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  • New member introduction thread!

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    G
    Hi! I work at a technical university, in the mechanical engineering faculty. I'd like to build your prototype based on the documentation. Flow batteries are a new topic for me, but they could be very useful in my field, and this seems like a great way to get to know them better. I also saw your presentation on YouTube. I was about to ask about the peristaltic pump model, but I noticed you’ve just updated the documentation This forum looks really helpful in case I need any support or clarification. I’ll try to give some feedback if it’s useful to you.
  • MYSTAT troubleshooting

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    kirkK
    It is mostly 3D printable and there is one brass/copper plate that needs to be machined in a simple way, definitely no problem for any university machine shop. We also now have identified pumps/tubing that work much better.
  • Hi!

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    kirkK
    Hi Otmar, welcome to FBRC and the project, looking forward to working with you!
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    kirkK
    @kirk said in How should we control the centrifugal pumps? TRIAC/thyristor etc? Need help from controls/electrical people: It seems to work! At least enough for testing purposes. Here is a video: https://spectra.video/w/8xipM8aXnBkDXnu4kkRpqT Here is the code for this test: https://codeberg.org/FBRC/RFB-test-cell/src/commit/d10834bc7dd67736e708c9a33832a5602ab3ca28/firmware/FlowrateRampTest.ino
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    kirkK
    Nice work, Daniel. I am thinking of plumbing solutions to the imbalance issue: From A review of all-vanadium redox flow battery durability: After studying the capacity fade for mixed acid electrolyte, UET [154] found that, during long‐term operation, the ratio of catholyte and anolyte concentration remained constant: 1.3:1. Based on this finding, they designed an overflow system with different volume (volume ratio: 1.3:1) anolyte and catholyte tanks, in which the volume ratio and total vanadium were kept constant. With the new design, the VRFB achieved long term capacity and efficiency stability. However, this design is only valid for the mixed acid electrolyte system. Recently, Wang et al [152] developed an electrolyte reflow method to solve the electrolyte imbalance issue for the sulfuric acidvanadium electrolyte system. Figure 10 shows the schematic of their method; without reflow, eventually all of the anolyte will move to the catholyte tank, while with reflow, the anolyte tank will always contain some electrolyte. Similar to the UET method, the volume ratio of catholyte to anolyte is a key parameter affecting the capacity stability and is highly dependent on the operating current density. Cycle life and total capacity were all improved with the reflow method. There is also Capacity balancing for vanadium redox flow batteries through electrolyte overflow but it was retracted - they think they accidentally had a pinhole in their membrane for the test. But they did build a real overflow system: [image: 1739741378711-aceadcdb-fb4d-4387-b6c6-9b95a79cc192-image.png]
  • Micro-update

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    kirkK
    That's great! Do you have a link to one or know where we could procure one to test?
  • CI/CD

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    kirkK
    Stephen Hawes of Opulo has compiled some of their tools here: https://midscale.io/docs The AutoBOM one seems to be based on those workflows above and looks pretty interesting
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    kirkK
    Probably too far involved but this sort of approach could be cool, if it was constrained to manufacturable shapes: We introduce Fireshape, an open-source and automated shape optimization toolbox for the finite element software Firedrake. Fireshape is based on the moving mesh method and allows users with minimal shape optimization knowledge to tackle with ease challenging shape optimization problems constrained to partial differential equations (PDEs). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00158-020-02813-y?error=cookies_not_supported&code=2a7f63ae-6652-4af3-9b50-1ffb6e6985da
  • Hi :D

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    Reading the posts about the different pump designs, it makes more sense. More background reading to do. TY
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    kirkK
    Excited to try this in the dev kit one day... Though you mentioned that Mn(III)-EDTA might cause some trouble
  • Welcome

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    kirkK
    @H4K1 no need to build the flow battery and test chemistry to help the project out! You can also build and test just with water, especially the larger cell we'll build. But if you can do CI/CD and firmware now then that's great! You'd be the only one on the project now with those capabilities, so a huge bonus. It will help make a framework that we'll benefit from as the project advances and hopefully save us some time as we improve and develop, so we can focus on what we're all best at and enjoy!
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    kirkK
    Our talk is now viewable on PeerTube here: https://spectra.video/w/6BddEiwBqRMHSbC9qBLBz9
  • Still Going With The Flow

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    elwell@mast.hpc.socialE
    @kirk I hadn't spotted this years update to @tserong system - Thanks for the pointer! Bummer about redflow going under. We've gone for the riskier lump of lithium strapped to the outside of the house (Just as well Snug never has bushfi...oh). Can confirm that the #tasnetworks cablepi objects when we're off-grid. Reminds me I need to chase installer as our grid-tied inverter (on the essential load side) rightly objects to the 55.1Hz Sonnen runs at when in island mode - Want to decrease this.
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    basil@sarcasm.streamB
    @kirk very cool!
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  • An Open Source DIY Flow battery

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