JP2009264448A - Hydrogen gas release/storage system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hydrogen gas release/storage system having improved energy efficiency for releasing/storing hydrogen by reasonably and laconically utilizing the solidification heat of a latent heat storage material which nucreates in a supercool condition to generate solidification heat and the hydrogen storage heat of a hydrogen storage alloy, in a self-contained manner. <P>SOLUTION: The hydrogen gas release/storage unit includes the hydrogen storage alloy 14, the latent heat storage material 16 arranged therearound for nucleating in a supercool condition to generate solidification heat, and a trigger means 24 for cancelling the supercool condition of the latent heat storage material 16. Herein, a closed circulation system includes the process of utilizing the generated solidification heat of the latent heat storage material 16 to heat the hydrogen storage alloy 14 and the process of utilizing the hydrogen storage heat of the hydrogen storage alloy 14 to solve the latent heat storage material 16, in a self-contained manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system, and more particularly to a hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system comprising a combination of a latent heat storage material and a hydrogen storage alloy.

  Recently, latent heat storage materials have been used in various fields (for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, a latent heat storage material storage chamber for storing a latent heat storage material is formed around a fuel supply path such as a common rail, and a cooling water passage is formed around the latent heat storage material storage chamber. When the engine is started, the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material is released by a nucleation operation by a trigger, and the fuel is heated by the solidification heat generated at that time. After the engine is started, the cooling water heated by the waste heat is caused to flow through the cooling water passage, and the solidified heat storage material is dissolved again to prepare for the next engine start.

  On the other hand, hydrogen storage alloys are also used in various fields including heat storage devices (for example, Patent Document 2). In this heat storage device, the hydrogen storage alloy is heated with the thermal energy of the combustion exhaust gas, and the released hydrogen gas is stored in the hydrogen gas storage tank. When using heat, the hydrogen gas in the hydrogen gas storage tank is sent to the hydrogen storage alloy tank, and heat is generated when the hydrogen gas is stored, and this heat is used for heating or the like.

In addition, there is also proposed a technology that combines the latent heat storage method and the hydrogen storage alloy method to apply to storage and supply of hydrogen (Patent Document 3).
The invention described in Patent Document 3 includes a hydrogen storage alloy, a latent heat storage material that stores heat generated when the hydrogen storage alloy stores hydrogen gas and gives heat necessary when the hydrogen storage alloy releases hydrogen gas, and A heat exchanger that exchanges heat with the hydrogen storage alloy, and a pressure vessel that houses the hydrogen storage alloy, the latent heat storage material, and the heat exchanger, and the latent heat storage material is contained in multiple sealed containers and mixed into the hydrogen storage alloy It has been said.

  In the invention of Patent Document 3, when hydrogen gas is stored in the hydrogen storage alloy in the pressure vessel, the latent heat storage material is heated by the heat generated at that time. When the temperature of the latent heat storage material reaches the melting point (about 30 ° C.), the heat generation energy of the hydrogen storage alloy is stored in the latent heat storage material as latent heat. When the latent heat storage material becomes higher than a certain temperature, the absorption efficiency of hydrogen gas decreases, so that the pressure vessel is cooled by a heat exchanger.

When hydrogen gas is released and supplied, the latent heat storage material is solidified, and the hydrogen storage alloy is heated using the latent heat released at this time. In the invention of this cited document 3, since there is a problem that the supply rate of hydrogen gas is slow when the latent heat storage material is in an overcooled state, a prevention device is provided to prevent the latent heat storage material from being overcooled. Yes.
JP 2006-316775 A Japanese Patent No. 2573862 JP 2006-177434 A

  However, in the invention of Patent Document 3, since the latent heat storage material is not supercooled, the hydrogen gas is released and occluded continuously, and after the system is stopped, the hydrogen gas is released appropriately after a period of time. I can't do that.

  Further, since the overcooling prevention device is provided, there is a problem that the system configuration becomes complicated.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art, and use the solidification heat of the latent heat storage material and the hydrogen storage heat of the hydrogen storage alloy in a self-contained manner without any waste. It is to provide a hydrogen energy release / storage unit with high energy efficiency that can release and store hydrogen.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a hydrogen gas release / occlusion system that can heat a hydrogen storage alloy as much as necessary and enables a required amount of hydrogen gas to be released.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a hydrogen storage alloy, a latent heat storage material that is disposed around the hydrogen storage alloy and generates nucleation heat in a supercooled state, and a supercooled state of the latent heat storage material. Triggering means for releasing, the process of heating the hydrogen storage alloy using the solidification heat generated by the latent heat storage material, and the latent heat storage material using the hydrogen storage heat of the hydrogen storage alloy The process of dissolving is characterized by a closed circulatory system that is self-contained.
Further, the present invention provides a hydrogen storage alloy, a latent heat storage material that generates solidification heat by nucleating in a supercooled state disposed around the hydrogen storage alloy, trigger means for releasing the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material, A process of heating the hydrogen storage alloy using solidification heat generated by the latent heat storage material, and a process of dissolving the latent heat storage material using hydrogen storage heat of the hydrogen storage alloy. Forming a hydrogen gas discharge / occlusion unit that forms a complete closed circulation system, and a hydrogen gas passage that is released from each of the hydrogen gas release / occlusion units, and is stored in each hydrogen gas release / occlusion unit; Hydrogen gas pipes connecting the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units in parallel, valves provided for each hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit, for individually opening / closing hydrogen gas flow paths, and the hydrogen gas releasing units Those, wherein the control device for integrally controlling the individual opening and closing operation of the operation and the valve trigger means absorbing unit is operated individually, in that it consists of.

  According to the present invention, the solidification heat of the latent heat storage material and the hydrogen occlusion heat of the hydrogen occlusion alloy can be used in a self-contained manner reasonably without waste, and hydrogen gas can be released and occluded. Only the hydrogen storage alloy can be heated, and a necessary amount of hydrogen can be released.

  In addition, heating by the required amount of the latent heat storage material can be performed without releasing the solidification heat from all the latent heat storage materials with one supercooling release operation, and the solidification heat can be effectively used for the release of hydrogen gas. Since the latent heat storage material can be heated by the hydrogen storage alloy as much as necessary in preparation for the release of hydrogen gas, an energy efficient hydrogen gas release and storage system should be constructed without causing any problems in the next hydrogen gas release. Can do.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a structural unit of the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, an example is shown in which a system is configured by connecting four hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10 in parallel.

  In FIG. 1, the main body of the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit 10 is composed of a sealed container 11. A hydrogen storage alloy storage chamber 12 is formed inside the sealed container 11, and a hydrogen storage alloy 14 is stored therein. The peripheral wall of the sealed container 11 is a double-structured wall having a hollow inside, and the cavity is filled with a latent heat storage material 16 as a latent heat storage material storage chamber 15. When the latent heat storage material 16 is in a supercooled state and nucleated, heat of solidification is generated. Each of the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10 is formed as an independent unit that does not affect each other, and the entire assembly is an element constituting one hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system.

In FIG. 2, the respective hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units (hereinafter referred to as reference numbers 10 a, 10 b, 10 c, and 10 d) are connected in parallel by a hydrogen gas pipe 18. The hydrogen gas pipe 18 includes branch pipes 18a to 18d, and these branch pipes 18a to 18d are connected to hydrogen gas outlets 19a to 19d of the hydrogen gas discharge / occlusion units 10a to 10d. Each branch pipe 18a to 18d is provided with valves 20a to 20d for opening and closing the flow path. These branch pipes 18a to 18d join together and continue to the hydrogen gas pipe 18. The hydrogen gas pipe 18 is connected to the hydrogen gas demand device 22, the hydrogen gas supply system 23, and the switching valve 24. The hydrogen gas demand equipment 22 includes various devices and systems that consume hydrogen gas, including a fuel cell power generation device, a fuel cell, and a hydrogen engine.
Next, in FIG. 2, reference numerals 24a to 24d indicate trigger means for releasing the supercooled state in order to nucleate the latent heat storage material 16 of each of the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d. This trigger means gives a stimulus to the latent heat storage material 16, for example, and includes a heater.

  These trigger means 24 a to 24 d are operated by signals transmitted from the control device 26. The control device 26 can individually actuate any trigger means 24a to 24d. In addition, a plurality of trigger means 24a to 24d can be arbitrarily combined, or all of them can be operated.

  The control device 26 controls the opening / closing operation of the valves 20a to 20d individually or in combination. In this case, the operation of the trigger means 24a to 24d and the opening / closing operation of each valve 20a to 20d are integrated by the control device 26.

The hydrogen gas release / occlusion system according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. Next, the operation and effect thereof will be described.
The hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system according to the present embodiment is composed of an assembly of mutually independent hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d. In each of the hydrogen gas release / storage units 10a to 10d, the hydrogen storage alloy 14 is heated by the solidification heat of the latent heat storage material 16 disposed around the hydrogen storage alloy 14 to release hydrogen gas. Conversely, when hydrogen gas is stored in the hydrogen storage alloy 14, the latent heat storage material 16 is dissolved by the hydrogen storage heat. These hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d can individually release and occlude hydrogen gas.

  Therefore, first, the operation when hydrogen gas is released will be described in more detail.

  In this embodiment, the control device 26 can operate any trigger means among the trigger means 24a to 24b to open and close any valve among the valves 20a to 20d. For example, when hydrogen gas is released only from the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit 10a, only the valve 20a is opened, and the remaining valves 20b, 20c, and 20d are kept closed. And the trigger means 24a is operated and the subcooling state of the latent heat storage material 16 of the hydrogen gas discharge | release and storage unit 10a is cancelled | released. Since the hydrogen storage alloy 14 is surrounded by the latent heat storage material 16, the hydrogen storage alloy 14 is heated by the heat of solidification to generate hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas released from the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit 10 a flows from the branch pipe 18 a through the hydrogen gas pipe 18 and is supplied to the hydrogen gas demanding device 22. When the supply of hydrogen gas is stopped, the valve 20a may be closed.

Similarly, when there is much demand for hydrogen gas in the hydrogen gas demanding device 22 and three units among the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d correspond to the demand, for example, the valves 20a, 20b, 20c And the valve 20d is closed. When the trigger means 24a to 24c are operated, the hydrogen storage alloy 14 is heated by the solidification heat of the latent heat storage material 16 in each of the hydrogen gas release / storage units 10a to 10c to generate hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas joins in the hydrogen gas pipe 18 and is sent to the hydrogen gas demand device 22.
The same applies to the case where all the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d meet demand.

  As described above, any hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit 10a to 10d is selected and hydrogen gas is supplied in a necessary amount when necessary so as to cope with fluctuations in demand for hydrogen gas in the hydrogen gas demanding device 22. can do. In particular, when the hydrogen gas demand device 22 has only a short time demand for hydrogen gas, the necessary hydrogen gas can be supplied for a short time. For this reason, the solidification heat which generate | occur | produces in the latent heat storage material 16 with respect to the discharge | release amount of hydrogen gas becomes excess, and the problem which cannot be utilized effectively can be avoided. In addition, when the system has been stopped for a long time, the hydrogen storage alloy 14 can be heated by releasing the supercooling state at any time when the latent heat storage material 16 is nucleated, and hydrogen can be released immediately. Moreover, unlike waste heat or the like as a heat source, the heat stored in the latent heat storage material 16 can be used, so it is efficient and self-contained without the need for external energy supply regardless of installation location. The system can be a closed system.

Next, the operation when storing hydrogen gas will be described.
For example, when hydrogen gas is released and stored in the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit 10a after hydrogen is released, only the valve 20a is opened first, and the remaining valves 20b, 20c, and 20d are kept closed. Next, when the hydrogen gas is sent from the hydrogen gas supply system 23 through the hydrogen gas supply pipe 18 to the hydrogen gas release / storage unit 10a, the hydrogen storage alloy 14 stores the hydrogen gas and at the same time generates hydrogen storage heat. This hydrogen storage heat dissolves the latent heat storage material 16 arranged so as to surround the hydrogen storage alloy 14. Thus, the hydrogen gas release / storage unit 10a after storing hydrogen can be brought into a state where hydrogen can be released at any time.

  Similarly, when hydrogen gas is released by three hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a, 10b, 10c among the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d, for example, the valves 20a, 20b, 20c are Open and keep valve 20d closed. Then, hydrogen gas is supplied from the hydrogen gas supply system 23 through the hydrogen gas supply pipe 18 to the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a, 10b, and 10c, respectively.

  In each of the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a, 10b, and 10c, hydrogen is occluded at the same time as the hydrogen occlusion alloy 14 occludes hydrogen. This hydrogen storage heat is stored by dissolving the latent heat storage material 16 arranged so as to surround the hydrogen storage alloy 14. In this way, in the hydrogen gas release / storage unit 10a after storing the hydrogen, if the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material 16 is released, the hydrogen can be stored at any time regardless of whether the system is stopped or continuously operated. It can be in a releasable state.

  The same applies when hydrogen is stored in all of the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units 10a to 10d.

  As described above, after any hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit 10a to 10d is selected and hydrogen gas is supplied in a necessary amount corresponding to the temporary fluctuation of the hydrogen gas demand in the hydrogen gas demanding device 22, Again, since the hydrogen gas can be occluded and the hydrogen gas can be released, there is no problem in the next hydrogen gas release.

  In the above embodiment, the application of the present invention has been described with reference to an embodiment applied to a fuel cell power generation system. However, the present invention can also be applied to hydrogen gas transport and hydrogen gas demand fluctuation. It can be used for temporary storage of hydrogen to respond.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit constituting a hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system according to an embodiment of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a hydrogen gas release / storage system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

10a-10d Hydrogen gas release / storage unit
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Airtight container 12 Hydrogen storage alloy accommodation chamber 14 Hydrogen storage alloy 15 Latent heat storage material accommodation chamber 16 Latent heat storage material 18 Hydrogen gas piping 18a-18d Branch pipe 20a-20d Valve 22 Hydrogen gas demand equipment 23 Hydrogen gas supply system 24 Trigger means

Claims (5)

  A hydrogen storage alloy, a latent heat storage material that is disposed around the hydrogen storage alloy to generate solidification heat by nucleating in a supercooled state, and trigger means for releasing the subcooled state of the latent heat storage material, the latent heat storage A closed circulation system in which the process of heating the hydrogen storage alloy using the solidification heat generated by the material and the process of dissolving the latent heat storage material using the hydrogen storage heat of the hydrogen storage alloy are self-contained This is a hydrogen gas release / storage unit.   The hydrogen gas releasing / storing unit is characterized in that a sealed container for housing the hydrogen storage alloy is formed by a double-structured partition wall, and a space inside the double-structured partition wall is filled with a latent heat storage material. The hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit according to claim 1. A hydrogen storage alloy, a latent heat storage material that is disposed around the hydrogen storage alloy to generate solidification heat by nucleating in a supercooled state, and trigger means for releasing the subcooled state of the latent heat storage material, the latent heat storage A closed circulation system in which the process of heating the hydrogen storage alloy using the solidification heat generated by the material and the process of dissolving the latent heat storage material using the hydrogen storage heat of the hydrogen storage alloy are self-contained A hydrogen gas release / storage unit
A hydrogen gas pipe that is discharged from each hydrogen gas release / occlusion unit and forms a hydrogen gas flow path that is stored in each hydrogen gas release / occlusion unit, and connects the hydrogen gas release / occlusion units in parallel;
A valve that is provided for each hydrogen gas release / storage unit and that individually opens and closes the hydrogen gas flow path;
A control device for integrally controlling the operation of individually operating the trigger means for releasing the supercooled state of the latent heat storage material of each hydrogen gas release / storage unit and the individual opening / closing operation of each valve;
A hydrogen gas release / storage system characterized by comprising:   The hydrogen gas releasing / occluding unit according to claim 3, wherein the hydrogen gas releasing / occluding units are formed as independent units that do not affect each other, and form an aggregate.・ Occlusion system.   The hydrogen gas releasing / storing unit is characterized in that a sealed container for housing the hydrogen storage alloy is formed by a double-structured partition wall, and a space inside the double-structured partition wall is filled with a latent heat storage material. The hydrogen gas releasing / occluding system according to claim 4.

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