Case Studies

E L I T E C H A N N E L PA R T N E R simulation@rand.com | RandSIM.com | 888.483.0674 To Achieve Operational and Sustainability Goals, a Leading Energy Company Turned to Rand Simulation for CFD Simulation Support The North American grid capacity handled by battery energy storage systems (BESS) is growing with the shift towards cleaner energy sources and its impact on grid reliability. Rand Simulation (Rand SIM) worked with a Fortune 200 energy company who is shaping the future of energy through innovation and investments in North America's energy infrastructure. The company's portfolio includes pipelines and transmission assets; wind, solar, natural gas, and nuclear energy generation sites; and battery energy storage systems (BESS). Effective Thermal Management is Critical for Battery Storage Facilities Battery energy storage sites often include hundreds of battery containers. Heat from the batteries is exhausted to the outside air, but in some cases, localized heat re-entrainment can become a problem. A major challenge facing this company was re-entraining exhausted heat from one container into the thermal management systems of adjacent containers. They found that it drastically reduced the cooling capacity of these systems and in some cases created a situation where they cannot operate. When working with a new battery cabinet original equipment manufacturer (OEM), or when an existing OEM releases a new battery cabinet enclosure, our customer proactively vets the thermal management systems to ensure that batteries are cooled adequately. To Optimize Battery Performance, this Company Relied on Rand Simulation's Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation Expertise When it comes to thermal management, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations provide valuable insights into how battery storage facility equipment and configurations will perform. Since the company doesn't have a team in-house with CFD simulation skills, it sought outside expertise. Having worked with Rand SIM on a prior project, the company determined that Rand SIM would again be a good fit for CFD simulation needs. "Using Rand SIM's expertise in computational fluid dynamics, we are able to generate detailed models of site-specific layouts and run through different scenarios of cabinet heat exhausting into the prevailing air. This helps us determine whether we are at risk of hot air re-entrainment and overheating the batteries," the project manager explained. Rand Simulation's Technical Role Rand SIM did analyses to evaluate how, across the entire battery energy storage system site, individual HVAC units' exhausts are distributed under adverse environmental conditions. Because the environmental conditions and layout of BESS cabinets are site-specific, it's impossible to predict site-wide flow and thermal management without simulation. These analyses showed the customer why thermal issues are arising—often from one HVAC unit's exhaust entering the intake of another—and allowed them to effectively evaluate the most promising means to mitigate them.

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