Abstract
As global environmental problems are worsening, the efficiency of storage systems for renewable energy are gaining importance. The redox flow battery (RFB), a promising energy storage system (ESS), is a device that generates or stores electricity through reduction–oxidation reactions between active materials constituting electrolytes. Herein, we proposed a flow frame design that reduces flow resistance in the flow path and causes uniform flow distribution in the electrode to develop an efficient redox flow battery. Through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experimental verification, we investigated the flow characteristics and flow uniformity inside the conventional redox flow battery cell. An analysis of the flow characteristics of the conventional flow frame revealed a non-uniform distribution of the flow discharged to the electrodes, owing to the complex (branched) flow path geometry of the inlet channel. To address this problem, we proposed a new flow frame design that removed and integrated bifurcations in the flow path. This new design significantly improved flow uniformity parameters, such as the symmetry coefficient ( C s y m ), variability range coefficient ( R i ), and maximum flow rate deviation ( D m ). Ultimately, we decreased the pressure drop by 15.3% by reducing the number of flow path bifurcations and chevron repositioning.
Highlights
With the increasing severity of environmental problems worldwide, renewable energy resources are becoming more critical
We evaluated the flow uniformity of the redox flow battery (RFB) based on the following parameters: the symmetry coefficient (Csym ), variability range coefficient (Ri ), and maximum flow rate deviation (Dm )
The pressure drop curves were derived based on the analysis results for the flow rates of 0.3, 3
Summary
With the increasing severity of environmental problems worldwide, renewable energy resources are becoming more critical. Based on the natural environment, renewable energy exhibits severe output fluctuations [1], which hinders normal energy supply. To address this problem, studies on energy storage systems (ESSs) have been conducted worldwide. As one of the electrochemical energy storage devices, redox flow batteries (RFBs) generate or store electricity through redox reactions between the active materials constituting the electrolytes. They are classified into various types according to the electrolytes, and their output characteristics are determined by the redox reactions of each electrolyte. RFBs can be designed for specific applications, because the size of the stack that determines their output and the size of the electrolyte tanks that determine their capacity are independent of each other; they are suitable for medium- and large-energy storage devices [2]
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