MXPA00010699A - Busbar construction for electrolytic cell - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention applies to an electrolytic cell busbar construction for the purpose of the electrolytic recovery of metals. The construction is formed so that the gap between the electrodes can be changed easily. All parts of the construction are in the form of an integral profile longitudinally to the cell and the support lugs of the electrodes in the cell are unnotched.

Description

CONSTRUCTION OF COLLECTING BAR FOR ELECTROLYTIC CELL Description of the invention This invention focuses on the construction of an electrolytic cell bus, directed to the electrolytic recovery of metals, formed as a whole, so that the free space between the electrodes, for example, the spacing, can be freely chosen and changed. All parts of the construction have constant cross sections, longitudinally in the cell. In tank housings designed for the electrolytic recovery of metals such as copper, nickel and zinc, there is typically a large number of electrolytic cells which are connected in series in groups, so that the anode in a cell is electrically connected to the cathode in the next cell by highly conductive bus bars, generally made of copper, which are on the dividing wall between the tanks. This arrangement is known as the alker system.

The construction normally also includes an insulating bar with slots, which arrives on top of the busbar to separate the cathode in the preceding cell and the anode in the next busbar cell. This arrangement is necessary because all the electrodes in the tanks could otherwise be electrically together and the current could then not flow through the electrolyte. In the prior art busbar, the side walls usually characterize protrusions that are semicircular or triangular in cross section and longitudinally along the busbar, and the protuberances are either continuous or, for the insulating busbar, divided. . The electrodes to be in contact with the bus bar are lowered on top of these protuberances. The idea of the protuberances is first to stiffen the busbar and secondly to form a linear contact between the bar and the electrode. The insulating bar has laterally pointing brackets, which either enter between the broken protuberances of the busbar or on top of the continuous ones. The electrodes that will not come into contact with the busbar are lowered over the top of these insulating brackets. It is also known in advance a busbar arrangement presented in US Pat. No. 3,682,809 in FIG. 1 thereof, in which the bus bar is continuous, but the electrode support parts are grooved on the side part. where they will be placed on top of the busbar. According to the figure, the support members of the same electrode vary in length. The figure does not show, however, how the electrodes of two adjacent tanks are located in relation to the busbar and the insulating bar. With a conventional busbar construction and with slotted electrodes, the following disadvantages are always present: The electrical connection of each electrode to the circuit is based on a simple contact. Since the contact quality (good / bad contact) varies greatly, the current distribution between the electrodes is uneven.

If a slotted copper bar is used, its manufacturing costs are higher than for an ungrooved one. If a non-slotted busbar is used in turn, the electrodes will not be in the horizontal position due to the insulating busbar. The manufacture of grooved electrodes is more expensive than that of non-grooved electrodes. When carried to the cell, the slotted electrodes must be carefully descended into the cell transversely to be in the correct position relative to the busbar. Because the grooved insulating bar and possibly the copper bus bar, the electrodes must be lowered into the cell very carefully to be in the correct position longitudinally in relation to the busbar, so that electrical contacts and separations are correctly generated. The thermal elongation of the busbar can cause problems. A grooved bus bar does not allow the exchange of free space between the electrodes without replacing all the busbars and insulating bars. The alteration of the space between the electrodes with an ungrooved copper busbar requires the replacement of the insulating bars. - Due to the grooved insulating bar, the cleaning of the bus bars in practice always requires the removal of the insulating bar during cleaning. This makes mechanized cleaning in particular considerably more difficult. - Since the grooved busbar has to be processed relatively thin, it is generally rather weak and short-lived. The purpose of the invention developed here is to achieve a busbar construction that will avoid the aforementioned drawbacks of conventional construction. In the bus bar construction made by the invention, a highly electroconductive main bus bar is fitted on top of the side wall of the electrolytic cell, connecting the anodes of the pre-cell to the cathodes of the electrically adjacent cell, So the tanks are connected in series in the usual way. The main busbar has continuous lateral protuberances with different heights, so that one group of electrodes - anodes or cathodes - are lower in the cell than the others. The support elements are also fitted on the upper part of the side wall of the electrolytic cell and these support the electrodes on the lateral part that does not come into contact with the main bus bar. The support elements are electrically isolated from the main bus and advantageously these are made of electrically conductive material so that they balance the potential between the electrodes of the same sign in the cell. The main busbar, support elements and insulating materials are all integral longitudinally to the cell, with constant cross sections along their entire lengths. The essential features of the invention are apparent in the appended patent claims. The lateral protuberances of the main busbar are at different heights so that some electrodes, for example the anodes, are slightly lower in the cell than the other electrodes, for example in the case of cathodes. In practice, the lower protrusion of the main bus on one side of the cell and the lower support element on the other side of the cell are closer to the center line of the cell than the higher ones, from where the legs of support of the electrodes located below are elaborated shorter than those of the electrodes located above, and the upper protrusion and the support element are located near the centerline of the cell wall, also taking them away from the line central of the same cell as those below. If necessary, this can be done in the opposite way, for example placing the cathodes in the lower protuberances and the anodes over the upper ones. The protuberances of the main bus bar are continuous and do not have insulative brackets on them. The terms "continuous" or "integral" are used to imply that the material is not grooved for the placement of the electrodes and that the material is essentially of equal strength along the length of the cell. The electrode support legs are also not grooved. The supporting element of the upper electrodes is placed on the upper part of the main busbar between its protuberances. The support element is more advantageously a rocking rod of potential, separated from the main busbar by insulating material. The bar and the insulating material have constant cross sections along their lengths. This bar is at the same level as the upper protrusion of the main bus bar and forms an electrical connection between the support legs of the upper electrodes that are not on a main busbar. The support element of the lower electrodes, which is also preferably a potential swing bar, is placed on the outside of the main busbar, together with its upper protrusion along the edge of the cell and on the upper part of the insulating material The bar and the insulating material have constant transverse sections along their lengths.This bar is at the same level as the lower protrusion of the main busbar and forms an electrical connection between the support legs the lower electrodes that are not on a main busbar The insulation below this potential rollbar can be integrated into that between the main busbar and the side wall of the cell. The bus bar solution presented in the invention offers at least the following advantages: The main busbar and the potential swing bars, as well as the insulating profiles, are not grooved with constant cross sections, so that the distribution of the electrodes can be freely changed without it being necessary to touch the busbar. The mechanical cleaning of the busbars is simple, since all the surfaces that are going to be cleaned are continuous and of a material. The busbar construction does not need to be dismantled for cleaning. The busbar construction is robust and long-lasting. Due to the potential swing bar, each electrode is now equipped with two contacts for the electrical circuit; If an electrode has a contact to the main bus that is worse than average, the electrodes in parallel even out of the current distribution through the potential swing bar to obtain an even more uniform current distribution. - The electrodes can always be processed straight. The electrical contacts and the separators are always generated correctly, even if the electrodes are not lowered into the tanks carefully in the correct place laterally and longitudinally in relation to the busbar. The thermal extension of the busbar does not present problems. The invention is illustrated more precisely in the appended figures, in which Figure 1 is a cross section of an electrolytic cell with the bus bar construction according to the invention, and Figure 2 shows a more detailed view of the busbar construction. According to figure 1, the anodes and cathodes have been lowered inside the electrolytic cell A, and likewise inside the cell B, only with its support legs visible in the figure. As in the figure, the anode 1 in the first plane is placed lower than the cathode 2 which is in the background or second plane. As is generally the case, the anodes and cathodes are placed in the cell alternately. The anodes and cathodes are supported by support legs 3 and 4 for the construction of the busbar of this invention placed on sidewalls 5 of electrolytic cell. The side wall is understood as the side wall between two adjacent tanks, whether it is formed from one or more adjacent parts. Figure 2 shows more precisely how the main busbar 6 is placed on top of the insulating plate 7 that is on the side wall 5. The use of an insulating plate under the main busbar is not essential, but is Recommend for practical considerations. The main busbar extends over the top of the side walls just along the length of the cell. The lower surface of the main bus bar is horizontal and may also be the center of the upper surface, but at the edges of the bar, two continuous protuberances or ridges of different heights are raised to project in a longitudinally upward direction. The protuberances may be different, but for example a protrusion with a semicircular cross section is suitable. In the case of Figure 2, the support legs 3 of the anodes in the cell A are placed on the lower protrusion 8 and the support legs 4 of the cathodes in the cell B are on the upper part of the highest protuberance. 9. Instead of being grooved, the lower edge of the electrode support legs is continuous. A suitable difference in height for the protrusions is usually from 5 to 15 mm, and for practical reasons, the anodes are frequently selected to be the lower electrodes. It is expedient to place the lower protuberance closest to the edge of the cell and the upper protuberance in the vicinity of the center of the side wall. A continuous insulating profile 10 is placed between the protuberances 8 and 9 of the main busbar 6 along the entire length of the busbar, and on the upper part of the profile a support element 11 of the cathodes of the cell A, whose support element in this case is a roll of electrically conductive potential. Since the supporting legs of the cathodes on the other side of cell A (not shown in the figure) are supported on the upper protrusion of the main busbar in the next cell, the upper part of the potential roll bar 11 is adjusted to the same height as the upper protrusion of the main busbar, so that the cathodes are horizontal on their support legs 4. As can also be seen in Figure 2, the main busbar 6 does not extend as far as possible. length of the full width of the edge of the cell, but part of the edge is covered only by the insulating plate 7. A supporting element 12 of the anodes in cell B, in this case also a potential swing bar, is more advantageously placed on the part of the insulating plate which is outside the main busbar and in this way, the supporting element connects the anode supporting legs which are not supported by the bar main collector. The support element is adjusted to a height such that it raises the support legs 3 of the other end of the anodes to the same height as those on the main busbar. There is no insulating material on any of the potential swing bars. The bars are preferably made of a simple material, for example a round triangular rod in its cross section. With respect to any of the electrodes, anodes or cathodes, if it is not desired to use a potential roll bar as the support element, the bar may be replaced by a correspondingly made profile of insulating material, or the insulating material be formed directly in a manner that it will take the support legs of the electrodes to the correct height. In this case however, some of the above mentioned advantages will be lost. As previously stated, the main bus does not extend through the full width of the side walls of the cell, but is more than half the width of the side wall. It is better to place both electrode support elements at an approximately equal distance from the center line of the side wall as the corresponding protrusion of the main busbar.

Claims (11)

1. An electrolytic cell busbar construction of the series connection type, designed for the electrolytic recovery of metals, wherein the busbar construction is located on top of each side wall of the cell, characterized in that the main busbar of the cell is provided with longitudinal continuous protrusions to the cell, and whose protuberances are of different heights in order to support the unslotted support legs of the anodes in a cell on a protrusion, and the non-grooved support legs of the cathodes of the adjacent cell on the other protrusion; the busbar construction is equipped with continuous support elements, isolated, longitudinally to the cell and isolated from the main busbar in order to carry the ends of the electrode support legs, which are not on a main busbar at the same level as the end of the corresponding electrode supported on a main busbar.

2. A busbar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that a continuous insulation profile is placed between the protuberances of the main busbar.

3. A busbar construction according to claim 2, characterized in that a support element of the electrodes is placed on the upper part of the insulation profile that is between the protuberances of the main busbar, and where the support element is located. essentially at the same level as the upper protuberance of the main busbar.

4. A busbar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that the main busbar extends only over part of the width of the side wall of the cell.

5. A bus bar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that at least part of the width of the side wall is covered with a continuous insulating material.

6. A busbar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that the continuous insulating material is placed on the side wall of the cell and the main busbar is placed on top of that.

7. A busbar construction according to claim 4, characterized in that the other of the electrode support elements is located outside the main busbar on top of the insulating material, and the support element is essentially at the same level as the busbar. the lower protrusion of the main busbar.

8. A busbar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that the support elements are rods of potential balancing made of electrically conductive material.

9. A busbar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that the support elements are made of insulating material.

10. A bus bar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that the lower protrusion of the main bus bar and the support element placed at the same level are located near the edge of the cell wall.

11. A busbar construction according to claim 1, characterized in that the main bus bar protuberances and the support elements placed at the same level are located approximately at the same distance from the center of the side wall.