FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[ 0001 ] The present invention generally relates to the recycling of batteries . In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for recycling a battery .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[ 0002 ] Batteries have become an important part of the modern world for achieving a multitude of tasks , such as power backups at households , emergency power in a remote area and running electric vehicles . As a result , a large number of batteries are discarded every day around the globe . Typically, a battery includes a large number of hazardous wastes such as , Lead-acid, Lithium compounds , Nickel compounds and Cadmium compounds . The hazardous wastes depend on the type of batteries , such as Lead batteries , Lithium batteries and Nickel-Cadmium batteries . Such compounds of the battery are recyclable and may be extracted for reuse and safety of the environment .

[ 0003 ] The conventional technologies use a hydro separation method for recycling the batteries . In the conventional technologies , the batteries are crushed and dispersed into a collection tank filled with water . The components of the batteries are separated based on the di f ference in their densities , such as plastic floats over the water and metal settles on the floor of the collection tank . Therefore , the conventional technologies use a large amount of water for recycling the batteries . Additionally, the acidic water produced from the recycling of batteries provides hazardous ef fects on the environment .

[ 0004 ] Further, due to the extraction of metal in the collection tank filled with water , the extracted metal retains a high moisture content . Thus , the conventional technologies use a large amount of electricity and manpower in the driers to dry the moisture-rich metal for other extraction processes , such as smelting .

[ 0005 ] In light of the above , there is a need for an improved system and method for recycling a battery .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[ 0006 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, a system for recycling a battery is disclosed . The system includes an acid draining and battery cutting unit to receive one or more batteries to be recycled and cut each of the one or more batteries at a bottom surface to drain acid from the battery . Further, the acid draining and battery cutting unit is configured to cut top lid of the battery to expose the lead rails of the battery . The system further includes a trommel coupled to the acid draining and battery cutting unit having a plurality of vertical spaces and configured to rotate the battery to extract one or more lead rails via the vertical spaces of the trommel and separate empty battery container from the battery . Further, the system includes a crusher coupled to the trommel and configured to crush the empty battery container to obtain waste granules .

[ 0007 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the empty battery container includes residual waste of acid and lead paste , and the waste granules include granules of at least one of : plastic and lead .

[ 0008 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes a separation tank to receive the waste granules for at least one of : neutrali zation of acid and separating the plastic and lead .

[ 0009 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the acid draining and battery cutting unit further comprises a wet scrubber to rinse the battery to remove acidic fumes accumulated on the battery and an reagent dosing tank to collect at least one of : the drained acid and acidic water from the one or more batteries .

[ 0010 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes an ef fluent treatment plant to neutrali ze the acidic water collected from at least one of : the acid draining and battery cutting unit and the separation tank .

[ 0011 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes a first belt conveyor and a second belt conveyor to supply the battery from the acid draining and battery cutting unit to the trommel and from the trommel to the crusher, respectively .

[ 0012 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the crusher is further configured to receive the top lid of the battery cut by the acid draining and battery cutting unit . Further, the top lid includes lead connector poles of the battery .

[ 0013 ] An embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for recycling a battery . The method includes receiving one or more batteries to be recycled and cutting each of the one or more batteries at a bottom surface to drain acid from the battery . Further, the method includes cutting top lid of the battery to expose the lead rails of the battery . The method also includes rotating the battery to extract the lead rails via vertical spaces of a trommel and separating empty battery container from the battery . Thereafter, the method includes crushing the empty battery container of the battery to obtain the waste granules .

[ 0014 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the empty battery container includes residual waste of acid and lead paste , and the waste granules include granules of at least one of : plastic and lead .

[ 0015 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes receiving the waste granules by a separation tank for at least one of : neutrali zation of acid and separating of the plastic and lead .

[ 0016 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes rinsing the battery to remove acidic fumes accumulated on the battery and collecting at least one of : the drained acid and acidic water from the batteries .

[ 0017 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes neutrali zing the acidic water collected from at least one of : the acid draining and battery cutting unit and the separation tank .

[ 0018 ] Thus , the invention provides a mechanism for recycling a battery . Since the mechanism allows extraction of the lead rails present in the battery without acid or lead entering in the water tank, the mechanism reduces the water requirement to up to 10 times . Further, no moisture enters the extracted lead, and the purity of lead is high . Accordingly, the lead rails with no moisture eliminates the need of a drier for drying the extracted lead and reduces the overall electricity consumption up to 5 times from 500HP in conventional techniques to 180 HP in the disclosed mechanism . Further, the extracted high purity lead rails lead to ef ficient smelting of the lead rails . The mechanism extracts lead and plastic that are dry and free of any acidic contamination and thus , more precious . The mechanism also treats the acidic water produced in the recycling of the batteries to make the mechanism carbon neutral and environment friendly .

[ 0019 ] Accordingly, the mechanism reduces the manpower required for operation from 8 people in conventional techniques to 5 people . Additionally, the mechanism may recycle 50 metric ton of batteries in comparison to 40 metric ton by conventional techniques in 8 hours of operation . Consequently, the mechanism is cost ef fective , easily expandable , environment friendly and extracts high quality lead having high monetary value .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[ 0020 ] The present invention is described by way of embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein :

[ 0021 ] Figure 1 ( a ) illustrates a right-side perspective view of a system for recycling a battery in accordance with an embodiment of the invention ; [ 0022 ] Figure 1 (b ) illustrates a left-side perspective view of a system for recycling a battery in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

[ 0023 ] Figure 1 ( c ) illustrates a layout of the system for recycling a battery in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

[ 0024 ] Figure 2 illustrates a flow diagram for recycling a battery in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[ 0025 ] The following disclosure is provided in order to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention . Exemplary embodiments are provided only for illustrative purposes and various modi fications will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art . The general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . Also , the terminology and phraseology used is for the purpose of describing exemplary embodiments and should not be considered limiting . Thus , the present invention is to be accorded the widest scope encompassing numerous alternatives , modi fications and equivalents consistent with the principles and features disclosed . For the purpose of clarity, details relating to technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention . [0026] The present invention would now be discussed in the context of embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings .

[0027] Figure 1 (a) illustrates a right-side perspective view of a system for recycling a battery in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Figure 1 (b) illustrates a left-side perspective view of a system for recycling a battery in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Figure 1 (c) illustrates a layout of the system 100 for recycling the battery in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. For the sake of brevity, Figure 1 (a) , Figure 1 (b) and Figure 1 (c) have been explained together.

[0028] The system 100 may include an acid draining and battery cutting unit 102, a trommel 104 and a crusher 106. The system 100 may be understood as an automatic rail extractor for extracting rails from the battery. The rails may be understood as the battery plates placed inside the battery. Further, the rails may be placed inside the battery based on one or more techniques known in the art .

[0029] In an embodiment of the present invention, the battery may be a lead battery having a plurality of lead rails submerged in acid and enclosed in a battery container. Further, the battery may also include a top lid having lead poles of the battery. The lead poles may be understood as the positive and the negative terminal of the lead battery. In another embodiment of the present invention, the battery may also include one or more types of batteries known in the art, such as Nickel-Cadmium battery and Lithium-Ion battery. [ 0030 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may be configured to receive one or more batteries to be recycled . In an embodiment of the present invention, the batteries may be received automatically via a conveyor belt . In an embodiment of the present invention, the batteries may be inserted in the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 manually .

[ 0031 ] Further, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may include one or more blades to cut each o f the one or more batteries . The one or more blades may, without any limitation include a high-speed circular saw blade and a high-speed linear saw blade . In an embodiment of the present invention, the battery may be cut at a bottom surface . Further, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may also be configured to drain acid from the battery through the cut . In another embodiment of the present invention, the battery may be cut at any suitable position on the battery to allow ef ficient draining of the battery acid .

[ 0032 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may include an Air Pollution Control Machine (APCM) having an Induced Draught ( ID) fan 124 , a wet scrubber 126 and hydro-j ets to rinse the battery . Further, the hydro- ets may receive clean water from a water circulation tank 118 . The wet scrubber 126 and the hydro- j ets may work in tandem to rinse the battery for removing acidic fumes accumulated on the battery . Further, the hydro- j ets do a preliminary neutrali zation of the acid drained from the batteries . Further, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may include an reagent dosing tank 128 to collect the drained acid and the acidic water from the one or more batteries . In the reagent dosing tank 128 the acidic water and the drained acid may be neutrali zed by induction of appropriate amount of reagent . Further, the neutrali zed water may be stored in recycled water tank 130 .

[ 0033 ] Further, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may include one or more blades (not shown) to cut top lid of the battery . The cutting of the top lid of the battery may expose the lead rails inside the battery . In an embodiment of the present invention, the top lid may be collected in separate storage coupled to the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 . In an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more components of the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may be made of stainless steel .

[ 0034 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the trommel 104 may be configured to receive the battery from the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 . Further, a first belt conveyor 108 may be used to trans fer the battery from the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 to the trommel 104 . It may be noted that the trommel 104 may receive the battery ensuing the acid draining and top lid removal of the battery .

[ 0035 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the trommel 104 may be understood as a metallic cylinder having a plurality of vertical spaces on the walls of the cylinder . Further, the trommel 104 may be configured to rotate at a pre-defined frequency to rotate the received battery . The pre-defined frequency may be set by a user for ef ficient removal of the lead rails from the battery . Further, the rotation of the battery may lead to the formation of centri fugal force inside the components of the battery, such as the lead rails . Due to the ef fect of the centri fugal force , the lead rails may pop out of the battery . Further, the lead rails may exit the trommel 104 via the plurality of vertical spaces on the walls of the trommel 104 . It may be understood that the dimensions of the vertical spaces may be based on the si ze of the lead rails . Further, the trommel 104 may include an inside screw for moving the battery from one end to the other end .

[ 0036 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the trommel 104 may include an outlet unit 110 to receive the extracted lead rails from the trommel 104 . Further, the extracted lead rails may be stored in a container (not shown) placed below the trommel 104 . The container may be a permeable container . Further, the extracted lead rails may be obtained in a pure form without any additional moisture or environmental contamination . In an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more components of the trommel 104 may be made of stainless steel . Further, the extraction of lead rails may lead to separation of an empty battery container may be separated from the battery . The empty battery container may include residual waste , such as acid and lead paste .

[ 0037 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the crusher 106 may be a hammer mill for crushing the one or more components of the battery . In another embodiment of the present invention, the crusher 106 may be one of the crushers known in the art to crush one or more components of the battery . In an embodiment of the present invention, the crusher 106 may be configured to receive the empty battery container from the trommel 104 . Further, a second belt conveyor 112 may be used to trans fer the battery from the trommel 104 to the crusher 106 . In an embodiment of the present invention, the crusher 106 may also be configured to receive the top lid of the battery cut by the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 . Further, the top lid may include lead connector poles of the battery .

[ 0038 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the crusher 106 may be configured to crush the empty battery container and the top lid of the battery to obtain waste granules . Further, the waste granules may include granules of plastic, lead and a combination thereof . In an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more components of the crusher 106 may be made of stainless steel .

[ 0039 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system 100 may include a separation tank 114 configured to receive the waste granules . In an embodiment of the present invention, the separation tank 114 may be configured to perform washing of the waste granules , neutrali zation of acid, separation of the plastic and lead or a combination thereof . Further, the waste granules from the separation tank 114 may be received via a third belt conveyer 116 . In an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more components of the separation tank 114 may be made of stainless steel .

[ 0040 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the separation tank 114 may be coupled to a filter press 120 to receive the contaminated water from the separation tank 114 . Further, the filter press 120 may be configured to extract lead-bearing paste from the contaminated water using one or more techniques known in the art .

[ 0041 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the system 100 may include an ef fluent treatment plant 122 coupled to one or more components and units of the system 100 , such as the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 and the separation tank 114 to receive the acidic water produced during the recycling process , as illustrated in Figures 1 ( a ) and 1 (b ) . Further, the ef fluent treatment plant 122 may be configured to neutrali ze the acidic water collected from one or more components of the system 100 using one or more techniques known in the art . In an embodiment of the present invention, the clean water from the ef fluent treatment plant 122 may be used for domestic use . In another embodiment of the present invention, the ef fluent treatment plant 122 may be coupled to the water circulation tank 118 to reuse the water for recycling the batteries . Thus , the system 100 may have a net- zero ef fect on the environment . In an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more components of the ef fluent treatment plant 122 may be made of stainless steel .

[ 0042 ] Figure 2 illustrates a flow diagram of recycling a battery in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention . In operation, the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 cut the used lead acid battery 202 and drain acid from the battery 202 to obtain drained and open battery 204 and drained acid 206 . Further, the trommel 104 may extract battery plates 208 by high-speed rotation and battery plates separation via one or more vertical spaces of the trommel 104 . In an embodiment of the present invention, the crusher 106 may receive the empty container and the top lid 210 of the battery to produce waste granules 212 . The waste granules may include plastic chips , paste and lead chips . Further, the separation tank 114 may perform neutrali zation of acid and separation of the plastic and lead chips .

[ 0043 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the contaminated water 214 from the separation tank 114 may pass through the filter press 120 to obtain the lead- bearing paste 216 . Further, the lead-bearing paste 216 , the lead chips 218 and the extracted battery plates 208 may be supplied to a smelting unit 220 for smelting the extracted lead . In another embodiment of the present invention, the washed plastic chips and lead chips 222 from the separation tank 114 may be washed to extract washed plastic chips 224 . The washed plastic chips 224 may be supplied to a plastic recycling unit 226 .

[ 0044 ] In an embodiment of the present invention, the contaminated water 228 from the filter press 120 and the drained acid 206 from the acid draining and battery cutting unit 102 may be supplied to the ef fluent treatment plant 122 . The ef fluent treatment plant 122 may be configured to treat the water to produce the recycled water 230 . The recycled water 230 may be used in the crusher 106 . In an embodiment of the present invention, the sludge 232 from the ef fluent treatment plant 122 may be supplied to hazardous material disposal site 234 for safe deposition of the hazardous waste .

[ 0045 ] Accordingly, the present invention provides the following ef fects or advantages .

[ 0046 ] The invention provides a system 100 and method for recycling a battery . Since the system 100 allows extraction of the lead rails as present in the battery without acid or lead entering in the water tank, the system 100 reduces the water requirement to up to 10 times . Further, no moisture enters the extracted lead, and the purity of lead is high . Accordingly, the lead rails with no moisture eliminates the need of a drier for drying the extracted lead and reduces the overall electricity consumption up to 5 times from 500HP in conventional techniques to 180 HP in the discloses system 100 . Further, the extracted high purity lead rails lead to ef ficient smelting of the lead rails . The system 100 extracts lead and plastic that are dry and free of any acidic contamination and thus , more precious . The system 100 also treats the acidic water produced in the recycling of the batteries to make the system 100 carbon neutral and environment friendly .

[ 0047 ] Accordingly, the system 100 reduces the manpower required for operation from 8 people in conventional techniques to 5 people . Additionally, the system 100 may recycle 50 metric ton of batteries in comparison to 40 metric ton by convention techniques in 8 hours of operation . Consequently, the system 100 is cost ef fective , easily expandable , environment friendly and extracts high quality lead having high monetary value . [ 0048 ] While the exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described and illustrated herein, it will be appreciated that they are merely illustrative . It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modi fications in form and detail may be made therein without departing from or of fending the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .