Independent Testing Standards
- UL 9540A Testing: Invinity Energy Systems, a leading VRFB manufacturer, has had its flow battery systems tested independently to the UL 9540A standard. This standard evaluates fire safety hazards within battery systems and assesses extreme abuse conditions that could lead to flammable and toxic gas emissions, fires, or explosions. The tests have shown that Invinity’s VRFBs exhibit no risk of thermal runaway.
- UL 1973 Compliance: In addition to UL 9540A, Invinity’s batteries are also marked with the UL 1973 standard, indicating compliance with safety requirements for stationary energy storage systems. This standard focuses on aspects like leakage, valve failures, and pump failures but does not cover membrane breakdown or electrode corrosion, which are specific to flow batteries.
Collaborative Research Efforts
- SES Renewables & UL Collaboration: SES Renewables has collaborated with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to enhance understanding of the safety and performance characteristics of zinc-bromine and vanadium flow batteries. This research aims to develop detailed test procedures and instrumentation under off-nominal conditions such as overcharge and short circuits.
- Redflow & UL Partnership: Underwriters Laboratories has selected Redflow (a zinc-bromine flow battery manufacturer) for a research program to characterize the operating and safety profiles of redox flow batteries. The program studies cycle life, aging properties, and behavior under various conditions to deepen understanding of this technology’s safety and performance limits.
These independent tests and collaborations provide comprehensive validation of the safety of flow batteries, highlighting their advantages over lithium-ion batteries in terms of fire risk and thermal runaway.
Original article by NenPower, If reposted, please credit the source: https://nenpower.com/blog/what-independent-testing-has-been-conducted-to-validate-the-safety-of-flow-batteries/
