The extinguishment mechanisms of a micelle encapsulator F-500 on lithium-ion battery fires

Abstract

An effective and suitable fire-extinguishing agent used for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) fire currently exists a huge challenge. In this work, extinguishment mechanisms of a micelle encapsulator F-500 were proposed through a serious of tests. To clearly understand LIB driven into thermal runaway (TR), gases released from the battery were collected and analyzed. Then, a series of absorption tests were conducted to explore the encapsulator technology of the solution with 3 % F-500. Finally, a series of combustion tests and suppression tests were carried out to verify its suppression effectiveness on LIBs fire. The result indicated that the battery released a great deal of hydrogen and hydrocarbons, which are highly combustible. H2 and CO account for the largest proportion of these flammable components, which are considered as characteristic gases. Battery module with higher SOC increased difficulty of suppression of TR propagation. The rebounding temperature became higher with increase of SOC when fire-extinguishing agents were applied. 3 % F-500 solution could suppress LIBs fire by combination of absorbing these characteristic gases and excellent cooling capacity. The cooling mechanism of water mist (WM) mainly relied on heat steam. These results are expected to provide a guideline for cooling the LIBs system.