Heat Flow Calculation

By default, the RCR model uses an energy balance that neglects enthalpy-of-mixing and phase-change.

The RCR model energy balance is calculated as follows:

Figure 1. EQUATION_DISPLAY
Q=(UVLTdUdT)I
(4405)

where:

Q

Heat released (watts)

U

Equilibrium voltage (volts)

V L

Cell voltage under load (volts)

T

Temperature (kelvin)

I

Current (amps)

This energy balance predicts that no heat is generated ( Q=0 ) during relaxation, when the current I is zero. However, some heat is observed experimentally.

If you want to consider to consider heat generated during relaxation, you can compute the heat from I2R heating in the circuit. For an RCR circuit, the ohmic heat generation is:

Figure 2. EQUATION_DISPLAY
Q=I2R0+i=1nRp,iIp,i2
(4406)

When the current is zero, the capacitor discharges into the parallel resistors, giving rise to a relaxation heat Qrelax :

Figure 3. EQUATION_DISPLAY
Qrelax=i=1nRp,iIp,i2
(4407)
Note

Computing the heat through the resistors underestimates the total heat, as the parallel resistors see only part of the current.