Battery Explosion and Fire destroys OSU solar vehicle

[SunCoaster]

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_803a17e6-afd8-11e0-bedd-001cc4c03286.html

 

[TylerDurden]

Yup, it's all fun until your lico pack goes boom.

The ten-second rule might need revisiting.

 

[Lock]

Next time, he said, the team will use lithium iron nanophosphate batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries.
"They are inert. they do not explode," he said of lithium iron nanophosphate batteries. "It's a cutting edge technology that is coming out and we will be adopting that technology."

Pretty sure they knew about LiFePO4 years ago and went w/a decision for higher energy/power density LiPo w/out the safeguards commercial folks implement. I give them an F.

Lock

 

[jonescg]

What's the ten second rule? If you hear a pop and a fizzle, you have ten seconds to get out of the way?

 

[mwkeefer]

Shame they didn't have a way to dump the packs out when the caught on fire
-Mike

 

[neptronix]

Next time, he said, the team will use lithium iron nanophosphate batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries.
"They are inert. they do not explode," he said of lithium iron nanophosphate batteries. "It's a cutting edge technology that is coming out and we will be adopting that technology."

Read more: http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_803a17e6-afd8-11e0-bedd-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1SKsGcwvR

lithium iron nanophosphate.. Wow, i can't wait for that future tech

Let me guess.. hobbyking was involved!

 

[liveforphysics]

Next time, he said, the team will use lithium iron nanophosphate batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries.
"They are inert. they do not explode," he said of lithium iron nanophosphate batteries. "It's a cutting edge technology that is coming out and we will be adopting that technology."

Read more: http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_803a17e6-afd8-11e0-bedd-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1SKsGcwvR

lithium iron nanophosphate.. Wow, i can't wait for that future tech

Let me guess.. hobbyking was involved!

Nope, 18650 laptop cells. LG or Panasonic's.

 

[neptronix]

Even worse!

 

[vanilla ice]

Nomex works for non-electric racers.. I think 10 seconds or more would be ok with the right clothing.

 

[RVD]

Wait a sec, this guy is a junior and he's married with.a kid? He's got bigger headaches than a battery in a solar vehicle...

 

[flathill]

Nope, 18650 laptop cells. LG or Panasonic's.

trustFIRE 18650 2500 mAh
would laugh at the irony if the cascade didn't burn him so fast
(he got out in 2-5 seconds)
probably as good as the refurb Ultrafire crap
these scammers need to be shut down with their false terminal cap refurb cells

Wuhe is making tons of fairy dust to double lithium iron phosphate cell's capacity and power while reducing cost (mag field used to prevent nanodust from going airborn). A123's stock is really cheap

NMC will still probably win out...ferromagnetic cobalt..winding a spring...Hiperco50 beats iron.

IBM in SJ and PolyPlus in Berkeley have lithium air working but safety will always be an issue. PolyPlus also has salt water cells which will be great for ships and subs

 

[dogman dan]

A short is a short, and can make a mess with any chemisty. The lesson here is build so shorts don't be happening.

 

[TylerDurden]

http://americansolarchallenge.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/FSGP2011ERegs20110328.pdf

No mention of fire in the regulations.





Edit: removed landmine. ES remains independent!

 

[SamTexas]

... Pretty sure they knew about LiFePO4 years ago and went w/a decision for higher energy/power density LiPo w/out the safeguards commercial folks implement...

What safeguards would those be?

... The lesson here is build so shorts don't be happening.

How do you accomplish that?

 

[mwkeefer]

Wait - this was caused by a dead short circuit? (Skyler pay attention) I retract my previous comments, though there is no way to protect against such events with fancy ejection packs or dumps and venting an enclosure wouldnt have helped (what I intended when I say too bad they had no way to dump the packs)... then again, I've never had a short in the past 3 years of building and riding almost daily.

I suppose the plain sad truth is, there is no good excuse for short circuits when building an electric powered vehicle (or anything else outside the movie universe)

-Mike

 

[TylerDurden]

The ASC site no longer shows this document, but google has it in quick-view:
View attachment LiCoDesign.pdf
http://www.google.com/search?q=fire+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Famericansolarchallenge.org&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=

 

[TylerDurden]

... Pretty sure they knew about LiFePO4 years ago and went w/a decision for higher energy/power density LiPo w/out the safeguards commercial folks implement...

What safeguards would those be?

... The lesson here is build so shorts don't be happening.

How do you accomplish that?

Presumably, the participants have reviewed the docs found here:
http://americansolarchallenge.org/tech/tech-center-2010/batteries/

 

[SamTexas]

Everything listed in that doc MINIMIZE the chance of getting a short. They don't PREVENT it.

Excerpt:

The test procedure is not meant to guarantee the operation or reliability of the protection system under all possible conditions

 

[TylerDurden]

100% prevention seems rather unlikely.


It might behoove the challenge community to regard the explosion as a "sentinel-event" and mandate firewalls in vehicles.





Edit: removed landmine. ES remains independent.

 

[texaspyro]

I'm and bit conFUSEd about how this could happen? Ancient melty wire tech in the proper place would go a long way... so would a bit o' reading about Tesla's design. But then, anybody who builds big packs with cobalt cells deserves the weenie roast that will eventually befall them.

 

[flathill]

The lesson here is not to buy junk cells with button caps held loosely in place by the wrapper on reject cells. Most 18650 cells have a vent, positive temp coefficent short circuit prevention device, and a current interupt device all under the positive pole. Stick a loose button cap over this positive pole...block the vent and increase the chance of shorting the can (negative pole)..trust in ultrafire

 

[oatnet]

Han believes the explosion was caused by a short in one of the battery cells. Each of the 28 battery packs contains 20 small cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells - a total of 568.
...
Next time, he said, the team will use lithium iron nanophosphate batteries instead of lithium-ion batteries.

"They are inert. They do not explode," he said of lithium iron nanophosphate batteries. "It's a cutting edge technology that is coming out and we will be adopting that technology."

Short IN the cell, not between the cells, strictly a chemistry issue IMO.

-JD

 

[Pure]

It sounds like they were on a pretty limited budget having to rely mostly on donations. I have to wonder if they didn't try and cut corners with reclaimed "dead" laptop packs.

I'm glad he didn't get hurt. Another solar car death is the last thing the EV revolution needs.

 

[oatnet]

It sounds like they were on a pretty limited budget having to rely mostly on donations. I have to wonder if they didn't try and cut corners with reclaimed "dead" laptop packs.

I'm glad he didn't get hurt. Another solar car death is the last thing the EV revolution needs.

I agree. I am concerned that LiPo chemistry fires will get EV's branded as dangerous.

 

[Erogo]

lithium iron nanophosphate batteries ... They are inert.

Lock

Hmm, inert. Doesnt sound much use as a battery chemistry then.