Flow battery stack including capillary tube

Abstract

The present invention relates to a redox flow battery stack including: an ion exchange membrane 180; and flow frames 160A and 160B disposed at both sides of the ion exchange membrane 180, respectively, in which semicircular grooves are provided on the flow frames 160A and 160B, and the semicircular grooves 161A and 162A of the flow frame 160A are fitted with the semicircular grooves 161B and 162B of the corresponding flow frame 160B during assembly to form at least one of an inlet port and an outlet port.

Claims

1. A redox flow battery stack, comprising: an ion exchange membrane (180); and flow frames (160A,and 160B) disposed at both sides of the ion exchange membrane (180), wherein grooves having a semicircular section are provided, on the flow frames (160A and 160B), the semicircular grooves (161A and 162A) of the flow frame (160A) are matched with the semicircular grooves (161B and 162B) of the corresponding flow frame (160B) during assembly to form at least one of an inlet port and an outlet port, a channel (168B) placed below the ion exchange membrane is formed in the flow frame (160B), the channel (168B) is connected to the inlet port formed by the semicircular grooves (162A and 162B) of the flow frames (160A and 160B), a soft tube is integrally connected to at least one of the inlet port and the outlet port, and the soft tube not extended into the channel (168B) and the ion exchange membrane is not deformed by the soft tube, and in the flow frames (160A and 160B),the semicircular grooves (161A, 162A, 161B and 162B) forming the inlet port and the outlet port are formed on the portions (160Aa, 160Ab, 160Ba, and 160Bb) protruding outside from a rectangular frame.

2. The redox flow battery stack of claim 1, wherein a channel (169B) placed below the ion exchange membrane is further formed in the flow frame (160B), and an electrolyte passes through the inlet port formed by the semicircular grooves (162A and 162B) of the flow frames (160A and 160B), the channel (168B), the electrode placed below the ion exchange membrane, and the channel (169B) in sequence.

3. The redox battery stack of claim 2, wherein in the flow frame (160A), a channel (168A) which is placed on the ion exchange membrane and connected to the inlet port formed by the semicircular grooves (161A and 161B) is formed.

4. The redox flow battery stack of claim 3, wherein in the flow frame (160A), a channel (169A) which is placed on the ion exchange membrane and connected to the outlet port is further formed, and the electrolyte passes through the inlet port formed by the semicircular grooves (161A and 161B) of the flow frames (160A and 160B), the channel (168A) of the flow frame (160A) connected to the inlet port, the electrode placed on the ion exchange membrane, and the channel (169A) of the flow frame (160A) connected to the outlet port in sequence.

5. The redox flow battery stack of claim 1, wherein protrusions (163A, 165A, 163B, and 165B) protruding outside are formed on opposite sides to the semicircular grooves (161A, 162A, 161B, and 162B) of the flow frames (160A and 160B), and the protrusions are overlapped with concave portions (163C, 165C, 163D, and 165D) of the overlapped flow frames (160C and 160D).

6. The redox flow battery stack of claim 2, wherein protrusions (163A, 165A, 163B, and 165B) protruding outside are formed on opposite sides to the semicircular grooves (161A, 162A, 161B, and 162B) of the flow frames (160A and 160B), and the protrusions are overlapped with concave portions (163C, 165C, 163D, and 165D) of the overlapped flow frames (160C and 160D).

7. The redox flow battery stack of claim 1, wherein the integrally connected tube is connected with an external capillary tube by a fitting.

8. The redox flow battery stack of claim 1, wherein in the flow frames (160A and 160B), the semicircular grooves forming the inlet port or the outlet port are formed on the portions (160Aa, 160Ab, 160Ba and 160Bb) protruding outside in the rectangular flow frame.

9. The redox flow battery stack of Claim 2, wherein the flow frames (160A and 160B) are integrally formed by solvent welding and thereby the inlet port and the outlet port maintain circular shapes.

10. The redox flow battery stack claim 1, wherein a flow frame (160C) placed outside the flow frame (160A) and a flow frame (160D) placed outside the flow frame (160B) are further included, the frame (160C) and the frame (160A) have the same shape and the frame (160C) is inverted to become the frame (160A), and the frame (160D) and the frame (160B) have the same shape and the frame (160D) is inverted to become the frame (160B).

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a redox flow battery to which the present invention is applied.

(2) FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a redox flow battery stack.

(3) FIGS. 3a and 3b are exploded perspective views of a stack capable of using a capillary tube of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 4a is a perspective view of a frame (160a) in which a lower surface of a flow frame (160A) is viewed based on FIG. 3a.

(5) FIG. 4b illustrates the lower surface of the flow frame (160A) based on FIG. 3a.

(6) FIG. 4c is a perspective view of a flow frame (160B).

(7) FIG. 4d illustrates an upper surface of the flow frame (160B) based on FIG. 3a.

(8) FIG. 5 is a side view of the stack of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 6 illustrates a capillary tube set used in the stack of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 7 is a projective plan view of the stack of the present invention.

(11) FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an electrolyte port.

MODES OF THE INVENTION

(12) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(13) The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the present invention and are just provided for describing the present invention in more detail, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

(14) FIG. 3a is an exploded perspective view of a stack capable of using a capillary tube of the present invention. Flow frames 160A and 160B are disposed at both sides of an ion exchange membrane 180 and a separator 140 is disposed at an outer side of each of the flow frames. Electrodes 170 are disposed on both sides of the separator in a bonded state.

(15) In the present invention, a capillary tube 250 illustrated in FIG. 6 is connected to the stack to supply an electrolyte to the stack (see FIG. 7).

(16) Accordingly, an inlet port and an outlet port to which the tube may be connected need to be formed in the flow frames 160A and 160B which are disposed at both sides of the ion exchange membrane (see FIG. 7).

(17) As illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 7, the inlet port is formed by matching semicircular grooves 161A and 162A of the flow frame 160A with semicircular grooves 161B and 162B of the flow frame 160B.

(18) In the same manner, the outlet port is formed as illustrated in FIG. 7.

(19) As illustrated in FIG. 3a, the semicircular grooves 161A, 162A, 161B, and 162B forming the inlet port or the outlet port in the flow frames 160A and 160B are formed on portions 160Aa, 160Ab, 160Ba, and 160Bb which protrude outside from a rectangular flow frame.

(20) FIG. 8 illustrates cross sections of the inlet port and the outlet port, and a tube 280 made of a soft material is integrally bonded to an inner surface 270 of the port.

(21) FIG. 6 illustrates a capillary tube 250 to supply the electrolyte to the stack, and the tube 250 is connected to the soft tube 280 illustrated in FIG. 8 using a fitting 210.

(22) The capillary tube 250 is connected to a polypropylene tube 220 and the polypropylene tube is connected to a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe by a flange 230 to form a pipe for circulating the electrolyte.

(23) As illustrated in FIG. 3a, a channel 168B is formed on the upper surface of the flow frame 160B, and the inlet port formed by matching the semicircular groove 162A with the semicircular groove 162B is connected to the channel 168B, and the channel 168B is installed below the ion exchange membrane 180.

(24) FIG. 3b illustrates a configuration in which the channels 168B and 169B of FIG. 3a are covered by the covers 168Ba and 169Ba.

(25) On the other hand, the channel is also formed on the lower surface of the flow frame 160A, and a channel 168A of the lower surface is connected with the inlet port formed by matching the semicircular groove 161A with the semicircular groove 161B. Further, the channel formed on the lower surface of the flow frame 160A is placed on the ion exchange membrane 180.

(26) As illustrated in FIG. 7, an electrolyte at a cathode side passes through the inlet port formed by matching the semicircular groove 162A and the semicircular groove 162B and the channel 168B and then passes through an electrode disposed below the ion exchange membrane 180. The electrolyte passing through the electrode is discharged to the outlet port formed by a semicircular groove 167B through the channel 169B.

(27) On the other hand, an electrolyte at an anode side passes through the inlet port formed by matching the semicircular groove 161A and the semicircular groove 161B and the channel 168A formed on the lower surface of the flow frame 160A and placed on the ion exchange membrane. Thereafter, the electrolyte passes through the electrode disposed on the ion exchange membrane and then is discharged through the channel 169A at the outlet port side formed on the lower surface of the flow frame 160A.

(28) FIG. 4b illustrates the channel 168A and the channel 169A on the lower surface of the flow frame 160A based on the perspective view of FIG. 3a, and parts of the channel 168A and the channel 169A are covered by the cover described in FIG. 3b.

(29) FIG. 5 is a side view of the stack structure of the present invention, and it can be seen that the inlet port is formed by matching semicircular groove 161A and the semicircular groove 161B and matching the semicircular groove 162A and the semicircular groove 162B in the same manner.

(30) Protrusions 163A, 165A, 163B, and 165B protruding outside are formed on opposite sides to the semicircular grooves 161A, 162A, 161B, and 162B, and the protrusions are overlapped with concave portions 163C, 165C, 163D, and 165D of the overlapped flow frames 160C and 160D.

(31) The protrusions 163A, 165A, 163B, and 165B and the concave portions 163C, 165C, 163D, and 165D are not formed on both sides of a rectangular place of the flow frame where the ion exchange membrane 180 is disposed.

(32) Since the frame 160C and the frame 160A have the same shape, the frame 160C of FIG. 5 is inverted to become the frame 160A. Similarly, since the frame 160D and the frame 160B have the same shape, the frame 160D is inverted to become the frame 160B.

(33) Also, in the present invention, the bonding of the separator 140 and the frames 160A and 160B, the bonding of the ion exchange membrane 180 and the frames 160A and 160B, the tube 280, the inlet port, and the outlet port for inserting the fitting 210 into the frame are made by solvent welding.

(34) Particularly, the frames 160A and 160B are integrally bonded to each other by the solvent welding method, so that the inlet port and the outlet port formed by the frame maintain circular shapes. In the case of using other bonding methods (for example, hot plate welding and ultrasonic welding), deformation such as protruding of welding ribs may be made and thus, the inlet port and the outlet port formed by the two frames may not have the circular shapes.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS AND SYMBOLS

(35) 11: End plate 12: Insulating plate

(36) 13: Current plate 14: Separator

(37) 15: Gasket 16: Flow frame

(38) 16a: Inner empty space of flow frame 16b: Outer frame of flow frame

(39) 17: Electrode 18: Ion exchange membrane

(40) 140: Separator 160A, 160B: Flow frame