Method and device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9643253-B2
Application number	US-201514607016-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2015
Priority date	Jul 31, 2009
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A method and a device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets capable of lowering the possibility that hydrogen pulverized powder remains in a recovery chamber; therefore, enhancing magnetic properties by reducing an oxygen content of an obtained rare-earth magnet. A processing container 50 is carried into a recovery chamber 40 from a processing chamber after inert gas is introduced into the recovery chamber 40 . The raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets in the processing container 50 is discharged into the recovery chamber 40 after the pressure in the recovery chamber 40 is reduced Thereafter, inert gas is introduced into the recovery chamber 40 , and the raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets is recovered into the recovery container 50 after a pressure in the recovery chamber 40 is set to a predetermined pressure by inert gas.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets, comprising:
one or more processing chambers where the raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets accommodated in a processing container provided at its upper surface with an opening is subjected to a hydrogen storing process, a heating process and a cooling process, and a recovery chamber which is adjacently connected to the processing chamber,
the recovery chamber includes an inert gas introducing means which introduces inert gas, an evacuating means which discharges gas in the recovery chamber, a carry-in port through which the processing container is carried into the recovery chamber from the processing chamber, and a discharge port disposed in a lower portion of the recovery chamber,
hydrogen pulverized powder of the raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets in the processing container carried in from the processing chamber is discharged into the recovery chamber, and the hydrogen pulverized powder is recovered into recovery container through the discharge port, wherein
the recovery chamber includes a turn-over means which turns over the processing container upside down, and
a pressure measuring means which measures a pressure in the recovery chamber,
the turn-over means is operated based on information of a pressure measured by the pressure measuring means after the evacuating means was operated, and the processing container is turned over upside down, thereby discharging the hydrogen pulverized powder of the raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets in the processing container into the recovery chamber.

2. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 1 , wherein a pressure measured by the pressure measuring means is 1000 Pa or less.

3. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 1 , wherein in a state where the turn-over means turns over the processing container upside down and the opening of the processing container is directed downward, the turn-over means further swings the processing container.

4. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 1 , further comprising a lid opening/closing means for detaching a lid which covers the opening of the processing container, wherein the lid opening/closing means brings an engagement piece provided on the lid and another engagement piece provided in the recovery chamber into engagement with each other, and the lid is detached by upwardly moving the engagement piece provided in the recovery chamber.

5. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 4 , wherein the engagement piece provided on the lid is disposed on an upper portion of the lid, the engagement piece provided in the recovery chamber is disposed on an upper portion of the recovery chamber, wherein one of the engagement pieces has a T-shaped cross section, and the other engagement piece has a substantially C-shaped cross section.

6. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 1 , further comprising conveyer means which conveys the processing container into the recovery chamber from the processing chamber, wherein
the turn-over means turns over the processing container together with the conveyer means.

7. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 6 , wherein a pair of movement-preventing means which prevent the processing container from moving at the time of a turning over operation carried out by the turn-over means are respectively provided on both sides of the conveyer means in a conveying direction of the processing container, a pair of separation-preventing means which prevent the processing container from separating from the conveyer means at the time of the turning over operation are respectively provided on both sides of the conveyer means in a direction intersecting with a conveying-in direction of the processing container at right angles, and the processing container is held at a predetermined position with respect to the conveyer means by the pair of movement-preventing means and the pair of separation-preventing means when the turning over operation is carried out by the turn-over means.

8. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 7 , wherein the conveyer means is made up of a plurality of rollers, and the movement-preventing means are capable of projecting and retracting toward the processing container from between the rollers.

9. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 7 , wherein the separation-preventing means have L-shaped cross sections, and the separation-preventing means are disposed such that they are located on upper portions of flanges provided on an outer periphery of the processing container in the vicinity of its opening.

10. The device for recovering hydrogen pulverized powder of a raw-material alloy for rare-earth magnets according to claim 1 , wherein
the discharge port includes a valve,
the valve includes an annular expanded member disposed on an inner peripheral surface of a cylindrical member, and a disk member having a turning shaft in a radial direction of the cylindrical member.

Assignees

• Hitachi Metals Ltd

Inventors

• Nakayama Shoji
• Sonoda Kazuhiro
• Sanai Jyunichi

Classifications

• C22C2202/02

  Magnetic · CPC title

• H01F41/00

  Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing or assembling magnets, inductances or transformers; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing materials characterised by their magnetic properties · CPC title

• Y02W30/541

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B22F8/00

  Manufacture of articles from scrap or waste metal particles · CPC title

• C22C28/00

  Alloys based on a metal not provided for in groups C22C5/00 - C22C27/00 · CPC title