Experiential study on the toxic and explosive characteristics of thermal runaway gas generated in electric-vehicle lithium-ion battery systems

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2023.0294

Abstract

Abstract:

In this study, the gas-composition and ignition characteristics of thermal runaway fires in full-sized electric-vehicle lithium-ion battery systems are investigated. A full-sized electric-vehicle fire-test platform is built, and a gas collection device is designed. The toxic gas composition and ignition characteristics are measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and an explosion-limit test instrument. The gas release process during an electric vehicle fire is analyzed, and the gas release in the battery compartment is divided into four stages according to the thermal runaway characteristics. The gas-composition characteristics in these four stages are analyzed. In the first stage, electrolyte vapor is primarily released, whereas in the second stage, hydrogen is mainly released. A large amount of sulfur dioxide gas is released in the third stage, with the concentration reaching 10906.4 ppm, and the mechanism of sulfur dioxide generation is analyzed. Hydrogen cyanide gas is produced in the early stages of combustion in a cockpit, with a maximum concentration of 120.4 ppm. The main sources of various toxic gases in the cockpit are analyzed. The explosion limits of the gases in the battery compartment in different stages are measured. The explosion limits of the gases released from the battery compartment range from 4.83% to 73.77%. The explosion hazards calculated for each stage indicate that the second stage of thermal runaway in the battery compartment has the highest explosion hazard. The analysis of variations in explosion characteristics of the gas mixture released from the battery compartment suggests that the inert gas content mainly affects the lower explosion limit of the mixtures, whereas hydrogen content mainly affects the upper explosion limit of the mixture.

Key words: electric vehicle, lithium-ion battery, gas composition, gas explosion risk

CLC Number:

TM 911.3

Qinpei CHEN, Xuehui WANG, Wenzhong MI. Experiential study on the toxic and explosive characteristics of thermal runaway gas generated in electric-vehicle lithium-ion battery systems[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2023, 12(7): 2256-2262.

Figures/Tables 13

Table 1

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Table 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Table 3

Analysis of Gas Components Released from Automotive Interior Materials"

燃烧气体种类	内饰材料种类
$C O 2 、 C O$	木材、塑料等含碳物
HCN	塑料、聚氨酯
HCl	聚氯乙烯等含氯化合物
氮氧化物	含氮物
卤化氢	阻燃剂

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

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位置	材料种类
电池舱	三元锂电池
驾驶舱	木材、聚氨酯、聚氯乙烯等

舱室	阶段	阶段分类	开始时间	标志性特征
电池舱	热失控初期	阶段1	6 min	白烟冒出
	热失控发展	阶段2	11 min	射流火出现
	热失控稳定	阶段3	14 min	稳定燃烧
	热失控蔓延	阶段4	26 min	驾驶舱出现燃烧
驾驶舱	稳定燃烧	采样阶段1	37 min	稳定火焰
		采样阶段2	60 min
		采样阶段3	74 min
	火灾衰减	阶段4衰减阶段	79 min	火焰衰减

时期	爆炸下限/%	爆炸上限/%	爆炸危险性	最大爆炸压力/MPa
阶段1	18.09	37.28	1.06	0.732
阶段2	4.83	73.77	14.27	0.626
阶段3	31.60	57.60	0.82	0.514
阶段4	40.20	59.24	0.47	—

气体	爆炸下限/%	爆炸上限/%
氢气	4.0	75.6
甲烷	4.9	16.0
碳酸二甲酯	3.1	20.5
碳酸二乙酯	1.4	11.0
碳酸乙烯酯	3.6	16.1

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