JP2604099B2 - Inner cylinder removal device from NaS battery - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for extracting an inner cylinder from a NaS battery used for disassembling a used NaS battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A NaS battery is a chargeable / dischargeable battery filled with sodium inside a solid electrolyte tube and sulfur outside, and has attracted attention as a battery for power storage because of its ability to store a large amount of power. ing. However, since the life of this battery is considered to be about 10 years, it is expected that a large amount of used NaS batteries will be generated in the future. However, the processing technology of NaS batteries has not been established so far, and much less equipment for it has not been developed. Therefore, there is no prior art about the present invention.

[0003] The present inventors are currently developing a technology for treating used NaS batteries, but in the treatment of NaS batteries, while recovering sodium and sulfur that can be reused from the inside, and having a multiple structure. It has been found necessary to extract the metal inner cylinder containing sodium from the outer cylinder (solid electrolyte tube).

However, both the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder have an elongated shape, and sodium or sulfur exists between them, so that the core of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder is slightly shifted or inclined. It is impossible to remove the inner cylinder, especially if you want to use a robot to automatically perform the dismantling process, simply mechanically align the core of the outer cylinder chuck and the inner cylinder chuck. Then, it turned out that there were cases where the inner cylinder could not be removed properly.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide an apparatus for extracting an inner cylinder from a NaS battery which can smoothly extract the inner cylinder from an outer cylinder of the NaS battery by an automatic machine. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device capable of smoothly extracting the inner cylinder even when the cores of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder of the NaS battery are misaligned.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to an outer tube chuck for holding an outer tube of a NaS battery, and an inner tube for removing an inner tube provided opposite to the chuck. A cylindrical chuck, wherein the outer cylindrical chuck is supported via a spherical seat so as to be tiltable in an arbitrary direction.

[0007]

In order to remove the inner cylinder from the NaS battery from the NaS battery of the present invention, the outer cylinder of the NaS battery whose head has been cut in advance is held in an inverted state by the outer cylinder chuck, and then the inner cylinder chuck is removed. Insert the NaS battery from below to open and hold the inner cylinder from inside. At this time, since the NaS battery is chucked by the outer tube chuck that is supported so as to be tiltable in an arbitrary direction via the spherical seat, even if the outer tube and the inner tube are misaligned or inclined, NaS batteries are automatically tilted and centered. Therefore, if the inner tube chuck is lowered, the inner tube can be smoothly removed from the outer tube. Note that this extracting operation is performed in a bath of molten paraffin or the like in order to avoid contact between sodium and air. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a used NaS battery, and first and second inner cylinders 2 for storing sodium and an outer cylinder 3 are shown. Although the storage container is further outside in the use state, it is assumed that the head is cut off and the storage container is removed in advance in the previous process, and then supplied to the apparatus in an inverted state.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an outer tube chuck for holding the outer tube 3 of the NaS battery 1, and the whole is supported by a spherical seat 6 fixed to a lower end of a lifting shaft 5. That is, a ball caster 8 is attached to the lower surface of a plurality of arms 7 extending from the outer tube chuck 4 side. By bringing the ball caster 8 into contact with the spherical seat 6, the entire outer tube chuck 4 is moved up and down by the elevating shaft 5.
Is supported at the lower end so as to be tiltable in any direction.

A pair of chuck claws 9 of the outer tube chuck 4 are provided.
Are connected to racks 10 and 10, respectively, and pinions 11 are arranged between the racks 10 and 10, as shown in FIG. For this reason, one rack 10 is
The rack on the opposite side by an equal distance
10 also moves to the opposite side, so that a pair of chuck claws 9,
9 can be simultaneously opened and closed by the same distance.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an inner tube chuck provided to face the outer tube chuck 4 for extracting the inner tube. Inner cylinder chuck 13
Is moved up and down on the same axis as the elevating shaft 5 by a vertical cylinder (not shown).
The inner cylinder 2 can be pulled downward from the outer cylinder 3 of the battery 1.

According to the device of the present invention thus configured,
To extract the inner cylinder 2 from the outer cylinder 3 of the NaS battery 1, first, the outer cylinder 3 of the NaS battery 1 whose head has been cut in advance is held in an inverted state by the outer cylinder chuck 4, and the inner cylinder chuck 13 is
S Insert the battery 1 from below and chuck the inner cylinder 2 from inside. At this time, since the NaS battery 1 is held by the outer tube chuck 4 which can be tilted in any direction by the action of the spherical seat 6, even if the cores of the outer tube 3 and the inner tube 2 are inclined, , The NaS battery 1 automatically tilts. Also, even if the cores of the outer cylinder 3 and the inner cylinder 2 are slightly displaced, the inner cylinder chuck 13 can be slid in any of the X and Y directions at the spherical seat 6. The inner cylinder 2 can be smoothly removed from the outer cylinder 3.

[0013]

As described above, the apparatus for removing an inner cylinder from a NaS battery according to the present invention uses the outer cylinder chuck that supports the outer cylinder of a NaS battery via a spherical seat so as to be tiltable in an arbitrary direction. The inner cylinder is pulled out while doing so, even if there is some misalignment between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder or the inner cylinder is slightly inclined with respect to the outer cylinder, the automatic machine smoothly There is an advantage that the inner cylinder can be removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 NaS battery 2 Inner cylinder 3 Outer cylinder 4 Outer cylinder chuck 6 Spherical seat 13 Inner cylinder chuck

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An outer cylinder chuck for holding an outer cylinder of a NaS battery, and an inner cylinder chuck for removing an inner cylinder provided to face the outer cylinder chuck. A device for extracting an inner cylinder from a NaS battery, characterized in that the inner cylinder is supported so as to be able to tilt freely.