This presentation begins with the fundamental hazards associated with lithium-ion batteries and the history of large-scale sprinklered fire testing with lithium-ion batteries. It will then describe a recent project wherein a unique fire sprinkler protection scheme was tested at UL to assess its ability to mitigate cell-to-cell thermal runaway propagation in small format lithium-ion batteries at 100 percent state of charge within a rack-storage configuration. The tests involved thousands of 18650 cylindrical cells in polypropylene trays in different storage configurations. The array of cells was forced into thermal runaway, and the performance of the sprinkler protection scheme was assessed.

Upon completion of this seminar, attendees will be able to:

• Define a lithium-ion battery.
• Describe the fire hazards associated with lithium-ion batteries.
• Describe the large-scale testing conducted to date to evaluate sprinkler protection strategies for lithium-ion batteries.