JP5488425B2 - Battery crushing apparatus and crushing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery crushing apparatus and a crushing method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a battery crushing apparatus and a crushing method for crushing a battery when recovering a valuable metal from the battery.

Lithium-ion batteries have excellent characteristics such as high energy density and high cell voltage, and thus are widely used mainly in electronic devices such as mobile phones, portable video cameras, and notebook computers.
In addition, when a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery is repeatedly charged and discharged several hundred times, the electrode and the electrolytic solution deteriorate, and the amount of electricity that can be charged decreases. Such a battery is determined to have a life and is discarded as a waste battery. Here, since valuable materials such as rare metals such as cobalt and nickel are used in the lithium ion battery, a process of disassembling the battery to collect and recycle the valuable metal is performed.

Generally, the recycling of batteries is performed by selecting valuable metals using various methods after the batteries are crushed.
However, when an undischarged battery is included, when the battery is crushed, the battery is crushed and short-circuited to generate heat, and the organic solvent contained in the electrolyte in the battery volatilizes and gas is injected. In some cases, the flame may burn up beyond the ignition point. In particular, in a lithium ion battery having a high voltage, this heat generation and explosion are remarkable and dangerous.

  Various methods for crushing batteries safely have been proposed for such problems. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 propose a method of crushing a battery in a cooled or frozen state. Patent Document 3 proposes a method of suppressing the influence of heat generation and ignition by putting a battery in a high temperature furnace as it is and baking it regardless of the charge / discharge state.

  However, in the method of cooling and crushing the battery, it is necessary to use expensive liquid nitrogen or the like in order to maintain the cryogenic temperature, and in the method of performing the roasting treatment, a great amount of energy is required, both of which have a running cost. There is a problem of becoming higher.

On the other hand, Patent Document 4 proposes a method in which a battery is discharged by being immersed in a conductive liquid, and the battery is crushed after the discharge.
According to this method, running cost can be kept low. However, since it takes a long time to discharge the battery pack in particular, there is a risk that a battery that has not been sufficiently discharged may be crushed, resulting in a fire.

Therefore, Patent Document 5 proposes a method of immersing a crushing device for crushing a battery in an aqueous solution and crushing the battery in the aqueous solution.
By crushing the battery in the aqueous solution, an excessive temperature rise of the battery can be suppressed and ignition can be prevented.
However, since the crushing device is completely submerged in the aqueous solution, there is a problem that the crushing device is easily corroded. In particular, when a mechanical part such as a gear box in the crushing apparatus is submerged, it is easily corroded. Moreover, there is a problem that maintenance of the crushing apparatus is difficult.

JP-A-10-241748 JP 11-167936 A JP-A-10-330855 JP-A-11-97076 Japanese Patent No. 308606

  In view of the circumstances described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a battery crushing apparatus and a crushing method that can prevent ignition and ignition, are less likely to corrode, and are easy to maintain.

The battery crushing device of the first invention includes a crushing unit that crushes a battery, a watering device that applies cooling water to the crushing unit and the battery that is crushed by the crushing unit, and a battery that is crushed by the crushing unit. A water tank into which the cooling water that is put into the crushing part and the battery being crushed by the crushing part flows, a circulator that supplies the cooling water in the water tank to the watering device, and from the cooling water the organic solvent flows out contained in the battery, comprising an organic solvent recovery unit for the organic solvent separated and recovered, and the organic solvent recovery unit in the organic solvent is separated, recovered coolant the circulator And supplying to the watering device .
The battery crushing device of the second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the crushing part is a pair of crushing rollers having rotating shafts arranged in parallel.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the battery crushing apparatus according to the first or second aspect , further comprising a cooler for cooling the cooling water.
In the battery crushing method of the fourth invention, the battery is crushed by the crushing part, the cooling water is applied to the crushing part and the battery crushed by the crushing part by a water hanger, and the water tank is crushed by the crushing part. The cooling water applied to the crushing part and the battery crushed by the crushing part is allowed to flow in, and the organic solvent contained in the battery in the water tank flows out of the cooling water from the cooling water. The organic solvent is separated and recovered, and the cooling water separated and recovered by the organic solvent is supplied to the water hanger .

The first invention has the following effects.
a) Since cooling water is applied to the crushing part and the battery, even if the battery is crushed and short-circuited, heat can be prevented by cooling the battery with cooling water. In addition, even if the organic solvent contained in the battery adheres to the crushing portion, the organic solvent can be washed away, so that sparks generated by crushing may ignite the organic solvent, or the organic solvent may ignite due to the heat generated by the battery. Can be prevented. Furthermore, since the battery crushing device can be installed in the atmosphere, the device is not easily corroded and the maintenance of the device is easy.
b) Since the cooling water is circulated between the water tank and the water catcher, the cooling water from which the organic solvent contained in the battery has flowed out can be reused. Therefore, waste liquid containing an organic solvent that is difficult to process can be reduced.
c) Since the organic solvent is separated and recovered from the cooling water, even if the cooling water is circulated through the water catcher, sparks generated by crushing may ignite the organic solvent contained in the cooling water, or the battery may generate heat to generate cooling water. The organic solvent contained does not ignite.
d) Since the water tank into which the crushed battery is put is provided, even if the battery is ignited by crushing the battery by the crushing section, it can be extinguished immediately.
According to the second invention, the battery can be crushed by the pair of crushing rollers.
According to the third invention, since the crushing part and the battery can be sufficiently cooled by lowering the temperature of the cooling water, even if an organic solvent having a low flash point adheres to the crushing part, a spark generated by crushing Can be prevented from igniting the organic solvent.
The fourth invention has the following effects.
a) Since cooling water is applied to the crushing part and the battery, even if the battery is crushed and short-circuited, heat can be prevented by cooling the battery with cooling water. In addition, even if the organic solvent contained in the battery adheres to the crushing portion, the organic solvent can be washed away, so that sparks generated by crushing may ignite the organic solvent, or the organic solvent may ignite due to the heat generated by the battery. Can be prevented. Furthermore, since the battery crushing device can be installed in the atmosphere, the device is not easily corroded and the maintenance of the device is easy.
b) Since the cooling water is circulated, the cooling water from which the organic solvent contained in the battery flows out can be reused. Therefore, waste liquid containing an organic solvent that is difficult to process can be reduced.
c) Since the organic solvent is separated and recovered from the cooling water, even if the cooling water is circulated, the sparks generated by crushing may ignite the organic solvent contained in the cooling water, or the organic contained in the cooling water due to the heat generated by the battery. The solvent does not ignite.
d) Since the crushed battery is put into the water tank, even if the battery ignites by crushing the battery by the crushing section, it can be extinguished immediately.

It is the schematic of the battery crushing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a battery crushing apparatus A according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 10 is a conveyor that conveys the battery B, 20 is a crusher that crushes the battery B, and 30 is a crushed battery. A water tank into which B is introduced, 40 is a sprayer for spraying cooling water, and 50 is a circulation system for circulating cooling water between the water tank 30 and the sprayer 40.
Here, the battery is a concept including various batteries such as a lithium ion battery including a battery pack in addition to a single battery.

The crusher 20 is a so-called biaxial crusher having a pair of crushing rollers 21 and 21 having rotating shafts arranged in parallel. A hopper 22 is attached above the crushing rollers 21 and 21, and the battery B conveyed by the conveyor 10 is guided to the crushing roller 21.
The crushing roller 21 corresponds to a “crushing portion” described in the claims.

The water tank 30 is installed below the crushing rollers 21 and 21, and is filled with cooling water. Further, the water tank 30 accommodates a gutter 31 having a large number of holes through which the cooling water passes but the crushed battery B does not pass. Therefore, the battery B crushed by the crushing rollers 21 and 21 is immediately put into the cooling water of the water tank 30 and accumulated at the bottom of the trough 31.
Note that pure water can be used as the cooling water.

A sprayer 40 is installed above the crusher 20. The sprayer 40 is supplied with cooling water in the water tank 30 by a circulation system 50. Cooling water sprayed from the sprayer 40 is applied to the crushing rollers 21, 21 and the battery B crushed by the crushing rollers 21, 21.
The cooling water sprayed from the sprayer 40 needs a water force that can wash away the organic solvent adhering to the crushing roller 21 described later. Moreover, it is preferable that the crusher 20 has a configuration in which the cooling water does not flow into the mechanism portion or the like.

In addition, the sprayer 40 is corresponded to the watering device as described in a claim. Moreover, as a watering device, not only a sprayer but various things can be selected as long as it cools a crushing part and a battery .

The circulation system 50 includes a pipe 51 connecting the water tank 30 and the sprayer 40, a pump 52 attached to the pipe 51, an organic solvent recovery unit 53, and a cooler 54.
The cooling water in the water tank 30 is caused to flow toward the sprayer 40 through the pipe 51 by the operation of the pump 52. The cooling water is supplied to the sprayer 40 after passing through the organic solvent collector 53 and being cooled by the cooler 54.
The pipe 51 and the pump 52 correspond to the circulator described in the claims.

  As described above, since the crusher 20 is installed in the atmosphere, the apparatus is less likely to corrode and maintenance of the apparatus is easier than when the crusher 20 is immersed in cooling water.

Below, the crushing method of the battery B using the battery crushing apparatus A is demonstrated.
The battery B discarded as a waste battery is conveyed by the conveyor 10 and put into the hopper 22 of the crusher 20, and the inserted battery B is crushed by the operation of the crushing rollers 21 and 21. During this time, the sprayer 40 sprays cooling water onto the crushing roller 21 and the battery B.
At this time, when the battery B that is not sufficiently discharged is crushed, the battery B is crushed and short-circuited to generate heat. However, since the spray water is applied to the crushing roller 21 and the battery B by the sprayer 40, ignition can be prevented by cooling the battery B with the cooling water.

  Further, when the battery B is crushed, the organic solvent contained in the battery B adheres to the crushing roller 21, but the organic solvent adhering to the crushing roller 21 can be washed away with cooling water. It is possible to prevent the organic solvent from being ignited by the heat generated from the battery B.

The battery B crushed by the crushing roller 21 is immediately put into the water tank 30. Further, the cooling water hung on the crushing roller 21 also flows into the water tank 30.
At this time, if the voltage of the battery B is high, the battery B may be ignited even though it is cooled with the cooling water. However, since the crushed battery B is put into the water tank 30, it can be immediately extinguished. . Therefore, there is no fire.

Incidentally, the cooling water hung on the crushing roller 21 and flowing into the water tank 30 contains the organic solvent of the battery B. The cooling water containing such an organic solvent is difficult to process.
In the present embodiment, the cooling water flowing into the water tank 30 is supplied to the sprayer 40 through the circulation system 50. Thus, since the cooling water is circulated between the water tank 30 and the sprayer 40, the cooling water from which the organic solvent contained in the battery B has flowed out can be reused. Therefore, waste liquid containing an organic solvent that is difficult to process can be reduced.

The cooling water in the water tank 30 is guided to the organic solvent recovery unit 53 by the operation of the pump 52.
The organic solvent recovery unit 53 separates and recovers the organic solvent from the cooling water from which the organic solvent has flowed out, and various types can be adopted. For example, by performing a distillation operation on cooling water containing an organic solvent with an evaporator or the like, the cooling water and the organic solvent can be separated using a difference in boiling point and vapor pressure. In this case, most of the separated organic solvent gas can be recovered as a liquid by cooling and concentrating the separated organic solvent gas with a refrigerant circulation device. Some organic solvent gases that could not be liquefied can be captured by an activated carbon filter.

Thus, since the cooling water supplied to the sprayer 40 does not contain an organic solvent, a spark generated by crushing ignites the organic solvent contained in the cooling water, or is contained in the cooling water due to heat generation of the battery. The organic solvent does not ignite .

The cooling water that has passed through the organic solvent recovery device 53 is cooled by the cooling device 54.
By lowering the temperature of the cooling water by the cooler 54, the crushing roller 21 and the battery B can be sufficiently cooled. Therefore, even if an organic solvent having a low flash point, for example, an organic solvent such as diethyl carbonate or ethyl methyl carbonate contained in the electrolyte of a lithium ion battery adheres to the crushing roller 21, sparks generated by crushing may ignite the organic solvent. Can be prevented.

  When the plurality of batteries B are crushed by the above method, the crushed batteries B accumulate on the bottom of the basket 31. When a predetermined amount of the crushed battery B accumulates, the cooling water is cut off by pulling up the basket 31 from the water tank 30, and the crushed battery B can be taken out.

(test)
Next, a test using the battery crusher A will be described.
(Comparative Example 1)
Ten lithium ion batteries having a residual voltage of 3 V or more were used in the test.
First, the battery was crushed with a crusher without spraying the cooling water with the atomizer. As a result, it was confirmed that sparks were generated when crushing in four batteries.
Therefore, it was found that there is a high risk of ignition or ignition when the cooling water is not sprayed.

(Comparative Example 2)
Next, the battery was crushed with a crusher using 10 lithium ion batteries discharged until the residual voltage became 1 V or less without spraying the cooling water with the atomizer.
As a result, a battery in which sparks were generated during crushing was not confirmed.
Therefore, it was found that the battery can be safely crushed by sufficiently discharging.

Example 1
Next, 10 lithium ion batteries having a residual voltage of 3 V or more were used, and the batteries were crushed with a crusher while spraying cooling water with a sprayer.
As a result, a battery in which sparks were generated during crushing was not confirmed.
Therefore, it was confirmed that the risk of ignition and ignition can be significantly reduced by spraying the cooling water. Moreover, since it is spraying only to the crushing roller, it is estimated that the crusher is not easily corroded and that the crusher is easily maintained.

  The battery crushing apparatus and the crushing method according to the present invention are used for safely crushing a battery such as a lithium ion battery.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Conveyor 20 Crusher 21 Crushing roller 22 Hopper 30 Water tank 31 ４０ 40 Sprayer 50 Circulating system 51 Pipe 52 Pump 53 Organic solvent recovery device 54 Cooler

Claims (4)

A crushing section for crushing the battery;
A watering device for applying cooling water to the crushing part and the battery crushed by the crushing part;
A water tank into which the battery crushed by the crushing part is charged and the cooling water applied to the battery crushed by the crushing part and the crushing part flows in,
A circulator for supplying the cooling water in the water tank to the water catcher;
An organic solvent recovery device for separating and recovering the organic solvent from the cooling water from which the organic solvent contained in the battery flows out ,
A battery crushing device , wherein cooling water obtained by separating and recovering an organic solvent by the organic solvent recovery device is supplied to the water catcher by the circulation device. The crushing unit, battery crushing device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation axis is a pair of crushing rollers arranged in parallel. Cell crushing device according to claim 1, wherein further comprising a cooler for cooling the cooling water. The battery is crushed by the crushing section
Hang cooling water on the crushing part and the battery being crushed by the crushing part with a water hanger,
The battery crushed by the crushing part is put into a water tank, and the cooling water hung on the crushing part and the battery crushed by the crushing part is allowed to flow in,
Separating and recovering the organic solvent from the cooling water from which the organic solvent contained in the battery in the water tank has flowed out, and supplying the cooling water separated and recovered by the organic solvent to the water heater. Battery crushing method characterized.

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