Experimental validation of a vanadium redox flow battery model for state of charge and state of health estimation

This study presents a vanadium redox flow battery model that considers the most important variables that have a crucial role in the performance of the system. A complete model divided in an electrochemical, thermal, hydraulic and voltage submodels is presented. The analytic analysis of the model is carried out to reduce the system order according to some conservation laws. Based on this analysis, a subsequent calibration of the model parameters is developed using real experimental data. The validation is performed comparing the real measured voltage and the one estimated with the model. To calibrate the model an algorithm based on the implementation of a particle swarm optimizer is used. Results obtained in both short and long-term operation are presented, in order to compare and validate if the model can be used for both state of charge and state of health estimation.