Hydrogen supplying apparatus and method of manufacturing hydrogen supplying apparatus
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsAkihiro Sato, Takao Ishikawa, Kinya Aota
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Abstract
A hydrogen supplying apparatus equipped with a hydrogen separation membrane and a catalyst plate, which is made by forming a catalyst layer on a metal plate, wherein the metal material of the membrane is different in hardness from that of the catalyst plate. A method of producing the hydrogen supplying apparatus, which comprises: bonding a catalyst plate and a hydrogen separation membrane to each other, by friction-stir welding, wherein a welding tool is pressed towards only one of the membrane and catalyst plate, forming a reaction layer between the membrane and the catalyst plate by the frictional heat, and forming ripples in the welded interface.
Claims20
A hydrogen supplying apparatus comprising a reactor, which comprises a hydrogen separation membrane that permeates hydrogen atoms, supported on a first metallic member and a catalyst supported on a second metallic member, wherein the first and second metallic members have different melting points from each other and are bonded by means of a reaction layer formed in the interface of the first end second metallic members, and wherein the first and second metallic members are bonded by friction stir welding.
A hydrogen supplying apparatus, which comprises a stack of reactors comprising multiple sets of a metal plate with a catalyst layer and a hydrogen separation membrane, wherein the metal plate and the hydrogen separation membrane are made of different materials with different melting points and welded to each other by friction stir welding.
A hydrogen supplying apparatus comprising multiple hydrogen separation membranes each of which carries a catalyst to generate hydrogen and metallic spacers each of which is sandwiched between the hydrogen separation membranes, wherein the hydrogen separation membranes and the spacers are welded to each other by a friction stir welding.
A hydrogen supplying reactor comprising a metal plate supporting a catalyst layer and a hydrogen separation membrane, wherein the metal plate and the hydrogen separation membrane are made of different materials with different hardness and welded to form ripples in the welded interface.
A method of producing a hydrogen supplying apparatus comprising:
- interposing a hydrogen separation membrane and a metal plate, materials of the membrane and the metal plate being different in hardness from each other, applying a friction force with a rotating welding tool which has a pin section to either the hydrogen separation membrane or the metal plate, generating a frictional heat between the welding tool and the member in contact with the welding tool thereby to increase the temperature of contact with the welding tool thereby to increase the temperature of the interface between the members, and transferring the material of the member in contact with the welding tool to the other member to form a reaction layer, so that the members are bonded.
A method of producing multiple welded members each of which has a cylindrical inner wall, wherein the method comprises the steps of forming a groove in the inner peripheral wall of the coupling part of the member, forming a protrusion (which protrudes inward above the inner wall of the member) along the groove, and plunging a welding tool (equipped with a shoulder section and a pin section which is smaller in diameter than the shoulder section) into the member while rotating thereof until, partial or entire of the material of the protrusion fit to the groove by a plasticized material flow of the protrusion.
A friction stir welding (FSW) tool comprising a shoulder section and a pin section which is smaller in diameter than the shoulder section, wherein the shoulder section of the welding tool is screw-threaded.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.