JP4096402B2 - Graphitization furnace - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a graphitization furnace for producing graphite powder.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, carbon powder particles are heat-treated at about 3100 ° C. or higher in a non-oxidizing atmosphere (for example, in a vacuum or an inert atmosphere), thereby graphitizing the carbon particles to industrially produce graphite powder. To be done.
[0003]
And, for the production of this graphite powder, a graphitization electric furnace such as an Atchison furnace is used, and the graphite powder is produced by batch-type heat treatment, but the graphitization can be carried out continuously. Development of a furnace is desired.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In order to perform such a continuous process, it is necessary to continuously supply carbon powder particles to the furnace body and continuously discharge graphite generated after the heat treatment from the furnace body. Moreover, in order to perform the continuous heat treatment of the carbon powder particles, it is necessary to keep the inside of the furnace body in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. However, the carbon particles to be charged contain outside air, and when the carbon particles are charged into the furnace body, the outside air enters the furnace body together with the carbon particles and is generated. When exhausting graphite from the furnace body to the outside, it is assumed that outside air will enter the furnace body from the discharge hole and the non-oxidizing atmosphere inside the furnace body will be destroyed. is necessary.
[0005]
On the other hand, in order to eliminate such problems, it is conceivable that the entire building where the entire graphitization furnace including the carbon particle conveyance device and the graphite discharge device is installed has a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The apparatus becomes large, and as a result, the equipment cost increases, which is not practical.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such various problems, and it is possible to continuously charge carbon particles without destroying the non-oxidation state in the furnace body while suppressing the increase in equipment cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide a graphitization furnace capable of continuously performing or discharging the produced graphite.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the first graphitization furnace includes a graphitization furnace main body and a raw material input device that inputs carbon powder particles into the graphitization furnace main body, and the raw material input device includes: A receiving hopper into which carbon powder particles are charged, non-oxidizing gas replacement means for receiving supply of the carbon powder particles from the receiving hopper and replacing air around the carbon powder particles with non-oxidizing gas; The receiving hopper and the non-oxidizing gas are configured to include supply means for receiving the carbon powder particles from the oxidizing gas replacement means and supplying the carbon powder particles to the graphitization furnace main body by a predetermined amount. An opening / closing mechanism for blocking the flow path of the carbon powder is provided between the replacement means and between the non-oxidizing gas replacement means and the charging means.
[0008]
The second graphitization furnace includes a graphitization furnace main body and a graphite discharge device for discharging the graphite generated in the graphitization furnace, and the graphite discharge device discharges the graphite from the graphitization furnace main body. And is provided with outside air replacement means for storing the atmosphere of graphite and replacing the atmosphere around the graphite with outside air, and is provided between the outside air replacement means and the graphitization furnace main body and the graphite provided in the outside air replacement means. The discharge part is provided with an opening / closing mechanism for blocking a flow path of graphite.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 1, the code | symbol 1 has shown the graphitization furnace main body (henceforth a furnace main body) made into the water cooling structure. At the upper part of the furnace body 1, a raw material charging device 2 for charging carbon powder as a raw material is provided.
[0010]
The raw material charging apparatus 2 includes a receiving hopper 3 into which carbon powder particles are charged, and a non-oxidizing gas that receives the supply of carbon powder particles from the receiving hopper 3 and replaces air around the carbon powder particles with a non-oxidizing gas. The replacement means 4 and the charging means 5 that receives the supply of carbon particles from the non-oxidizing gas replacement means 4 and supplies the carbon particles to the furnace body 1 by a predetermined amount. Here, the non-oxidizing gas is a gas that suppresses oxidation of the carbon powder particles.
[0011]
Between the receiving hopper 3 and the non-oxidizing gas replacement means 4 and between the non-oxidizing gas replacement means 4 and the charging means 5, an opening / closing mechanism 6 for blocking the flow path of the carbon powder is provided. .
[0012]
The furnace body 1 is equipped with a pair of electrodes 7 and 8. The carbon powder filled in the furnace body 1 is energized and the carbon powder is heated by Joule heat. ing.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, a shielding valve as an opening / closing mechanism 6 is connected to the lower portion of the receiving hopper 3, and below that, when the opening / closing mechanism 6 is in an open state, it is operated. A rotary valve 9 for sequentially feeding the carbon powder particles in the receiving hopper 3 to the lower non-oxidizing gas replacement means 4 is continuously provided.
[0014]
The non-oxidizing gas replacement means 4 includes an air gas replacement hopper 10 that receives carbon powder supplied from the rotary valve 9, a non-oxidizing gas supply pipe 11 that supplies non-oxidizing gas to the air gas replacement hopper 10, and air The exhaust pipe 12 that guides the internal gas of the gas replacement hopper 10 to the outside, shielding valves 13 and 14 provided in the non-oxidizing gas supply pipe 11 and the exhaust pipe 12, and the exhaust pipe 12 downstream of the shielding valve 14. And an exhaust pump 15 that discharges the internal gas of the air gas replacement hopper 10 to the outside.
[0015]
In addition, a shielding valve as the opening / closing mechanism 6 is connected to the lower part of the air gas replacement hopper 10, and the air gas replacement is operated below the opening / closing mechanism 6 when the opening / closing mechanism 6 is in an open state. A rotary valve 16 for sequentially feeding the carbon powder particles in the hopper 10 to the lower charging means 5 is connected.
[0016]
Further, the charging means 5 is constituted by a charging hopper 17 that receives the carbon powder supplied from the rotary valve 16 and a screw feeder 19 that is connected to the charging hopper 17 via the rotary valve 18. The carbon powder particles in the charging hopper 17 are sequentially cut out by the rotary valve 18 and supplied to the screw feeder 19, and the screw feeder 19 is charged into the furnace body 1. .
[0017]
On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the furnace body 1 has a graphite discharge pipe 20 that discharges the graphite generated after the heat treatment to the outside of the furnace body 1 from the inner center of the furnace body 1. A cut-out hopper 21 that cuts out the graphite that is allowed to flow down the graphite discharge pipe 20 and discharges it to the outside is provided at the lower end portion of the graphite discharge pipe 20 so as to protrude downward from the furnace body 1. .
[0018]
Inside the cut-out hopper 21, the turntable 23 is disposed opposite to the lower end of the graphite discharge pipe 20 and is horizontally rotated by the drive mechanism 22, and the turntable 23 is rotated along with the rotation of the turntable 23. A scraper 24 for dropping the graphite cut out on the scraper 24 is provided, and an accumulation member 25 for receiving the graphite dropped by the scraper 24 and a lower portion of the accumulation member 25 are provided below the cutting hopper 21. A shield valve 26 that drops and stops the graphite that is continuously provided and accumulated, and a graphite that is continuously provided below the shield valve 26 and is dropped through the shield valve 26, and temporarily stores the graphite. A gas / air replacement hopper 27 serving as an outside air replacement means for making the atmosphere similar to the outside air, and the gas / air replacement hopper 27 Is continuously provided downward, it is shielded valve 28 are communicated set to discharge the graphite to the outside from the gas air displacement hopper 27.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 3, below the shielding valve 26 provided below the accumulating member 25, the shielding valve 26 is operated in an open state, and the graphite in the accumulating member 25 is replaced with a gas-air replacement hopper. A rotary valve 29 for feeding the gas to the air 27 is provided, and a gas / air replacement is performed below the shielding valve 28 provided below the gas / air replacement hopper 27 with the shielding valve 28 opened. A rotary valve 30 for discharging the graphite in the hopper 27 to the outside is provided and folded, and these constitute the graphite discharging apparatus in the present embodiment.
[0020]
Further, the gas-air replacement hopper 27 is provided with an outside air introduction pipe 31 and an exhaust pipe 32, and the outside air introduction pipe 31 and the exhaust pipe 32 are provided with shielding valves 33 and 34, respectively. The exhaust pipe 32 is provided with an exhaust pump 35. In a state where the shielding valve 26 provided at the upper part of the gas-air replacement hopper 27 and the shielding valve 28 provided below are closed, both shielding valves 33, 34 are provided. Is opened and the exhaust pump 35 is operated, so that the non-oxidizing gas in the gas-air replacement hopper 27 is replaced by the outside air, and the graphite in the gas-air replacement hopper 27 is cooled to a predetermined temperature by the outside air. It has become so.
[0021]
In the graphitization furnace according to the present embodiment configured as described above, the carbon powder as a raw material is charged into the receiving hopper 3 and temporarily stored, and then supplied to the air gas replacement hopper 10. When a predetermined amount of carbon powder is supplied into the air gas replacement hopper 10, the operation of the rotary valve 9 is stopped and the opening / closing mechanism 6 is closed.
[0022]
At this time, the opening / closing mechanism 6 and the rotary valve 16 provided below the air gas replacement hopper 10 are also stopped, whereby the carbon powder particles are stored in the air gas replacement hopper 10.
In this state, when the shielding valve 13 and the shielding valve 14 are opened and the exhaust pump 15 is operated, the gas in the air gas replacement hopper 10 is discharged to the outside, and the air gas replacement hopper 10 The non-oxidizing gas is supplied from the chamber (not shown) through the non-oxidizing gas supply pipe 11, and thereby, the surroundings of the carbon powder particles in the air gas replacement hopper 10 are made into the non-oxidizing atmosphere.
[0023]
And when the storage amount of the carbon powder particles in the charging hopper 17 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined amount, the opening / closing mechanism 6 is opened and the rotary valve 16 is operated, whereby the air gas replacement hopper 10 The carbon powder particles are supplied to the charging hopper 17 in a non-oxidizing atmosphere.
[0024]
In this way, even while the carbon particles are being supplied to the charging hopper 17, the carbon particles are continuously supplied to the furnace body 1 by the rotary valve 18 and the screw feeder 19. Yes.
[0025]
Here, the charging timing and the charging amount of the raw material to the receiving hopper 3 and the supplying timing and supplying amount of the carbon powder particles from the receiving hopper 3 to the air gas replacement hopper 10 are continuously supplied from the charging hopper 17. By adjusting according to the supply amount of the carbon powder being performed, the supply of the carbon powder to the furnace body 1 is performed continuously without interruption, and the replacement in the air gas replacement hopper 10 is performed. The operation prevents the outside air from entering the charging hopper 17 together with the carbon powder particles, and also at the time of discharging the generated graphite, the gas-air replacement hopper 27 and the upstream and downstream portions thereof. The action of the shielding valves 26 and 27 prevents outside air from entering the furnace body 1.
[0026]
On the other hand, the graphite generated by the heat treatment in the furnace body 1 is sequentially cut out through the graphite discharge pipe 20 and discharged into the hopper 21 and dropped and stored in the gas-air replacement hopper 27 through the accumulation member 25 from the turntable 23. When a predetermined amount of graphite is stored in the gas / air replacement hopper 27, the shielding valve 26 provided above the gas replacement hopper 27 is closed and the chamber (not shown) enters the gas replacement hopper 27. After the outside air is introduced, the introduction of the outside air is sufficiently performed, and the graphite is sufficiently cooled. Then, the shielding valve 28 provided below the gas replacement hopper 27 is opened, so that the produced graphite is outside. Is discharged.
[0027]
Thus, in the present embodiment, the graphitization process is continuously performed in a state in which the intrusion of outside air into the furnace body 1 is reliably prevented.
[0028]
In the embodiment described above, an example in which the screw feeder 19 is used for the charging means 5 has been described. However, instead of this, a conveyor 36 may be used as shown in FIG. Further, a turntable 37 may be used as shown in FIG.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the graphitization furnace of the present invention, when supplying the raw carbon particles to the furnace body or when discharging the generated graphite to the outside, external air enters the furnace body. The raw material can be continuously supplied, the raw material can be continuously heated, and the generated graphite can be continuously discharged. In addition, since a large-scale processing apparatus is not required, an increase in equipment cost can be suppressed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall view of a graphitization furnace showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a raw material charging unit in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a graphite discharge unit in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a front view showing a modification of the charging means of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a front view showing another modification of the charging means of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Furnace body 2 Raw material charging device 3 Receiving hopper 4 Non-oxidizing gas replacement means 5 Loading means 6 Opening / closing mechanism 20 Graphite discharge pipe (graphite discharge apparatus)
21 Cutting hopper (graphite discharge device)
23 Turntable (graphite discharge device)
26 Shielding valve (opening / closing mechanism)
28 Shielding valve (open / close mechanism)

Claims (2)

A graphitization furnace comprising: a graphitization furnace main body; a raw material input device that inputs carbon powder into the graphitization furnace main body; and a graphite discharge device that discharges graphite generated in the graphitization furnace main body. ,
The raw material charging device receives a receiving hopper into which the carbon powder particles are charged, and receives the supply of the carbon powder particles from the receiving hopper and replaces the air around the carbon powder particles with a non-oxidizing gas. Gas replacement means, and charging means for receiving the carbon powder particles from the non-oxidizing gas replacement means and supplying the carbon powder particles to the graphitization furnace main body by a predetermined amount.
Between the receiving hopper and the non-oxidizing gas replacement means, and between the non-oxidizing gas replacement means and the charging means, an opening / closing mechanism for blocking the flow path of the carbon powder is provided,
The graphite discharge device,
A graphite discharge pipe provided so as to protrude from the center inside the graphitization furnace main body to the lower outside of the graphitization furnace main body,
A cutting hopper that is provided at the lower end of the graphite discharge pipe and cuts out the graphite flowing down the graphite discharge pipe and discharges it to the outside;
A turntable that is provided inside the cutting hopper and is disposed opposite to the lower end of the graphite discharge pipe and rotates horizontally;
A scraper provided inside the cut-out hopper, and dropping the graphite cut out on the turntable as the turntable rotates;
An integrated member that is provided inside the cutting hopper and receives the graphite dropped by the scraper;
A shielding valve for dropping and stopping the graphite accumulated continuously connected to the lower side of the collecting member;
A gas-air replacement hopper that is continuously provided below the shielding valve and temporarily stores graphite that is dropped through the shielding valve, and has an atmosphere similar to the outside air around the graphite.
A graphitization furnace comprising: a shielding valve that is provided below the gas / air replacement hopper and that discharges graphite from the gas / air replacement hopper to the outside . A graphitization furnace body, a graphitization furnace and a graphite discharge device for discharging the graphite produced in the graphitization furnace body,
The graphite discharge device
A graphite discharge pipe provided so as to protrude from the center inside the graphitization furnace main body to the lower outside of the graphitization furnace main body,
A cutting hopper that is provided at the lower end of the graphite discharge pipe and cuts out the graphite flowing down the graphite discharge pipe and discharges it to the outside;
A turntable that is provided inside the cutting hopper and is disposed opposite to the lower end of the graphite discharge pipe and rotates horizontally;
A scraper provided inside the cut-out hopper, and dropping the graphite cut out on the turntable as the turntable rotates;
An integrated member that is provided inside the cutting hopper and receives the graphite dropped by the scraper;
A shielding valve for dropping and stopping the graphite accumulated continuously connected to the lower side of the collecting member;
A gas-air replacement hopper that is provided below the shielding valve and temporarily stores graphite that is dropped through the shielding valve, and that makes the atmosphere around the graphite similar to the outside air,
A shielding valve connected to the lower side of the gas / air replacement hopper and discharging graphite from the gas / air replacement hopper to the outside;
Graphitization furnace, characterized in that it comprises a.

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