Page | 112 combustible mixture from cell hot surfaces. Suppressants shown to be effective include: inert gas I smothering of flames 170 (fire behavior testing data166 indicates that smothering is effective in preventing flaming, but will not cool cells and prevent thermal runaway propagation), carbon dioxide (Exponent typically uses carbon dioxide extinguishers to suppress flaming of cells during testing - this will not cool cells and prevent thermal runaway propagation), water (a
There is limited published data regarding the selection of suppressants for use on lithium-ion
battery fires . The design o f suppression systems in battery manufacturing facilities is generally
considered proprietary information and is not publically available. Testing data that is available
has been published is related to very specific lithium-ion battery applications, primarily the
suppression of fires in air transport: fires that might occur in a passenger cabin, where very
limited numbers of cells could become involved and Halon extinguishers and water are available
170
suppressants,
suppressant. Full scale fire suppression testing is necessary to evaluate specific storage configurations, quantities, arrangements and fire suppression system design criteria and overall effectiveness.
Navy Sea Systems Command released an Advanced Change Notice for Lithium Battery
171
In this document, the Navy recommends (based on limited testing), the use of "a narrow-angle fog of water or AFFF" to cool batteries, suppress "fireballs," and
reduce the likelihood of thermal runaway propagation.
The F A A studied suppression o f lithium-ion batteries with water and Halon 1211 , as these are
172
number of sources
cool cells), and Halon. • •
Firefighting Procedures.
17 0 171 172 • •
have described the effectiveness of water to suppress flaming and 170 172 180
and fires that might occur in aircraft cargo holds, where Halon is the available
typically available in hand extinguishers aboard commercial aircraft.
FAA recommends the use of water to suppress fires involving notebook computers, because water will both extinguish flames and suppress thermal runaway propagation. As a second choice, the FAA recommends using Halon 1211 to knock down flames, followed by deluge from available water sources (such as bottles of drinking water). Halon 1211 alone will not prevent re-ignitions ofcells due to propagation ofcell thermal runaway reactions. In FAA tests, application of ice did not sufficiently cool cells to prevent thermal runaway propagation.
In 2010, the FAA reported on testing lithium iron phosphate and 8-Ah lithium cobalt oxide soft-
16 9
pack polymer cells.
In addition, the iron phosphate cells did not continue to vent or re-ignite once the Halon 1211 was applied. However, Halon 1211 was not able to suppress re-ignition of the soft-pouch polymer cells (cobalt oxide chemistry).
170
171
172
Lain MJ, Teagle DA, Cullen J, Dass V, "Dealing with In-Flight Lithium Battery Fires in Portable Electronic Devices," CAA Paper 2003/4, July 30, 2003.
Advance Change Notices to NSTM 555VIR12 and NSTM 555V2Rl 1 for Lithium Battery Firefighting Procedures, July 21 , 2009.
http://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/systems/handheld/handheld.asp, include a link to a video entitled, "Extinguishing In-flight Laptop Computer Fires."
1100034.000 AOFO 0711 CM01
Halon 1211 was able to successfully extinguish flames from these cells.
98
As a first choice, the
|
