Discussion of the relationship between failure and fire of valve regulated lead acid battery

Abstract

Failure modes of the valve regulated lead acid battery will not only greatly reduce the service life, but also may start a fire. This paper reviews the relationship between battery fire and failure modes. Four failure modes influenced on the valve regulated lead acid battery were emphatically analyzed: “Sulfation of negative electrode plate”, “corrosion of the positive electrode plate”, “loss of water” and “acid leak”. The direct reasons for battery fire are thermal runaway, short circuit and hydrogen explosion, which were inducing by battery failure. A fire prevention scheme was proposed on the basis of above thesis.