Thermally driven convection in Li||Bi liquid metal batteries

TL;DR

This paper investigates thermal convection caused by internal heat in Li||Bi liquid metal batteries, developing models to understand heat transfer and fluid flow for safer, more efficient energy storage.

Contribution

It introduces a combined 1D and 3D modeling approach, including a validated CFD simulation, to analyze thermal convection in Li||Bi liquid metal batteries.

Findings

Validated CFD model against spectral code

Analyzed heat transfer at different charge states

Provided insights into thermal convection mechanisms

Abstract

Liquid Metal Batteries (LMBs) are a promising concept for cheap electrical energy storage at grid level. These are built as a stable density stratification of three liquid layers, with two liquid metals separated by a molten salt. In order to ensure a safe and efficient operation, the understanding of transport phenomena in LMBs is essential. With this motivation we study thermal convection induced by internal heat generation. We consider the electrochemical nature of the cell in order to define the heat balance and the operating parameters. Moreover we develop a simple 1D heat conduction model as wellas a fully 3D thermo-fluid dynamics model. The latter is implemented in the CFD library OpenFOAM, extending the volume of fluid solver, and validated against a pseudo-spectral code. Both models are used to study a rectangular 10x10 cm Li||Bi LMB cell at three different states of charge.