Manufacturing Cost Model Tool for Flow Battery Stacks Scott Whalen, Alasdair Crawford, Mark Gross, Michael Loftus

File

Nam

e //

File

Dat

e //

PN

NL-

SA

-###

##

Motivations Reduce cost of grid-scale energy storage

1. Grid-scale electrical energy storage will only be adopted if they are cost effective

2. Materials and manufacturing costs individually exceed cost targets for the entirety of an installed system

3. Existing spreadsheet models contain limited manufacturing process flexibility, are typically point solutions with respect manufacturing, and are difficult to modify and easy to “break”

Objectives Develop a user-friendly manufacturing cost model tool

1. Create a tool for simulating manufacturing costs that is flexible for any domain (e.g. Flow battery, Li-ion, Fly wheel)

2. Identify processes where innovation would have greatest impact on cost reduction for large-scale production

3. Solve inverse problem to determine what the manufacturing costs would need to be to meet system level cost targets

Model Architecture

Manufacturing Cost Model

Cell Assembly

Membrane Sizing Global InputsHeat Treat

Felt

Building construction & maintenance

Consumables

Equipment

Labor

Utilities General economics

Production volume

Parts receiving

Robot places flow frames

Robot dispense solvent

Align bi-polar plate

Process n+1

Load membrane on

roller

Soak membrane in wet storage

Cut membrane to size

Robot places membrane on

conveyor

Process n+1

Robot places felt on furnace

conveyor

Robot places felt onto

furnace carosel

Heat treat felt

Robot places felt onto conveyor

Process n+1

Leak Testing

Conveyor delivers parts

Robot loads parts into leak

tester

Evacuate cells

Run automated

leak test schedule

Process n+1

Stack Assembly

Load girdle and end plate into

press

Robot places electrodes and carbon paper

Robot places cell assembly

Place o-rings and bolt stack

Process n+1

Module

Process

Part

This figure contains example processes and modules to illustrate the conceptual architecture of the model. It is not a comprehensive listing of all modules and processes required to manufacture a flow battery stack.

Step 1: Process Flows Step 2: Manufacturing Flows

Step 4: Run Model

Tool Developed in Visual C++

We thank OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY and JR AUTOMATION for their excellent contributions to this work

Cell Assembly

Leak Testing

Stack Assembly

Membrane Sizing

Cell Assembly Example

Step 3: Populate Cost Model

Modeling Steps

5% Stack Mfg Cost at 1000 MW

Knee in curve at 100-200 MW

Stack Manufacturing Components

- Floor/tooling area - Floor space cost - Operating capacity

- Water - Electricity - Natural gas

- Lifetimes - Taxes - Overhead

- Hourly rate - Training - Availability

- Production volume - Battery size - Cells per stack

- Installation - Maintenance - Shipping

- Raw material cost/qty - Consumable cost/qty

- Tool capital cost - Tool footprint - Tool capacity

- Water - Electricity - Natural gas

Scott A. Whalen Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P.O. Box 999, MS-IN: K1-85 Richland, WA 99352 (509) 372-6084 scott.whalen@pnnl.gov

PNNL-SA-104951

Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability

- Tool utilization - Labor required - Process yield