Successful completion of UL 9540A thermal runway fire propagation test addresses new fire code requirements
Columbus, Ohio [June 23, 2021] – Vertiv, (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, today announced the successful large scale fire test of the Vertiv™ HPL lithium-ion battery cabinet under the UL 9540A test method. The UL 9540A test demonstrated superior fire safety performance with the patent pending Vertiv HPL cabinet design, enhanced for fire management and showed no propagation from cabinet to cabinet during testing. The new Vertiv HPL Lithium-ion battery cabinet is available today in North America in 38 kWh cabinets.
The successful completion of the UL 9540A test and its associated detailed test report allows local Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) to waive some installation requirements listed in NFPA 855 for lithium-ion battery energy storage systems. These include, for example, three-foot separation between cabinets, a maximum capacity of 50 kWh per cabinet and maximum stored energy of 600 kWh in a fire area. The Vertiv HPL inhibits fire propagation through a patent pending system of side vents, louvres and insulating materials. This Vertiv-engineered passive system accomplished the fire management objective without making changes to the Vertiv HPL’s performance characteristics or to the cabinet’s footprint.
“Vertiv recognizes that safety is essential for all of our products. The release of the new UL 9540A-tested lithium-ion battery cabinet demonstrates Vertiv’s dedication and capability to invest in product innovations that address not only the technological challenges of data center customers but their safety concerns as well,” said Jeff Kessen, senior vice president of energy storage for Vertiv.
The Vertiv™ HPL lithium-ion battery system, initially released in 2019 for use with larger capacity Vertiv uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, is configured in a cabinet the size of a standard data center rack and ships with the lithium-ion battery modules preassembled in the cabinet. The modular configuration allows for connection of up to 12 cabinets to a single UPS in order to customize runtime capacity and redundancy to the application.
Seamless integration with Alber™ Battery Xplorer Enterprise battery monitoring system allows for real-time data reporting at the cell, module, system and facility level, ensuring early notification of potential issues and maximizing battery life. Vertiv HPL can also be monitored through Vertiv™ Liebert® SiteScan™, Vertiv™ Environet™, and third party monitoring systems.
Vertiv HPL batteries employ a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathode, a proven chemistry commonly used for the rigorous safety standards required for the automobile industry.While other lithium-ion chemistries are sometimes reported to be safer, Vertiv’s UL9540A test result demonstrates that system design is just as critical to overall safety as the choice of battery chemistry. The Vertiv HPL offers a 10-year battery life guarantee and is warranted to operate up to 30° C (86 degrees Fahrenheit), allowing operators to reduce cooling costs compared to most alternative solutions.
Vertiv HPL is part of a growing portfolio of single-phase and three-phase lithium-ion solutions from Vertiv. More information about lithium-ion batteries and fire safety, see Vertiv’s new white paper “Complying with Fire Codes Governing Lithium-ion Battery Use”, or visit Vertiv.com.
About NFPA 855
NFPA 855, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems, was released in 2019 by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), to help address fire safety concerns for energy storage system (ESS) technologies, and provide criteria and answers to different stakeholders for the fire protection of ESS installations. NFPA 855 standard provides requirements based on the technology used in ESS, the setting where the technology is being installed, the size and separation of ESS installations, and the fire suppression and control systems that are in place. NFPA 855 refers to UL9540A large scale fire testing in the standard to prove fire performance of a manufacture’s ESS product and to provide AHJs with information for the evaluation of installation requirements.
About UL 9540A
UL 9540A, Test Method for Evaluating Thermal Runaway Fire Propagation in Battery Energy Storage Systems, is a test method to evaluate the fire and explosion hazard characteristics of a battery energy storage system that have undergone thermal runaway. The data in the report of a successful UL 9540A test will provide manufacturers with a means of meeting rules or standards contained in new fire code regulations and thereby improve the adoption of new energy storage technologies.
About Vertiv
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to ensure its customers’ vital applications run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, USA, Vertiv employs approximately 20,000 people and does business in more than 130 countries. For more information, and for the latest news and content from Vertiv, visit Vertiv.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27 of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. These statements are only a prediction. Actual events or results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statement set forth herein. Readers are referred to Vertiv’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for a discussion of these and other important risk factors concerning Vertiv and its operations. Vertiv is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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