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A comprehensive study of electrode compression effects in all vanadium redox flow batteries including locally resolved measurements

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  • Ghimire, Purna C.
  • Bhattarai, Arjun
  • Schweiss, Rüdiger
  • Scherer, Günther G.
  • Wai, Nyunt
  • Yan, Qingyu

Abstract

Graphite felts are the most commonly used electrode materials in vanadium redox flow batteries. In the conventional cell design, flat sheets of graphite bipolar plates and porous graphite felts are stacked without any bonding, which requires a certain degree of compression to minimize the contact resistance. Excessive compression of the electrode, however, leads to non-uniform flow distribution and potential occurrence of zones with the retarded flow of electrolyte. This study investigates a wide range of electrode compressions and their effect on the cell performance. The results show that a compression of 25% is the optimal trade-off between contact resistance, homogeneity of flow distribution and pumping losses. Moreover, spatially resolved measurements using a segmented cell are employed to visualize the flow distribution across the electrode in real time. The open circuit voltage after the termination of the cell charge/discharge is converted to the corresponding state of charge (SOC) of the electrolyte, and the difference between the theoretical and experimental state of charge of electrolyte is used to quantify the flow distribution across the electrode. The results show that the optimum conversion of the reactant can be achieved during a single pass at 25% electrode compression. This method of segmentation is simple and scalable to any size of the battery.

Suggested Citation

  • Ghimire, Purna C. & Bhattarai, Arjun & Schweiss, Rüdiger & Scherer, Günther G. & Wai, Nyunt & Yan, Qingyu, 2018. "A comprehensive study of electrode compression effects in all vanadium redox flow batteries including locally resolved measurements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 974-982.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:230:y:2018:i:c:p:974-982
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.09.049
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mohamed, M.R. & Leung, P.K. & Sulaiman, M.H., 2015. "Performance characterization of a vanadium redox flow battery at different operating parameters under a standardized test-bed system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 402-412.
    2. Wang, Q. & Qu, Z.G. & Jiang, Z.Y. & Yang, W.W., 2018. "Experimental study on the performance of a vanadium redox flow battery with non-uniformly compressed carbon felt electrode," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 293-305.
    3. Alotto, Piergiorgio & Guarnieri, Massimo & Moro, Federico, 2014. "Redox flow batteries for the storage of renewable energy: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 325-335.
    4. Wang, Q. & Qu, Z.G. & Jiang, Z.Y. & Yang, W.W., 2018. "Numerical study on vanadium redox flow battery performance with non-uniformly compressed electrode and serpentine flow field," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 106-116.
    5. Xu, Q. & Zhao, T.S. & Leung, P.K., 2013. "Numerical investigations of flow field designs for vanadium redox flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 47-56.
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    1. Bhattarai, Arjun & Wai, Nyunt & Schweiss, Rüdiger & Whitehead, Adam & Scherer, Günther G. & Ghimire, Purna C. & Lim, Tuti M. & Hng, Huey Hoon, 2019. "Vanadium redox flow battery with slotted porous electrodes and automatic rebalancing demonstrated on a 1 kW system level," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 437-443.
    2. Yue, Meng & Lv, Zhiqiang & Zheng, Qiong & Li, Xianfeng & Zhang, Huamin, 2019. "Battery assembly optimization: Tailoring the electrode compression ratio based on the polarization analysis in vanadium flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 495-508.
    3. Cheng, Ziqiang & Tenny, Kevin M. & Pizzolato, Alberto & Forner-Cuenca, Antoni & Verda, Vittorio & Chiang, Yet-Ming & Brushett, Fikile R. & Behrou, Reza, 2020. "Data-driven electrode parameter identification for vanadium redox flow batteries through experimental and numerical methods," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    4. Chin-Lung Hsieh & Po-Hong Tsai & Ning-Yih Hsu & Yong-Song Chen, 2019. "Effect of Compression Ratio of Graphite Felts on the Performance of an All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-11, January.

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