Flow Battery Energy Transmission for Low-Loss Wind Farm Grids
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional energy transmission systems for renewable power plants face significant energy losses and technical complexities in managing active and reactive power demands, particularly due to sequential conversion and cabling, which are costly and inefficient, and fail to fully utilize renewable energy production according to grid requirements.
Innovation Solution
An energy transmission system incorporating a flow battery system with plural charging and discharging stacks, where electrical energy is converted into chemical energy and stored in an electrolyte, allowing for efficient transmission and decoupling from the grid, enabling the provision of active and reactive power as needed, and reducing the need for complex conversion and transformation equipment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If conventional sequential conversion and cabling systems are used to transmit electrical energy from distributed power generation devices to the grid, then the system can deliver power to the grid, but electrical losses accumulate to about 10% of produced energy and complex control equipment is required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an electrolyte as an intermediary carrier to transport energy chemically instead of electrically. The electrolyte flows from charging stacks at power generation devices through pipelines to a central storage unit, avoiding electrical transmission losses. This chemical mediation eliminates the need for complex electrical control equipment while reducing energy loss to near zero during transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the electrical field-based energy transmission system with a chemical field-based system using electrolyte flow. Instead of using electrical conductors and electromagnetic conversion, the system uses chemical energy storage and transport through flowing electrolyte, fundamentally substituting the transmission mechanism to eliminate electrical losses and simplify control.
2Reliability
If storage systems are co-located with power plants to buffer energy, then excess energy can be stored and provided during high-power demand, but the systems cannot resolve the fundamental losses associated with conversion and transmission
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the energy transmission system into distributed charging stacks at each power generation device, flow conduits for electrolyte transport, and a central storage unit. This segmentation allows each component to perform its function efficiently - local charging minimizes transmission distance, flow conduits provide direct chemical transport, and central storage consolidates energy buffering, collectively eliminating conversion losses while maintaining reliability.
3Productivity
If wind turbine transformers and local grids are used to transform and transmit electrical energy, then power can be delivered to the substation, but losses add up and technically complex control strategies are required to handle active and reactive power demands
Solution Approach 1:
The electrolyte serves multiple functions simultaneously: it stores energy chemically, transports energy from distributed sources to central storage, and provides a universal medium that eliminates the need for separate transformers and local grids. This multi-functionality maintains power delivery capability while removing the loss-generating components and simplifying control strategies.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach minimizes electrical losses, simplifies power management, and allows for higher energy yield by decoupling power generation from grid requirements, facilitating grid stabilization and reducing the need for costly medium voltage cabling, while being suitable for weak grids and easily retrofittable to existing plants.
Implementation Method 1
Each charging stack is configured to receive electrical energy provided by the associated power generation device or group of power generation devices and to energize an electrolyte of the flow battery system by the received electrical energy
Implementation Method 2
The discharging stack is configured to extract electrical energy from the electrolyte and to provide the extracted electrical energy to a power grid
Implementation Method 3
a first set of flow conduits configured to provide a flow connection from the plural charging stacks to the central storage unit in order to provide transmission of energy produced by the power generation devices to the central storage unit by the energized electrolyte
Data Source
AI summary
An energy transmission system is provided for a power generation plant including plural distributed power generation devices and a flow battery system that includes plural charging stacks including electrochemical flow cells, wherein each charging stack is associated with one or a group of the power generation devices of the power generation plant and wherein each charging stack is configured to receive electrical energy produced by the associated power generation device or group of power generation devices and to energize an electrolyte of the flow battery system by the received electrical energy; a central storage unit configured to store the electrolyte of the flow battery system; a discharging stack including electrochemical flow cells, wherein the discharging stack is configured to extract electrical energy from the electrolyte and to provide the electrical energy to a power grid. A wind farm including wind turbines and including such energy transmission system is further provided.