The threat of lithium-ion battery fires in containers, recently caused a container shipping company to refuse cargoes of electric vehicles. Their decision could set back this aspect of the green movement, if other shippers follow suit. We describe a new container fire fighting method, while confirming we have no interest in this product.
Firefighting Lithium-Ion Inside Containers
Lithium metal is a highly flammable material, that is a real challenge to extinguish once burning. These fires can self-ignite, if a lithium-ion battery overheats, due to an internal malfunction or sustains damage. The heat can easily spread to adjacent lithium-ion battery cells, leading to a developing inferno.
Such a blaze in a container aboard a container-cargo ship at sea, can pose an existential threat to vessel and crew. The crew cannot access a lithium-ion battery fire inside a red-hot container to fight it. They can only watch helplessly. The fire may progressively destroy their ship, as has happened three times this decade.
How Copious Water Helps Control The Situation
Traditional firefighting involves depriving flames of oxygen. However, lithium-ion battery chemical fires release their own oxygen. This is why cooling a blaze with copious amounts of cooling water, is the best way to control lithium-ion battery fires inside containers.
Cooling Lithium Fires From Outside Containers
The innovative HydroPen mechanism attaches to the door of an accessible shipping container. Water pressure from a fire main hose, rotates a cutting disc. This makes a hole through the container’s sheet-metal door, right through to the interior without requiring electricity.
The high-pressure water then floods into the burning container. This cools its contents, and contains the fire. This sounds like a great way of cooling lithium-ion battery fires inside containers, but there are limitations:
- The fire main must deliver the water at sufficiently high pressure and volume.
- Crew members must be able to access the container door, and mount the hydro drill.
Therefore, we conclude, this method is primarily suitable for fighting lithium-ion battery fires inside a single container, and in the early stages too. It is, none the less, a significant step in the right direction.
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