Home Energy Storage Safety First: Sensor Technology for Home Energy Storage

The core of a home energy storage system, also known as a battery storage system, is a rechargeable storage battery, mainly lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, with lithium-ion batteries dominating at 88.8% and lead-acid batteries accounting for only 10%. The system is computer-controlled and combined with other intelligent hardware and software to realize the charging and discharging cycle. Its efficient energy storage and release capabilities offer the possibility of home energy self-sufficiency. At the same time the safety of battery charging and discharging should not be ignored, and the current sensor can effectively bring security to the battery monitoring.

In recent years, common home energy storage system fire accidents at home and abroad has given us a wake-up call. Home energy storage fires in Germany and Australia not only caused property damage, but also pose a serious threat to people lives. These accidents often come from the thermal runaway of lithium batteries. Once out of control, the fire will spread rapidly, and the consequences are unimaginable. Therefore, practical and effective measures must be taken to ensure the safe operation of home energy storage systems. “Early warning and disposal” is the key strategy to deal with the safety of home energy storage. Therefore, we need to install gas alarm devices, smoke alarm devices, temperature alarm devices and automatic fire extinguishing devices in home energy storage systems. These devices can issue an early warning at the first time of thermal runaway of lithium batteries, and automatically start the fire extinguishing program to nip the fire in the bud. The highly integrated fire detection device is the key to realize the early warning. It monitors hydrogen, carbon monoxide, VOC gas, smoke and temperature in the home energy storage tank, and analyzes and judges the thermal runaway characteristics of the lithium battery in real time. Once the fire signal reaches the set threshold, the fire extinguishing device will be automatically activated to ensure timely control of the fire. 

The high sensitivity sensor is the key to realize accurate monitoring. It can detect harmful gases and smoke in the home energy storage tank before the fire occurs and provide an accurate start signal for the fire extinguishing device. At the same time, the addition of temperature and humidity sensors enables the system to more comprehensively grasp the environmental conditions in the energy storage box, providing strong support for fire prevention. The fire detection device utilizes high sensitivity sensors to detect CO, hydrogen H2, VOC, light smoke and temperature in the home energy storage tank before a fire occurs. CO sensor TGS5141-P00, hydrogen sensor TGS2616, VOC sensor TGS2602, ionized smoke sensor NIS-HTW-211, current sensor and temperature and humidity sensors Monitor the CO gas concentration, hydrogen concentration, VOC concentration, smoke concentration, battery charging/discharging and changes in battery surface temperature in the protected area, and intelligently determine whether the lithium battery in the home energy storage box is out of control. Intelligent judgment of whether the lithium battery in the box is out of control, to ensure the safe operation of the home energy storage system. In summary, the safe development of home energy storage system is inseparable from the support of science and technology innovation. By installing advanced early warning and fire extinguishing devices and using highly sensitive sensors, the safety risks of home energy storage systems can be effectively reduced, creating a safer and more reliable environment for the wide application of new energy. In the future, we expect home energy storage systems to bring better energy saving, emission reduction and green living experience to more families under the premise of ensuring safety.