Experimental investigation of water spray on suppressing lithium-ion battery fires

• Published in: Fire safety journal Vol. 120; p. 103117
• Main Authors: Zhang, Lin, Duan, Qiangling, Liu, Yujun, Xu, Jiajia, Sun, Jinhua, Xiao, Huahua, Wang, Qingsong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Batteries; Carbon dioxide; Combustion; Contact pressure; Cooling rate; Efficiency; Extinguishing; Fire suppression; Fires; Gas production; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Lithium-ion battery safety; Oil and gas production; Propagation; Rechargeable batteries; Risk assessment; Surface temperature; Thermal runaway; Water pressure; Water spray; Water sprays; Water spray; Risk assessment; Lithium-ion battery safety; Fire suppression
• ISSN: 0379-7112; 1873-7226
• DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2020.103117

This work investigated the effects of water spray on lithium-ion battery (LIB) fires. Experiments were conducted on single cell and multi-cell batteries to study the effect of water volume and spray pressure on the fire extinguishing and the effectiveness of preventing propagation of thermal runaway in LIB's. Meanwhile, the potential hazard of water spray as a fire extinguishing method was assessed by investigating the influence of water on combustion gas production during extinguishing. It was found from these experiments that water spray can effectively extinguish 21700 LIB fires and reduce the maximum surface temperature of LIB. But the water spray has no significant difference in cooling rate after temperature recovery. The contact efficiency between the water spray and batteries decreased with the increase in water pressure. With sufficient volume of water spray and high contact efficiency, water spray can inhibit the thermal runaway propagation. With insufficient volume of water spray or low contact efficiency, the time to onset of thermal runaway was delayed. Water affects combustion gas production during thermal runaway. When water was applied, the concentration of CO, H2 and HF increased, while CO2 decreased. •The cooling and suppression effect of water spray on LIBs fire were investigated.•The cooling efficiencies and mechanisms of water spray were studied.•The variations in gas production during the extinguishing process were investigated.