Abstract
To secure the safety of xEV (all types of electrical vehicles), the United Nations released Global Technical Regulation No. 20, “Global Technical Regulations on the EVS (Electric Vehicle Safety)” in March 2018. The fire resistance test of the rechargeable energy storage system (REESS) describes an experimental procedure to evaluate the safety performance—specifically, whether passengers would have sufficient time to escape from the xEV before the explosion of the battery in a fire. There are two options for component-based REESS fire resistance tests: a gasoline pool fire and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) burner. This study describes the process for optimizing the specifications of the fire resistance test apparatus for xEV batteries using an LPG burner, which was first proposed by the Republic of Korea. Based on the results of the measurement and a computational fluid dynamics analysis of the prototype test apparatus, new equipment designs were proposed by determining the nozzle spacing and number, fuel flow rate, and experimental conditions. To cover a wide range of xEV battery sizes, a final test apparatus consisting of 625 burners was selected. For three different battery sizes, it was possible to satisfy the temperature requirements, ranging from 800 to 1000 °C, of the GTR fire resistance test. The final apparatus design developed in the present study has been included in GTR No. 20 for EVS since March 2018.
Highlights
The global market share of electric-powered vehicles has been gradually increasing due to tightened regulations on environmental pollution, climate change caused by greenhouse gases, and the need for alternative energy resources [1,2]
Based on the CFD analysis of the prototype test apparatus, a denser installation of the burners was proposed as the new design element of the test apparatus
An experimental apparatus was developed with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Bunsen burners to meet the criterion of the fire resistance test for the rechargeable energy storage system (REESS) of xEV
Summary
The global market share of electric-powered vehicles (xEV) has been gradually increasing due to tightened regulations on environmental pollution, climate change caused by greenhouse gases, and the need for alternative energy resources [1,2]. The annual sales of xEV will be about 65 million by 2050 in major global markets including. If ambitious policies are continuously introduced to meet more challenging climate goals, the market volume of light-duty xEV is predicted to grow to 220 million in 2030 [2]. Since fires due to internal and external factors of the REESS can cause serious damage [9,10,11], the fire resistance of the REESS is one of the main safety requirements of xEv in the GTR. The fire resistance test of the REESS describes an experimental procedure to evaluate the safety performance—Energies 2020, 13, 465; doi:10.3390/en13020465 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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