Experimental study on the energy loss from flow and electrical of vanadium battery with constant pump frequency

Abstract When the vanadium battery was running, pump frequency and current density were two frequently adjusted parameters. When the pump frequency was constant, the main flow-electrical parameter variation needs to be further studied. To this end, a 10 kW vanadium battery was built. When the current density was relatively high during the charge-discharge, the flow-electrical parameters of the cathode and anode including the temperature, flow resistance, turning voltage difference, capacity loss, energy loss and energy efficiency were studied. Besides, the compositions of capacity and energy were introduced, and the loss calculation scheme was proposed. Firstly, in flow analysis, the flow resistance was defined, which represents the flow state of the electrolyte. It was found that the flow resistance was nearly linear with the temperature. Secondly, in electric analysis, the turning voltage difference increased with the current density increasing. For the same current density, the total energy loss of charge was less than the discharge, and the energy loss of bypass was less than the internal resistance. With the current density increasing, the energy efficiency decreased. The research can be provided insight into the optimizing operation for the vanadium battery.