Water Mist Fire Fighting System in Lithium Battery Storage Facility

Abstract

The significant increase in the sale of electric vehicles powered by lithium batteries, such as cars, buses and forklifts trucks, both on the global stage and in Brazil, has given rise to a debate on fire safety in this equipment. This article evaluates the water mist system for fire control in a lithium battery warehouse, compared to the system usually used for automatic sprinklers. The exploratory method and case study were used in a real logistics warehouse in the pharmaceutical industry, where the warehouse studied is located. The results show that compared to the conventional sprinkler system, the fire reserve of the mist water system represents only 22.5% of the volume needed to design the system. This factor contributes to the lower water demand, preservation of the natural resource and lower costs for fire systems reservoirs. There are also other important factors such as smaller pipe diameters and reduced flow velocity, which can lead to less damage to the system and less maintenance over its useful life.