Abstract

Liquid metal batteries are possible candidates for large scale energy storage. The major difficulties to implementation are their sensitivity to liquid motion and operation at elevated temperatures. The concept of liquid metal battery bears a close similarity to aluminium electrolytic production cells. The two liquid layer MHD effects can be projected to the three liquid layer self-segregated structure of the batteries. This paper presents numerical models for the three density-stratified electrically conductive liquid layers using 3D and shallow layer approximation accounting for specific MHD effects during periods of battery charge/discharge. It is demonstrated that a stable operation of these batteries can be achieved if reusing infrastructure of an old aluminium electrolysis pot line. The basic principles of the MHD processes in the cells are illustrated by the numerical example cases.

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