Analysis of flow field design on vanadium redox flow battery performance: Development of 3D computational fluid dynamic model and experimental validation

Messaggi, Mirko; Canzi, Patrizio; Mereu, Riccardo; Baricci, Andrea; Inzoli, Fabio; Casalegno, Andrea; Zago, Matteo

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.06.148

Cited by 161 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Messaggi et al published a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a 25 cm 2 half‐cell incorporating mass and charge transfer and reaction kinetics . They demonstrated agreement with experimental polarization curves and showed a heterogeneous distribution of reaction rates with maxima over the ribs between neighboring channels far away from the turns connecting channel passes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Comparing velocities and pressures in redox flow batteries with interdigitated and serpentine channels

Macdonald¹,

Darling²

2019

AIChE Journal

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Serpentine channels adjacent to a thin, porous medium are a potentially attractive alternative to a conventional thick flow‐through electrode for redox flow batteries. The hydrodynamics of serpentine flow fields were investigated with computational fluid dynamics, a two‐dimensional model of the porous electrode based on Darcy's law, and a resistance network model at the scale of the active area. Predictions from the three models were used to map the available design space. The optimal electrode thickness, in terms of minimizing nonuniformity, was identified and compared to the result for an interdigitated flow field. Serpentine favors thicker electrodes and higher flows than interdigitated, in qualitative agreement with experimental findings. Furthermore, interdigitated designs deliver more uniform intraelectrode velocities and lower overall pressure drops than serpentine flow fields.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Comparing velocities and pressures in redox flow batteries with interdigitated and serpentine channels

Macdonald¹,

Darling²

2019

AIChE Journal

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“…Moreover, studies devoted to combined optimization of the flow field type and electrolyte flow rate are sometimes difficult to compare with each other and their conclusions diverge both on a quantitative as well as qualitative level . For example, in the works it was shown that power of MEA with interdigitated flow fields exceeds the same value for the serpentine flow field but in the work, on the contrary, cell with serpentine flow field demonstrated higher discharge power.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Electrolytes were supplied to the cell at a flow rate from 10 to 50 ml min −1 using 2‐channel peristatic pump (Longerpump, BT100‐1F). The initial charging process was performed in a potentiostatic mode (1.7 V) in two stages with an intermediate replacement of the electrolyte in the tank of the positive electrode . The potentiostatic charging continued until a cutoff current density of 3 mA cm −2 and 6 mA cm −2 was achieved for N117 and N211 membrane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrolyte Flow Field Variation: A Cell for Testing and Optimization of Membrane Electrode Assembly for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

et al. 2020

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A great deal of research has been dedicated to improving the performance of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). In this work, we propose the design of a cell for testing membrane electrode assembly of VRFB, which enables the optimization of the flow field, conditions of charge‐discharge tests, and the nature of components (electrodes, membrane) with minimal time and material expenses. The essence of the proposed cell is that the system of channels distributing the electrolyte is made by cutting shaped holes in the sheets of graphite foil (GF). This manner allows easy modification of the flow field configurations. Polarization curves for serpentine, interdigitated, and flow‐through systems were measured according to procedures used in such studies. Cell with GF plates being tested with vanadium‐sulfuric acid electrolyte, outperforms the cell with conventional graphite plates with the same parameters of the flow field. It demonstrates 734 mW cm−2 of peak power density at SOC 50 and 84.3 % of energy efficiency at 84.5 % of electrolyte utilization under galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling with 75 mA cm−2.

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“…These simulations typically require measured, fitted, or referenced chemical property data in addition to specified governing equations and geometric dimensions for establishing the computational domain. Three-dimensional (3D) RFB models have been developed and compared to experimental results [14,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. However, given the various feature lengths in a RFB, 3D model are computationally expensive, which has, in turn, motivated the development of two-dimensional (2D) RFB models to more quickly compare simulation results with lab-scale cells [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data-driven electrode parameter identification for vanadium redox flow batteries through experimental and numerical methods

et al. 2020

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The vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) is a promising energy storage technology for stationary applications (e.g., renewables integration) that offers a pathway to cost-effectiveness through independent scaling of power and energy as well as longevity. Many current research efforts are focused on improving battery performance through electrode modifications, but high-throughput, laboratory-scale testing can be time-and material-intensive. Advances in multiphysics-based numerical modeling and data-driven parameter identification afford a computational platform to expand the design space by rapidly screening a diverse array of electrode configurations. Herein, a 3D VRFB model is first developed and validated against experimental results. Subsequently, a new 2D model is composed, yielding a computationally-light simulation framework, which is used to span bounded values of the electrode thickness, porosity, volumetric area, fiber diameter, and kinetic rate constant across six cell polarization voltages. This generates a dataset of 7350 electrode property combinations for each cell voltage, which is used to evaluate the effect of these structural properties on the pressure drop and current density. These structure-performance relationships are further quantified using Kendall τ rank correlation coefficients to highlight the dependence of cell performance on bulk electrode morphology and to identify improved property sets. This statistical framework may serve as a general guideline for parameter identification for more advanced electrode designs and redox flow battery (RFB) stacks.

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Analysis of flow field design on vanadium redox flow battery performance: Development of 3D computational fluid dynamic model and experimental validation

Cited by 161 publications

References 37 publications

Comparing velocities and pressures in redox flow batteries with interdigitated and serpentine channels

Comparing velocities and pressures in redox flow batteries with interdigitated and serpentine channels

Electrolyte Flow Field Variation: A Cell for Testing and Optimization of Membrane Electrode Assembly for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Data-driven electrode parameter identification for vanadium redox flow batteries through experimental and numerical methods

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