卫星氢镍蓄电池电解液在轨回流特性仿真

Numerical Simulation of Electrolyte Moving in Nickel-Hydrogen Battery of Satellite

氢镍蓄电池电解液在轨流动特性是影响其工作性能和使用寿命的重要因素,对蓄电池设计与优化具有重要意义。针对高轨通信卫星使用的80 Ah氢镍蓄电池,建立了电解液流动运动的三维仿真模型,采用计算流体动力学(CFD)数值仿真方法,对氢镍蓄电池单体内的电解液在轨微重力条件下的流动特性和分布特点进行了仿真研究。通过对比分析不同边界条件下的仿真结果,提出了在蓄电池极堆与壳体两端之间增加电解液流动路径可以提高电解液回流速度,并改进卫星氢镍蓄电池在轨工作性能,研究结果可为卫星蓄电池和电源系统设计提供参考。

A three-dimensional numerical model of an individual pressure vessel was developed based on the 80Ah nickel-hydrogen battery used for GEO communication satellites. The model, including the main components of a battery including the battery shell and electrode stack, was utilized to simulate the transient flow field of the electrolyte under zero-gravity condition, by using the computational fluid dynamics （CFD） technology. The comparisons of the simulation results with different boundary conditions show that the flow velocity of the electrolyte from shell to the electrode stack was decided by the wettability of the electrolyte. Adding routes for the electrolyte flowing from the bottom acme and the upper acme to the electrode stack can improve the performance of the nickel-hydrogen battery.