Science testing, inspection and certification organisation Underwriters Laboratories (UL) will investigate the performance capabilities and safety of redox flow batteries.
The Electrochemical Safety Research Institute at UL has begun the test program to characterise the operating and safety profile of zinc-bromine flow batteries under use conditions.
The research aims to enhance the knowledge base around the operating and safety characteristics of the technology, to better understand it when compared with other battery chemistries.
The program is being conducted in collaboration with Stress Engineering Services (SES) and flow battery maker Redflow.
The goal is to understand key technical attributes of redox flow batteries, study their cycle life and aging properties and to understand how the batteries behave under off-nominal conditions of overcharge, over-discharge and external short-circuit conditions.
Six Redflow ZBM batteries were purchased by UL last year, and the test program started in January.
Redflow met the UL and SES teams at their Texas facility last month to advise on the setup of the batteries and provide broader input on the test program.
