JP2005155864A - Gas charging device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gas charging device capable of miniaturizing the entire equipment as the equipment for supplying a hydrogen gas to an automobile at low cost by simplifying a hydrogen generating device and a compressor as a part of a hydrogen gas supply source, quickly coping with run-out of fuel, and improving the safety by being recovered in closing a gas charging station. <P>SOLUTION: This gas charging device is composed of a housing main body 1 accommodating a charging mechanism and connected with a charging hose 3 provided with a charging nozzle 2 at its tip end, and a gas unit 4 detachable connected with the housing main body 1 and storing a high-pressure compressed gas. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a hydrogen gas filling device that is installed in an electric supply station and fills a vehicle as a driving source of the vehicle.

  Conventionally, petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline and light oil have been used as fuels for automobiles. However, future oil supply instability, health effects caused by emissions of harmful gases such as nitrogen oxides, Fuels that use hydrogen as a new driving source with no risk of pollution from the concerns of the impact on global warming caused by emissions, and from the viewpoint of energy problems that petroleum-based fuels are limited resources Battery cars (FC cars) are attracting attention.

  Therefore, a hydrogen supply facility for supplying hydrogen to an automobile is required in the same manner as gasoline as a conventional driving source. The hydrogen supply facility includes a hydrogen generator, a compressor, a pressure accumulator, and a filling machine.

  The prior art is generally performed by those skilled in the art, and does not relate to a known literature.

  The hydrogen supply equipment according to the conventional technology requires enormous costs and site to newly install these hydrogen generators, compressors, pressure accumulators, and filling machines, so infrastructure development and cost reduction are important issues. Yes.

  The object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the conventional example, and as a facility for supplying hydrogen gas to an automobile, the hydrogen generator and the compressor, which are parts of the hydrogen gas supply source, are simplified to make the entire facility inexpensive. Another object is to provide a gas filling device that can be made compact.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a filling mechanism is housed and a housing hose having a filling hose provided with a filling nozzle at the tip thereof is connected to the housing body in a detachable manner. The gist of the present invention is that the gas unit is configured to store a high-pressure compressed gas.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the housing body containing the filling mechanism and the gas unit as the gas cylinder are separated, and the gas unit is detachable from the housing body. Installation and removal can be done easily, and infrastructure costs can be reduced. Since buried piping can be eliminated, there is no effect on vibrations such as earthquakes. In addition, when the gas supply station is closed, the gas unit can be collected, improving safety. Furthermore, since it is unitized, it is only necessary to replace the unit when the fuel runs out, and it is possible to respond quickly and easily.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, a nozzle switch that operates in conjunction with the loading / unloading of the filling nozzle is provided in the housing body, and a sensor that operates in response to a nozzle removal signal from the nozzle switch to determine whether gas filling is possible or not. Is provided at the attachment / detachment portion between the gas unit and the housing body.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the gas unit is structured to be detachable from the housing body, when the filling nozzle is detached from the nozzle hook for gas filling, the detachable portion is output by the output of the nozzle removal signal. Since the sensor arranged in this is activated and it is determined whether or not filling is possible, safety is ensured when the gas unit is not securely connected to the housing body, and accidents due to poor connection can be prevented.

  The gist of the invention of claim 3 is that the gas unit is formed of a pressure vessel.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the pressure of the gas stored in the gas unit can be kept constant, the compressor required in the conventional equipment becomes unnecessary, and the equipment investment can be suppressed. .

  The gist of the invention of claim 4 is that the gas unit is provided with a weight for compressing the gas from above by gravity as means for holding the filled gas at a predetermined pressure.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the gas in the gas unit is supplied to the automobile, the gas unit is depressurized by that amount, but the depressurization is easily prevented automatically by the gravity of the weight, and in particular, the pressure is increased. There is no need.

  The gist of the invention described in claim 5 is that the gas unit is provided with a pressure regulating valve toward the discharge side as means for holding the discharge side of the filled gas at a predetermined pressure.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the gas in the gas unit is supplied to the automobile as in the fourth aspect, the pressure of the gas unit is reduced by that amount. However, the pressure is reduced by the pressing force of the pressure adjusting valve such as a spring. Is easily prevented automatically and does not require any particular boosting.

  The gas filling apparatus according to the present invention stores hydrogen gas as equipment for supplying hydrogen to an automobile, even if there is no hydrogen generator and compressor that are parts of the hydrogen gas supply source, among the equipment constituting the hydrogen supply equipment. Since the pressure inside the unit can be kept constant, the entire equipment can be made inexpensive and compact.

  Further, since the gas unit is detachable from the housing body, it can be easily attached and detached as necessary, and the infrastructure cost can be reduced. Since buried piping can be eliminated, there is no effect on vibrations such as earthquakes. In addition, when the gas supply station is closed, the gas unit can be collected, improving safety. Furthermore, since it is unitized, it is only necessary to replace the unit when the fuel runs out, and it is possible to cope with it quickly and easily.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the gas filling device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal front view showing an example of a gas unit as the main part of the same, and the gas filling device of the present invention contains a filling mechanism, The housing body 1 is connected to a filling hose 3 provided with a filling nozzle 2 at the tip, and the gas unit 4 is detachably connected to the housing body 1 and stores a high-pressure compressed gas.

  In the housing main body 1, a connecting pipe 10 for connecting to a gas unit 4 to be described later and a pipe 15 for connecting to the filling hose 3 are disposed as a filling mechanism, and a valve 16 and a flow meter 17 are sequentially disposed in the middle of the pipe 15. .

  A nozzle hook of the filling nozzle 2 is provided on the front surface of the housing main body 1, and a nozzle switch 18 that is turned on and off in conjunction with the removal of the filling nozzle 2 is provided on this nozzle hook although not shown in FIG.

  An operation panel is disposed on the upper surface of the housing body 1, and a keyboard 22 for setting a preset amount and the like on the front surface thereof, a preset indicator 21 for displaying the preset amount set, and a start switch for supplying hydrogen gas to the automobile 5, a stop switch 6, a notification device 7 for informing the completion of filling, a display device 8 for displaying the filling amount and the like, and a printer 9 for issuing a slip on which the filling amount and the filling amount are printed.

  The gas unit 4 is detachably connected to the housing main body 1 by a connection pipe 10, is composed of a pressure vessel so as to function as a hydrogen accumulation cylinder, and a wheel 11 is attached so as to be movable in the lower part. Although not shown, the wheel 11 is provided with a stopper.

  As an example of means for compressing and holding hydrogen gas at a predetermined high pressure, the gas unit 4 is provided with a weight 12 at an upper portion in the gas unit 4 as shown in FIG. Compressed and held at a predetermined pressure. In the figure, reference numeral 13 denotes a safety valve for lowering the internal pressure when the pressure of the hydrogen gas in the gas unit 4 becomes higher than a predetermined value.

  And sensor 14a, 14b which detects the presence or absence of a connection was attached to the detachable connection location of the gas unit 4 and the housing main body 1 by the connection piping 10. FIG.

  FIG. 3 shows another example of a means for compressing and holding the hydrogen gas in the gas unit 4 at a predetermined high pressure, which is located on the opposite side of the hydrogen gas discharge port, by a spring or the like on which a pressing force acts in the horizontal direction. A pressure regulating valve 19 is provided, and the gas unit 4 is held at a predetermined high pressure by compressing hydrogen gas in the direction of the discharge port by the pressure regulating valve 19.

  FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the filling control for filling the automobile with hydrogen gas. On the input side of the filling control device 20, a nozzle removal signal from the nozzle switch 18, a connection signal from the sensors 14 a and 14 b, and a flow rate from the flow meter 17. A signal, a start signal from the start switch 5 and a stop signal from the stop switch 6 are input, and an opening / closing signal to the valve 16, a notification signal to the notification device 7, and an operation signal to the printer 9 on the output side of the filling control device 20. And the display signal to the display 8 is output.

  Next, the usage will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. A housing main body 1 is installed at the gas supply station. The gas unit 4 is carried into the gas supply station by a bomb truck or the like, and the gas unit 4 is connected to the housing main body 1 by a connection pipe 10. When the gas unit 4 is moved to the installation location of the housing body 1, the gas unit 4 is provided with wheels 11. Therefore, the gas unit 4 can be easily moved, and after being connected to the housing body 1, it can be fixed at the installation position by a stopper. . Then, the automobile is stopped in front of the filling device, and in the case of preset filling, the preset amount is set with the numeric keypad of the keyboard 22 provided on the operation panel, and the preset amount is displayed on the preset display 21.

  Then, if the filling nozzle 2 is removed from the nozzle hook, the nozzle switch 18 is turned on in conjunction with this (step 1), this nozzle removal signal is input to the filling control device 20, and the sensor is further received in response to this nozzle removal signal. 14 a and 14 b are operated, and a connection presence / absence signal indicating whether the connection pipe 10, the housing body 1, and the gas unit 4 are securely connected is input to the filling control device 20.

  If it is securely connected (step 2), the previous filling data displayed on the display 8 is returned to zero (step 3), so the filling nozzle 2 is inserted into the filling port of the car and started. If the switch 5 is pressed (step 4), the valve 16 in the housing body 1 is opened (step 5), and hydrogen gas is discharged from the filling nozzle 2. If the connecting pipe 10 is not securely connected to the housing main body 1 and the gas unit 4, the filling operation cannot be started. Therefore, an accident can be prevented and hydrogen can be prevented from being scattered and safety can be ensured.

  The filling amount is measured by the flow meter 17 and displayed on the display 8. In the case of preset filling, if the preset amount is reached, if the preset amount is not set, if the full amount is reached (steps 6 and 7), the alarm 7 is activated to notify the end (step 8). Therefore, if the completion of filling is known and the stop switch 6 is turned on (step 9), the valve 16 is closed by the output from the filling control device 20, and a slip describing data such as the filling amount is issued from the printer 9 (step 9). 10).

  Hydrogen gas in the gas unit 4 is reduced by filling the gas into the automobile, and the internal pressure is reduced by that amount. Even if the pressure is not increased by using a compressor, the gas unit is operated by the weight 12 or the pressure regulating valve 19. The hydrogen gas in 4 is maintained at a predetermined high pressure. In this case, since the gas unit 4 is composed of a pressure vessel, it can withstand the internal pressure.

  Further, when the pressure in the gas unit 4 becomes higher than a predetermined value, the safety valve 13 is actuated to release the pressure to ensure safety.

  When the gas supply station is closed, safety can be ensured by removing the gas unit 4 from the housing body 1 and collecting it and storing it in another location. Further, when the gas unit 4 becomes empty, it can be easily replaced with another gas unit 4.

  As described above, the gas unit 4 may be a single tank, but a plurality of cylinders may be provided in the gas unit 4 so that the gas unit 4 can be switched when empty.

It is a front view which shows embodiment of the gas filling apparatus of this invention. It is a vertical front view of the 1st example of the gas unit which is the principal part which shows embodiment of the gas filling apparatus of this invention. It is a vertical front view of the 2nd example of the gas unit which is the principal part which shows embodiment of the gas filling apparatus of this invention. It is a block diagram of the gas filling control which shows embodiment of the gas filling apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the gas filling operation | movement of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing main body 2 ... Filling nozzle 3 ... Filling hose 4 ... Gas unit 5 ... Start switch 6 ... Stop switch 7 ... Alarm 8 ... Indicator 9 ... Printer 10 ... Connection piping 11 ... Wheel 12 ... Weight 13 ... Safety valve 14a , 14b ... Sensor 15 ... Piping 16 ... Valve 17 ... Flow meter 18 ... Nozzle switch 19 ... Pressure adjustment valve 20 ... Filling control device 21 ... Preset indicator 22 ... Keyboard

Claims (5)

  A housing body in which a filling mechanism is housed and a filling hose provided with a filling nozzle at the tip is connected, and a gas unit that is detachably connected to the housing body and stores high-pressure compressed gas. Gas filling device.   A nozzle switch that operates in conjunction with the loading and unloading of the filling nozzle is provided in the housing body, and a sensor that operates in response to a nozzle removal signal from the nozzle switch to determine whether gas filling is possible is performed between the gas unit and the housing body. The gas filling device according to claim 1, wherein the gas filling device is provided in the detachable portion.   The gas filling device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gas unit is formed of a pressure vessel.   The said gas unit has arrange | positioned the weight which compresses gas from the upper direction by gravity as a means to hold | maintain the gas filled with predetermined pressure, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Gas filling device.   The said gas unit has arrange | positioned the pressure regulation valve toward the discharge side as a means to hold | maintain the discharge side of the filled gas to predetermined pressure, The any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Gas filling device.

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