Fire Hazard of an 83 kWh Energy Storage System Comprised of Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries

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4 жыл бұрын

TEST VIDEO (1 of 4): Fire Hazard of an 83 kWh Energy Storage System Comprised of Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries
FM Global has conducted research on lithium-ion battery-based energy storage systems (ESS) in an industry collaboration with the Property Insurance Research Group through the National Fire Protection Association's Fire Protection Research Foundation. All testing was conducted during 2018 at the FM Global Research Campus in Rhode Island, USA.
Lithium iron phosphate batteries: The following test was an evaluation of the fire hazard posed by an ESS comprised of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP). The ESS had an overall electrical capacity of 83 kWh and all batteries were at a ≥ 95% state-of-charge. The results from this test may not be representative of other LFP based systems.
The research technical report can be downloaded at:
www.fmglobal.com/researchreports
To learn more about the FM Global Research Campus, visit:
www.fmglobal.com/research
About FM Global: www.fmglobal.com

Пікірлер: 67

@matejsojka6683 4 жыл бұрын

that was actually grat example of how safe lithium iron phosphate batteries are in comparison with tradational lithium ones. You need to ignite them and even then nothing big happens, no explosions, no batteries flying, no giant green flame.... lifepo4 is great.

@norbertgali9664 2 жыл бұрын

But still that fire can burn your house..

@matejsojka6683 2 жыл бұрын

@@norbertgali9664 of course... put that heater under your furniture... it will be pretty much the same problem.

@Xyphren 2 жыл бұрын

@@norbertgali9664 so can a Failing generator, Shorted Solar panel. Leaking waterheater Leaking stove Lint caught in a dryer vent. Shorted resistive heater. Car/EV or not. point in this output is Managable. you could Put that out with a Foam/Water or Halon system. Way easier to manage them something that self IGnites. keep in mind they HAD to have a Pilot light so the gasses ignite. or else just the battery venting would not have caused a fire.

@seethebutter Жыл бұрын

Another battery apologist.

@seethebutter Жыл бұрын

Apples and oranges. Wrong again

@jackoneil3933 3 жыл бұрын

Imagine if that those were Lithium-Ion cells instead. It would been like Chinese New Year in a box.

@wazza33racer 3 ай бұрын

You are only trading intensity for duration, it's not that much better.

@jackoneil3933 3 ай бұрын

@@wazza33racer LOL!

@turbotrana 2 жыл бұрын

About 10 years ago when LiFePO4 batteries were coming out of China I made myself an 20 a/hr Engine starter battery. I always knew that they should not be exposed to excessive heat so when I first used them in the engine bay I always checked that they didn't get too hot which they never seemed to. That was winter. I became complacent about the battery then six months later on a hot summers day in heavy traffic I smell something. Then I see the gas off, then the fire. If it wasn't for my fire extinguisher the car would have gone up. It was very similar to what happened here. In any case they performed brilliantly as a starter battery but you can't have them around excessive heat.

@darnellarford2439 3 жыл бұрын

So you had to apply heat and use a pilot light to start the fire. Looks and sounds exactly like what would happen to a stack of wood or literally any other household flammable object.

@Mike-01234 6 ай бұрын

The problem is when these vent and build up a high volume of gas inside of a close space at some point something ignites the gas. If you have a vent to keep the gas from building up, they are safe even if cell melts down. I would not operate one inside my home mounted outside is safe.

@nielsdaemen Ай бұрын

In the worst case scenario, the cells can offgas the extremely flamable gasses without igniting, and then when an explosive mixture has build up in the room, any small spark will blow the whole house apart!

@wazza33racer 3 ай бұрын

Notice how the smoke is rising freely and directly upwards. This is thanks to a generous and well ventilated building. That smoke can be combustible gas products and/or highly toxic smoke. Hardly what you would want in anything but an ideal situation like a dedicated structure remote from other structures, certainly not bolted to the side of a home.

@changwoeiyii7537 4 ай бұрын

I was convinced! It's a very nice video! After searching for a long time, I finally found the video I wanted. It can be seen from this that at least people's safety can be guaranteed. Because what I was worried about was that once it caught fire, it would be like fireworks and all disappear in a short period, but from this experiment, it seems that is not the case. Once fuel vehicles (ICE) are severely damaged, they can quickly burn or even explode. Looking at the burning speed of LFPO, we can see that it is much safer than ordinary fuel vehicles and lithium batteries. So I guess, if you don’t use high temperatures to get close to the LFP battery, but rely solely on physical impact and short-circuit testing, I think it should be difficult for LFPO to spontaneously ignite. Please correct me if I'm wrong. 🙏

@ledzeppelin1212 3 ай бұрын

I think you are correct. They need to be heated to very high temperatures before thermal runaway takes place.

@ljprep6250 4 жыл бұрын

Things the insurance company did that you shouldn't: 1) don't add a pilot light to your battery, 2) don't run your lithiums without ALL protections.

@lesliefranklin1870 3 жыл бұрын

#1 LOL!

@szakeetm 11 ай бұрын

3) Don't cook your batteries on a custom-made heatstove as demonstrated at 1:30.

@ahut10 4 жыл бұрын

How high must celling be too avoid roof catching alight?

@fredfrond6148 3 жыл бұрын

This is the GM global lab where they do fire tests on everything from plastics to paint cans filled with paint. I bet that ceiling is refractory brick and would not catch fire if you took a blow torch to it.

@HBPowerwall 4 жыл бұрын

Interesting..

@sangamowatt9435 Жыл бұрын

Didn't do a whole lot.. what would this do if you did not set up a propane pilot flame? Would it just go out?

@mrwess1927 Жыл бұрын

It probably wouldn’t have caught fire in the first place... being my opinion

@milankral5891 Ай бұрын

To by mě zajímalo, jak by chutnaly vuřty nebo klobásy opečené nad tím požárem. To kdysi na stavbě zedníci ze Slovenska pálili stavební dřevěné podlážky a pak přiložili celé dveře a když se to pěkně rozhořelo, tak přivalili ohromnou pneumatiku z traktoru a vyndali si uzeniny z batohu, napíchli je na pruty a začali si je opékat a libovali si, jak jsou super opečené..

@jensschroder8214 10 ай бұрын

LFP batteries are safe if they are protected from short circuits. You can drill through the battery and nothing dramatic will happen But what this battery doesn't like is being heated to over 300°C from the outside Then the plastic of the cables burns.

@mwbgaming28 4 жыл бұрын

Any battery will turn into a blowtorch if you intentionally ignite it

@asdfdfggfd 4 жыл бұрын

Normally I would agree, but this would burn faster if it was wood. If that entire structure was made of wood, it would burn out in a single hour.

@PaintSlinger99 8 ай бұрын

Wow did pretty good.

@Muonium1 3 жыл бұрын

Seems relatively tame to me. No worse than the average gas station fire that's for sure.

@honestinsincerity2270 4 жыл бұрын

Are we sure these are LiFEPO4 batteries and not a different type of lithium ion battery? I've always read and heard that Lithium iron phosphate are MUCH safer compared to most others and are not nearly as susceptible to thermal runaway or combustion (unless charged at a ridiculous voltage and amperage). Just wondering what brand and model these batteries are essentially.

@honestinsincerity2270 4 жыл бұрын

@@user-zp2tb1kf9p That's true. This was much more of a brush fire as opposed to the rocket flare conflagration that would have resulted from a lot of other lithium cells.

@galfisk 4 жыл бұрын

LiFePO4 does not run away, but it still has flammable electrolyte. If it's on fire, it stays on fire. A fire in a runaway chemistry battery would be much more dramatic, but it would not blow the roof off the building. The cells are not capable of mass explosion, so they would not blow up all at once. Each cell would blow up/vent individually. It'd still be a nasty and violent fire of course. The thing that could blow up a building would be if lots of vapor was emitted without catching fire, and then the vapor cloud mixed with air and ignited.

@tomkirkgaard247 4 жыл бұрын

report said there were 18650 that is not LiFEPO4

@danibess6284 3 жыл бұрын

@@tomkirkgaard247 18650 is just a form factor, it's not necessary Li-ion

@justinanderson9747 3 жыл бұрын

Lifepo4 come in 18650 size.....surprised these fires aren’t more common with all the know nothing’s out there just slapping shit together.

@andrpirl 4 жыл бұрын

This test is very well designed. It's really useful. Yet, charge with AC high voltage or a sudden high temperature by theory is more hazardous than this one. Explosion may happen?

@samuellourenco1050 Жыл бұрын

At least it didn't do the flamethrower thing, or spewed burning droplets everywhere.

@zcpyoshi 4 жыл бұрын

was this to prove that once something is on fire, the fire spreads? kind've a no brainer.

@Y2Kvids 4 жыл бұрын

Not other Lithium Ion batteries

@zcpyoshi 4 жыл бұрын

Y2Kvids You’re telling me regardless of what type of battery it is if it’s sitting in a fire and being heated up it won’t burn. That’s one helluva battery! Where do I buy these non flammable batteries from?

@Y2Kvids 4 жыл бұрын

@@zcpyoshi Lithium Ion would explode like Galaxy note 7.

@andreyv116 3 жыл бұрын

The point of LFP is that should one cell have a thermal runaway, the rate of successive cells having thermal runaway is substantially lower than standard lithium ion in metal cylinder or polymer pouch. This test with, say, an equivalent quantity of drone batteries, would've been a nasty fire all and a volcano of outgassing

@CarlosSanchezMusic4Life 9 ай бұрын

@@zcpyoshi maybe for laptops and smartphones and tablets? i mean, since they don't seem to showcase tests for those in the same manner.

@nielsdaemen Ай бұрын

Burns slower than wood, compare that to li-ion or -lipo wich litterally turn into omnidirectional flamethrowers

@martehoudesheldt5885 2 жыл бұрын

i will bet they lost capacity.

@66bigbuds 3 жыл бұрын

Must be lithium poly

@russell7489 7 ай бұрын

How is this indicative of fire hazard of Lithium Iron? They used a huge propane torch to cook off the batteries. If your facility is ON FIRE already, you have OTHER problems. A USEFUL test would have been extreme condition testing, hot summer day, fastest possible discharge. There should be NO danger in charge cycle as there should be fan cooling and or temperature sensors throughout stack to turn off charging and sound alarm.

@ledzeppelin1212 3 ай бұрын

It shows how slowly they burn relative to NMC or NCA batteries. Were something to catch LFP batteries on fire, they burn slowly and don't explode.

@ph8823 4 жыл бұрын

I notice the caption at the top of the comment section states lithium iron and the video indicates lithium ion. They are two different chemistries. Lithium iron will remain cool while the ion will experience temp increases that will do as the video shows.

@thefmgroup 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comment. Lithium iron phosphate is a type (chemistry) of lithium ion battery. Lithium batteries are different. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

@palmtreeenergy 4 жыл бұрын

Look how safe they are! No explosion. 1. What would happen if you did the same with a gasoline car in your garage? 2. What would happen if we did this to the old dry 2x4s in my garage wall? 3. Even after all that, it did not explode. That's awesome! 4. 83 KILOWATTS Wow! Must be for a business.

@MrSummitville 3 жыл бұрын

LiFePO4 is listed as non-combustible. Gasoline is listed as flammable ...

@royabbs7377 4 жыл бұрын

Of course... Oil and gas storage tanks are so much safer

@zcpyoshi 4 жыл бұрын

the people in san bruno, ca would disagree...

@flagmichael 4 жыл бұрын

They definitely are. High energy density batteries are both capable of spontaneous ignition and cannot be extinguished except by letting them burn out. It is not possible to remove fuel or oxidizer - both are contained in each cell. Removing enough heat to stop the reaction requires cooling to impractical temperatures when large battery assemblies are involved.

@flagmichael 4 жыл бұрын

@@zcpyoshi Firefighters in Arizona had a very different experience: www.firehouse.com/safety-health/news/21077221/eight-az-firefighters-injured-one-critically-in-a-large-utility-battery-explosion