Battery Safety

UL 9540A is a test method that a battery manufacturer can use to demonstrate the safety of its solutions. To complete the test, a testing agency will force the lithium-ion battery to catch on fire and then monitor the fire. The agency will evaluate whether the fire’s flames move from one cabinet to another. To successfully complete the test, flames must be limited to the originating cabinet, and the fire must be able to be fully extinguished with water.

A successful UL 9540A report demonstrates that solutions have completed a critical fire test. Battery manufacturers can present the data in the report as evidence of the fire safety of their solutions.

BESS solutions that complete the UL 9540A test method have demonstrated that they have a lower fire propagation risk. This makes them suitable for use in all environments, but especially those that might be densely populated or mission-critical, such as a high-rise office building or a hospital.

Potential to Waive Spacing and Capacity Requirements

International Fire Code (IFC) 2018 (code), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1 2018, and NFPA 855 (standards) all require that a BESS be spaced three feet apart if a group or array is greater than 50 kWh. That translates to greater space constraints as your equipment will take up more space in your data center, potentially increasing your building and operational costs, while decreasing your capacity. Space and capacity requirements may be waived by an AHJ based on the findings of a UL 9540A report. This will allow you to purchase and place equipment for maximum energy capacity and efficiency in your data center or hosting facility.

Vertiv offers two solutions that have completed the UL 9540A test method:

• Vertiv™ HPL 9540A Lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System – The Vertiv HPL lithium-ion battery cabinet has successfully completed UL 9540A testing. The system provides safe, reliable and cost-effective high-power energy with improved performance over traditional valve-regulated lead-acid systems. Equipped with lithium-ion batteries using a nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistry and Vertiv’s own battery management system, Vertiv HPL provides a well-balanced, safe and powerful energy storage system with 38 kWh 207kW/cabinet). The cabinet works with most current and legacy Vertiv three-phase UPS systems. They are also compliant with UL 1642 and UL 1973.
• Samsung 9540A Lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System – The Samsung SDI 128S and 136S energy storage systems for data center applications have successfully completed the UL 9540A test, making them qualified for immediate use with most current and legacy three-phase Vertiv UPS systems. They are also compliant with UL 1642 and UL 1973.

Both of these BESS can be used for:

• New data centers
• Cloud, colocation, and hosting facilities
• Enterprise data centers
• UPS energy storage
• Replacements for lead-acid batteries