SBIR Phase I: Novel Storage Battery

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在确定一种新型钠硫流动电池的可行性，用于储存风力发电场和太阳能电池板产生的电力，这是美国减少对外国石油依赖的两个最佳选择。由于它们的发电率不同，两者都需要某种形式的储能系统，以便更均匀地分配所产生的电能。今天商业化生产的硫酸钠(NAS)电池具有高功率密度，是一种可行的储能选择；然而，当前版本的电池体积大、价格高，工作温度为350°C。该项目将调查急需的科学数据，以支持开发一种新型液流NAS电池，该电池具有以下潜力：(1)在低至50°C的温度下工作，(2)将电池NAS存储系统的成本降低高达50%。该项目将隔离这种电池的每个关键部件，并组装/测试在50°C或更低温度下工作的电池的平面50W可行性演示，其结果应作为后续扩大到5千瓦的开发的基础。该项目的更广泛/更广泛的商业影响将是一个可行的、大规模的风力发电场和太阳能发电系统的储能系统。如果风力发电以能源部预测的速度增长，从2006年的11.6千兆瓦增加到2030年的300千兆瓦，那么未来22年，蓄电池的总市场估计将达到600亿美元。据估计，未来十年可能会有多达10,000兆瓦的太阳能热电投产，为这一应用提供一个新的存储电池市场，估计价值105亿美元。此外，该项目开发的流动NAS电池可用于石油蒸气的脱硫，到2030年将产生超过100亿美元的额外市场。自40年前发现钠硫电池以来，其基本概念和设计基本上没有变化；拟议的液流电池与以前的设计有很大的不同，它有可能创造出以前认为不适合高温电池的新市场。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is intended to establish the feasibility of a novel sodium-sulfur FLOW battery for use in the storage of power generated from wind farms and solar arrays, which represent two of America's best options for reducing its dependence on foreign oil. Because of their variable rates of power generation, both need some form of power storage system in order to distribute the power produced more evenly. Sodium-sulfur (NaS) batteries produced commercially today have high power density and represent a viable choice for power storage; however, the current versions are bulky, expensive and operate at 350 °C. The project will investigate critically needed scientific data in support of the development of a novel flow NaS battery that has the potential to (1) operate at temperatures as low as 50 °C and (2) reduce the cost of battery NaS storage systems by as much as 50%. This project will isolate each of the critical elements of such a battery and assemble/test a planar 50 W feasibility demonstration of the battery that operates at 50 °C or less and the results should serve as the foundation for subsequent scaled up development to 5 kW.The broader/commercial impact of this project will be a viable, large-scale power storage system for wind farms and solar power systems. If power produced by wind increases at the rate projected by the Department of Energy from 11.6 GW in 2006 to 300 GW in 2030, the total market for storage batteries is estimated to be $60 billion over the next 22 years. It is also estimated that as much as 10,000 MW of solar thermal power could come on stream in the next ten years providing an addition market for new storage batteries for that application of an estimated $10.5 billion. In addition, a flow NaS battery developed to be developed by this project can be used in the desulfurization of petroleum streams producing an additional market of over $10 billion through 2030. The basic concept and design of the sodium sulfur battery has remained essentially unchanged since its discovery the 40 years ago; and the proposed flow battery represents such a departure from the previous design that it has the potential to create new markets that have not been previously considered suitable for high temperature batteries.