JPH0560423A - Hydrogen adsorbing/discharging device and heat-exchanger - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the efficiency of heat-exchange by performing fine adjustment of the temperature of a hydrogen storage alloy. CONSTITUTION:A tubular outer wall 4 formed of a material having excellent thermal conductivity and having a hollow part formed at the interior, a particulate-form hydrogen storage alloy 3 with which the hollow part of the outer wall 4 is filled, a heating means 6 contained togetherwith the hydrogen storage alloy 3, and a rod-form hydrogen filter 7 to adsorb and discharge hydrogen are provided. Heat insulating materials 8 arranged to both ends of the hollow part of the outer wall 4 to uniformize the temperature of the hydrogen storage alloy 3 by heating the heating means 6, and a hydrogen absorbing discharging pipe 5 formed to the one end of the outer wall 4 to communicate hydrogen, adsorbed and discharged by the hydrogen storage alloy 3, to the outside through the hydrogen filter 7 are provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hydrogen absorbing / releasing device that uses a hydrogen absorbing alloy to generate cold heat or warm heat, and a heat exchanger using this hydrogen absorbing / releasing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various cooling and heating devices using hydrogen storage alloys utilizing solar heat or various waste heats and heat exchangers utilizing the reaction heat of the hydrogen storage alloys have been proposed. As one example thereof, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-69465 discloses a cooling / heating device described below.

In this device, a series of air pipes for heating or radiating heat are arranged so as to penetrate through the heat exchanger, and several dampers provided in the series of pipe lines are adjusted to heat and cool. Are mutually exclusive. As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 5 and the AA ′ cross-sectional view of FIG. 6, the hydrogen absorption / desorption device 1 provided in each heat exchanger has a filter 2 made of a porous tube such as ceramic inside. A stainless steel finned tube filled with a porous metal body and a fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3 is surrounded. In addition, 4 shows an outer wall,
Reference numeral 5 denotes a hydrogen absorbing / releasing pipe, and fins are not shown.
The above-mentioned hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 is formed by bundling 18 hydrogens in an outer box to form a heat exchanger.

[0004]

However, in the above heat exchanger, the heating and cooling are repeated by switching between the hot air passage and the heat radiating air passage, so that the structure becomes complicated and the surrounding ducts, etc. There is a problem that the space of becomes large.

Further, it is difficult to finely adjust the temperature and heat output (hydrogen transfer amount) of the hydrogen storage alloy 3 of the hydrogen storage / release device 1 used in the heat exchanger for controlling the release of hydrogen by circulating the high temperature air. There are some drawbacks. Further, there is a problem that it is difficult to uniformly heat the hydrogen storage alloy 3 of the hydrogen storage / release device 1 and the temperature distribution becomes uneven so that the heat exchange is not efficient.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a hydrogen absorbing / releasing device and a heat exchanger that are compact and that can efficiently supply heat to the hydrogen absorbing alloy.

[0007]

The present invention provides a tubular outer wall formed of a material having good thermal conductivity and having a hollow portion inside, and a fine powder hydrogen storage alloy filled in the hollow portion of the outer wall. A heating means housed in the hollow portion together with the hydrogen storage alloy, and a rod-shaped hydrogen filter for absorbing and releasing hydrogen, and the outer wall hollow portion for heating the hydrogen storage alloy to a uniform temperature by the heating means. The hydrogen absorbing / releasing device is formed at one end of the tube for communicating the hydrogen absorbed and released by the hydrogen absorbing alloy with the heat insulating material arranged at both ends and the hydrogen filter. In addition, a plurality of the hydrogen absorbing / releasing devices are laminated, and a heat exchanger is provided in which the plurality of hydrogen absorbing / releasing devices are formed by penetrating the heat transfer promoting fins.

[0008]

With the above structure, the temperature of the hydrogen storage alloy can be finely adjusted because it is heated by the heating means housed inside the hydrogen storage alloy. Further, since the heat insulating materials are arranged at both ends inside the tube, the temperature of the hydrogen storage alloy becomes uniform and the heat can be efficiently supplied to the hydrogen storage alloy. Further, by stacking a plurality of the hydrogen absorbing / releasing devices via the radiation fins, a heat exchanger having high heat exchange efficiency and a compact size can be obtained.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a hydrogen absorbing / releasing device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a BB 'sectional view of FIG. The hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 of the present embodiment has a cylindrical outer wall 4
And the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3 filled in the outer wall 4
And a fine hydrogen storage alloy 3 along the longitudinal direction of the outer wall 4.
The heater 6 and the hydrogen filter 7 are arranged almost in the center of
It is formed of a heat insulating material 8 provided at both ends inside the outer wall 4 and a hydrogen absorbing / releasing pipe 5.

The fine powder hydrogen storage alloy 3 has a hydrogen pressure-temperature equilibrium characteristic as shown in FIG. 3. For example, when the heating temperature is 150 ° C. corresponding to the broken line in the drawing, the equilibrium pressure is applied. The pressure is 9 atm, and the temperature when releasing heat is 35 °
In C, the equilibrium pressure drops to 0.8 atm. The outer wall 4 is in the shape of a tube of aluminum or the like having good heat conductivity. The heater 6 is housed in the longitudinal direction of the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3, and heat insulating materials 8 are attached to both ends of the heater 6 to uniformly heat the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3. The hydrogen filter 7 uses a rod-shaped porous sintered metal that is in contact with the heater 6 and is housed in the hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 in the longitudinal direction. The hydrogen absorbing / releasing pipe 5 is arranged at one end of the outer wall 4 and sucks or releases hydrogen. The hydrogen filter 7 is farthest from the hydrogen absorbing / releasing tube 5, that is, even in the inner portion, hydrogen can be uniformly absorbed and released from the hydrogen storage alloy 3 as in the near portion in contact with the hydrogen absorbing / releasing tube 5. ..

In the hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 having the above-mentioned structure, when heated by the heater 6, the fine powder hydrogen absorbing alloy 3 is brought from the equilibrium state to hydrogen through the hydrogen filter 7 according to the hydrogen pressure-temperature characteristic shown in FIG. When the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3 absorbs hydrogen from the hydrogen absorption / desorption tube 5 via the hydrogen filter 7, it becomes an exothermic reaction. In this case, the heating means of the heater 6 uniformly heats and both ends of the heater 6 are covered with the heat insulating material 8.
Since the heater 6 is provided, both ends of the heater 6 do not have a lower temperature than the central part due to heat radiation, and the temperature distribution of the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3 is uniform and heat exchange can be efficiently performed.

On the other hand, the reaction heat when the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3 absorbs hydrogen can be dissipated and evenly dissipated through the outer wall 4 and the hydrogen filter 7. Further, as compared with the case where the release of hydrogen is controlled by circulating the high temperature air described in the conventional example, in this embodiment, since the control is performed by the heating means of the heater 6, the fine adjustment of the hydrogen transfer amount can be easily performed. As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to smoothly and efficiently release or absorb hydrogen in the fine powdery hydrogen storage alloy 3.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a heat exchanger in which the hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 of FIGS. 1 and 2 is mounted.

In the heat exchanger 9 of this embodiment, a plurality of fine hydrogen storage alloys 3 are laminated and arranged with the longitudinal direction of the hydrogen absorption / desorption device 1 horizontal and the longitudinal and lateral directions at appropriate intervals. The hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 is formed by penetrating a plurality of fins 10 provided at appropriate intervals. Furthermore, the fin 10
An upper plate 11a is attached to the upper part of the fins, and a lower plate 11b is attached to the lower parts of the fins 10.
One end of is connected to a hydrogen absorbing / releasing pipe 5, and this hydrogen absorbing / releasing pipe 5 is connected to another heat exchanger 9 and a communication pipe 12 for absorbing / releasing hydrogen. The fins 10 are made of a material having high thermal conductivity such as aluminum for promoting heat transfer of each hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1, and the upper plate 11a and the lower plate 11b form a ventilation passage for heat exchange. It is provided.

Next, an example of the cooling system using the heat exchanger 9 having the above-mentioned structure is as follows.

In this cooling system, two heat exchangers 9 are connected to each other by a communication pipe 12 and arranged to form one set, and on the other side, two heat exchangers 9 having the same structure as the above are set one by one. It is provided as. On one of the heat exchangers 9 is mounted a hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 in which two kinds of fine powdery hydrogen absorbing alloys 3 having different compositions are respectively enclosed. When the heating means of the heater 6 uniformly heats the hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 of the heat exchanger 9 to heat one of the pair of two to cause hydrogen to be released and endothermic reaction,
The hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 of the heat exchanger 9 in communication occludes and radiates hydrogen, but is efficiently and uniformly radiated by air cooling of the fins 10 and the like. On the contrary, at this time, in the hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 of the other heat exchanger 9 of the pair of two, the hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 1 of the heat exchanger 9 which occludes hydrogen and radiates heat by air cooling in the same manner as described above. Then, the heating means of the heater 6 releases hydrogen to cause an endothermic reaction. By repeating the operation of the heat exchanger 9 consisting of two pieces as described above alternately and continuously performing cooling, a cooling device having high heat exchange efficiency can be obtained.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the temperature of the hydrogen storage alloy and the heat output (hydrogen transfer amount) can be finely adjusted by the heating means of the hydrogen storage / release device. Furthermore, since the hydrogen storage alloy of the hydrogen storage / release device is uniformly heated and there is no uneven temperature distribution, heat can be efficiently supplied. Furthermore, the heat exchanger according to the present invention using a plurality of the hydrogen absorbing / releasing devices,
The effect is that the structure is simple and compact, and the heat exchange efficiency is high.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a hydrogen absorbing / releasing device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line BB ′ of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing hydrogen pressure-temperature equilibrium characteristics of a hydrogen storage alloy.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a heat exchanger using the hydrogen storage alloy of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional hydrogen absorbing / releasing device.

6 is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hydrogen absorbing / releasing device 3 Hydrogen absorbing alloy 4 Outer wall 5 Hydrogen absorbing / releasing pipe 6 Heater 7 Hydrogen filter 8 Heat insulating material 10 Fins 11a Upper plate 11b Lower plate 12 Communication pipe

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tubular outer wall formed of a material having good thermal conductivity and having a hollow portion inside, a fine powder hydrogen storage alloy filled in the hollow portion of the outer wall, and the hollow body together with the hydrogen storage alloy. A heating means housed in a portion and a rod-shaped hydrogen filter for absorbing and releasing hydrogen, and a heat insulating material arranged at both ends of the hollow portion of the outer wall so as to make the hydrogen storage alloy have a uniform temperature by heating by the heating means. And a hydrogen absorption / desorption tube formed at one end of the tube for communicating hydrogen absorbed / desorbed by the hydrogen storage alloy with the outside through the hydrogen filter. 2. A heat exchange characterized in that a plurality of hydrogen absorbing / releasing devices according to claim 1 are laminated, and the plurality of hydrogen absorbing / releasing devices are formed by penetrating heat transfer promoting fins. vessel.