Experimental Study on the Efficiency of Dodecafluoro-2-Methylpentan-3-One on Suppressing Large-Scale Battery Module Fire

Currently, it is significant to study the fire suppression of battery modules in energy storage stations. In this work, the combustion tests of a single cell and battery module were conducted on the 243 Ah lithium iron phosphate battery. Meanwhile, the fire extinguishing effect of C₆F₁₂O on large-scale battery module fire was verified under a real-scale fire scenario. Results show that the thermal runaway process of a single cell can be divided into four stages. The thermal runaway process had an “incubation period” in stage II, which was suitable for early warning and fire extinguishing. Thermal runaway can propagate within the battery body and the thermal runaway propagation time was 121 s. Thermal runaway propagation can occur in the battery module, which is much more aggressive and risky than a single cell. It needed around 50 kJ to 60 kJ to support the thermal runaway propagation between an adjacent cell in the battery module. Furthermore, The C₆F₁₂O has good fire extinguishing and cooling effect, which can successfully inhibit the thermal runaway propagation in the battery module. Meanwhile, when the designed fire extinguishing concentration of C₆F₁₂O is reached in the battery pack, the subsequent battery will not be ignited even if the safety valve is opened.