On November 26, 2019 Firefree Coatings (“Firefree”) was issued Patent No. 10,490,785 for containment of lithium battery fires.
With the increase in the use of lithium ion batteries and the expanding size of battery packs comes a high level of fire hazards associated with the batteries both in storage, use and transportation. As a result, there has been a critical need for reliable ways to ship, store and use lithium batteries as well as to protect electric vehicles and power storage towers from uncontrolled damages due to lithium batteries failures and fires.
This patent covers solutions developed by Firefree to compartmentalize lithium battery cells, resulting in containing lithium battery fires to their point of origin. The solutions involve applying an intumescent coating such as Firefree 88 to (i) either the surface of a containment area, such as a panel on an electric vehicle, or on a box of a power storage facility, or (ii) storage or shipping containers for lithium battery cells. When subjected to fire or high heat, the heat-activated intumescent material creates a fire barrier, deprives the space of oxygen, cools and insulates the contained batteries, and substantially prevents smoke.
The Firefree solutions have been successfully tested to contain battery fires on materials as flammable as cardboard. Firefree coatings have also extensive testing on wood, thin gauge metal, carbon fiber and fiberglass composites, all materials used in lithium batteries shipping containers, power storage towers and vehicle battery storage areas.
Firefree is the leading developer of cost-efficient fire retardant and fire resistant technologies that help prevent the spread of fire, smoke and toxic gases during a fire, thus giving time to occupants to evacuate and protecting the rest of the property from fire. Ff88 is tested at third party accredited International Accreditation Service (IAS) fire testing laboratories. Firefree Coatings is a member of NFPA, ICC and ASTM E-05 Committee. Ff88 is listed by FM Approvals and by ICC-ESR.
For further information, please contact at [email protected], (888-990-3388) (+1 415-459-6488), www.firefree.com.