Energy Storage Science and Technology ›› 2021, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (2): 558-564.doi: 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2020.0332

• Energy Storage System and Engineering • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Burning characteristics of the 18650-type lithium-ion ternary battery pack induced by heating

Tiannian ZHOU(), Chuanping WU, Baohui CHEN   

  1. State Grid Hunan Electric Company Limited Disaster Prevention and Reduction Center, State Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Reduction for Power Grid Transmission and Distribution Equipment, Changsha 410007, Hunan, China
  • Received:2020-09-28 Revised:2020-10-09 Online:2021-03-05 Published:2021-03-05
  • Contact: Tiannian ZHOU E-mail:chounike@mail.ustc.edu.cn

Abstract:

In this study, the 18650-type lithium-ion ternary battery pack was selected as a research object to investigate the burning characteristics of power lithium battery packs. A series of experiments with thermal runaway induced by heating was conducted in a confined space. Some typical characteristic parameters were studied at various heating locations and varying power by measuring temperature data and recording a high-digital video, including the ignition time, flame shape, and critical temperature of thermal runaway. Besides, a fire extinguishing test with water mist was conducted to test the effect of fire suppression and cooling. Results demonstrated that the thermal runaway temperature was at 120—139 ℃ for the lithium ternary battery pack. The maximum burning temperature increased with increased heating power, and peak value was up to 800 ℃. The burning intensity of the lithium battery weakened as spacing between the battery and heating source increased when the battery pack was heated from the side. In such cases, several intermittent reburning instances occurred. We observed that the burning intensity of the battery pack with bottom overheating was stronger than that with side overheating. Unlike in side overheating, the batteries were continuously burned by spraying in bottom overheating. Meanwhile, ignition time was reduced, and burning intensity was increased with increased external heat source power. Herein, the burning batteries were effectively suppressed and cooled using water mist. The main reason was that internal temperature in the battery pack was reduced below the critical value so that reburning was prevented effectively. However, we noted that secondary damage caused by water pollution and short-circuit discharge must be carefully considered according to fire suppression needs although water mist can be used as an effective fire-fighting method for lithium battery fire exhaustion.

Key words: lithium ternary battery, thermal runaway, burning characteristic, critical temperature, water mist extinguishing

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