PUBLICATIONS AND VIDEOS

SUMMARY

In the last decades, Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems have been used more and more for all types of applications, from the smallest batteries used in phones to large energy containers. Risks should be considered carefully when dealing with energy storage, as safety systems can depend on electricity supply for instance. Among available technical solutions, Li-Ion batteries (LIBs) are the most developed nowadays, although the term ‘LIBs’ actually encompasses a wide variety of systems of different chemistry, geometry, etc.

This presentation provides an overview of LIBs and describes some recent accidents to illustrate the different phenomena that occur during the thermal runaway of a LIB. Large-scale storage fires (Korea, Arizona, Belgium, etc.) are presented together with some accidents which occurred on smaller systems. Knowledge gained from more than 10 years of abuse testing of LIBs and studies (including numerous research projects) are also presented so as to raise awareness of the differences between battery designs in terms of reactivity e.g. a pouch does not react like a cylindrical cell and an LFP chemistry is not as reactive as an NMC one. Such aspects are crucial when designing an energy storage system.

Finally, current work on LIB thermal runaway modelling is presented. This focuses on the required technical breakthrough to develop a relevant and reliable model to predict cell behaviour and thermal runaway propagation from cell to cell. Such a model should consider both inside cell chemistry together with large-scale combustion of electrolyte and solid conduction. While each piece of the model exists, putting all those pieces together to develop a reliable predictive model for all LIB characteristics is a real challenge. Such a model is however required to improve LIB safety and make the future possible.