JP2007061519A - Disaster prevention appliance applied to apparatus for producing and storing hydrogen - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a disaster prevention appliance applied to an apparatus for producing and storing hydrogen which can rapidly detect the leakage of hydrogen gas and allows reduction of the appliance cost. <P>SOLUTION: The disaster prevention appliance applied to an apparatus 100 for producing and storing hydrogen comprises a prevention pipe P, a detector 10, a fire extinguisher 20, and a controller 30, wherein the prevention pipe P is positioned around the apparatus 100 and is supplied with a plurality of nozzles D; the detector 10 is connected to the prevention pipe P via a steadily opened valve V1 and sucks gas through the nozzles D to analyze the composition; the fire extinguisher 20 is connected to the prevention pipe P via a steadily closed valve V2 and irradiates the object to prevent with an fire extinguishant through the nozzles D; and the controller 30 controls the detector 10 and the fire extinguisher 20. The controller 30, which accords to a result from the detector 10 to judge the hydrogen to get over a prescribed concentration, closes the valve V1 and opens the valve V2 to irradiate the object to prevent with the fire extinguishant through the nozzles D. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a disaster prevention facility for a hydrogen production / storage device.

  Conventionally, disaster prevention equipment in a hydrogen station or the like has been provided with, for example, a fire detection device and a fire extinguishing device that injects a jet toward the hydrogen station equipment. When the fire detection device detects a hydrogen gas fire, There has been proposed a system in which fire is extinguished by starting and radiating a jet liquid from a jet head to take out the heat of fire (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, in order to detect fire early, a fire detection device that analyzes gas sampled by mass spectrometry and detects leakage of combustible gas has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-155824 JP-A-5-89387

  However, conventional disaster prevention equipment at hydrogen stations uses semiconductor spot type sensors as gas detectors, and fire extinguishing nozzles are provided around the hydrogen station equipment in preparation for fire. There is a problem that the sensitivity depends on the surrounding airflow, the detection accuracy is low, and the reaction speed is slow. Furthermore, since the flash point of hydrogen gas is very low, a small amount of hydrogen gas must be detected as soon as possible. However, the semiconductor spot type sensor cannot meet such a demand, and means for detecting hydrogen gas. It was not an ideal detector. On the other hand, mass spectrometry that sucks in and samples gas can detect flammable gas leaks at an early stage, but in this case, a suction pipe for sampling and a fire extinguishing pipe for fire extinguishing must be installed. However, there is a problem that the piping is doubled, the disaster prevention equipment becomes complicated, and the cost becomes high.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and is capable of quickly detecting a leakage of hydrogen gas and reducing the cost of the equipment, thereby producing and storing hydrogen. The purpose is to provide disaster prevention facilities.

The disaster prevention facility in the hydrogen production / storage device according to the present invention is disposed around the facility of the hydrogen production / storage device, and the first protection pipe is provided with a plurality of nozzle holes and is constantly open. Connected to the protective piping via the valve, and sucks the gas through the nozzle and analyzes its components, and the protective piping via the second valve that is steadily closed And a fire extinguishing unit that radiates a fire extinguishing agent to an object to be protected through the nozzle, and a control device that controls the detection unit and the fire extinguishing unit, respectively. The control device is based on the analysis result of the detection unit. When it is determined that the hydrogen concentration is equal to or higher than a predetermined concentration, the first valve is closed and the second valve is opened, and the fire extinguishing unit radiates a fire extinguishing agent to the object to be protected through the nozzle. . In the present invention, the hydrogen production / storage device is a concept including equipment for storing hydrogen in addition to the hydrogen production device.
In the disaster prevention facility in the hydrogen production / storage apparatus according to the present invention, the detection unit performs gas analysis by mass spectrometry.
Moreover, in the disaster prevention equipment in the hydrogen production apparatus or the like according to the present invention, the fire extinguishing unit injects spray water or nonflammable gas as the fire extinguishing agent.
Moreover, the disaster prevention equipment in the hydrogen production / storage device according to the present invention includes a third valve that is connected to the protective piping and is constantly open, and the control device is based on the analysis result of the detection unit. When it is determined that the hydrogen concentration is equal to or higher than the predetermined concentration, the third valve is closed, and a fire extinguisher is injected into a region specified by the second valve and the third valve.

In the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by adopting the above configuration.
(A) The detection unit employs a suction-type gas sampling method, and the detection sensitivity is not affected by environmental elements such as wind, so that stable gas can be measured. In addition, the nozzle hole is used both as a gas suction hole and a fire extinguishing agent radiation hole. By integrating the suction pipe and the fire extinguishing pipe, it is not necessary to double-arrange equipment such as pipes. Cost can be reduced.
(B) The sensing unit performs gas analysis by mass spectrometry, and early detection of hydrogen gas leakage can be performed by utilizing the features of high accuracy and high speed response.
(C) A fire extinguishing unit that emits a fire extinguishing agent under the control of a control device can detect an abnormality early in cooperation with a detection unit that detects gas leakage and can quickly perform a fire extinguishing activity. That is, the mist-like water can increase the humidity around the production apparatus, suppress the combustion explosion of hydrogen gas due to static electricity accumulated on the facilities and walls, and can also prevent non-combustible gases (for example, nitrogen gas, dioxide dioxide). (Carbon gas) radiation lowers the oxygen partial pressure in the air, making it difficult for hydrogen gas to cause a combustion explosion, and can minimize disasters caused by hydrogen gas leakage.
(D) Since the third valve is provided in the middle of the protective piping and the fire extinguishing agent is injected to the area specified by the second valve and the third valve, the fire extinguishing effect can be further enhanced, The amount of extinguishing agent used can be reduced.

Embodiment 1. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a disaster prevention facility and related facilities of a hydrogen production apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The hydrogen production apparatus 100 is installed in a room 201 of a building 200, and an exhaust duct 202 is provided in the building 200 to ventilate the air inside the room. In the hydrogen production apparatus 100, the production process until the production of hydrogen gas from the natural gas as a raw material is divided into three processes, a primary treatment process 101, a secondary treatment process 102, and a hydrogen production treatment process 103. Although it has been conventionally performed, an outline thereof will be described. In the primary treatment step 101, natural gas or propane gas and water vapor are mixed, reacted with a heated catalyst, and reformed into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In the secondary treatment step 102, carbon monoxide and steam in the reformed gas are further reacted to convert to carbon dioxide and hydrogen. In the hydrogen generation treatment step 103, impurities such as carbon dioxide and water vapor in the generated gas are removed, and hydrogen gas is taken out.

  The disaster prevention equipment 300 for the hydrogen production apparatus 100 includes a detection unit 10 that samples and mass-analyzes a gas, a fire extinguishing unit 20 that emits a fire extinguishing agent, a control device 30 that controls the detection unit 10 and the fire extinguishing unit 20, and hydrogen The protective pipe P is disposed around the manufacturing apparatus 100. The protective piping P is laid on the upper side of the hydrogen production apparatus 100 along the arrangement form of the hydrogen production apparatus 100, and the nozzles D are provided along a predetermined interval. Since hydrogen is light and rises quickly, the protective piping P may be disposed along the ceiling surface of the room 201. Further, a nozzle D is also installed in the exhaust duct 202 in order to detect hydrogen in the exhaust duct 202 at an early stage. The nozzle D serves both as a suction hole for sucking gas and a radiation hole for radiating a fire extinguishing agent, and is always open. The nozzle D can be provided with an orifice having a check valve structure so that the flow rate becomes large when the extinguishing agent is emitted.

  The detection unit 10 includes a suction pump 11 for sampling gas, a mass spectrometer 12, and a data converter 13. The fire extinguishing unit 20 includes a container 21 that stores a fire extinguishing agent and an activation device 22 that opens the container 21. The control device 30 controls the overall operation of the disaster prevention facility 300, and controls, for example, the interlocking between the detection unit 10 and the fire extinguishing unit 20 and the opening and closing of the valves V1 to V3 via the signal line 31. In the first embodiment, the valve V4 is used for the description of the second embodiment described later, and is ignored in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing process of the disaster prevention equipment 300. The control device 30 opens the valves V1 (first valve of the present invention) and V3, and closes the valve V2 (second valve of the present invention) (S11). The pump 11 of the detector 10 is driven to suck the air in the room 201 and the exhaust duct 202 from the nozzle D of the protective piping P (S12). The mass spectrometer 12 samples and analyzes the sucked air, and the analysis result is converted into data by the data converter 13 and output to the controller 30 (S13). The control device 30 determines whether or not hydrogen is contained based on the analysis result (S14), and if it does not contain hydrogen, the detection unit 10 repeats the above processing (S13). When it is determined that hydrogen is contained, the control device 30 determines whether or not the concentration is higher than a predetermined concentration (S15), and outputs a preliminary alarm if it is lower than the predetermined concentration (S16). ), The detection unit 10 is made to repeat the above process (S13). When the control device 30 determines that the hydrogen concentration is equal to or higher than the predetermined concentration, the driving of the pump 11 is stopped, the valves V1 and V3 that have been opened so far are closed, and the valve V2 that has been closed so far is opened (S17). ). Thereby, the protective piping P and the detection part 10 are interrupted | blocked, and the protective piping P and the fire extinguishing part 20 will be in a communication state. The control device 30 drives the activation device 22 of the fire extinguishing unit 20, and the activation device 22 opens the container 21 to supply the extinguishing agent to the protective piping P, and the extinguishing agent is hydrogen from the nozzle D provided in the protective piping P. It injects toward the manufacturing apparatus 100 and fire extinguishing activity is performed (S18). In addition, although it is expressed as "fire extinguishing" in radiation of fire extinguishing agent or fire extinguishing activity, it is not necessarily an activity to be performed after a fire is caused by hydrogen gas, but also includes the meaning of suppressing the occurrence of hydrogen gas fire. For example, when mist-like water is injected as a fire extinguisher, hydrogen increases the humidity around the manufacturing apparatus, and combustion and explosion of hydrogen gas due to static electricity accumulated on the equipment and walls can be suppressed. In addition, when non-combustible gas (for example, nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide gas) is radiated as a fire extinguisher, the oxygen partial pressure in the air is reduced, making it difficult for hydrogen gas to cause a combustion explosion and leakage of hydrogen gas. Disasters caused by can be minimized.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, since the detection unit 10 employs the suction-type gas sampling method, the detection sensitivity is not affected by environmental elements such as wind, and stable gas can be measured. In addition, since the gas suction hole and the fire extinguishing agent radiation hole are combined, the suction pipe and the fire-extinguishing pipe are unified, eliminating the need for double arrangement of piping and other equipment, and reducing the overall system cost. it can. In addition, the use of the mass spectrometer 12 enables early detection of hydrogen gas leakage by taking advantage of the features of its high accuracy and high speed response. Moreover, the control apparatus 30 can cooperate with the fire extinguishing part 20 which radiates | emits a fire extinguishing agent, and the detection part 10 which detects gas leakage, can detect an abnormality early, and can perform said fire extinguishing activity rapidly.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the hydrogen production apparatus 100, the possibility of hydrogen leakage is mainly in the hydrogen generation process 103. For this reason, a partitioning valve V4 may be provided in the protective piping P (see FIG. 1), and the radiation of the extinguishing agent may be concentrated around the hydrogen generation treatment step 103 by opening and closing the valve. In that case, V4 is opened in addition to the valves V1 and V3 in the process (S11) of FIG. 2, and V4 is closed in addition to the valves V1 and V3 in the process (S17). Just do it, the others are the same.
By the way, in this Embodiment 2, since it pays attention to the hydrogen production | generation process process 103 of the hydrogen production apparatus 100, it is preferable to arrange | position the protective piping P in the vicinity of the equipment relevant to the hydrogen production | generation process process 103. FIG. The number of valves V4 of the protective piping P is not limited to one, and a plurality of valves V4 may be provided according to the size of the equipment.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, since the emission of the extinguishing agent is limited to the region of the hydrogen generation processing step 103 where there is a possibility of hydrogen leakage, the extinguishing effect is further enhanced and the usage amount of the extinguishing agent is reduced. It can be reduced.

Embodiment 3. FIG.
In addition, although both said Embodiment 1, 2 is an example of a hydrogen production apparatus, this invention is applied similarly also in the facilities which store hydrogen, such as a hydrogen station. In addition, although an example in which hydrogen is produced using natural gas as a raw material has been described here, the present invention is similarly applied to a production apparatus that produces hydrogen by electrolyzing water, without being limited thereto. The

It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the disaster prevention equipment of the hydrogen production apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention, and its related equipment. It is the flowchart which showed the process of the disaster prevention facility.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Detection part, 11 Suction pump, 12 Mass spectrometer, 13 Data converter, 20 Fire extinguishing part, 21 Container, 22 Start-up apparatus, 30 Control apparatus, 31 Signal line, 100 Hydrogen production apparatus, 200 Building, 201 Room, 202 Exhaust Duct, 300 disaster prevention equipment, D nozzle, P protective piping.

Claims (4)

A protective piping provided around the facility of the hydrogen production / storage device and provided with a plurality of nozzle holes;
A detector that is connected to the protective piping via a first valve that is constantly open, sucks gas through the nozzle, and analyzes its components;
A fire extinguishing unit that is connected to the protective piping through a second valve that is normally closed, and that radiates a fire extinguishing agent to the object to be protected through the nozzle;
A control device for controlling the detection unit and the fire extinguishing unit,
When the control device determines that hydrogen is a predetermined concentration or more based on the analysis result of the detection unit, the control device closes the first valve and opens the second valve, and the fire extinguishing unit passes the nozzle through the nozzle. Disaster prevention equipment for hydrogen production and storage equipment, characterized by radiating extinguishing agent to the object to be protected.   The said detection part performs gas analysis by mass spectrometry, The disaster prevention equipment of the hydrogen production / storage apparatus of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said fire extinguishing part injects water or a nonflammable gas as said extinguishing agent, The disaster prevention equipment of the hydrogen production / storage apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the above-mentioned. A third valve connected to the protective piping and being constantly open is provided, and when the control device determines that hydrogen is a predetermined concentration or more based on an analysis result of the detection unit, the third valve The hydrogen production / storage apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a fire extinguisher is injected into a region specified by the second valve and the third valve. Disaster prevention equipment.

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