Mandates design, installation, and maintenance requirements for explosion protection systems—including pressure venting, chemical suppression, mechanical isolation, and inert gas blanketing—to prevent or mitigate combustible gas or vapor or dust explosions through engineered controls.
Does NFPA 855 require explosion protection?
The fire codes (IFC 2021 Chapter 1207, NFPA 855 ed. 2023) contain a requirement to include explosion protection for installed systems exceeding certain energy capacity thresholds.
How does ESS design affect fire and explosion safety?
Several competing design objectives for ESS can detrimentally affect fire and explosion safety, including the hot aisle/cold aisle layout for cooling efficiency, protection against water and dust ingress into the enclosure, and the use of larger cells with increased energy density.
Why are explosion hazards a concern for ESS batteries?
For grid-scale and residential applications of ESS, explosion hazards are a significant concern due to the propensity of lithium-ion batteries to undergo thermal runaway, which causes a release of flammable gases composed of hydrogen, hydrocarbons (e.g. methane, ethylene, etc.), carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.
The two types of explosion control options for ESS, NFPA 68 deflagration venting and NFPA 69 exhaust ventilation, are based on a design basis determined from UL 9540A test data. This testing is meant to provide baseline data for the analysis and is generally extrapolated to a sufficiently conservative hazard scenario for the ESS installation.
In general, using deflagration venting as passive explosion protection in addition to an active system has multiple benefits due to the nature of the battery failure event, which involves a rapid release of flammable gases.
Do lithium-ion energy storage stations need a vent panel?
The latest NFPA 855–2023 requires that lithium-ion energy storage stations (Li-BESS) larger than 20 kWh must install explosion protection devices. The vent panel is the preferred protection device for Li-BESS. In this study, the motion equation of the vent panel was derived.