Thermal dynamics assessment of vanadium redox flow batteries and thermal management by active temperature control

Abstract

Understanding the thermal dynamics of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) is critical in preventing the thermal precipitation of vanadium species that result in capacity fading and unsafe operation. This paper presents a comprehensive thermal model of a 5 kW/60 kWh VRFB system by considering the impact of current, ambient temperature and electrolyte flow rate to investigate the dynamic and steady-state thermal conditions of VRFB systems. To analyse the feasibility of using air conditioners for effective thermal management, a room temperature model is proposed to simulate the room temperature variations with air flow cooling. Finally, based on the proposed VRFB thermal model and the room temperature model, two case studies with different temperature profiles are presented to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. Most importantly, an improved cooling strategy is proposed and validated for the two case studies considering the different thermal behaviours of VRFBs during charging and discharging. The simulation results show that the proposed strategy can save up to 48% on air conditioner consumption. Also, the modelling work presented in this paper is useful for studying the thermal dynamics of a VRFB system after many operational cycles and providing guidance for the thermal management of VRFBs in real-world applications.