SBIR Phase I: Novel Storage Battery

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在确定一种新型钠硫液流电池的可行性，该电池用于储存风力发电场和太阳能电池阵列产生的电力，这是美国减少对外国石油依赖的两个最佳选择。由于它们的发电速率是可变的，两者都需要某种形式的电力存储系统，以便更均匀地分配产生的电力。目前商业化生产的钠硫（NaS）电池具有高功率密度，是电力存储的可行选择；然而，目前的版本体积庞大，价格昂贵，工作温度为350°C。该项目将调查急需的科学数据，以支持新型流动NaS电池的开发，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多达50%。该项目将分离这种电池的每个关键元件，并组装/测试电池在50°C或更低温度下工作的50瓦的平面可行性演示，其结果将作为后续扩大开发到5千瓦的基础。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是一个可行的，用于风力发电场和太阳能发电系统的大规模电力存储系统。如果风能发电量按照美国能源部预计的速度增长，从2006年的11.6吉瓦增长到2030年的300吉瓦，那么未来22年，储能电池的总市场规模预计将达到600亿美元。据估计，在未来十年内，将有多达10,000兆瓦的太阳能热发电投入使用，为新储能电池的应用提供了一个额外的市场，估计价值105亿美元。此外，该项目开发的流动NaS电池可以用于石油流的脱硫，到2030年将产生超过100亿美元的额外市场。钠硫电池的基本概念和设计自40年前被发现以来基本上没有改变；液流电池与之前的设计截然不同，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.