JPH09259915A - Hydrogen supplier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hydrogen supplier being easily handled, having portability, and capable of supplying hydrogen continuously for a long time. SOLUTION: In a portable aluminum case 120, hydrogen absorbing alloy tank units 101 to 104 in which plural hydrogen absorbing alloy tanks are bridged at a holding frame are arranged on bases 131 to 134 slightly inclined. When air is supplied by means of DC fans 105 and 106, cooling of the tank is restricted by ventilating of air between the hydrogen absorbing alloy tanks, and hydrogen is discharged constantly and continuously. The hydrogen discharged from the hydrogen absorbing alloy tank is supplied from a pipe 107 to a portable fuel battery 150.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a hydrogen supply device for supplying hydrogen to a portable fuel cell or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a portable fuel cell has been developed as a small portable power source. This portable fuel cell is capable of generating power of several hundreds of watts, and emits less air pollutants than the conventional portable power source that uses an engine to drive a generator to generate electricity. It is excellent in that the occurrence of

This portable fuel cell, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-76851, has a fuel cell body in which phosphoric acid type power generation cells are stacked, and a cathode gas ( The air supply fan for feeding air) is housed in a case made of light metal such as duralumin, and the air supplied by the air supply fan and the hydrogen supply source are supplied during the operation. Power is generated by an electrochemical reaction with hydrogen.

Further, in this portable fuel cell, a hydrogen storage alloy tank (hereinafter referred to as "MH tank") is built in the case as a hydrogen supply source, and power is generated without receiving hydrogen supply from the outside. You can do it. Since the MH tank is smaller than a hydrogen cylinder or the like and is excellent in storage of hydrogen, it is possible to reduce the size and simplification of the entire portable fuel cell by incorporating the MH tank.

By the way, in the portable fuel cell having the MH tank therein, when the hydrogen stored in the MH tank is consumed, it is necessary to temporarily stop the power generation in order to replace the MH tank. There was a problem that there is. For such a problem, for example, if a hydrogen cylinder is attached to the outside of the portable fuel cell and hydrogen is supplied from there, it is considered that continuous operation can be performed for a long time.

[0006]

However, since the hydrogen cylinder has a high pressure, it must be handled with care, and
A hydrogen cylinder that can be continuously supplied for a long time has a problem that it lacks in transportability. In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hydrogen supply device that is easy to handle, has transportability, and can supply hydrogen continuously for a long time.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a hydrogen supply device according to the present invention comprises a carrier that has a flow passage for air and a transportable support between the holder and the flow passage. It is provided with a plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks arranged so that air can flow, and a pipe which is connected to the plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks and guides hydrogen released from each of the hydrogen storage alloy tanks.

The plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks are
The flow passages may be arranged in a zigzag pattern in the air flow direction. Furthermore, the plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks can be fixed with a support to form two or more tank units. Also,
It can be used to supply hydrogen to a fuel cell system that can contain the same tank unit as the tank unit.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hydrogen supply device of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the overall structure thereof. For convenience of explanation, the left direction in FIG. 2 is referred to as the front. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the hydrogen supplier according to the present embodiment has a plurality of cylindrical MHs.
Four MH tank units 101 to 104, which are fixedly supported in a state where the tanks are arranged in parallel, DC fans 105 to 106 for blowing air to the MH tank units 101 to 104, and are discharged from each MH tank. A pipe 107 for inducing hydrogen and a valve 108 for adjusting the flow rate of hydrogen in the pipe 107 are provided, and these are housed in an aluminum case 120.

In FIG. 1, only the outline of the aluminum case 120 is shown by a broken line to show the inside of the hydrogen supply device. Each of the MH tank units 101 to 104 includes a plurality (5 in the figure) of M as shown in FIG.
With the H tanks 211 to 215 being vertically aligned in parallel with each other at appropriate intervals, both ends of each MH tank are held by the holding frame 201.
And 202 are fixedly supported, and a handle 203 is attached to the upper ends of the holding frames 201 and 202.

The plurality of MH tanks 211 to 215 are
It is connected by a pipe (not shown) embedded in one of the holding frames 201, and the upper end of this pipe is connected to the holding frame 2
01 is connected to a coupler 220 attached to the upper end. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the aluminum case 1
20 is a rectangular parallelepiped having an open upper surface 120a,
Four pedestals 131-having a slight inclination on the bottom surface
134 is installed, and four pairs of support plates 141 to 144 are installed across both side surfaces 120b. And
The MH tank units 101 to 104 have support plates 141 to
While being supported by 144, it is accommodated on the pedestals 131 to 134.

The MH tank units 101 to 104 thus housed in the aluminum case 120 are arranged parallel to each other in an inclined state, and all the MH tanks 211 are arranged.
˜215 will be arranged laterally. A handle 121 is attached to the aluminum case 120 to facilitate transportation. DC fan 105
And 106 are attached to the front surface of the aluminum case 120, and an exhaust port (not shown) is opened in the rear surface of the aluminum case 120. DC fans 105 and 1
The air taken in from the outside by 06 flows through the inside of the aluminum case 120 rearward, and the exhaust port and the open surface 120a.
Is discharged from the aluminum case 120.
The air is blown to the MH tank units 101 to 104 housed inside. As the electric power for starting the DC fans 105 and 106, the electric power from the portable fuel cell 150 is usually used and supplied to the DC fans 105 and 106 via the DC input 109.

The pipe 107 is disposed in the front-rear direction in the upper part of the aluminum case 120, penetrates the rear surface of the case 120 and projects to the outside. Although not particularly shown, a connector is attached to the end of the connector, and this connector can be connected to the fuel supply port 154 of the portable fuel cell 150 to supply hydrogen. Further, the pipe 107 includes a plurality of branch pipes 107a to 10a.
7d. The branch pipes 107a to 107d are flexible, and a coupler (not shown) is attached to the tip of the branch pipes 107a to 107d.
It can be detachably connected to the coupler 104.

The valve 108 is installed in the pipe 107 at a position slightly inside the case 120 and can be operated from the outside. With such a configuration, the MH tank units 101 to 1
Hydrogen released from the MH tanks 211 to 215 of No. 04 is connected to the pipe in the holding frame 201 and the branch pipes 107a to 107d.
Via the pipe, the fuel is collected in the pipe 107 and supplied to the portable fuel cell 150.

Here, since the hydrogen releasing reaction of the MH tank is an endothermic reaction, unless heat is applied to the MH tank, the temperature of the surface of the MH tank gradually decreases as hydrogen is released, and as a result, the MH tank is heated. The hydrogen releasing capacity will be lost before the hydrogen stored in the tank is completely released. On the other hand, in this hydrogen supply device, the MH tanks 211 to 21 of the plurality of MH tank units 101 to 104 are
5 is arranged so that the air blown from the two DC fans 105 and 106 efficiently hits the respective MH tanks, so that heat is supplied from the circulating air to the MH tanks, and the hydrogen is continuously and stably supplied. Can be supplied. At this time, since the MH tank units 101 to 104 are arranged so as to be slightly inclined, the air to be blown is effectively M
It is designed to hit the H tank.

The portable fuel cell 150 comprises a fuel cell body 151, a fan 152 for feeding air into the fuel cell body 151, and an MH tank unit 153. This MH tank unit 153 is a fuel cell main body 15
The MH tank units 101 to 104 are the same as the MH tank units 101 to 104. The fuel cell main body 151 can also generate power using hydrogen supplied from the fuel supply port 154, and can also generate power using the built-in MH tank unit 153.

A specific example of the operation and operation of the hydrogen supplier having the above structure will be described below. About 30 per MH tank unit
0 liter of hydrogen is stored. Portable fuel cell 1
When it is used to supply hydrogen to 50 (rated output 250 W), the flow rate of hydrogen is about 5 per minute.
A liter discharge is required, which means that about 1 hour of operation per unit is possible. Therefore, when only the MH tank unit inside the portable fuel cell 150 is used as in the prior art, it was necessary to stop the power generation every hour and replace the MH tank or fill hydrogen. By using the hydrogen supply device of this form, long-term operation of about 5 hours becomes possible.

Further, by using the hydrogen supply device of the present embodiment and the MH tank unit built in the portable fuel cell 150 while switching, it is possible to operate for a longer time. That is, the MH tank unit 101
When all 104 hydrogen is used up, the valve 10
8 is closed to generate electricity using the hydrogen of the MH tank unit provided in the portable fuel cell 150, while the MH tank units 101 to 104 are replaced with a new MH tank unit filled with hydrogen, If the valve 108 is opened again, it is possible to continue the operation.

In addition to this, various usages are possible. For example, of the MH tank units 101 to 104,
When power is generated using only three units and the hydrogen in the MH tank units 101 to 103 is used up, MH
Hydrogen is supplied from the tank unit 104 and M
It is also possible to replace the H tank units 101 to 103 with a new MH tank unit filled with hydrogen for continuous operation.

The hydrogen supply device according to the present embodiment uses the same MH tank unit as the MH tank unit provided inside the portable fuel cell 150. There are also merits. (Embodiment 2) The hydrogen supplier of the present embodiment is almost the same as the hydrogen supplier of the first embodiment. However, in the first embodiment, the heights of the pedestals 131 to 134 are the same, but in the present embodiment, there is a slight difference in the height of the pedestal as shown in FIG. That is, the pedestals 132, 1
34 is higher than the pedestals 131 and 133.

In this case, since the respective MH tanks are arranged in a staggered manner with respect to the blowing direction of the DC fans 105 and 106, as shown by the arrows in FIG.
The air that has passed through the space between the MH tanks of the H tank unit 101 collides with each tank of the MH tank unit 102, and similarly, the MH tank units 103, 10
Air also collides with each MH tank of No. 4. Therefore,
It is possible to further improve the heat exchange efficiency by blowing air from the DC fan. (Embodiment 3) The hydrogen supplier of the present embodiment is almost the same as the hydrogen supplier of Embodiment 1 although not shown.
However, the DC fans 105 and 106 are not provided, and instead, the open surface 1 on the upper surface of the aluminum case 120 is used.
A portable fuel cell 1 with a lid covering 20a is attached.
Aluminum case 120 has air piping to guide exhaust air from 50
Is connected to the front of.

As a result, high temperature exhaust air is sent from the portable fuel cell 150 to the aluminum case 120 and flows from the front to the rear in the aluminum case 120. Since the MH tank units 101 to 104 are heated by this air, hydrogen can be stably supplied. (Embodiment 4) The hydrogen supplier of the present embodiment is similar to the hydrogen supplier of Embodiment 1, but the structure of the MH tank unit is different. In the MH tank unit of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, each MH tank 350 can be attached and detached.

That is, five cylinders 310 for mounting the MH tanks 350 are provided between the holding frames 301 and 302, and each MH tank 350 has a slightly tapered shape, and is attached to the cylinders 310. It can be inserted and installed. Further, heat exchange fins 330 for promoting heat exchange with air are provided on the outer peripheral portion of each cylinder 310.

A connector 350a is attached to the tip of each MH tank 350 so that it can be attached to and detached from the pipe inside the holding frame 301.
When the MH tank 350 is mounted on the cylinder 310, the MH tank 350 is connected to the pipe by the connector 350a. Further, a coupler 32 similar to the coupler 220 of the first embodiment is provided on the upper end of the holding frame 301.
0 is attached.

This MH tank unit can be handled in the same manner as the MH tank unit of the first embodiment, and each MH tank 350 can be removed and filled with hydrogen. (Embodiment 5) As shown in FIG. 6, in this embodiment, a plurality (16) of MH tanks 410 are arranged in a double annular shape with eight inside and eight outside.

Here, the outer tanks are arranged so as to be positioned between the adjacent inner MH tanks. Then, one end of these MH tanks 410 is held by a disc-shaped holding frame 401, and the other end is held by an annular holding frame 402. All the MH tanks 410 are pipes (not shown) inside the holding frame 401, like the holding frame 201 of the first embodiment.
This pipe is connected to a coupler 420 provided so as to project from the outer peripheral surface of the holding frame 401. Although not shown, this coupler 420 is connected to the fuel supply port of the portable fuel cell via an extension pipe. In addition, the circular window 402a of the holding frame 420 has the third embodiment.
Similarly, the air piping for guiding the exhaust gas from the portable fuel cell is connected.

In such a hydrogen supplier, the circular window 402
The air sent from a flows radially. That is, it hits the inner eight MH tanks, passes through the gap, hits the outer eight MH tanks, and is then discharged to the outside. Also in this case, the MH tanks are arranged in a zigzag pattern with respect to the flow of air, and heat is efficiently exchanged.

In the hydrogen supply device of the fifth embodiment, an example in which a unitized MH tank is mounted has been shown, but a non-unitized MH tank can be mounted in the air flow passage of the case. It can also be configured. It is also possible to mount both the MH tank unit and a single MH tank. Further, in the above-described first to fourth embodiments, an example in which five MH tanks are unitized and in the fifth embodiment 16 MH tanks are shown as a unit, but the number of MH tanks in one unit is two or more. Can be carried out in an appropriate number.

Further, in the first to fourth embodiments, the MH
Although the aluminum case 120 is used to store the tank units 101 to 104 and the like, it is also possible to use a material other than aluminum, such as a steel plate.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, in the hydrogen supply device according to the present invention, the carrier which has a flow passage for the air and which can be conveyed, and the air can flow between each other in the flow passage. A plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks arranged as described above, and a pipe that is connected to the plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks and guides hydrogen released from each of the hydrogen storage alloy tanks, thereby improving transportability. Thus, it is possible to provide a hydrogen supply device that can continuously supply hydrogen for a long time.

Further, by arranging a plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks in a zigzag manner in the air flow direction of the flow passage, heat exchange is efficiently performed on the surface of the hydrogen storage alloy tanks, so that it is more stable. The effect is that hydrogen can be supplied. The plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks can be a tank unit in which two or more hydrogen storage alloy tanks are fixed by a support.

By using the tank unit as described above, there is an effect that the operation at the time of attachment / detachment from the hydrogen supply device and the portability are facilitated. Further, by using the same tank unit in the hydrogen supply device and the fuel cell system, both can be used while being exchanged, and the manufacturing cost of the tank unit can be reduced. effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hydrogen supply device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a hydrogen supply device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the hydrogen storage alloy tank unit according to the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a hydrogen supply device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a hydrogen storage alloy tank unit according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a hydrogen supply device according to a fifth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101-104 MH tank unit 105-106 DC fan 107 Piping 107a-107d Branch pipe 120 Aluminum case 131-134 Pedestal 150 Portable fuel cell 151 Fuel cell main body 152 Fan 153 MH tank unit 154 Fuel supply port 201-202 Holding frame 211- 215 MH tanks 301 to 302 Holding frame 320 Coupler 330 Heat exchange fins 350 Tapered MH tank 401 to 402 Holding frame 410 MH tank 420 Coupler

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Osamu Tajima 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A transportable holder having an air flow passage, a plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks arranged in the flow passage so that air can flow between them, and a plurality of the hydrogen storage alloys. A hydrogen supply device, comprising: a pipe connected to an alloy tank to guide hydrogen released from each of the hydrogen storage alloy tanks. 2. The hydrogen feeder according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks are arranged in a zigzag pattern in the air flow direction of the flow passage. 3. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 1, wherein two or more of the plurality of hydrogen storage alloy tanks are fixed by a support body to form a tank unit. 4. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 3, wherein hydrogen is supplied to a fuel cell system capable of incorporating the same tank unit as the tank unit.