Electrolyte flow characteristics of seawater activated battery

doi:10.11949/0438-1157.20240343

Abstract

Abstract:

To address the challenges of uneven electrolyte distribution among the plates of seawater activated battery and electrolyte flow adaptation, a new bio-inspired antler-like channel structure was proposed. Through orthogonal design and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, the flow characteristics and optimization of electrolyte flow path in seawater activated battery were studied under the interaction of multiple factors. The results show that the most impact on the characteristics of electrolyte liquid is the number of flow channels, followed by electrolytic liquid flow and flow channels. The best matching values are the number of channels, the flow rate of electrolyte and the deflection angle of flow channels are 12, 200 ml/min and 20°, respectively. After the optimization of the flow channel structure, the uniformity of electrolyte distribution between plates is obviously improved, and the peak regulation efficiency reaches 36.2%. The research results can provide reference value for the optimization design of seawater activated battery flow channel structure.

Key words: seawater activated battery, flow channel, orthogonal test, numerical simulation, optimal design, CFD, multiphase flow

摘要：

针对海水激活电池极板间电解液分布不均及电解液流量适配问题，提出一种新型仿生鹿角型流道结构，利用正交设计及计算流体力学（computational fluid dynamics， CFD）方法，研究多因素交互作用下海水激活电池内部电解液的流动特性，并对电解液流道优化进行研究。结果表明：对电解液流动特性影响最大的是流道数目，其次是电解液流量和流道偏转角；流道数目、电解液流量和流道偏转角的最佳匹配值分别是12个、200 ml/min和20°；对流道结构进行优化后，明显提升了极板间电解液的分布均匀性，调峰效率达到36.2%。研究结果能够为海水激活电池流道结构优化设计提供参考价值。

关键词: 海水激活电池, 流道, 正交实验, 数值模拟, 优化设计, 计算流体力学, 多相流

CLC Number:

TM 911.16

Qun ZHENG, Peiqiang CHEN, Changfu WANG, Chunhua XIONG, Wanli XU, Man RUAN. Electrolyte flow characteristics of seawater activated battery[J]. CIESC Journal, 2024, 75(12): 4770-4779.

郑群, 陈培强, 王长富, 熊春华, 徐万里, 阮曼. 海水激活电池电解液流动特性分析[J]. 化工学报, 2024, 75(12): 4770-4779.

Figures/Tables 17

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of a seawater activated battery[23]

Fig.2 Schematic diagram of computation domain and boundary conditions

Table 1 Physical parameters of electrolyte

参数	数值
密度/(kg/m³)	1250
比热容/(J/(kg·K))	4182
动力黏性系数/(kg/(m·s))	0.0025

Fig.3 Computation mesh and independence test

Fig.4 Schematic diagram of electrolyte flow field visualization test system

Table 2 Comparison between numerical and experimental results

参数	实验结果	模拟结果	相对误差
Δp/kPa	6.015	5.606	6.80%
t/s	2.25	2.2	2.22%

Fig.5 Spatial distribution of data points in orthogonal table

Table 3 Orthogonal design and numerical results

序号	A	B/(°)	C/(ml/min)	V_R
1	6	20	100	2.508
2	6	30	250	2.923
3	6	40	150	2.674
4	6	50	300	3.037
5	6	60	200	2.789
6	8	20	200	1.836
7	8	30	100	2.008
8	8	40	250	2.318
9	8	50	150	2.108
10	8	60	300	2.359
11	10	20	300	1.895
12	10	30	200	1.778
13	10	40	100	1.605
14	10	50	250	1.839
15	10	60	150	1.705
16	12	20	150	1.433
17	12	30	300	1.624
18	12	40	200	1.513
19	12	50	100	1.373
20	12	60	250	1.526
21	14	20	250	1.363
22	14	30	150	1.227
23	14	40	300	1.397
24	14	50	200	1.309
25	14	60	100	1.194
平均值1	2.7862	1.807	1.7376	—
平均值2	2.1258	1.912	1.8294	—
平均值3	1.7644	1.9014	1.845	—
平均值4	1.4938	1.9332	1.9938	—
平均值5	1.298	1.9146	2.0624	—
R	1.4882	0.1262	0.3248	—

Fig.6 Variation of velocity unbalance ratio with channel number

Fig.7 Velocity contours and streamlines in XY section for different model

Fig.8 Gas-liquid phase change with time in different channel number

Fig.9 Variation of velocity ratio with electrolyte flow

Fig.10 Gas-liquid phase change with time in different flow rate

Fig.11 Variation of velocity ratio with channel deflection angle

Fig.12 The velocity contours and streamlines in XY section for different model

Fig.13 The gas-liquid phase change with time in different defection angle

Fig.14 Velocity distribution on characteristic line

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