JPS583576B2 - Ion beam generator - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ion beam generator, and more particularly to an apparatus for supplying atoms or molecules to be ionized.

The most widely used method for ionizing substances is to utilize collision ionization of electrons caused by air discharge such as radio frequency discharge (RF discharge) or glow discharge. It is necessary to supply it to the ion generation chamber in the form of

If the substance to be ionized or its compound is obtained in a gaseous state at room temperature, it can be supplied directly from a gas cylinder, but in reality it can be purified in advance through chemical and thermal reaction treatment, and then filled into a cylinder. This had the disadvantage of requiring refining work and cylinder replenishment and replacement work.

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that continuously supplies gases such as hydrogen and oxygen in a highly pure state.Another purpose of the present invention is to efficiently generate a hydrogen ion beam with a high proton ratio. The goal is to provide equipment that allows

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment in which hydrogen gas is continuously supplied by electrolysis.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of this embodiment.

The ion generation chamber, that is, the discharge chamber, consists of an envelope 1 that serves as an anode for air discharge, and a cold cathode 2 that is disposed approximately in the center of the discharge chamber to face the anode. An ion extraction hole 3 is formed, and an ion beam acceleration electrode 4 is provided in front of the ion extraction hole 3.

In the electrolytic cell installed outside the ion generation chamber for supplying hydrogen gas, the envelope 1 also serves as the inner wall of the electrolytic cell as a negative electrode, and the outer wall 1 has a positive electrode and a predetermined interval apart. An outer wall 6 of the electrolytic cell is provided, and a partition wall 7 made of asbestos or the like is provided between the two electrodes to prevent air bubbles generated on each wall surface from mixing. Above the cathode chamber and the anode chamber, there are respectively gas exhaust walls. Discharge ports 8 and 9 are provided, a supply port 10 for supplying an electrolytic solution is provided at the lower part of the outer wall 6, and an electrolytic aqueous solution 11 is filled in the electrolytic cell.

In addition, a DC power supply 12 is connected between the anode 1 and the cold cathode 2 in the discharge chamber.
A voltage 1 is applied by the DC power supply 13 between the negative electrode of the electrolytic cell, that is, the anode 1 of the discharge chamber, and the positive electrode 6 of the electrolytic cell.
Therefore, voltage (2) is applied.

Any of these voltages can be adjusted to appropriate values.

A high frequency coil 5 for ionizing hydrogen molecules H2 is wound around the outside of the electrolytic cell, and a high frequency oscillator (not shown) is connected to the electrolytic cell.
It is connected to the.

A hydrogen permeable membrane 20, which is one of the features of the present invention, is provided on the side surface of the envelope 1 that forms the boundary between the discharge chamber and the electrolytic cell.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, this hydrogen-permeable membrane 20 has a porous metal 21 made of stainless steel or the like sintered into a porous air-permeable material as a base, and its pores 22 are plugged with palladium by plating. The outer surface layer 23, which comes into contact with the electrolyte, is activated to palladium black to improve adsorption of hydrogen gas generated by electrolysis. It was designed to help you get used to it.

Such treatment for blocking the porous pores with palladium can be performed by ordinary plating treatment, electroless plating, plasma spraying, or the like.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

The electrolytic cell is filled with an electrolytic aqueous solution from the supply port 10 .

As this electrolyte, for example, an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, or seawater can be used as is.

When the electrolysis voltage 2 is applied, water is ionized into cations H+ and anions OH-, and the cations H+ gather at the negative electrode, that is, the envelope 1 of the discharge chamber, and reach the surface layer of the hydrogen permeable membrane 20. It is adsorbed and captured, passes through the porous pores, and reaches the inner surface.
Here, most of it becomes hydrogen molecules H2 and supplies high purity hydrogen gas to the discharge chamber.

The pure hydrogen thus generated on the outer wall surface of the discharge chamber is discharged due to the high frequency of several MHz to several hundred MHz generated by the high frequency coil 5.

Due to the high voltage ■ applied between the anode and cathode of the discharge chamber, the ionized ions form a plasma sheath near the ion extraction hole 3 of the anode, and are extracted as an ion beam by the ion acceleration electrode 4. .

In the above embodiment, the ion generation chamber can be cooled by circulating the electrolytic aqueous solution using a pump or the like, and the temperature can also be controlled at a constant temperature of, for example, about 80°C.

According to this embodiment, the ion generation chamber and the electrolytic cell are brought directly into close proximity, and the gas obtained by electrolysis is ionized by air discharge, so the purity of the gas is high and the required amount is continuously supplied in just the right amount. Can be replenished.

For example, in the case of hydrogen, if a permeable membrane made of palladium is used, the permeated hydrogen gas will be 99.999% to 99.99%
A product with a high purity of 99% can be obtained, and the hydrogen generation capacity reaches at least 150 ml per minute, which is suitable for maintaining the gas pressure of 10 -1 to 10 -3 Torr, which is necessary for discharging the ion generation chamber.

Therefore, there is no need to bring in a gas cylinder and purify it as in the past.

Furthermore, hydrogen ion beams are preferred because they have a small mass number and are easy to accelerate; however, hydrogen gas obtained through a palladium permeable membrane is mostly atomic, and is immediately ionized into protons H+. H2+, H3+
is small and the proton ratio is large.

Furthermore, since the outer periphery of the ion generation chamber is surrounded by the electrolyte aqueous solution, heat is shielded and the outer periphery of the high frequency coil etc. is not exposed to high temperatures.

Next, as another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for continuously supplying pure hydrogen gas using metal hydride will be described.

For example, titanium hydride has the property of storing a large amount of hydrogen.

This embodiment is characterized in that an ion beam is generated while continuously supplying the necessary amount of pure hydrogen gas from spongy titanium hydride.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of this embodiment.

A container 31 that stores titanium hydride therein is made of a heat-resistant material and is provided with a tubular opening 32 .

A heating chamber 33 in which the container 31 is stored is made of a heat insulating material and has a structure in which the container 31 can be replaced by opening the lid 34.

Also, a heater 3 is installed inside the heating chamber so as to surround the container 31.
5 is provided, and a heat sensitive element 36 for measuring the internal temperature.
is installed.

The heater 35 is heated by electricity from the power supply device 37, and the temperature inside the heating chamber and the heating duration are determined by using the command signal from the setting section 38, which includes operation buttons and program setting means, as a reference signal, and by using the command signal from the heat-sensitive element 36 as a reference signal. The signal is controlled to a predetermined value using the feedback signal.

The mouth 32 of the container 31 is led to an ionization chamber via a pipe joint 39 and a valve 40.

First, a valve 42 and a vacuum pump 43 are provided to remove impure gas such as air within the apparatus.

2 cold cathodes, 3A ion extraction hole, 4A ion accelerating electrode
, the high frequency coil 5A is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG.

The absorption of hydrogen gas into the titanium hydride in the container 1 is performed intensively at a hydrogen production factory, and the container is transported in a sealed state.

1 kg of titanium hydride TiH2 contains 450 liters (1 atm) of hydrogen.

According to experiments, this hydrogen is not released at all at room temperature, and it takes an extremely long time to release at temperatures below 250°C, but it starts to be released at 360°C, and the amount released increases as the temperature rises. Then, total release occurs at 800°C.

Furthermore, the higher the hydrogen concentration in titanium hydride, the greater the amount released, and the lower the pressure of the surrounding hydrogen gas, the greater the amount released.

Therefore, when hydrogen gas is released, the temperature inside the heating chamber is raised by the setting unit 12, and when it is desired to stop the release, heating can be stopped.

According to this embodiment, hydrogen gas can be freely released from titanium hydride by a simple method of controlling the current to the heater.

By the way, compared to using a hydrogen gas cylinder, the cylinder contains only 2 to 3 kg of hydrogen gas out of the total amount of 70 kg transported, whereas the same weight of titanium hydride contains 18 ky of hydrogen. Gas can be extracted.

Furthermore, in this second embodiment, since the commercial AC power supply can be used as is for heating, there is no need to provide a DC power supply or a rectifier as in the electrolytic method, and the apparatus becomes simple.

As the hydride in this embodiment, in addition to titanium, zirconium, thorium, vanadium, nioff, cuntal, uranium, palladium, etc. can also be used.

In addition to the RF type described above, the ion beam generator coupled to the continuous pure hydrogen supply apparatus using the electrolytic method or the hydride method described above includes the PIG type, electron impact type, electron beam incidence type, sputter type, and double plasma type. It can be carried out for each type of ion gun.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged view of the hydrogen permeable membrane 20 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a second embodiment. 1,1A...Ion generation chamber, 2,2A...
...Cold cathode, 3,3A...Ion extraction hole, 4
, 4A...Ion accelerating electrode, 5,5A...
... High frequency coil, 6 ... Electrolytic cell outer wall, 7 ...
...Partition wall, 10... Electrolyte supply port, 11.
... Electrolyte, 12 ... Power supply for discharge.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A device having an ion generation chamber for ionizing gas and an ion extracting means for extracting the ions, wherein the envelope of the ion generation chamber is used as an inner wall of an electrolytic cell, and an electrolytic cell is placed outside the surrounding air. At the same time, a semipermeable membrane is formed on the inner wall of the electrolytic cell that allows gas atoms related to the ions to pass through, but does not allow the electrolyte and air molecules to pass through, and the ions should be ionized into the ion generation chamber by electrolysis of the electrolytic cell. An ion beam generator configured to continuously supply gas. 2. In an apparatus having an ion generation chamber for ionizing gas and an ion extraction means for extracting the ions, a heating chamber for heating titanium hydride, a heating control means for controlling the temperature in the heating chamber, and a heating chamber for heating titanium hydride, a heating control means for controlling the temperature in the heating chamber, an ion beam generator configured to continuously supply hydrogen gas to be ionized;