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    Groulx Presentation

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    dmarandi
    This document summarizes a thermal study of valve regulated lead-acid batteries used in stand-alone street lighting applications. Experiments were conducted to measure the temperature of a battery during charging and discharging. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to model heat transfer in the battery and full enclosure. The model validated that heat generated during charging follows published models and natural convection affects temperatures in the enclosed space. Future work could improve understanding of heat from electronics and consider additional heat transfer modes.

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    Groulx Presentation

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    dmarandi
    7 views18 pages
    This document summarizes a thermal study of valve regulated lead-acid batteries used in stand-alone street lighting applications. Experiments were conducted to measure the temperature of a battery during charging and discharging. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to model heat transfer in the battery and full enclosure. The model validated that heat generated during charging follows published models and natural convection affects temperatures in the enclosed space. Future work could improve understanding of heat from electronics and consider additional heat transfer modes.

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    This document summarizes a thermal study of valve regulated lead-acid batteries used in stand-alone street lighting applications. Experiments were conducted to measure the temperature of a battery during charging and discharging. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to model heat transfer in the battery and full enclosure. The model validated that heat generated during charging follows published models and natural convection affects temperatures in the enclosed space. Future work could improve understanding of heat from electronics and consider additional heat transfer modes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    7 views18 pages

    Groulx Presentation

    Uploaded by

    dmarandi
    This document summarizes a thermal study of valve regulated lead-acid batteries used in stand-alone street lighting applications. Experiments were conducted to measure the temperature of a battery during charging and discharging. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to model heat transfer in the battery and full enclosure. The model validated that heat generated during charging follows published models and natural convection affects temperatures in the enclosed space. Future work could improve understanding of heat from electronics and consider additional heat transfer modes.

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    Thermal Study of a Valve Regulated

    Lead-Acid Batteries and Electronics


    Chamber used in Stand-Alone Street
    Lighting Applications
    Jonas Skaalum, Trevor Jamieson, Dominic Groulx
    Mechanical Engineering, Dalhousie University
    Halifax, NS, Canada
    Research Rationale
    6 month research grant with PoleCo ltd.
    They design and supply grid-independent street lighting
    systems.
    All of their power derived from renewable sources using
    small wind turbines, solar panels, or a combination of the
    two.
    Power stored in on-board rechargeable Valve Regulated
    Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries.
    VRLA batteries are particularly vulnerable to higher
    operating temperature; when receiving a float charge at a
    temperature 10°C above intended operating temperature,
    the battery life will be cut in half1.

    1. D. Berndt, Valve-regulated Lead-acid Batteries, Journal of Power Sources,


    100, 29-46 (2001)
    Research Objective
     Determine the thermal behaviour of VRLA
    batteries under various charging and discharging
    conditions and ambient temperature;

     Using COMSOL Multiphysics, determine the


    amount of heat generated during battery
    operation – validated with experiments;

     Model and validate the entire battery enclosure,


    including the impact of the charge controller.
    1 st Type of Experiments: Battery
     One VRLA battery enclosed in a
    tight-fitting box made from half-inch
    RSI-0.5 extruded polystyrene (XPS).
     The battery was charged with a
    bench-top DC power supply set to
    14.5 V and various charging
    currents.
     The temperature of the battery
    measured with fourteen adhesive T-
    type thermocouples.
    1 st Type of Experiments: Results

    Charge experiment Discharge experiment


    COMSOL Model: Battery
     Modeled as two blocks, one representing the
    battery, the other representing the insulation.
     The battery domain is 287 mm tall, 342 mm
    long, and 172 mm wide.
     The insulation block is subdivided into six panels
    to make it easier to mesh.
     Geometry simplified, not including any of the
    surface features of the battery such as
    handholds and electrical terminals and internal
    geometries of the cells.
    Material Insulation Battery
    Thermal Conductivity (W/m·K) 0.0254 34
    Density (kg/m3) 21 2841
    Heat Capacity (J/kg·K) 1500 862.3
    COMSOL Physics: Battery
     Only heat transfer by conduction through solids is present
    in this study;
     With a initial temperature and natural convection boundary
    conditions on outside surface to ambient temperature of
    22.2 °C;
     How to determine the amount of heat generation? The
    entire battery volume is assigned as a heat source with heat
    generation related to internal resistance through the
    following function1:
    POV = I ∙ DV

     POV is the heat generated (W), I is the current flowing


    through the battery (A), DV is the over-voltage (V)
     Over-voltage is the difference between the open circuit
    voltage of the battery before charging begins and the
    measured voltage at the battery terminals during charging.
     I and DV are taken from the experiment.

    6. H. Giess, Investigation of Thermal Phenomena in VRLA/AGM Stationary Lead/Acid Batteries with a Thermal
    Video Imaging System, Journal of Power Sources, 67, 49-59 (1997)
    COMSOL Mesh: Battery
     Mesh with swept tetragonals.
     Mesh convergence study: difference in
    temperature between the finest and
    coarsest meshes less than 0.004 °C.
     The Normal predefined mesh setting was
    used with 3553 elements.
     At this mesh size, simulations ran in less
    than 5 minutes.
    COMSOL Results: Battery
    2 nd Type of Experiments: Enclosure
     VRLA batteries in a PoleCo lighting installation
    are held within an 18 inch square aluminum
    enclosure.
     The air cavities within this chamber are large
    enough that convective currents are expected
    to have a noticeable effect on the temperature
    of the batteries.
     40 mm gap between the batteries.
     65 mm gap between the enclosure walls and
    the batteries on the four sides.
     150 mm of space above the two batteries.
     The charge controller has a 128 mm square
    base and is 73 mm tall.
     Exterior of the enclosure was completely
    wrapped in polystyrene insulation.
    2 nd Type of Experiments: Results
    COMSOL Model: Enclosure
     This model is defined by four domains;
     the aluminum box,
     the air inside the box,
     the two batteries,
     the charge controller.
     The box and the air use the standard
    material properties from the COMSOL
    library.
     The batteries use the same material
    properties as the ones in the model of the
    insulated battery experiment.
     The charge controller modulates the
    current and voltage characteristics of the
    electrical energy from the solar panel; the
    electronic circuitry generates fair amount
    of heat. It is modeled as a mass with a
    predefined temperature
    COMSOL Physics: Enclosure
     The batteries are defined as uniform masses, with the exception of
    the 50 mm air gap on the top surface.
     The heat generation is given by a function taken from
    experimental data.
     The outside faces of the box are thermally insulated, representing
    the polystyrene.
     An air domain is added, all air flow due to the natural convection
    (laminar). A buoyancy force is included in the model as a
    volumetric force given by:

    FZ = -g∙(rho-rho_ref)
    COMSOL Mesh: Enclosure
     Mesh with swept tetragonal elements.
     Several parametric surfaces were used to
    divide up the geometry in order to facilitate
    this.
     The mesh has 5760 elements.
     Simulation completes in a time of 30 to 40
    minutes.
    COMSOL Results: Enclosure
    COMSOL Results: Enclosure
    COMSOL Results: Enclosure
    Conclusions – Future Work
     The lead-acid battery tested generated heat during charging at
    a rate that followed the over-voltage published model;
     Well reproduced numerically;

     A validated model of heat transfer within the


    batteries/electronics enclosure was produced showing the
    effect of natural convection within it;
     Some limitations where identified:
     Limitation in the understanding of heat generated from the charge
    controller;
     Possible effects of radiation heat transfer within the enclosure;

     Follow-up work using this model will look at the effect of


    external heat sources, i.e., solar radiation, wind, cooling fans,
    etc.

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