Prevent fires in lithium-ion battery storage with effective fire and smoldering detection.
The storage of lithium-ion batteries poses significant risks, including fire and explosions due to thermal runaway. These processes often begin invisibly: before smoke or flames are visible, the danger is usually already developing. Early detection is important to prevent dangerous situations, damage to people, assets, reputation, and the environment.
Create a safe work environment for employees
Early detection of hotspots and smoke with thermography and AI analysis
24/7 monitoring of storage locations
Fewer false alarms, more real warnings thanks to the learning system
Prevent damage, loss of productivity, and damage to your reputation
Lithium-ion batteries can suffer from a so-called thermal runaway develop: an uncontrollable temperature rise that can lead to fire or explosion. This can be caused by damage, overloading, or exposure to high temperatures. This process often starts invisibly and can develop very rapidly.
During such an incident, highly toxic pyrolysis gases release. Additionally, lithium-ion fires are difficult to extinguish; traditional extinguishing agents are often insufficient to stop escalation. Before smoke and fire are visible in a fire, the danger has often already begun.
Due to the significant increase in electrical applications – such as electric vehicles, forklifts, and consumer electronics – the number of lithium-ion batteries being stored and transported is also growing.
This brings new security challenges for logistics companies.
The challenges of storing and transporting lithium-ion batteries
Complex regulations (PGS 37-2)
The Dutch guideline PGS 37-2: Storage of lithium-containing energy carriers describes measures to control the risks of fire and explosion in lithium-ion batteries.
The directive sets requirements for, among other things:
Storage facilities
Brand compartmentation
Temperature and fire detection
In addition, there may be a permit requirement (Bevi) for the storage of more than 10,000 kg of lithium-ion batteries.
Temperature and environmental control
Lithium-ion batteries are sensitive to temperature fluctuations. The ideal storage temperature is between -10 °C and +50 °C.
Storage locations must therefore:
Keep at controlled temperature
Prevent overheating
Minimizing degradation and instability
Packaging and handling
Lithium-ion batteries must be stored and transported in UN-certified packaging.
These protect against:
Short circuit
Physical damage
Collision or falling during transport and handling
Inventory management (State of Charge)
For long-term storage, it is often recommended to store batteries at a State of Charge (SoC) of approximately 60–70%%.
This reduces:
Chemical degradation
Risk of instability
Battery capacity loss
Would you like insight into the fire and smoldering risks within your storage facility?
Request a no-obligation 20-minute consultation and receive a targeted quick scan with:
Optimal use of thermography for early detection of hotspots, smoke, and smoldering
Advice on placement and coverage for your specific situation
Integration approach and key points of attention for your location.This way you will immediately know where the risks are and how to effectively manage them.
What do we concretely deliver for a fire and hotspot implementation?
IntelligentProtect Fire: From reactive to proactive security
Sensor Partners offers a smart, modular solution for early detection of smoldering and fire hazards. IntelligentProtect Fire arose from thermal specialization.
SmartProtect Fire detects risks from 65°C using thermal imaging, visual smoke detection, and advanced AI software that continuously learns from its surroundings. With smart filtering of vehicles, sun reflections, and sun warming, and an isotherm function to monitor thermal behavior, we aim for zero false positives, even in challenging outdoor environments.
SmartProtect Fire sees what the human eye and standard cameras miss. Thermal sensors continuously monitor temperature developments and recognize critical deviations down to the detail level. Smart AI analyzes whether the heat source is dangerous and can distinguish between steam, dust, and actual smoke.
Once a risk is detected, there is an immediate notification to a control room, dashboard, or mobile receiver. Thanks to this early warning, you can intervene directly, prevent downtime, and avoid major fire damage.
Naturally occurring heat sources such as vehicle hotspots, machinery, sun reflection, and solar warming cause false alarms and put a strain on the control room for many detection systems. SmartProtect Fire this prevents with extensive AI analysis and distinguishes harmless heat sources from real threats. Thanks to the combination of thermal and visual data, the system understands the context and only raises an alarm when it is truly necessary.
Why wait for a fire when you can detect the risk of overheating?
Temperature increase often precedes smoke or flames.;
Batteries with incipient defects can be isolated or removed more quickly;
Timely warning can limit damage and escalation, and allows for faster and more targeted deployment of emergency services.
Thermal imaging offers a technical means to visualize temperature changes long before traditional smoke or flame detection responds.
Curious how fire and smoldering detection prevents damage, loss of production, and reputational damage in your storage environment?
Schedule a no-obligation consultation and discover how this solution can work for you and give you the confidence for a good night's sleep.
Sensor Partners is FLIR PLATINUM PARTNER
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