Study of 10 kW Vanadium Flow Battery Discharge Characteristics at Different Load Powers

Abstract

Vanadium redox flow batteries are promising energy storage devices and are already ahead of lead–acid batteries in terms of installed capacity in energy systems due to their long service life and possibility of recycling. One of the crucial tasks today is the development of models for assessing battery performance and its residual resource based on the battery’s present state. A promising method for estimating battery capacity is based on analyzing present voltage and current values under various load conditions. This paper analyzes the discharge characteristics of a 10 kW all-vanadium redox flow battery at fixed load powers from 6 to 12 kW. A linear dependence of operating voltage and initial discharge voltage on load power is established. It is also determined that the slope of the discharge curve linear section does not increase linearly in absolute value, and the Box–Lucas model can be used to describe it. Models for predicting current VRFB capacity based on different curve fitting functions are proposed. These models can be used to roughly estimate battery capacity at different load powers.