In the beginning of March Mikhail Pugach a PhD student from CEST visited the TZEnergy lab that belongs to Landshut University of Applied Science. TZEnergy lab is focused on the development and integration of different energy storage systems into the grids. Currently their activities are focused on the development of grid-scale batteries systems based on the Li-ion, Na-ion and Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB). The lab has a good equipment to test large batteries and several commercial scale VRFB systems. The topic of Mikhail’s thesis is a modeling of VRFB systems. Mikhail developed computationally effective model that can predict the dynamic behavior of these batteries taking into account the main mechanisms of their degradation. The model was validated for lab-scale set up and the next step is to validated it for commercial scale systems. The main idea of collaboration with TZEnergy lab is to perform a numerical and experimental study of commercial scale VRFB systems investigating the internal processes and their influence on the battery performance. This first visit was made in order to get acquainted with the equipment of the lab and plan further investigations. The visit was fruitful and some preliminary measurements were carried out. The head of TZEnergy lab is interested in establishment of collaboration between our universities in order to run joint projects that can be definitely interesting for both universities as TZEnergy lab and Skoltech potential presents a good amendment that could allow to develop new knowledge and expertise of the both research groups.
