A Review and Reflection of Several Fire Incidents of Large-scale Lithium-ion Energy Storage Station,
Lithium-ion Energy Storage,

▍SIRIM Certification

For the security of person and property, Malaysia government establishes product certification scheme and puts surveillance on electronic appliances, information & multimedia and construction materials. Controlled products can be exported to Malaysia only after obtaining product certification certificate and labeling. 

▍SIRIM QAS

SIRIM QAS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Malaysian Institute of Industry Standards, is the only designated certification unit of the Malaysian national regulatory agencies (KDPNHEP, SKMM, etc.).

The secondary battery certification is designated by KDPNHEP (Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs) as the sole certification authority. Currently, manufacturers, importers and traders can apply for certification to SIRIM QAS and apply for the testing and certification of secondary batteries under the licensed certification mode.

▍SIRIM Certification- Secondary Battery

Secondary battery is currently subject to voluntary certification but it is going to be in the scope of mandatory certification soon. The exact mandatory date is subject to the official Malaysian announcement time.  SIRIM QAS has already started accepting certification requests.

Secondary battery certification Standard : MS IEC 62133:2017 or IEC 62133:2012

▍Why MCM?

● Established a good technical exchange and information exchange channel with SIRIM QAS who assigned a specialist to handle with MCM projects and inquiries only and to share the latest precisely information of this area.

● SIRIM QAS recognizes MCM testing data so that samples can be tested in MCM instead of delivering to Malaysia.

● To provide one-stop service for Malaysian certification of batteries, adapters and mobile phones.

The energy crisis has made lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (ESS) more widely used in the past few years, but there have also been a number of dangerous accidents resulting in damage to facilities and the environment, economic loss, and even loss of life. Investigations have found that even though ESS have met standards related to battery systems, such as UL 9540 and UL 9540A, thermal abuse and fires have occurred. Therefore, learning lessons from past cases and analyzing the risks and their countermeasures will benefit the development of ESS technology.The failure caused by thermal abuse of cell is basically observed that a fire followed by an explosion. For example, accidents of the McMicken power station in Arizona, USA in 2019 and the Fengtai power station in Beijing, China in 2021 both exploded after a fire. Such phenomenon is caused by the failure of a single cell, which triggers an internal chemical reaction, releasing heat (exothermic reaction), and the temperature continues to rise and spread to nearby cells and modules, causing a fire or even an explosion. The failure mode of a cell is generally caused by overcharge or control system failure, thermal exposure, external short circuit and internal short circuit (which can be caused by various conditions such as indentation or dent, material impurities, penetration by external objects, etc.).After the thermal abuse of the cell, flammable gas will be produced. From above you can notice that the first three cases of explosion have the same cause, that is flammable gas can not discharge timely. At this point, the battery, the module and the container ventilation system are particularly important. Generally gases are discharged from the battery through the exhaust valve, and the pressure regulation of the exhaust valve can reduce the accumulation of combustible gases. In the module stage, generally an external fan or a shell’s cooling design will be used to avoid the accumulation of combustible gases. Finally, in the container stage, ventilation facilities and monitoring systems are also required to evacuate combustible gases.