Hydrogen Sensor Can Detect Thermal Runaway of Lithium Vehicles and Play an Early Warning Role

Hydrogen is the most difficult to capture among all gases, so its presence is difficult to feel in life.

In fact, hydrogen is often a by-product of many chemical reactions. If its presence can be detected, it can be put to good use. In the past, due to the high cost and limitations of performance and volume of hydrogen sensors, there were few related applications. However, when hydrogen sensors become popular with the supply chain demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles, they will be able to open up more applications that were previously unreachable. Even in the automotive field, the use of hydrogen sensors is definitely not limited to hydrogen vehicles; it also has its place in lithium vehicles.

Based on the principle of thermal runaway of lithium electric vehicles, certain specific sensors can be used to provide early warning. Among them, the detection performance of hydrogen sensors has attracted the most attention.

Installing Specific Sensors Capable to Detect Thermal Runaway in Advance

Lithium vehicles have been on the market for more than ten years. Still, their reliability and safety have not yet reached a level that gives consumers complete peace of mind.This concern will cause a slowdown in sales. Traditionally, the safety control of lithium vehicles relies almost entirely on the battery management system. However, experience shows that this method of relying on voltage changes is unreliable, and thermal runaway events may sometimes originate from the battery management system itself.

A defective battery management system may fail to recognize and respond to changing battery conditions, which may lead to the possibility of thermal runaway due to overcharging or discharging. The industry urgently needs to develop more convincing early warning and processing systems to strengthen battery management systems and improve the safety of lithium vehicles.

Since the chemical nature of lithium batteries is active, their organic electrolytes, such as ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, and diethyl carbonate, are flammable, which may cause accidents under extremely harsh conditions such as driving. When the lithium battery pack is overcharged or has problems such as internal defects or external short circuits, the battery pack will accumulate highly high heat. If not resolved immediately, thermal runaway may occur, causing toxic smoke or even fire.

Once a lithium battery catches fire, it will burn at extremely high temperatures and cannot be extinguished using traditional methods. If this phenomenon cannot be effectively solved, it will increase consumers' doubts about the safety of lithium vehicles, thereby affecting sales. When lithium batteries overheat, chemicals are released into the air. Therefore, if advanced gas sensors can be installed on lithium vehicles, we can effectively seize the opportunity before potential thermal runaway is about to occur and take early intervention contingency measures, which will significantly avoid the possibility of lithium vehicles catching fire. It is not just limited to preventing thermal runaway. In fact, lithium vehicles may occasionally cause overheating when fast charging, which requires sensor monitoring.



References

•  Forbes Technology Council, 2023-08-10, Sarah Martin, How Sensor Technologies Safeguard Electric Vehicles
• Process Safety and Environment Protection Volume 175, 2023-07, Nawei Luy and five others, Hydrogen gas diffusion behavior under fault conditions and detector installation optimization of electric vehicles
• Power Electronic News, 2023-09-27, Stefano Lovati, MEMS Hydrogen Sensor Detects BMS Thermal Runaway