and an alloy or metal compound manufacturing device using the charging device.

[0008]

The above objects can be achieved by the inventions described in the claims. That is, the characteristic configuration of the dosing device according to the present invention is that the receiving means is provided for receiving the metal ingot which is the raw material for manufacturing the alloy or the metal compound, and the predetermined amount of the metal ingot is transferred backward from this receiving means. And a mechanism capable of continuously transferring the metal mass while vibrating.

According to this structure, since the pusher type is not adopted, the size of the lump ingot as the raw material can be reduced, the melting or melting can be made highly efficient, and the lump ingot can be formed. There is no problem that biting occurs during feeding. As a result, a larger amount of metal raw material can be fed into the next process apparatus substantially continuously, and it is possible to provide a charging apparatus with high production efficiency that can improve productivity.

It is preferable that the transfer means is a vibrating feeder having a hole at the bottom.

According to this structure, since the metal mass put into the receiving means can be intermittently transferred, even if the metal masses are stacked in a heavy state, a certain amount of metal mass can be reliably transferred backward. It is possible to remove burrs that may have formed on the metal lumps due to collisions and wear of the metal lumps during the intermittent transfer, and also to discharge burrs from the pores at the bottom. It is possible to surely prevent the process from being hindered. As described above, since it is not necessary to separately provide a deburring process, the production cost can be reduced and the productivity can be further enhanced.

It is preferable that the transfer means has a transfer amount control means for controlling the transfer amount of the metal ingot.

According to this structure, for example, the metal lumps are partially lumped during the transfer, and troubles such as clogging during the transfer can be reliably prevented, and the transfer can be performed smoothly.

A characteristic structure of an apparatus for producing an alloy or a metal compound according to the present invention comprises the charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, and the metal mass transferred by a transfer means constituting the charging device. It has a tank that melts or dissolves by receiving, and the inside of this tank can be hermetically sealed.

According to this structure, since the charging device having high production efficiency is employed, the alloy or the metal compound can be manufactured with high productivity, and the safety measure against the combustible gas such as hydrogen generated is taken. Reserved.

The tank preferably has an airtight structure in which the inside is separated by ball valves arranged at a plurality of positions.

According to this structure, by using the ball valve having high airtightness, the space in the system which requires the inert gas replacement can be reduced, so that the replacement can be performed in a short time and the productivity can be further improved. it can.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, production of alkali aluminate, which is one type of metal compound, will be described as an example. FIG. 1 shows a schematic overall configuration of a sodium aluminate manufacturing apparatus. First, a high-purity aluminum (purity of 99.9% or more) A used as a raw material is an aluminum ingot cast into a small lump, and this aluminum ingot A (corresponding to a raw material for an alloy or a metal compound) has a large diameter. A large amount is put into a hopper 1 (corresponding to a receiving means) having an inlet and a tapered discharge outlet. Below the hopper 1, a vibrating feeder 2 (corresponding to a transfer means) for transferring the input raw material aluminum ingot A to the rear is arranged. In this case, if a knocker (not shown) for hitting the hopper 1 is provided on the side wall of the hopper 1, the small ingot-shaped aluminum ingot A forms a bridge structure in the hopper 1 and is difficult to fall smoothly. Even if such a problem occurs, such a phenomenon can be avoided by operating the knocker, and the small aluminum ingot A can be smoothly dropped onto the vibrating feeder 2, which is preferable.

The vibrating feeder 2 located below the discharge port of the hopper 1 receives and puts the small aluminum ingots A falling from the hopper 1, and intermittently operates the small aluminum ingots A by a predetermined cycle. Transfer to the rear. In other words, the vibrating feeder 2 receives the load of the small aluminum ingot A falling from the hopper 1, but the intermittent operation of the vibrating feeder 2 causes the small and small aluminum filled ingots to be packed and stacked in the cylindrical hopper 1. The aluminum ingot A acts to cut out a predetermined amount in the lateral direction. As a result, the small ingot-shaped aluminum ingot A is reliably blocked by the vibrating feeder 2 and rearwardly transferred without being clogged at the tapered portion in the hopper 1.

At this time, from the upper part of the housing where the vibrating feeder 2 is disposed, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG.
(Corresponding to the transfer amount control means) are attached at a predetermined interval, and the free end thereof hangs so as to face the vibrating feeder 2 at a predetermined distance. Due to the presence of the weir 2a, a small amount of small aluminum ingot A is transferred, and the transfer amount can be controlled. That is, the weir 2a is made of thick-plate urethane rubber or the like, and comes into contact with the pile of the aluminum ingot A that is being transferred to collapse the height of the peak to adjust it to a predetermined height, so that the transfer amount is substantially constant. Make an action. Although the width of the weir 2a matches the width of the vibrating feeder 2, vertical cuts may be made at several places in the width direction of the weir 2a so that the weir 2a can be easily bent backward, its shape, hardness, number, etc. Can be appropriately selected.

Further, the bottom portion 2b of the vibrating feeder 2 is formed in the shape of a cage in which a large number of pores are formed, so that the burrs formed during casting can be removed from the aluminum ingot A which is vibrated and transferred. ing. If the burr formed on the aluminum ingot A is left as it is, it is bitten by a ball valve provided at a position reaching the reaction tank when it is charged into the reaction tank described later,
The valve operation was hindered and it was necessary to remove it. However, as a result of the intermittent vibration action of the vibration feeder 2 and the mechanical interaction with the childlike bottom of the cage, it is surely removed and removed. It is not necessary to separately provide a taking process, and it is possible to remarkably contribute to the improvement of productivity. The removed burr drops from the pores and is collected in the pocket 2c formed in the lower portion of the bottom 2b, and is collected at any time.

The raw material aluminum ingot A transferred to the rear is charged into the cylindrical drum container 4 through the metering valve 3 by a predetermined amount. The drum container 4 charged with a predetermined amount of the raw material aluminum ingot A is a roller conveyor 5
Is transferred to the reaction tank R (corresponding to the reaction tank).
The transfer method of the drum container 4 is not particularly limited, but FIG. 1 shows an example in which the drum container 4 is moved horizontally and then vertically via the lifter 6 and is transferred to the top of the reaction tower R. Thus, the hopper 1, the vibration feeder 2, the metering valve 3, the drum container 4, the roller conveyor 5, and the lifter 6
Etc. constitute a dosing device.

The reaction vessel R has a substantially straight tube shape, and an opening 7 for receiving the raw material aluminum ingot A from the drum container 4 and a shutoff valve 8 consisting of a ball valve are provided at the top of the reaction vessel R. ing. Below the shutoff valve 8, a cylindrical hydrogen abatement booth 9 is connected, and below the hydrogen abatement booth 9, an airtight seal for shutting off the generated hydrogen from being released carelessly. A group of shut-off valves 12 made of highly reliable ball valves are connected, and further below that, a dissolution tank 10 in which the charged raw material aluminum ingot reacts with sodium hydroxide is connected.

A flapper valve 11 is installed above the group of shutoff valves 12 and below the hydrogen removal booth 9 to receive the falling raw material aluminum ingot A and absorb the shock. This flapper valve 11
One end is a free end and the other end is rotatably supported, and it opens downward when the raw material aluminum ingot A has been charged to some extent, and when the raw material aluminum ingot A falls all down. , Return to the original closed state. Of course, the opening / closing operation of the flapper valve 11 may be performed by an external operation, or may be automatically opened / closed by sensing a predetermined time or a predetermined weight. The material and shape of the flapper valve 11 are not particularly limited as long as they can receive the falling aluminum ingot A and absorb the impact thereof.
It may be a simple plate-like one, a punching metal with a large number of pores formed therein, or the like.

In the dissolution tank 10, an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution is introduced, and the raw material aluminum ingot falling from above is received and dissolved, and sodium aluminate is produced according to the reaction formula shown in the above chemical formula 1. . The sodium hydroxide aqueous solution in the dissolution tank 10 is introduced in an amount commensurate with the amount of the raw material aluminum ingot A to be charged, but when the reaction proceeds and is consumed, it is sequentially replenished from a supply device (not shown). It has become so. The replenishment may be automatically performed, or may be replenished when the remaining amount falls below a certain value by grasping the consumption situation.

Melt tank 1 for raw material aluminum ingot A
Before dropping to 0, nitrogen is previously supplied to the inside of the hydrogen abatement booth 9 from a nitrogen supply device (not shown), and the air inside is replaced with nitrogen. When the replacement with nitrogen is completed, the shutoff valve 12 and the shock buffer valve 11 are sequentially opened to drop the raw material aluminum ingot A into the melting tank 10. When the drop is completed, the shutoff valve 12 will be closed.
While checking the hydrogen that is expected to enter the reaction tank R when opening 2, using a gas sensor (not shown) provided at an appropriate location of the external exhaust line, nitrogen is supplied to dilute the hydrogen concentration and When is less than a predetermined value, the shutoff valve 8 is opened, the raw material aluminum ingot A is put into the hydrogen detoxification booth 9, and then the shutoff valve 8 is closed. As described above, the range of replacement with nitrogen is only the hydrogen abatement booth 9 as compared with the conventional technique, so that the replacement time does not take a long time,
Moreover, since the amount of nitrogen used is small, not only the productivity is increased, but also the production cost can be reduced.

When the reaction is completed after a lapse of a predetermined time, although not shown, the produced sodium aluminate is taken out from the discharge port at the bottom of the synthesis column 10.

[Other Embodiments] (1) The hydrogen removal booth 9 may be provided with a detection mechanism for detecting whether or not clogging occurs in the straight body portion when a metal block as a raw material is charged. . This is because if troubles such as clogging occur in the hydrogen removal booth 9, it will be easy to quickly deal with it. As the detection mechanism, an optical sensor such as a reflection type or a transmission type, or other various sensors can be adopted.

(2) In the above embodiment, an example of producing sodium aluminate was shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is also applied to the production of alloys or other metal compounds. it can. As the alloy, titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, technetium, rhenium, iron, cobalt, nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, platinum, copper, silver, Gold, zinc, cadmium, mercury, gallium, indium, thallium, germanium, tin,
One or more metal elements such as lead, lanthanum, and cerium are listed, and examples of the metal compound include potassium aluminate, sodium zincate, potassium zincate,
Sodium titanate, potassium titanate, sodium tungstate, potassium tungstate, or trimethylaluminum, triethylaluminum, tripropylaluminum, tributylaluminum, trimethylgallium, triethylgallium, tripropylgallium, tributylgallium, trimethylindium, triethylindium, triethylaluminum. Trialkyl metal compounds such as propylindium and tributylindium, dimethyl aluminum chloride, diethyl aluminum chloride, dimethyl gallium chloride, diethyl gallium chloride, dimethyl indium chloride, alkyl halide metal compounds such as diethyl indium chloride, aluminum methoxide, aluminum ethoxy. De, aluminum Isopropoxide, aluminum butoxide, aluminum phenoxide, gallium methoxide, gallium ethoxide, gallium isopropoxide, gallium butoxide, gallium phenoxide, indium methoxide, indium ethoxide, indium isopropoxide, indium butoxide, indium phenoxide, vanadium methoxy And metal alkoxides such as vanadium ethoxide, vanadium isopropoxide, vanadium butoxide, vanadium phenoxide, and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of an alloy or metal compound manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a charging device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 acceptance means 2 Transfer means 2b bottom 2a Transfer amount control means 8,12 ball valve A raw material

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Makio Kimura             Sumitomo Chemical 5-1, Soukai-cho, Niihama-shi, Ehime             Industry Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 4G076 AA18 AB06 AB16 AB30 BA24                       BH01                 4K055 AA06 BA00 BB01 FA05

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A receiving means is provided for receiving a metal ingot which is a raw material for producing an alloy or a metal compound, and a transfer means for transferring a predetermined amount of the metal ingot backward from the receiving means. An inputting device having a mechanism capable of continuously transferring the metal mass while vibrating the transfer means. 2. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer means is a vibrating feeder having a hole at the bottom thereof. 3. The charging device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer means has a transfer amount control means for controlling the transfer amount of the metal ingot. 4. A tank comprising the charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 and having a tank for melting or melting by receiving the metal mass transferred by the transfer means constituting the charging device. And an alloy or metal compound manufacturing apparatus configured to seal the inside of the tank. 5. The apparatus for producing an alloy or a metal compound according to claim 4, wherein the tank has an airtight structure in which the inside is separated by ball valves arranged at a plurality of positions.