New member introduction thread!
-
Hi All,
I am Andre from Germany and I am an engineer with experience of high pressure tightening of metal surfaces up to 2000 bar (automotive diesel injection systems). I found the fbrc page through a c't heise articel and I directly like to say thank you for release your results as an Open Source project and if I can, I like to support! For long time I am thinking about and searching for robust and effective way to store the solar and wind energy from my pv systems for periods without or less energy.
Lithium batteries are very expensive for storing higher capacities for longer time, therefore I think Redox Flow batteries could be a good solution, because space and weight is stationary no problem. My hobbies are 3D printing, milling (build myself), programming in python, linux, rasperry pi + arduinos, build a pv tracking system to follow the sun with the modules the whole day and much more small project in home automations.
My final goal would be to build a scaled up Redox Flow system after I got experiences with your actual test system.Greetings
Andre -
Hi Andre, welcome in the club. Your target sounds very well to me - but I do not have a wind turbine (beside my DIY test drives). We are having very little wind conditions in our area, so it does not make too much sense.
Enjoy the trip.
-
Hi All,
I am Andre from Germany and I am an engineer with experience of high pressure tightening of metal surfaces up to 2000 bar (automotive diesel injection systems). I found the fbrc page through a c't heise articel and I directly like to say thank you for release your results as an Open Source project and if I can, I like to support! For long time I am thinking about and searching for robust and effective way to store the solar and wind energy from my pv systems for periods without or less energy.
Lithium batteries are very expensive for storing higher capacities for longer time, therefore I think Redox Flow batteries could be a good solution, because space and weight is stationary no problem. My hobbies are 3D printing, milling (build myself), programming in python, linux, rasperry pi + arduinos, build a pv tracking system to follow the sun with the modules the whole day and much more small project in home automations.
My final goal would be to build a scaled up Redox Flow system after I got experiences with your actual test system.Greetings
Andre@AK Welcome to our community! First step would be to reproduce our research kit so that you can familiarize yourself with the technology.
We are also doing the development of the large scale system, but this is still in early phases. We have just done the initial large scale single cells and have yet to do any stacks or actual charge/discharge at this scale. It will take a while but hopefully we will have a full scale open source system in the kwh scale within a year.
-
Hi all, we ask new members to please introduce yourselves here so we can get to know you and your interests!
It would be nice for us to also know:
- How did you find FBRC and this forum?
- What is your interest in flow batteries?
- How do you see yourself getting involved?
Welcome, and thanks for being here!
@kirk Hi,
I'am doho, in retirement since last year. Since my childhood I am interested in all kind of technics, later on especially in electronics and a little computer-science, although I worked in another field most of my working time. Now I try to learn more about mcu's and sbc's (arduino, ESP32, RPI)
I'm interested in flow batteries since many years to optimize my system 20kW PV with 30kWh LFP-batteries, using a heat-pump for the house (i.e. much energy in the summer, but too low in the winter where I would need it. A storage problem). But i noticed many companies and projects to come up and crash long time before ready to market.I found FBRC in one of the last issues of c't (Heise-Verlag, heise.de) and was interested at once.
Meanwhile I'm building your test-cell, 3D-printing is done, pumps are in loco, arduino is programmed,but I'm waiting for some other components,
especially: do you have an alternativ suggest for the tubing (I have purchase a tube TYGON LMT-55, but I'm not shure it will work).I'm sure, for starting, when construction is more ore less finished, I will need some help of the comunity.
Perhaps my faulty trials will bring a little progression, I will report.
I know my english is very poor, due to lack of experience in the last years, but I hope this should not be a problem.
Sincerely
Dr. Georg Hoffmann -
@kirk Hi,
I'am doho, in retirement since last year. Since my childhood I am interested in all kind of technics, later on especially in electronics and a little computer-science, although I worked in another field most of my working time. Now I try to learn more about mcu's and sbc's (arduino, ESP32, RPI)
I'm interested in flow batteries since many years to optimize my system 20kW PV with 30kWh LFP-batteries, using a heat-pump for the house (i.e. much energy in the summer, but too low in the winter where I would need it. A storage problem). But i noticed many companies and projects to come up and crash long time before ready to market.I found FBRC in one of the last issues of c't (Heise-Verlag, heise.de) and was interested at once.
Meanwhile I'm building your test-cell, 3D-printing is done, pumps are in loco, arduino is programmed,but I'm waiting for some other components,
especially: do you have an alternativ suggest for the tubing (I have purchase a tube TYGON LMT-55, but I'm not shure it will work).I'm sure, for starting, when construction is more ore less finished, I will need some help of the comunity.
Perhaps my faulty trials will bring a little progression, I will report.
I know my english is very poor, due to lack of experience in the last years, but I hope this should not be a problem.
Sincerely
Dr. Georg HoffmannMeanwhile I'm building your test-cell, 3D-printing is done, pumps are in loco, arduino is programmed,but I'm waiting for some other components,
especially: do you have an alternativ suggest for the tubing (I have purchase a tube TYGON LMT-55, but I'm not shure it will work).Welcome to the club! I'm also building the cell and having issues getting that tube. I think I found a good source for it in germany but I'd need to buy 15m @ 18€/m. If you're interested, I could buy the 15m and sell you 1m or how much you need. I'm sure there are others who would want some.
-
Meanwhile I'm building your test-cell, 3D-printing is done, pumps are in loco, arduino is programmed,but I'm waiting for some other components,
especially: do you have an alternativ suggest for the tubing (I have purchase a tube TYGON LMT-55, but I'm not shure it will work).Welcome to the club! I'm also building the cell and having issues getting that tube. I think I found a good source for it in germany but I'd need to buy 15m @ 18€/m. If you're interested, I could buy the 15m and sell you 1m or how much you need. I'm sure there are others who would want some.
@sepi
Thank you for your welcome.
I'm located in germany, "nord-oberpfalz".
I would take 5m at this price, (I just now only need less than 1m) just to have some in reserve for further experiments.How can I get in contact with you? Paying in advance would be no problem.
-
@kirk Hi,
I'am doho, in retirement since last year. Since my childhood I am interested in all kind of technics, later on especially in electronics and a little computer-science, although I worked in another field most of my working time. Now I try to learn more about mcu's and sbc's (arduino, ESP32, RPI)
I'm interested in flow batteries since many years to optimize my system 20kW PV with 30kWh LFP-batteries, using a heat-pump for the house (i.e. much energy in the summer, but too low in the winter where I would need it. A storage problem). But i noticed many companies and projects to come up and crash long time before ready to market.I found FBRC in one of the last issues of c't (Heise-Verlag, heise.de) and was interested at once.
Meanwhile I'm building your test-cell, 3D-printing is done, pumps are in loco, arduino is programmed,but I'm waiting for some other components,
especially: do you have an alternativ suggest for the tubing (I have purchase a tube TYGON LMT-55, but I'm not shure it will work).I'm sure, for starting, when construction is more ore less finished, I will need some help of the comunity.
Perhaps my faulty trials will bring a little progression, I will report.
I know my english is very poor, due to lack of experience in the last years, but I hope this should not be a problem.
Sincerely
Dr. Georg Hoffmann@doho said in New member introduction thread!:
I'am doho, in retirement since last year.
Hi doho, a belated welcome to the project and congratulations on your retirement! I apologize for missing your earlier post.
@doho said in New member introduction thread!:
But i noticed many companies and projects to come up and crash long time before ready to market.
This is definitely the history of most attempts at flow battery commercialization.
@doho said in New member introduction thread!:
Meanwhile I'm building your test-cell, 3D-printing is done, pumps are in loco, arduino is programmed,but I'm waiting for some other components,
especially: do you have an alternativ suggest for the tubing (I have purchase a tube TYGON LMT-55, but I'm not shure it will work).You've made a lot of progress already - I see you're in touch with sepi about the tubing, it is a rather annoying requirement. Hopefully once we have an alternative chemistry like iron, we can use easier-to-find tubing.
@doho said in New member introduction thread!:
I'm sure, for starting, when construction is more ore less finished, I will need some help of the comunity.
We will be here ready to help!
@doho said in New member introduction thread!:
I know my english is very poor, due to lack of experience in the last years, but I hope this should not be a problem.
Definitely not, there are quite a few of us with non-native English backgrounds, no worries there!
-
Dear Flow Battery Research Collective,
I am reaching out to you today as a team member of the CIRCLE project at Bochum University of Applied Sciences.
CIRCLE stands for Creative Impulses for Recycling, Crafting and Learning and is a teaching and research project that aims to combine the concepts of makerspaces and circular economy. In this context, researchers and students work together with various partners to investigate the circularity of products using scientific methods (e.g., life cycle assessment) and to practically develop, test, and validate potential product improvements. To support this work, we have both the necessary technical and scientific infrastructure as well as a fully equipped makerspace on campus.The CIRCLE project is conducted by the Sustainable Technologies Laboratory at Bochum University. Our lab is dedicated not only to topics of circularity but also energy systems. Among other things, we have previously conducted life cycle assessments (LCA) of redox flow batteries.
https://www.hochschule-bochum.de/en/labor-nachhaltigkeit-technik/circle/We are currently in the project’s kick-off phase and are looking for interested partners who might be open to collaborating with us. According to your roadmap, you plan to begin storing energy on a practical scale later this year.
We believe this could be a great opportunity to collaborate by assessing the environmental impact of your open-source flow battery kit/scaled models, identifying hotspots across different life cycle phases, and jointly developing potential solutions. Exploring the environmental benefits of open-source hardware could also be an interesting dimension of such a partnership.
If this sounds interesting to you, we would be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss initial questions, ideas, and potential areas for collaboration.
We look forward to hearing from you!Kind regards,
Santiago Eduardo -
I can't speak for the FBRC but I think that your project sounds very interesting, especially combined with FBRC. I'm not sure if it will be possible to produce tangible results soon since the devkit is probably not very interesting for analysy due to its comparatively low environmental impact (very low number of kits and small amount of substances used). The second iteration of the project might be of more interest, since it is way closer to a real world product. Still, one very important aspect, chemistry, is still a moving target. In any case, sustainability should be a prime driver in the development of this project and recycling of the most important components should be considered from the start. It would probably also be very interesting to do a comparative analysyis between common lithium batteries and flow cells. The hope being that flow cells would be way more sustainable. Anyways, those are just my two cents as an interested follower of the FBRC project.
-
I can't speak for the FBRC but I think that your project sounds very interesting, especially combined with FBRC. I'm not sure if it will be possible to produce tangible results soon since the devkit is probably not very interesting for analysy due to its comparatively low environmental impact (very low number of kits and small amount of substances used). The second iteration of the project might be of more interest, since it is way closer to a real world product. Still, one very important aspect, chemistry, is still a moving target. In any case, sustainability should be a prime driver in the development of this project and recycling of the most important components should be considered from the start. It would probably also be very interesting to do a comparative analysyis between common lithium batteries and flow cells. The hope being that flow cells would be way more sustainable. Anyways, those are just my two cents as an interested follower of the FBRC project.
@sepi Thanks for getting involved in this! I also see strong synergies with the FBRC. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) also allows us to simulate different scenarios, even when the scaling process is still under development — such as different upscaling scenarios, the use of various electrolytes, etc. Further aspects regarding Circular Engineering could also include, besides recyclability, elements such as modular design for upscaling, design for repairability, and other related considerations. In our opinion, this could take place in parallel with the current functionality and efficiency tests. A group of students has already shown great interest in contributing to the FBRC project. I’ll stay tuned and with great interest for the FBRC’s reply. @sepi Thanks again for thinking along in this topic!
Kind Regards.
-
Hi @Santiago-Eduardo, and welcome! We'd definitely be interested in collaborating, I will reach out to you via email. Thank you for the invitation!
