Monitoring of Thermal Effect of Redox Flow Battery by the Infrared Thermal Image Technology

Abstract

RFB (redox flow battery) generate heat when consume the electric power in working state, and that will transfer into a thermal form emitted from the normal or abnormal state; therefore, it is important to control the thermal effect for battery’s performance and safety improvement. Specifically, RFB will bring big thermal effect when the cell charged or discharged by the higher electric current. Due to the different battery’s components and stack designs, the problems of RFB system identified by looking at the uneven heat distribution, the reduction of the battery's performance and life cycle. Therefore, it is important to understand the battery’s thermal effect in high-rate discharge or its thermal effect in overcharge cases for the state of battery’s health (SOH). Infrared thermal imager (IRTI) is a non-contact measurement, and that composed by the lens and computer analysis system. IRTI can detect a certain area of the temperature change, whereby the analysis can effectively identify the real hot spots, and make further improvements for RFB system’s design. In this study, we developed a single cell to design the battery’s stack of FB system and investigate battery’s performance changes. Infrared thermal imaging technology applied to analyze and evaluate the thermal effect of battery's stack effectively. The high-resolution images with the function of the temperature profile data used to evaluate the components of the stacks or the key materials for RFB performance, and explore the possibility of its development.