High performance redox flow battery stack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017288243-A1
Application number	US-201715473401-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2017
Priority date	Mar 29, 2016
Publication date	Oct 5, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A redox flow battery stack cell frame comprising a support frame and a monolithic bipolar plate integrated within the support frame is disclosed. The bipolar plate comprises a plurality of interdigitated flow channels on at least one surface. The support frame comprises an inlet manifold formed into a facing surface of the first side of the frame, the inlet manifold comprising fluid inlet distribution channels in a serpentine arrangement, each fluid inlet distribution channel aligned with a single inlet flow channel of the bipolar plate; and an outlet manifold formed into the facing surface of the opposing side of the frame, the outlet manifold comprising fluid outlet distribution channels in a serpentine arrangement, each fluid outlet distribution channel aligned with a single outlet flow channel of the bipolar plate. Redox flow battery stack cells and stacks comprising the stack cell frame are also disclosed.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A redox flow battery stack cell frame, comprising a quadrilateral support frame and a quadrilateral, monolithic bipolar plate integrated with the quadrilateral support frame, wherein:
the quadrilateral, monolithic bipolar plate has a first side edge, an opposing side edge, a length L P between the first side edge and the opposing side edge, a first surface, an opposing surface, and a depth D P between the upper surface and the lower surface, the bipolar plate comprising a plurality of interdigitated flow channels in the first surface, the interdigitated flow channels comprising alternating inlet flow channels and outlet flow channels, each channel having a depth D C less than 0.5× the depth D P of the bipolar plate, wherein
(i) the inlet flow channels extend inwardly from the first side edge of the bipolar plate and have a length L I less than the length L P between the first side edge and opposing side edge of the bipolar plate, and
(ii) the outlet flow channels extend inwardly from the opposing side edge of the bipolar plate and have a length L O less than the length L P between the first side edge and opposing side edge of the bipolar plate;
the quadrilateral support frame has a facing surface and an opposing surface, and defines an open space sized to receive the bipolar plate, wherein an inner edge of the support frame is in contact with the bipolar plate, the support frame comprising
an inlet port extending through a first side of the support frame,
an inlet manifold formed into the facing surface of the first side of the frame and in fluid communication with the inlet port, the inlet manifold comprising a plurality of spaced-apart fluid inlet distribution channels in a serpentine arrangement, each fluid inlet distribution channel extending from the inlet port parallel to an edge of the first side for a first distance, and then diverging such that an outlet of the fluid inlet distribution channel is aligned in fluid communication with a single inlet flow channel of the bipolar plate,
an outlet port extending through an opposing side of the frame, and
an outlet manifold formed into the facing surface of the opposing side of the frame and in fluid communication with the outlet port, the outlet manifold comprising a plurality of spaced-apart fluid outlet distribution channels in a serpentine arrangement, each fluid outlet distribution channel extending from the outlet port parallel to an edge of the opposing side for a first distance, and then diverging such that an inlet of the fluid outlet distribution channel is aligned in fluid communication with a single outlet flow channel of the bipolar plate.

2 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 1 , wherein the bipolar plate further comprises a plurality of interdigitated flow channels in the opposing surface.

3 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 1 , wherein the support frame is constructed of glass fiber-loaded vinyl ester.

4 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 1 , wherein the bipolar plate is constructed of graphite-loaded vinyl ester.

5 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 1 , wherein each inlet flow channel and outlet flow channel of the bipolar plate has a central lengthwise axis A, an opening width W of 1-15 mm, and a taper along the central lengthwise axis A of from 0-5°.

6 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 5 , wherein a pitch P between each inlet or outlet flow channel and an adjacent outlet or inlet flow channel, respectively, is from 2-8× the opening width of the inlet or outlet flow channel, wherein the pitch is the distance between the central lengthwise axis A of the inlet or outlet flow channel and the central lengthwise axis A of the adjacent outlet or inlet flow channel, respectively.

7 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 1 , wherein each fluid inlet distribution channel and the fluid outlet distribution channel independently has a length/cross-sectional area ratio within a range of 15-25.

8 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 7 , wherein each fluid inlet distribution channel has the same length/cross-sectional area ratio and each fluid outlet distribution channel has the same length/cross-sectional area ratio.

9 . The redox flow battery stack cell frame of claim 1 , wherein each fluid inlet distribution channel and fluid outlet distribution channel independently has:
(i) a length within a range of from 50 mm to 1000 mm; (ii) a depth within a range of from 0.5 to 3 mm; (iii) a width within a range of from 2 mm to 25 mm; or (iv) any combination of (i), (ii), and (iii).

10 . A redox flow battery stack cell comprising:
an ion-exchange membrane; two redox flow battery stack cell frames according to claim 1 positioned on either side of the ion-exchange membrane such that the inlet manifolds and the outlet manifolds of the support frames are facing the ion-exchange membrane; and two electrodes, each electrode positioned between, and in contact with, the ion-exchange membrane and a bipolar plate of one of the two redox flow battery stack cell frames.

11 . The redox flow battery stack cell of claim 10 , wherein the ion exchange membrane comprises a perfluorosulfonic acid/polytetrafluoroethylene copolymer in a protonated form.

12 . The redox flow battery stack cell of claim 10 , wherein the ion-exchange membrane has a thickness of 25-175 μm.

13 . The redox flow battery stack cell of claim 10 , wherein the electrode comprises woven carbon cloth.

14 . A redox flow battery stack, comprising a stack body comprising a plurality of stacked redox flow battery stack cells according to claim 10 , wherein each bipolar plate positioned between two electrodes in the stack body:
(i) comprises a plurality of interdigitated flow channels on the first surface and a plurality of interdigitated flow channels on the opposing surface, and (ii) is integrated into a two support frames, each support frame adjacent to one of the two electrodes, and each comprising an inlet manifold and an outlet manifold facing the adjacent electrode.

15 . The redox flow battery stack of claim 14 , further comprising an end plate arranged at each end of the stack body, each end plate comprising:
a current collector in electrical communication with the stacked redox flow battery stack cells; two electrolyte inlet ports; and two electrolyte outlet ports, wherein the electrolyte inlet ports and outlet ports are in fluid communication with the inlet ports and outlet ports of the support frames.

16 . The redox flow battery stack of claim 14 , further comprising:
two electrolyte inlet conduits, each electrolyte inlet conduit in fluid communication with an electrolyte inlet port of one end plate; two electrolyte outlet conduits, each electrolyte outlet conduit in fluid communication with an electrolyte outlet port of one end plate.

Assignees

• Battelle Memorial Institute

Inventors

• Thomsen Edwin C
• Reed David M
• Koeppel Brian J
• Recknagle Kurtis P
• Viswanathan Vilayanur V
• Crawford Alasdair J
• Nie Zimin
• Wang Wei
• Sprenkle Vincent L
• Li Bin

Classifications

• H01M8/20

  Indirect fuel cells, e.g. fuel cells with redox couple being irreversible (H01M8/18 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/04276 Primary

  Arrangements for managing the electrolyte stream, e.g. heat exchange · CPC title

• H01M8/188

  by recharging of redox couples containing fluids; Redox flow type batteries · CPC title

• H01M8/0273

  with sealing or supporting means in the form of a frame · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title