A Numerical Simulation of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

The recent penetration of renewable sources in the energy system caused a transformation of the needs of the distribution system and amplified the need of energy storage systems to properly balance the electricity grid. Among electrochemical energy storage devices, all vanadium flow batteries are those of the most promising technologies due to their high efficiency, long lifetime, reliability and independence between installed power and storage capacity. Oppositely, the low energy density and the high costs are preventing this technology from spreading at commercial level, even if many are the opportunities of improvement. In this article, a serpentine flow fields are tested using a numerical simulation for the all vanadium redox flow battery. The development of a three dimensional model for the cathode of a vanadium redox flow batteries is presented. The results were discussed in terms of the uniformity of the reactant distribution, overpotential, velocity and state of the charge through the cell.