Development of Fire Protection Guidance for Energy Storage Systems in Commercial Occupancies

Development of Fire Protection Guidance for Energy Storage Systems in Commercial Occupancies

Presented by Benjamin Ditch, FM Global

Fire protection and installation guidance for lithium ion battery (LIB) based energy storage systems (ESS) has been developed through large-scale fire testing. Free-burn tests were conducted using full ESS racks to bound the range of fire hazard presented by lithium iron phosphate and nickel manganese cobalt oxide chemistries. Sprinklered fire tests using two full ESS racks were then conducted on each chemistry to evaluate the performance of sprinkler protection to suppress or control the fire and limit damage to the building or surrounding equipment. Sprinkler protection was provided by K5.6 gpm/psi1/2, QR, sprinklers providing a 0.3 gpm/ft2 discharge density which is a common design for commercial occupancies where ESS may be located. This project was conducted in conjunction with the Property Insurance Research Group and in partnership with the Fire Protection Research Foundation.

Benjamin Ditch is a Sr. Lead Research Engineer at FM Global and has an M.S. in Fire Protection Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester MA, USA. Mr. Ditch is the Technical Team Leader of the Large-Scale Fires Team with 18 years of experience in fire hazard analysis and specialty fire protection system design. He is responsible for the development and implementation of large-scale testing, including specialty hazards such as ignitable liquids, non-standard storage, and new technologies. Mr. Ditch’s current research interests include protection for automatic storage and retrieval systems, energy storage systems, and lithium ion batteries.