Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Flow field design and performance analysis of vanadium redox flow battery

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Ionics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) are one of the emerging energy storage techniques that have been developed with the purpose of effectively storing renewable energy. Due to the lower energy density, it limits its promotion and application. A flow channel is a significant factor determining the performance of VRFBs. Performance excellent flow field to ensure uniform distribution of electrolytes and increases the overall performance of the battery. In order to better explore the influence of the flow field on the transmission characteristics of the electrolyte, novel variable cross-section flow field is designed to analyze its impact on battery performance. The influence of flow field with and without flow field, different flow field configurations, and variable cross-section on battery performance was analyzed emphatically. The main contribution of this study are to make a comparative analysis of the existing channel design methods and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of different design methods and existing problems. It provides reference for the design and optimization of VRFBs in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data, models, and codes generated or used during the study appear in the published article.

References

  1. Mousa HH, Youssef AR, Mohamed EE (2021) State of the art perturb and observe MPPT algorithms based wind energy conversion systems: a technology review. Int J Elec Power 126:106598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Huang Z, Mu A (2021) Research and analysis of performance improvement of vanadium redox flow battery in microgrid: a technology review. Int J Energ Res 45(10):14170–14193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Aneke M, Wang M (2016) Energy storage technologies and real life applications—a state of the art review. Appl Energy 179:350–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhao S, Kang D (2021) The electrochemical performance investigation of cobaltous sulfides as host materials in advanced energy storage system. Ionics 27:3035–3039

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Nazaripouya H, Chu CC, Pota HR, Gadh R (2017) Battery energy storage system control for intermittency smoothing using an optimized two-stage filter. IEEE T Sustain Energ 9(2):664–675

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cunha Á, Martins J, Rodrigues N, Brito FP (2015) Vanadium redox flow batteries: a technology review. Int J Energy Res 39(7):889–918

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Yang Y, Bremner S, Menictas C, Kay M (2018) Battery energy storage system size determination in renewable energy systems: a review. Renew Sust Energ Re 91:109–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bai W, Ke J (2019) The preparation of biomass carbon materials and its energy storage research. Ionics 25(6):2543–2548

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Petrov MM, Modestov AD, Konev DV, Antipov AE, Loktionov PA, Pichugov RD, Vorotyntsev MA (2021) Redox flow batteries: role in modern electric power industry and comparative characteristics of the main types. Russ Chem Rev 90(6):677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gouveia J, Mendes A, Monteiro R, Mata TM, Caetano NS, Martins AA (2020) Life cycle assessment of a vanadium flow battery. Energy Rep 6:95–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Sánchez-Díez E, Ventosa E, Guarnieri M, TrovòA Flox C, Marcilla R, Ferret R (2021) Redox flow batteries: status and perspective towards sustainable stationary energy storage. J Power Sources 481:228804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ke X, Prahl JM, Alexander JID, Wainright JS, Zawodzinski TA, Savinell RF (2018) Rechargeable redox flow batteries: flow fields, stacks and design considerations. Chem Soc Rev 47(23):8721–8743

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Dehghani-Sanij AR, Tharumalingam E, Dusseault MB, Fraser R (2019) Study of energy storage systems and environ-mental challenges of batteries. Renew Sust Energ Re 104:192–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zeng YK, Zhao TS, An L, Zhou XL, Wei L (2015) A comparative study of all-vanadium and iron-chromium redox flow batteries for large-scale energy storage. J Power Sources 300:438–443

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Xie Y, Cheng Z, Guo B, Qiu Y, Fan H, Sun S, Fan L (2015) Preparation of activated carbon paper by modified Hummer’s method and application as vanadium redox battery. Ionics 21(1):283–287

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Al-Yasiri M, Park J (2017) Study on channel geometry of all-vanadium redox flow batteries. J Electrochem Soc 164(9):A1970

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dai J, Ding T, Dong Y, Teng X (2021) Amphoteric Nafion membrane with tunable cationic and anionic ratios for vanadium redox flow battery prepared via atom transfer radical polymerization. Ionics 27(5):2127–2138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Knudsen E, Albertus P, Cho KT, Weber AZ, Kojic A (2015) Flow simulation and analysis of high-power flow batteries. J Power Sources 299:617–628

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. MacDonald M, Darling RM (2018) Modeling flow distribution and pressure drop in redox flow batteries. AIChE J 64(10):3746–3755

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Huang Z, Mu A, Wu L, Wang H, Zhang Y (2021) Electrolyte flow optimization and performance metrics analysis of vanadium redox flow battery for large-scale stationary energy storage. Int J Hydrogen Energy. 10. 1016 /j.ijhydene.2021.06.220

  21. Xiong B, Zhao J, Su Y, Wei Z, Skyllas-Kazacos M (2017) State of charge estimation of vanadium redox flow battery based on sliding mode observer and dynamic model including capacity fading factor. IEEE Trans Sustainable Energy 8(4):1658–1667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Gu F, Chen H, Li K (2020) Mathematic modeling and performance analysis of vanadium redox flow battery. Energ Fuel 34(8):10142–10147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Maurya S, Nguyen PT, Kim YS, Kang Q, Mukundan R (2018) Effect of flow field geometry on operating current density, capacity and performance of vanadium redox flow battery. J Power Sources 404:20–27

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Lu MY, Deng YM, Yang WW, Ye M, Jiao YH, Xu Q (2020) A novel rotary serpentine flow field with improved electrolyte penetration and species distribution for vanadium redox flow battery. Electrochim Acta 361:137089

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Li F, Wei Y, Tan P, Zeng Y, Yuan Y (2020) Numerical investigations of effects of the interdigitated channel spacing on overall performance of vanadium redox flow batteries. J Energy Storage 32:101781

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Gürsu H, Gençten M, Şahin Y (2018) Cyclic voltammetric preparation of graphene-coated electrodes for positive electrode materials of vanadium redox flow battery. Ionics 24(11):3641–3654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Chen CH, Yaji K, Yamasaki S, Tsushima S, Fujita K (2019) Computational design of flow fields for vanadium redox flow batteries via topology optimization. J Energy Storage 26:100990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Zeng YK, Zhou XL, Zeng L, Yan XH, Zhao TS (2016) Performance enhancement of iron-chromium redox flow batteries by employing interdigitated flow fields. J Power Sources 327:258–264

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Zhang X, Taira H, Liu H (2018) Error of Darcy’s law for serpentine flow fields: an analytical approach. Int J Hydrogen Energy 43(13):6686–6695

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. He Z, He Y, Chen C, Yang S, He Z, Liu S (2014) Study of the electrochemical performance of VO2+/VO2+ redox couple in sulfamic acid for vanadium redox flow battery. Ionics 20(7):949–955

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Lourenssen K, Williams J, Ahmadpour F, Clemmer R, Tasnim S (2019) Vanadium redox flow batteries: a comprehensive review. J Energy Storage 25:100844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Liu B, Liu S, He Z, Zhao K, Li J, Wei X, Yang Y (2019) Improving the performance of negative electrode for vanadium redox flow battery by decorating bismuth hydrogen edetate complex on carbon felt. Ionics 25(9):4231–4241

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Wu X, Yuan X, Wang Z, Liu J, Wu Y (2017) Electrochemical performance of 5 kW all-vanadium redox flow battery stack with a flow frame of multi-distribution channels. J Solid State Electrochem 21(2):429–435

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Mei N, Xu X, Hu H, Li C (2020) Trapezoidal channel proton-exchange membrane fuel cell performance study. Energ Fuel 34(12):16729–16735

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Yue M, Zheng Q, Xing F, Zhang H, Li X, Ma X (2018) Flow field design and optimization of high power density vanadium flow batteries: a novel trapezoid flow battery. AIChE J 64(2):782–795

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Akuzum B, Alparslan YC, Robinson NC, Agar E, Kumbur EC (2019) Obstructed flow field designs for improved performance in vanadium redox flow batteries. J Appl Electrochem 49(6):551–561

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Yao Y, Lei J, Shi Y, Ai F, Lu YC (2021) Assessment methods and performance metrics for redox flow batteries. Nat Energy 6(6):582–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Lourenssen K, Williams J, Ahmadpour F, Clemmer R, Gadsden SA, Tasnim SH (2021) Design, development, and testing of a low-concentration vanadium redox flow battery. J Electrochem Energy 18(1):011007

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Xu Q, Zhao TS, Zhang C (2014) Performance of a vanadium redox flow battery with and without flow fields. Electro-chim Acta 142:61–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Lee J, Kim J, Park H (2019) Numerical simulation of the power-based efficiency in vanadium redox flow battery with different serpentine channel size. Int J Hydrogen Energy 44(56):29483–29492

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Gundlapalli R, Jayanti S (2020) Performance characteristics of several variants of interdigitated flow fields for flow battery applications. J Power Sources 467:228225

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Huang Z, Mu A (2021) Numerical research on a novel flow field design for vanadium redox flow batteries in microgrid. Int J Energ Res 45(10):14579–14591

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the PhD Innovation fund projects of Xi’an University of Technology (Fund No. 310–252072001) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51075326).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Instrumental Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, China

    Zebo Huang & Anle Mu

Authors
  1. Zebo Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anle Mu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anle Mu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huang, Z., Mu, A. Flow field design and performance analysis of vanadium redox flow battery. Ionics 27, 5207–5218 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-021-04213-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-021-04213-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation