Hydrogen storage container and mixture therein

Abstract

This invention relates to a new kind of hydrogen storage mixture and container thereof. This hydrogen storage container consists of a container casing, a hydrogen storage mixture and a valve. The hydrogen storage mixture loaded inside the container is made of hydrogen storage alloy granules and metal fibers and/or non-hydrogen-absorbing alloy fibers that do not absorb hydrogen. The non-hydrogen-absorbing fibers are dispersed among the hydrogen storage alloy granules and form a network structure. The non-hydrogen-absorbing fibers include non-hydrogen-absorbing metal fibers and/or non-hydrogen-absorbing alloy fibers, or their mixture. In the hydrogen storage mixture, the weight ratio of the non-hydrogen-absorbing fibers to the hydrogen storage alloys is about 0.01˜0.1 . The hydrogen storage installation adopting the technology of this invention can effectively prevent the metal hydride granules from moving over a comparatively long distance and accumulating in some locations in the container during hydriding and dehydriding, and also can improve the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen storage mixture inside the container. The hydrogen storage container of this invention is easy to manufacture, safe to use, and low in cost. This invention can be used for the manufacture of hydrogen storage containers for hydrogen storage, transport, compression and purification.

1 . A hydrogen storage container comprising a container casing, a hydrogen storage mixture loaded into the container and a valve installed at an opening of the container, wherein, said mixture is made of granules of hydrogen storage materials and fibers of metals and/or metal alloys that do not absorb hydrogen said fibers being dispersed among the granules and form a network structure, and said fibers including metal fibers and/or alloy fibers, or their mixture.  
   
   
       2 . The hydrogen storage container according to  claim 1 , the metallic fibers in the mixture are made of aluminum, or copper, or nickel, or a mixture of the fibers of one or more metal selected from the group of aluminum, copper, and nickel.  
   
   
       3 . The hydrogen storage container according to  claim 1 , the alloy fibers in the mixture are made of aluminum alloy, or copper alloy, or nickel alloy, or a mixture of the fibers of one or more alloy selected from the group of aluminum alloy, copper alloy, and nickel alloy.  
   
   
       4 . The hydrogen storage container according to  claim 1 , the metal and/or alloy fibers in the mixture are a mixture of the fibers of aluminum/aluminum alloy, copper/copper alloy, and nickel/nickel alloy.  
   
   
       5 . The hydrogen storage container according to  claim 1 , the metallic fibers in the mixture have cut sections with filar shape.  
   
   
       6 . The hydrogen storage container according to  claim 1 , the metallic fibers in the mixture have cut sections with strip shape.  
   
   
       7 . The hydrogen storage container according to  claim 1 , wherein the dimension of the metal and/or alloy fibers are about 3˜20 mm in length and not more than 2 square millimeter in cross section.  
   
   
       8 . A hydrogen storage mixture for absorbing and desorbing hydrogen reversibly, 
 said mixture being adapted to be placed in a hydrogen storage container and comprising granules of a hydrogen storage material and fibers of metals or metal alloys that do not absorb hydrogen, wherein the weight ratio of the fibers to the granules is about 0.01˜0.1.