Redox flow cell energy storage systems
NASA-Redox energy storage systems are being developed for ultimate use in stand-alone village power applications and distributed energy storage installations for electric utility service. In the former application, either solar photovoltaic arrays or wind turbines supply the primary power and an electrochemical storage system stores energy during times of excess power generation capability and delivers energy during times of insufficient power generation. Various electrochemical and non-electrochemical storage concepts are under consideration for these applications. Life cycle costs, simplicity of operation, complexity and state of technology are all determining factors in selecting systems for these important storage applications. NASA--Redox systems are electrochemical storage devices that use two fully soluble Redox couples, anode and cathode fluids, as active electrode materials separated by a highly selective ion exchange membrane. The reactants are contained in large storage tanks and pumped through a stack of Redox flow cells where the electrochemical reactions (reduction and oxidation) take place at porous carbon felt electrodes. A string or stack of these power producing cells is connected in series in a bipolar manner. Redox energy storage systems promise to be inexpensive and possess many features that provide for flexible design, long life, high reliability and minimal operation and maintenance costs. These features include independent sizing of power and storage capacity requirements and inclusion within the cell stack of a cell that monitors the state of charge of the system as a whole, and a rebalance cell which permits continuous correction to be made for minor side reactions that would tend to result in the anode fluid and cathode fluids becoming electrochemically out of balance.
- Research Organization:
- NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EC-76-A-31-1002
- OSTI ID:
- 6233866
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NASA/1002-79/3; NASA-TM-79143; CONF-790611-2
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: AIAA terrestrial energy systems conference, Orlando, FL, USA, 4 Jun 1979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Improvement and scale-up of the NASA Redox Storage System
Pumping power considerations in the designs of NASA-Redox flow cells
Related Subjects
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS
REDOX FUEL CELLS
ENERGY STORAGE
CAPACITY
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
OFF-PEAK ENERGY STORAGE
OPERATION
REMOTE AREAS
SOLAR CELL ARRAYS
WIND TURBINES
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
FUEL CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS
POWER PLANTS
PUBLIC UTILITIES
REGENERATIVE FUEL CELLS
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
STORAGE
300504* - Fuel Cells- Applications
200107 - Fossil-Fueled Power Plants- Off-Peak Energy Storage- (1980-)