JPS5850918B2 - hydrogen boat - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a small ship (hereinafter referred to as a port) equipped with a water floating tank that uses hydrogen gas as a gas for generating buoyancy. The present invention relates to a port that uses hydrogen gas released from a hydrogen storage material that stores and releases hydrogen.

Traditionally, various ports have been used for ships, especially small ships, such as for sightseeing and lifesaving purposes, as well as small wooden bowl-shaped ports used in parks, beaches, etc. There are rubber float type ports.

The former is relatively strong and durable, easy to manufacture, and has excellent functions such as propulsion.

The latter is small, lightweight, and convenient to carry, and is widely used for lifesaving and leisure purposes.

However, this type of conventional telescopic port made of Bora fills air into a floating ring with a large volume.
A pressurized air supply device, such as a bellows or bicycle pump, must be carried at all times.

Furthermore, when using this device, it is natural that it requires effort and time to pressurize and supply air.

Furthermore, because this type of port is lighter than a small wooden bowl-shaped port, it is difficult to control the direction of travel and propulsion in strong winds and waves, and the stability of the port is affected by shifts in the center of gravity. There were also problems with the surface.

The present invention maintains the advantages of the conventionally used small, lightweight, elastic rubber port, and improves the disadvantages, particularly the troublesome task of filling the floating tank with air and the instability of the port. The purpose of this project is to provide a small vessel with a completely new structure and method.

The horde of the present invention is a hydrogen storage material made of a certain metal or alloy that reversibly stores and releases hydrogen depending on the ambient temperature and pressure conditions. A hydrogen storage material storage container with an excellent conductive structure and material, and a hydrogen storage material that prevents the hydrogen storage material from leaking out.
It consists of a filter made of a porous material having a relatively small diameter and a retractable floating tank such as a bellows made of rubber or stainless steel, which communicates with the container through a hydrogen gas on-off valve, and the container is connected to the floating tank. It is placed at the center of gravity.

First, the principle of the present invention will be briefly explained.

Since a typical hydrogen storage material is a metal hydride, the case where this is used will be explained here.

Metal hydrides have the characteristics shown in Figure 1 with respect to ambient temperature, ambient hydrogen, and pressure.

Under the condition of a constant hydrogen pressure, if the ambient temperature is lowered, the state will be in region A in Figure 1, and the hydrogen storage material will undergo a hydrogen storage reaction and store surrounding hydrogen gas inside it at a certain reaction rate. It has the property of lowering the surrounding hydrogen pressure.

On the other hand, if the ambient temperature is raised, the state will be in region B, and conversely, the hydrogen storage material will undergo a hydrogen release reaction, releasing the stored hydrogen to the outside at a certain reaction rate and increasing the surrounding hydrogen pressure. It has the ability to enhance.

Therefore, the reversible occlusion of such metal hydrides,
By utilizing the release phenomenon, it is possible to supply hydrogen gas, which acts as a buoyant force to the hydrogen port, to the floating tank, and conversely, it is also possible to store hydrogen gas that is no longer needed again.

In other words, when a metal hydride storage container is heated from the outside and the temperature is raised to a state above the hydrogen release temperature specific to the metal hydride, the metal hydride releases the hydrogen stored inside it, and the pressure inside the container increases. can be increased.

At this time, by opening the hydrogen gas on-off valve, hydrogen gas is easily filled into the expandable floating tank.

When the floating tank is filled with hydrogen gas and becomes full, the hydrogen gas on-off valve is closed and sealed, allowing it to be used as a port.

After using this port, if the metal hydride storage container is cooled to a state below the hydrogen absorption temperature specific to the metal hydride,
The hydrogen gas in the container is stored again in the hydrogen storage material, and the pressure of the hydrogen gas decreases.

If the hydrogen gas opening/closing valve is opened when the pressure is reduced in this way, the hydrogen gas in the floating tank is stored in the hydrogen storage material at a certain speed.

As a result, the stretchable flotation tank contracts and returns to its original state again.

Since the hydrogen storage material described above can repeatedly absorb and release hydrogen, the hydrogen port of the present invention can be used repeatedly.

Further, since the present invention has a structure in which an extremely small floating tank pressurizing mechanism is integrated into the floating tank, a special pressurized air supply device is not required.

Therefore, it is convenient to carry, extremely easy to operate,
It does not require as much effort as conventional methods.

Furthermore, since the principle of the present invention is applicable to both small and large scale ships, it can be applied to large scale ships as well as small scale ships.

A detailed explanation will be given below using specific examples.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a hoard according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partially sectional plan view.

In these figures, 1 is CaNi as a hydrogen storage material.
It is a container with an internal volume of 21 containing 5 alloy 2, and a pipe 4 is connected to the opening of the container through a porous filter 3.

The pipe 4 branches into two, one pipe 5 having a hydrogen filling valve 6 and an initial hydrogen filling lower at its end.

The other pipe 8 has a main valve 9, and its end is connected to a hydrogen gas inlet 11 of an annular expandable floating tank 10.

First, approximately 10 kg of alloy 2 is allowed to absorb enough hydrogen from the initial hydrogen filling lower until it reaches saturation.

Since the valve 6 must always be closed outside the initial hydrogen filling lower, for safety reasons, after the initial hydrogen filling, the handle of the valve was removed and used in the closed state.

In general, a hydrogen storage material absorbs hydrogen and becomes a metal hydride in the form of powder.

The filter 3 is provided to prevent powdered CaNi5 hydride from flowing out together with the hydrogen gas when the elastic floating tank 10 is filled with hydrogen gas.

Now, as an example of use at a beach, first, the stretchable floating tank 10 is spread out on sand heated by solar heat, and at the same time, the hydrogen storage material storage container 1 is buried in the sand.

The temperature at which the dissociated hydrogen pressure of CaNi5 hydride reaches atmospheric pressure (1 atm) is approximately 35°C, so CaNi normally increases at temperatures above the summer beach sand temperature, that is, 45°C.
The i5 hydride is in the region of Figure 1B and therefore undergoes a hydrogen release reaction.

Then, when the main valve 9 is opened, the tank 10 is filled with hydrogen gas.

In this case, the container 1 preferably has an uneven surface or a heat exchanger provided with fins made of copper, aluminum, etc. so as to enable heat exchange with the surrounding heat.

When used at sea, stainless steel, which has strong corrosion resistance, is recommended.

In this example, a hydraulically formed bellows made of phosphor bronze was used.

The dimensions of the stretchable flotation tank 10 of this embodiment are a cross-sectional diameter of 50 m when inflated and a total length of 8 m.

Since CaNi5 alloy can release about 160 CC of hydrogen gas per gram, using 10 kg of CaNi5 hydride, the pressure is about 1.3 atm (however, atmospheric pressure is assumed to be 1 atm).
Hydrogen gas is introduced into a butyl rubber tank 10 at a pressure of
It was possible to easily fill the container in a short period of time (about 10 minutes).

After the tank 10 has sufficiently expanded, close the main valve 9,
It was used as a sightseeing port.

As shown in the figure, the port of this embodiment has approximately 10 ky of hydrogen storage material stored in its storage container and is installed on the bottom of the center of the port, so it is more resistant to wind and waves than conventional rubber ports. It was also extremely stable, had little vibration, and was superior in terms of safety and comfort.

In particular, by placing the weight of the container containing the metal hydride in the center at the center of gravity of the port, stability is further increased.

When clearing the port, just open the main valve while it is still in use.

Because the temperature of seawater is about 25℃, CaNi5
The alloy is in the hydrogen storage region of the FIG. 1 area hole.

Therefore, when the main valve 9 is opened, the hydrogen gas in the tank 10 immediately begins to be occluded by the alloy in the container, and approximately 10
Within minutes, the tank 10 was deflated and became compact as before use.

Note that when the temperature of seawater is high and it is difficult for Alloy 2 to absorb hydrogen, hydrogen can be easily stored by manually pressurizing the tank to increase the hydrogen pressure in the tank.

In the example, butylcomb (isobutylene-isoprene copolymer) was used as the material for the tank 10, but rubber materials with excellent gas permeability such as chlorosulfonated polyethylene, fluororubber, and polysulfide rubber, phosphor bronze, A bellows made of stainless steel or the like may also be used.

In addition, in order to efficiently exchange heat between the container 1 and the outside,
A heat exchanger for heating and cooling may be provided on the surface of the container 1.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between temperature and hydrogen dissociation equilibrium pressure of various hydrides as hydrogen storage materials.

In the figure, a is LaCo5-H, b is CaN i 5-H, c
is VNb-H, d is TiFe-H, e is LaNi5-
H, f is CeCo5-H2g is SmCo5-H, h is T
iMn1. - Shows the characteristics of H.

Each of these hydrogen storage materials has its own hydrogen storage and release pressure for various ambient temperatures, so it depends on the temperature conditions of the heating source and cooling source of the hydrogen storage material and the expansion and contraction strength of the expandable floating tank. Just choose the appropriate one.

In particular, it is desirable to use a material in which the hydrogen pressure inside the container is 1 atm or more at room temperature to 300°C.

If a temperature of 300° C. or higher is required, a special heating source is required to obtain the heat source, and to avoid damaging the characteristics of this type of port, a temperature of 300° C. or lower is preferably practical.

In addition, since hydrogen gas is generally about 1/15 lighter than air, it has great buoyancy and can be made relatively small and lightweight, making it difficult to carry and rescue many people with the same size. , the effect of the hydrogen port can be demonstrated.

As described above, the present invention provides a compact port that is easy to handle and operate, convenient to carry, highly stable, compact, and lightweight.

It can also be applied to ships of all sizes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing hydrogen dissociation equilibrium pressure characteristics with respect to ambient temperature to explain the hydrogen absorption and release reactions of the hydrogen storage material used in the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a plane view of a port in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partially cross-sectional front view, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the hydrogen dissociation equilibrium pressure characteristics of various hydrogen storage materials with respect to ambient temperature. 1...Container, 2...Hydrogen storage material, 9.
...Balf, 10...Floating tank.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A thermally conductive container containing a hydrogen storage material that absorbs and releases hydrogen, and an expandable floating tank that communicates with the container via a hydrogen opening/closing valve. A hydrogen port characterized by being placed at the center of gravity of the floating tank. 2. The hydrogen port according to claim 1, wherein the hydrogen pressure in the container containing the hydrogen storage material is 1 atm or more at room temperature to 300°C.