Scaled VRB System Modeling and Simulating

Libei, Guo lianbo

China Electric Power Research Institute. Beiiinll. China.
Abstract-- Deeply research vanadium redox flow battery (VRB)
energy storage technology in the field of power system, it should
establish battery system simulating model to study the system
operating

characteristics.

Electrochemical

battery,

however,

belongs to non-linear time-varying system, and the internal

chemical material properties are susceptible to variety of factors.
Battery model should not be simply equivalent to an ideal voltage
source or current source. The target model should reflect most
characteristics

of

battery,

such

as

the

internal

resistance,

polarization, self-discharge, shunt current loss and temperature

or

even

other

factors

which

may

influence

the

operating

characteristics of the battery system. First it defined the key

parameters of VRB characteristics from the point of application,
then based on the external characteristics of VRB system, the
system-level

quasi-steady-state

model

had

been

established,

which contains the factor time-varying, temperature change and

shunt current etc.

Then by simulating on the platform of

Model can describe the mathematical relation of influence

1 -1 6
factors and battery system [ ] operating characteristic. The
existing research results of battery model, such as the
electrochemical principle model, the equivalent circuit model
and the "black box" model etc., are mostly from the view of
battery designing and manufacturing, which are focusing on
physical or chemical change of battery internal process; for
VRB, the research focus on electrode materials characteristic
analysis, electrolyte preparation methods and performance
improvement and ion exchange membrane materials
lO
improvement[ ] etc., which are more suitable for
electrochemical professional analysis of battery principle and
improve battery performance, instead of electrical engineering
study.
Based on a series of experiments and the theory of controlled
sources, an quasi-steady model of VRB is presented in this

PSCAD/EMTDC, the model proved to be correct and well

paper. The model employs the electrical components to

reflected the charge and discharge characteristics and dynamic

describe the reaction time and temperature factor of the

internal characteristic, which can show the influence form the
reaction time and temperature factor on the steady
characteristics of the battery quite well.
Considering to focus on the main point of the study, there
should be a few hypothesis to be mentioned as follows:
CD Excluding the mechanical loss as pump, pipe etc.;
() Omitting the difference of energy capacity by plenty of

response characteristics of VRB system.

Index Terms-- Vanadium Redox Flow Battery, Quasi-Steady

State Model, Controlled Source, Factor Time-Varying, Factor
Temperature Change
I. INTRODUCTION

T has reached a consensus that the energy storage will be a

support technology for smart grid. Battery energy storage
technology is the first choice of the energy storage with the
advantage of application in power system. Since its advantage
on the cycle life, quick response of charging and discharging,
high safely coefficient and recyclability, the Vanadium Redox
Flow Battery (VRB) will have a good development potential.
For a new technology which will be applied to the power
system, the safety and reliability should be considered firstly.
When the scale of a battery energy storage is quite big or
some faulty is not easy to be simulated by physical methods,
research model must be set up to do some evaluation on
simulation platform.

Project Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973

Program)(201OCB227206).
LI Bei is with China Electric Power Research Institute, Haidian District,
Beijing,China. (e-maillibei@epri.sgcc.com.cn).
GUO Iianbo is with China Electric Power Research Institute, Haidian
District,Beijing,China. (e-mailguojb@epri.sgcc.com.cn).

cycling;
Q) Supposing the ambient temperature is constant.
II.

VRB SYSTEM MODEL STRUCTURE

A. Quasi-steady-state equivalent circuit model

According to the nonlinear characteristic of the battery, the

model includes the influence from time-varying characteristic
of SOC and cumulative effect of temperature on the battery
characteristic, during the reaction. The model includes three
parts: main circuit, influence from time-varying characteristic
and cumulative effect.
The ability of the energy store or release of the battery
depends on the SOC (State of Charge), internal resistance,
degree of polarization and temperature, the controlled source
and controlled elements are employed to relate the control and
influence of the above factors.
Part I, the topological structure of main circuit is employed to
describe the basic behavior characteristics of battery, it
978-1-4673-2868-5/12/$31.00 2012 1EEE

includes voltage controlled voltage source Eb, which shows

the output capability, internal resistance" R-C network,

Part II describes time-varying characteristics. The transform

model is designed as a simple shunt connection circuit, consist

which shows the polarization induced by the electrolyte

flowing or ionic movement, the voltage controlled resistorRl
shows the internal resistance induced by polarization and
concentration polarization. C1 shows the capacitance induced

with CCCS

It

and capacity C which can reflect the storage

energy of battery system. So the terminal voltage

V:onl of C

can relate the battery energy limitation with the duration time,

by polarization and concentration polarization, the self

which can reflect the influence of charge or discharge time

discharge resistorRp and voltage controlled current source Ip

and SOC varying to those key parameter of battery model.

Part III describes temperature change characteristics. Since the
influence of temperature to battery mainly behaves on battery
resistance and the output ability, the temperature signal

which describes the branch loss are employed to describe the

flow pipe structure and spurious response of VRB. In order to
show the finiteness of energy capacity of battery, voltage
controlled voltage source is employed to displace the constant
voltage source. The variable resistance is also employed to
displace constant resistance to show the polarization resistance
during reaction, branch current loss is related to the charging
and discharging current, then a current controlled current c
source is employed to show this.

p_ar_tl_1

__

_)

Partl

transform model can be established with two preset current

sources and one VCCS. That is the equivalent voltage signal
instead temperature signal should feedback control the battery
electric potential and resistance in part I and the

It in part II.

Based on the theory of controlled sources, an quasi-steady

model of VRB is presented and shown as Fig.l.

part III

--.--.--.--.\--.--.--.--.--.:
1" ![tJ[I
;J-------.--.-.--.r;:J
i!i !

Vcon1
,------,--_--,

I iii i

R2

Iii'
I i!i
R - ct
Ili:Lo
1"'- _I
i:
,./

Eh:

R,

VOIlI:

polarization

V coni:
Veon2:

Battery output voltage

Battery

i
:

j I

/1' V
OU!

IC
I

resistance

[J
RT

.V T

R con

Time-varying controlled signal

Temperature change controlled signal

Battery linear thermal resistance

R1:

and

capacitance

IR1: Preset current source

Rb:

Battery ohmic resistance

C:

Preset capacitor

Rp:

Shunt current resistance

R:

Large resistance

Icon:
Rcon:

11': Voltage controled current source (VCCS) for

Parasitic reaction

It:

'
Vcon2

VRTOOOOOO

C.-----'-_---'

Voltage controled voltage source

R/IC] :

Rb

"-----'----.J' i l:_.

II

Preset current source

Unit resistance

Current controled current source (CCCS)

Fig.l. VRB quasi-steady-state equivalent circuit model

H(Iou"K)= X(Iour)xY(K)
B. Time-varying controlled signal

Since the battery discharge duration time is relating to the

current and temperature, it supposes that the current controlled
current source (CCCS)

It

of the model is relating to the

lout and battery temperature K, and the control

coefficient recorded as H(lout' K) ,

(1)

where X, Yare both piecewise linear function, and

It =HIout
According to the volt-ampere characteristic of capacitor:

H
donl = Irdt = Iourdt
C
C

battery current

Then,

(2)

(3)
Obviously, the voltage signal

V::onl is directly proportional to

the battery energy, which can reflect the limited energy of

battery instead of idealized constant voltage. Thus,

defining the relation between controlling variables and

controlled variables, and configuring model parameters based
on experimental data. Then, by way of polynomial curve

Temperature change controlled signal

fitting, the open circuit voltage

RT = RTO(1 + 'Fe: x I1T)

Tc=O.OI,

1. (*) and g. (*) are both nonlinear functions,the

temperature respectively. The main point of modeling lies in

Set battery linear thermal resistance

where!1.T

where, the

variations V::onl and V:: on2 indicated as factor time and factor

V:onl can

be look as time-varying controlled parameter.

C.

(4)

- 20 , supposing that the temperature coefficient

( = L>kl
Ehlt)
k

(11)

=O

known that the room temperature is 20oe , then the terminal

RT

( can be modeled as
Eblt)

equation (11) by experimental data shows in fig.2.

and the linear thermal resistance Rro=IOOkD, and

voltage of

(10)

= Eb) XEb2

Where

is:
(5)

VRB

ak stand for coefficients of 5-order polynomial. 5kW

system, for example, ak values shows as table. 1.

TABLE. I.

According to the Superposition theorem, the terminal voltage

of

Rcon

is:

Vcon 2 = flVRl' -lcon 2Rcon

(6)

Applied (5) into (6) :

Vcon2 = ,ulRlxRrox[1+TcCK-20)]-lcon2Rcon

Vcon2 = 1 05 ,ul X [1 + 0.0 l(K - 20)] - lcon2

= 1 05 ,u l + 1 03 ,u l (K - 20) - lcon2
= 80 xl 03 ,u l + 1 03 ,u l K - lcon2

( 7)

Then, applied each known parameter into equation (7):

>
0
0

RT

RT

RT

RT

(8)

RT

In order to get the function of K and voltage controlled

signal V:on2 ' the current source is preset as 1 RI
the initial value is set as Icon2

= 1mA , and

80,u, then (8) can be

6000

7000

8000

9000

Time(S)

10000

11000

12000

Fig.2. Open-circuit voltage curve of 5kW VRB system

simplified as:

However, in order to get the time-varying

(9)

Where Jl is the control coefficient, and when I, V::on2

=K,

that means the temperature change signal has transformed to

voltage controlled signal

V:on2 by such model, which plays as

a key parameter of describing battery characteristics.

III.
A.

48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30

PARAMETER CONFIGURATION

Eb

To simpli fY the work of parameters configuration, it can be

considered separately about the time-varying and temperature
change. Suppose the battery electric potential as:

function Ehl)
t( = 1; ('()nl ) ' the variation t describes
charging or discharging duration time should be transformed
to variation V:onl . Then supposing
average discharging current

J =

, and the

K
H(IOUI,)

lout applied into

(2), there should

be

=.h(V)=JxV
t
coni
coni XIout
For convenience, set J=I, then

(12)

0.075
0.070
0.065

Rb_ref (ohm)

Thus, the energy controlled function of battery electric

potential can be get from (11) and (13). Additionally, the same
way of experimental data fitting can be used to get the
temperature change controlled function gl (on2 ) , which
lead to E b2t(
B.

0.060
0.055
0.050
0.045

) = gl ( Vcon2 ) .

0.040
0.035

Ohmic resistance Rb

0.030
0

Battery internal resistance nonlinear changed with the SOC

10

20

30

40

and temperature. According to the existence cause, there

should be two parts to study separately, that is the ohmic
resistanceRb and the polirization resistanceRI. By

Then the mathematical model of

and 20c , at the same discharge rate, the relationship of

polynomial fitting:

voltage and SOC can be get.Shown as Fig.3.

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

r * - Odeg ees c ntigra e

r - Odeg ees c ntigra e

39
38
37

:;-

_
CD
OJ

36
35

I--""'"
"
----
JII'
...-

2 34

33
32
31
30

/. V
1 .-. . . . .
10

20

40

50

60

70

80

37

(15)

different temperature, here introduces a correction

34

factor a T , then the battery resistance model in polynomial

( )

style at such temperature should be:

Rb

30
100

(16)

k=O

( )

Set the T=20C discharge curve as reference, at the same SOC

high order items which effective coefficient is too small. That

is look on the ohmic resistanceRb as a simple resistance.
C. Battery polarization resistance RI

point, the voltage difference to another curve at different

tempeature can be defined as:

L1v = i Rb_ref

( ) I rk . SOC k

=a T

For simple analysis, supposinga T = 1 , and omitting the

Fig.3.Discharge voltage vs SOC under various temperature

(14)

Choose the discharge curve at T=10C as an example to

ret' each value at different SOC can be get by

equation (14) and shows as FigA:

can be described by

35

soc

calculate Rb

Rb -,ef

To describe the varying principle of battery resistance with

31
90

100

36

32

90

Where rk indicates the coefficients of kth order item of the

Polynomial.

38

33

80

39

---

..
.-.
..... .

.--.
.-..
30

70

k
Rh ref I rk . SOC
k=O

100

60

Rb ret

FigA. SOC vs

experimental data of different temperature, such as OC, 10C

50

SOC(%)

In the model, resistanceR1 paralleled capacitance C1 to

describe battery polarization.Record the battery polarization
resistance as:
(17)
Battery resistance is related to charge or discharge current and
temperature. During the course of battery discharging, the
polarization resistance increased in exponentially way with the
decrease of SOC. According to the reference [7]:

RI =-Rloln ( SOC )

(18)

Where theRIO indicates polarization resistance in full charge

state, which should be constant. Then, the function of SOC
and time t should be introduced in order to get the relation
between

onl and resistance.

soc

= SOCo

[_1 j IbdTJ 100

Cn

E.

In Fig.l, the VCCS 11' and resistorR1' are employed to describe

the loss caused by the spurious response during the charging
and discharging, the spurious response includes self-discharge
and shunt current loss. According to the reference [17], the

(20)

functional relation between

Combined with (18) there should be the former part

mathematical model ofR),

R1 '

= f2 (VconI ) =- R10 In(VconI )

Meanwhile, according to reference [10], the influence of

temperature on the polarization resistance shows following
relations:

dT(t) .(t) 2
dt

. -=

R1

- h c A [T(t) -T ]

(21)

Where m indicates battery mass, kg; cp indicates battery heat

capacity, J / kg K ; he indicates heat transfer coefficient,

W / m ; A means battery effective heat transfer area, m2 ; Ta

means ambient temperature, K;

temperature, K;

T (t) means battery current

i (t) means discharge current, A. Thus, the

latter part mathematical model ofR) should be:

T
) 1_ 1 me . d (t) +Ah [T(t)-T
2 (V 2 =_
i{t)2l
dt

R"
[ =g

COil

Jl

then:
(23)

IV. QUASI-STEADY-STATE MODEL SIMULATION

Base on the PSCADIEMTDC, a VRB system model is
employed to simulate the electrical characteristics and voltage
degradation characteristics when the battery operates under
2
the constant current (70A/cm ) charge and discharge
conditions. The comparison between simulation results and
experimental data can see from Fig 5 and 6.
CD Charge and Discharge Characteristics

<D
cr,
2
o
>

47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36

35
34
33
32
31
30 -.
.--.
o 300 600 900 12001500180021002400270030003300360039004200

Time(s)

FigSCharge and discharge curve of 5kW VRB system by constant current

D. Capacity C 1

charging way of 70A/cm2

According to the battery characteristics study, it is known that

battery polarization is related to charge or discharge current,
which can be described by the Butler-Volmer equation as
follows:
(24)
Where i indicates charge or discharge current; io indicates the
exchange current density; a means transfer coefficient of
electrode reaction, which is dimensionless; 11 indicates over
potential; R means the gas constant; T is absolute temperature
and F is the Faraday constant.
The over-potential 11 can be calculated based on the
experimental data. Thus the problems of parameter
configuration turned into the simple questions of basic electric
circuit, which can get C) .

discharge.

:>

simple calculation, supposing that the battery temperature

changes little during charging or discharging process, that is:

1,

lout and I can be established, a

p
constant big resistorR1' is employed to describe the self

(22)

Considering VRB electrolyte reciprocating flow with the

action of pump, which may take away most of the heat, for

g2 (Vcon2) =

Parasitic reaction and Shunt current loss Jp

(19)

The quasi-steady-state model can basically describe the

charging and discharging characteristics. Especially in
charging state, the application of controlled source and
variable resistor, making the battery voltage is no longer a
constant value which is too idealistic, but changeable as time
varying and reaction going; However, at the end of
discharging, for closing to the battery termination voltage
point, which internal chemical change process is very complex,
the model cannot describe the real non-linear process byRC
net very well. And the significant error shows that this model
is not suitable for low SOC state. By statistics, the proposal of
using the model to study VRB characteristics should be in the
value [0.2, 0.8] of battery SOC.
Self-discharge Characteristic
The Quasi-steady-state model time scale is wide enough to be
used to simulate self-discharge phenomenon of battery during
the hot standby mode. Battery system self-discharge should be
studied in open circuit. The simulation results by VRB quasi
steady state model and the experimental data curves
comparison shows in Fig.6, which describes that the model

can almost reflect the real trend of VRB system self-discharge

characteristics.

Conference,
USA,
[8]

M.

2008 .

PVSC 2008 .

11-16th May 2008,

Knauff,

D.

33rd IEEE ,

page(s):

Niebur,

C.

San Diego,

Nwankpa,

A Platform of the Testing

and Validation of Dynamic Battery Models, Electric Ship Technologies

50

Symposium ,

49

2009,

48

[9]

2009.ESTS 2009 .

page(s):

[9] G.
SOC

47

Plett,

[10] T.

L.

P.

Estimation .

Homma,

Baltimore ,

MD ,

20-22th April

554 - 559.

Symposium[C],

LiPB Dynamic Cell Models For Kalman-Filter

Proceedings

Busan,

of

the

Korea, 2002.

G. Zhao, Y.

Ohsawa,

19th

Electric

- - - - ----------- --- - - - - - - - - -

43

Vol.

102-B,

Theoretical Studies On Charge

[12] H.

L.

Chan and D.

[14] M.

CONCLUSION

Battery is a kind of non-linear time-dependent system, the

equivalent constant voltage battery model neglects the
nonlinear characteristic, which is not capable to reflect the
performance change during the fault. The difficulty of battery
modeling is the superposition between physical and chemical
changes, and there are too much nonlinear characteristic
during the process. Based on a series of experiments, an
equivalent circuit model of VRB is presented in this paper.
(1) A controlled sources is employed to describe the nonlinear
characteristic of the reaction time and temperature factor, a
quasi-steady model is established.
(2) Based on the PSCADIEMTDC, the established model is
verified through the comparison between simulation results
and experimental data, the result shows the model can
simulate the performance characteristics more accurate within
a certain range of SOc.
VI.
-F .

Lu ,

C.

-C .

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