Novel flow field design for vanadium redox flow batteries via topology optimization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a three-dimensional topology optimization method to design innovative flow fields for vanadium redox flow batteries, aiming to enhance mass transfer and overall performance.

Contribution

It presents a novel topology optimization approach for VRFB flow fields, automatically generating configurations that improve mass transfer without preset design constraints.

Findings

Topology optimized flow field improves electrode surface concentration.

Compared to traditional flow fields, the optimized design enhances mass transfer.

Power loss analysis shows potential efficiency gains.

Abstract

This paper presents a three-dimensional topology optimization method for the design of flow field in vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). We focus on generating a novel flow field configuration for VRFBs via topology optimization, which has been attracted attention as a powerful design tool based on numerical optimization. An attractive feature of topology optimization is that a topology optimized configuration can be automatically generated without presetting a promising design candidate. In this paper, we formulate the topology optimization problem as a maximization problem of the electrode surface concentration in the negative electrode during the charging process. The aim of this optimization problem is to obtain a topology optimized flow field that enables the improvement of mass transfer effect in a VRFB. We demonstrate that a novel flow field configuration can be obtained through the numerical investigation. To clarify the performance of the topology optimized flow field, we investigate the mass transfer effect through the comparison with reference flow fields---parallel and interdigitated flow fields---and the topology optimized flow field. In addition, we discuss the power loss that takes account of the polarization loss and pumping power, at various operating conditions.