Internship: Verification andimplementation of a diffusion model

Who are we and what do we do?

We are AquaBattery: a team of highly motivated engineers interested in water technology.
We have developed a battery that can store electricity using only water and table salt.
Renewable energy technologies, such as wind and solar energy, are increasingly deployed.
However, these energy sources are intermittent, meaning at the time of electricity supply
there may be no demand. So, the excess energy is lost. Furthermore, when the supply level
is too high, electrical grids become unstable which could lead to severe damages. Our
Acid/base battery can help solve these problems. The AquaBattery is a sustainable battery
that can be applied to a range of different stationary applications, such as households,
farms, microgrids, and medium/ large industries with renewable energy sources.

Who are we looking for?

You are a student at a Dutch (also foreign) university pursuing a HBO, BSc or MSc degree
relative to chemical or electrical engineering. You have hands-on experience with
performing experiments in a (chemical) lab, battery technology, literature review and
technical report writing.

You will be working with a team of researchers & professionals. You will have the
opportunity to learn everything about the AquaBattery and obtain hands-on experience in
the technical/applied side of the company. You can expect excellent supervision and
coaching.

What do we expect?

In this project, you will analyse internal electrical resistance of a stack based on Ion
Exchange Membranes (IEM). You will compile available knowledge in a model that can be
experimentally verified on a small lab stack (2x10cm). The goal is to create a
comprehensive and easy to use tool and/or procedure to estimate the internal resistance in
these stacks under various operating conditions. This should provide the operators of
stacks at various scales (up to 50x50cm) a good estimation of what resistance to expect
and how it can be observed/interpreted.

During this internship you will:
• Get familiar with existing resistance models and compile them into a model that is
applicable for various operating conditions.
• Design and perform an experiment to verify the resistance model.
• Create a procedure an operator can use to determine the membrane properties
from any given membrane required as model inputs.
• Create a procedure an operator can use to apply insights from the model to
estimate and observe resistance behaviour in any given stack.