Experimental feasibility study on the application of high-temperature heat pipes in the cooling process of graphitization furnaces

Jiarui Zhang, Yuankun Mou, Hongyu Yang, Kailun Guo, Chenglong Wang, Jian Song, Wenxi Tian, Suizheng Qiu and Guanghui Su

Energy, 2025, vol. 334, issue C

Abstract: Lithium-ion batteries, renowned for their high energy density, long cycle life, and environmental friendliness, have been widely applied. Graphite materials are the mainstream anode materials for these batteries. However, the production of graphite materials involves a prolonged cooling process, which significantly limits production efficiency. High-temperature heat pipes (HTHPs), passive thermal management devices capable of highly efficient and reliable long-distance heat transfer, provide an innovative solution. Building on the advantages of HTHPs, this study proposes a high-temperature heat pipe-graphitization furnace cooling technology (HPGFC) to shorten the graphitization process cycle, achieve thermal energy recovery, and enhance production efficiency. In this study, a potassium HTHP was fabricated, and its heat transfer performance was evaluated experimentally. A prototype system based on the HPGFC was developed. Parameters such as the heat pipe wall temperature and the temperature of the graphite coke layer were measured to verify the feasibility of the proposed technology. Experimental results indicated that the total heat transfer rate of the experimental potassium HTHP reached 5009.8 W, with an equivalent thermal resistance of 0.0298 K W−1, maintaining high heat transfer capacity and excellent temperature uniformity. When inserted into graphite, the HTHP exhibited rapid startup and cooling operation, with a maximum heat transfer distance of 1450 mm. The cooling power increased progressively during the HTHP startup process, reaching a maximum of 1.47 kW at its maximum operating distance, and subsequently decreased. The cooling time with the HTHP was reduced by 178 min compared to the natural cooling method, representing a 33.96 % reduction. The maximum cooling rate of the graphite furnace under HTHP cooling reached 16.93 °C/min, which is 6.32 times that of natural cooling (2.68 °C/min). The average cooling rate under HTHP cooling was 2.13 °C/min, 2.7 times higher than that of natural cooling (0.79 °C/min). In conclusion, this study successfully developed a prototype system for the HPGFC and conducted experimental investigations, thereby verifying the feasibility of the proposed technology.

Keywords: Graphite anode materials; Graphitization furnace; High-temperature heat pipe; Experimental study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036054422503292X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:334:y:2025:i:c:s036054422503292x

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.137650

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().