Effect of Baffles in Flow Channel on the Performance of Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

Abstract

For a PEMFC to work better, adding baffles to a flow channel can improve reactant transfer. As a result, the work starts by developing a 3-D numerical model for the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) using COMSOL Multiphysic Simulation Software. By incorporating baffles into the serpentine flow channel, it is possible to simulate changes in ion concentration and terminal voltage. The findings indicate that the battery efficiency will be impacted by adding baffles. The authors also studied the effect of baffle height and baffle count. The baffle height of 0.9 times the channel height and baffle number of 9 has a better performance on the battery. There are four cases for installing nine baffles and four arranging types in the entire serpentine flow using such baffle height and number. In Case 4, baffles are placed uniformly at the location of channel numbers 1, 9, and 17 in the serpentine flow path. It has a better voltage and ion concentration reaction than the other cases. The unit tests for cell performances were experimentally analyzed for a smooth-serpentine channel and a baffled-serpentine one. According to the experimental findings, a higher volume rate (300 mL/min) and lower current per area (40 mA/cm2) acquire the best energy efficiency. Case 4 has a higher energy efficiency than the smooth channel.