Effect of electrode intrusion on pressure drop and electrochemical performance of an all-vanadium redox flow battery

2017 ◽  
Vol 360 ◽  
pp. 548-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kumar ◽  
S. Jayanti
Author(s):  
S. Kumar ◽  
S. Jayanti

In this paper, we present experimental studies of electrochemical performance of an all-vanadium redox flow battery cell employing an active area of 103 cm2, activated carbon felt, and a novel flow field, which ensures good electrolyte circulation at low pressure drops. Extended testing over 151 consecutive charge/discharge cycles has shown steady performance with an energy efficiency of 84% and capacity fade of only 0.26% per cycle. Peak power density of 193 mW cm−2 has been obtained at an electrolyte circulation rate of 114 ml min−1, which corresponds to stoichiometric factor of 4.6. The present configuration of the cell shows 20% improved in peak power and 30% reduction in pressure drop when compared to a similar cell with a different electrode and a serpentine flow field.


2017 ◽  
Vol 338 ◽  
pp. 155-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoraida González ◽  
Cristina Flox ◽  
Clara Blanco ◽  
Marcos Granda ◽  
Juan R. Morante ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 02004
Author(s):  
Suhailah Sujali ◽  
Mohd Rusllim Mohamed ◽  
Ahmed Nurye Oumer ◽  
Azizan Ahmad ◽  
Puiki Leung

Numerous researches have been conducted to look for better design of cell architecture of redox flow battery. This effort is to improve the performance of the battery with respect to further improves of mass transport and flow distribution of electroactive electrolytes within the cell. This paper evaluates pressure drop and flow distribution of the electroactive electrolyte in three different electrode configurations of vanadium redox flow battery (V-RFB) cell, namely square-, rhombus- and circular-cell designs. The fluid flow of the above-mentioned three electrode design configurations are evaluated under three different cases i.e. no flow (plain) field, parallel flow field and serpentine flow field using numerically designed three-dimensional model in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. The cell exhibits different characteristics under different cases, which the circular cell design shows promising results for test-rig development with low pressure drop and better flow distribution of electroactive electrolytes within the cell. Suggestion for further work is highlighted.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 8427
Author(s):  
Jun-Yong Park ◽  
Deok-Young Sohn ◽  
Yun-Ho Choi

As the demand for electrical energy increases worldwide, the amounts of harmful gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuel, are continuously increasing. As a result, the interest in renewable energy resources has been growing. However, renewable energies have fluctuating output characteristics according to local conditions such as the natural environment and geographical characteristics, which is a major factor deteriorating output quality. Recently, energy storage systems (ESSs) have been actively studied as a solution to this problem. A redox flow battery (RFB) is a system in which an active material dissolved in an electrolyte is oxidized/reduced to charge/discharge. A RFB mainly consists of an electrolyte tank, which determines the capacity, and a cell stack, which determines the output. As these components can be independently controlled, a RFB provides the advantages of a large capacity and a long lifespan. In this study, a new flow channel was designed to maximize the reaction area and reduce the pump loss to improve RFB performance. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and visualization experiments were used to analyze the internal flow characteristics of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). Additionally, we used the variability range coefficient and maximum velocity deviation to check if the flow discharged to the electrode was uniform. In the conventional flow frame, the flow discharged to the electrode has a non-uniformity distribution in the left and right, due to the S-shaped path of the inlet channel. In addition, it was confirmed that the outlet area into the electrode was reduced to 50%, resulting in a high pressure drop. To address this problem, we proposed a design that simplified the flow channel, which significantly improved flow uniformity parameters. The maximum velocity deviations for the existing and new flow channels were 11.89% and 54.16%, respectively. In addition, in the entire flow frame for the new flow channel, the pressure drop decreased by 44% as compared with the existing flow channel.


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