Why is it Said that Home Energy Storage will Enter the “Liquid Cooling Era”?

This year, a branch of new energy storage – home energy storage, suddenly became popular in the global market. Continued increases in energy price and electricity price have rapidly driven the adoption of home energy storage devices abroad.
“Just like the air conditioners of the 90s”, some market veterans used this as a metaphor for home energy storage. On one hand it means that it is like the air conditioner in the 90s in overseas markets, and on the other hand it means that the appearance of home energy storage is gradually comparable to the volume of a cabinet air conditioner, and integrated home appliances are gradually becoming a trend.

With the rapid development of home energy storage, liquid-cooled energy storage systems are gaining more and more attention.

Overseas Demand for Home Energy Storage has Exploded

Due to the soaring price of energy and electricity in Europe, North America, and other countries or regions such as Africa with high electricity prices but poor stability, the application of home PV + energy storage can improve the level of electricity self-generation and self-consumption, delay and reduce the risks brought about by electricity price increases, and at the same time obtaining stable power support, thus the demand is rapidly rising.

Huajing Industry Research Institute predicts that from 2021 to 2025, the growth rate of new home energy storage overseas will be maintained at more than 60%, and the total capacity of new user-side energy storage overseas will be close to 50GWh by 2025. According to the “Analysis of the Market Size and Industry Investment Prospects of the 2022 Home Energy Storage Market,” the global market size of home energy storage was $7.5 billion in 2020, and the Chinese market size was $1.337 billion, equivalent to RMB 8.651 billion. It is expected that by 2027, the global market size will reach $26.4 billion and the Chinese market size will reach $4.6 billion.

Oriental Securities Research Report also pointed out previously, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has intensified the panic of the European energy crisis, promoting the European household energy storage market explosion.

Relevant listed companies in the industry are accelerating the layout of the home energy storage market. In the face of rapid expansion of home energy storage capacity, analysts and listed companies are optimistic that the market still has a large growth space.

Liquid Cooling Temperature Control has Become a Market Trend

Liquid cooling system is a temperature control technology for battery temperature management. Air conditioners, electric vehicles, and charging piles that we are more familiar with will use temperature control technology. Temperature control system plays a vital role in the safety, efficiency and lifespan of energy storage.

Air-cooled technology was first commonly used in energy storage systems because of its simple structure, mature technology, low cost and rapid delivery and deployment. As a medium and long-term technical solution, liquid cooling will gradually increase its market penetration. Why is liquid-cooled temperature control becoming a trend in the energy storage market?

1. Safer Working Conditions

The threshold of liquid cooling energy storage technology is relatively high, it is not a simple system heat dissipation. It uses a circulating water pump to drive the cooling liquid convection to directly dissipate heat to the battery cells. The method is controllable, and not affected by external conditions. Besides, the heat dissipation efficiency is high, and the temperature control is more precise, which can greatly reduce the risk of temperature runaway, fire and explosion. As far as the liquid cooling system is concerned, the key point is to ensure that no liquid leaks.

Choosing a pump with better sealing can effectively solve the problem of liquid-cooled energy storage system leakage. TOPSFLO imported advanced production equipment from the United States, France, Japan and other countries for high-precision production, high surface finish, and innovative use of special design inlet & outlet connection, and pipeline connection tight fit without gaps. In addition, imported gas-tight testing equipment (leakage value: 1Pa) is used to conduct tests higher than the industry standard, which can effectively eliminate the risk of pump leakage.

2. Lower Operation and Maintenance Cost

In addition to safety, energy storage system design should also take into account the whole life cycle of operation and maintenance, which generally needs to ensure stable operation for more than ten years. Moreover, energy consumption control is also the focus of liquid-cooled energy storage.

Liquid-cooled system does not make the energy storage itself produce a large self-consumption of electricity, compared with the air-cooled system, can save 30%-50% of energy consumption, effectively reducing operating costs.

TOPSFLO liquid cooling pump has the characteristics of maintenance-free, and can be customized according to customer requirements with a lifespan of 50,000 hours to meet the long-term operation needs of the energy storage system. 38 in-depth inspections for all-round performance that are stricter than industry standards. Each water pump has undergone comprehensive performance inspections before leaving the factory, and product reliability is guaranteed.

3. Smaller Size and More Intelligent Management

In addition to meeting the basic safety and operation requirements, small size and intelligence are undoubtedly the higher pursuit of industry customers for liquid-cooled energy storage systems.

Based on the characteristics of the liquid-cooled energy storage system, TOPSFLO uses the core technology of the liquid cooling system pump industry to design ingeniously. The product has low power and low power consumption. At the same time, it has a compact structure design, a small space ratio, simple installation, and convenient use; 5V/PWM speed regulation and FG speed signal feedback function, can realize automatic intelligent detection, support failure alarm, real-time data feedback, etc.

In a word, energy storage system as a complex solution requires in-depth understanding of electrochemistry, power electronics and other multiple links, and liquid-cooled energy storage further raises the technical threshold.

TOPSFLO has been deeply engaged in micro pump application technology for 18 years. Relying on the accumulation in automobile, medical, charging pile and other application fields, TOPSFLO has continuously provided high-quality liquid cooling circulating pumps for liquid-cooled energy storage systems, and strived for more excellence in product design and manufacturing, and continuously leading the development of the industry, successfully creating many classic application cases at home and abroad.

Topsflo’s Liquid Cooling Energy Storage Electronic Water Pump Empowers Home Energy Storage Safety

The liquid cooling energy storage industry has been closely watched recently, and some institutions predict that the market space of liquid cooling energy storage will explode by 25 times in four years. What is liquid cooling energy storage? What are the components? What are the characteristics? Topsflo engineers will explain it to you in detail.

Thermal runaway accidents of energy storage occur frequently

To understand liquid cooling energy storage, it is necessary to start with energy storage temperature control technology. Liquid cooling energy storage is a type of energy storage temperature control technology.

Energy storage temperature control is the key to preventing the capacity decay, life shortening, and thermal runaway of the energy storage system. The energy storage system has a large number of batteries, large battery capacity and power, and requires effective battery thermal management. Otherwise, it may lead to a decline in battery charge and discharge performance, capacity, and life, or even lead to thermal runaway, resulting in safety accidents.

From 2011 to 2021, a total of 32 energy storage power station fires and explosions occurred around the world. From January to May 2022, more than 10 energy storage fire accidents have occurred around the world. Thermal runaway of batteries has become the main cause of fire accidents. Frequent fire incidents highlight that energy storage temperature control has become an essential and important component to ensure the safe operation of energy storage power plants.

Liquid cooling is the long-term trend of energy storage temperature control

Energy storage temperature control mainly includes air cooling, liquid cooling, heat pipe cooling, phase change cooling and other technologies. Among them, air cooling is to take away the heat in the energy storage system in the form of air convection, and liquid cooling is to take away heat by using liquids such as water and ethylene glycol as the heat transfer medium. Phase change cooling and heat-pipe cooling are currently less practical and are still in the laboratory stage.
The basic components of the liquid cooling system include: liquid cooling plate, liquid cooling unit (heater optional), liquid cooling pipeline (including temperature sensor, valve), high and low voltage wiring harness, coolant, coolant water pump, etc.

On the whole, liquid cooling has higher heat dissipation efficiency and heat dissipation speed, and can better control the temperature difference between batteries. Therefore, its energy consumption is lower and the system life is longer, thereby helping the energy storage system to reduce the cost of the whole life cycle. Although the current domestic energy storage thermal management is still dominated by air cooling, under the trend of high-capacity and high-rate energy storage, liquid cooling solutions are more suitable for high-temperature or large-capacity scenarios. In the future, as the demand for energy storage stations with larger battery capacity and higher system power density, such as new energy power stations and off-grid energy storage, starts, it will promote the industry to adopt more liquid cooling solutions.

5 essential features of high-quality energy storage electronic pumps

The energy storage liquid heat dissipation solution needs to drive the liquid in the pipeline to circulate through the electronic water pump, take away the performance of the excess heat of the battery system, and achieve the best working temperature conditions of the battery pack. Therefore, the electronic water pump, as the core component of liquid cooling, is very important.

So, what are the characteristics of high-quality energy storage electronic water pumps?

First, longer life. Long-life pumps help reduce operating costs and increase the life of the energy storage system. Topsflo pumps use high-efficiency brushless DC motors, imported chips, and high-precision silent rotors, with a lifespan of 30,000 hours, which is much higher than that of ordinary pumps on the market.

Second, the temperature rise is lower. More than 90% of Topsflo pump parts and electronic components are from world-renowned brands, automotive grade electronic components, uniquely designed PCB boards, sufficient margin design for electronic solutions, low temperature rise, fast heat dissipation, The cooling effect is remarkable.

Third, the temperature range is wider. Liquid-cooled energy storage pumps must have the ability to work normally in outdoor conditions. Each Topsflo water pump has undergone strict high and low temperature fast switching tests of the whole machine, and can run stably under -40°C low temperature conditions.

Fourth, the security level is higher. The safety level of the water pump is related to the safety of the energy storage system and should not be underestimated. Topsflo pumps have six safety protections including idling protection, locked rotor protection, overcurrent protection, polarity protection, overvoltage protection, and constant power output, escorting high-efficiency liquid-cooled energy storage systems.

Fifth, the reliability is higher. The liquid-cooled energy storage system requires the water pump to have the ability to run stably for a long time, and has extremely high requirements on the reliability and stability of the water pump. Topsflo has four laboratories that meet the standards of CNAS national laboratory accreditation, equipped with international advanced testing equipment, and carries out reliability verification stricter than industry standards, and has passed CQC quality certification, CE, RoHS, REACH, WRAS, FDA, NSF and other international certifications, to provide customers with pumps with stable performance and excellent quality.

Temperature control plays a crucial role in the safety and economy of energy storage systems. As a long-term trend, liquid-cooled energy storage will have great potential. That’s it for the introduction of liquid-cooled energy storage electronic water pumps. Topsflo Pump looks forward to working with more energy storage companies to jointly promote the sustainable development of the industry!