Redflow's Technology Leadership

RedFlow has an active program to demonstrate and extend the operational life of its ZBMs. Life cycle testing of our RedFlow ZBM batteries is ongoing and has passed 450 full charge and discharge cycles, representing over one year of daily charging and discharging. RedFlow expects this life will be extended to over 1,500 cycles (representing three years-plus of repeated daily cycling).



To reach this stage of product maturity, our engineers have successfully met several development challenges. Most of these relate to the precise management and control of the electrolyte as it moves into, and through, the cell, including:

• Avoiding the tendency of the zinc to form “dendrites” or fingers which can pierce the key electrode membrane and short circuit the battery;
• Reducing the large number of plumbing connections and tubes which are more prone to leaks; and
• Eliminating a significant number of parts and balance of system components previously associated with flow batteries.

Significant technical breakthroughs we have pioneered include:

• A new cell design to optimize electrolyte flow and subsequent plating and de-plating of zinc during charging and discharging;
• A manifold design which can supply both electrolytes to all electrode plates with minimal potential leak points; and
• A significant reduction in the number of critical plastic welds required in each stack.

The current RedFlow ZBM is our second generation design, and we are already underway designing a third generation ZBM. This will incorporate new features expected to further reduce the cost of manufacture and improve the power output compared with the existing ZBM.