CN114306984A

CN114306984A - Fire extinguishing device and battery test equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114306984A
Application number: CN202011072524.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张福庆; 汤朝晖
Original assignee: Shanghai Volvo Automobile Research And Development Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Volvo Automobile Research And Development Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-10-09
Filing date: 2020-10-09
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2040-10-09
Also published as: CN114306984B

Abstract

The application relates to a fire extinguishing apparatus and a battery testing device. The fire extinguishing apparatus includes: a spray assembly comprising at least one spray head disposed within the battery test environment and a conduit in fluid communication with the spray head, upon activation of the spray assembly, a first liquid at high pressure flows through the conduit and forms a spray of high pressure liquid through the spray head into the battery test environment; a heat supply assembly comprising a heat supply conduit positioned on an outer surface of at least a portion of the pipeline, a second liquid to be heated flowing through the heat supply conduit to heat the pipeline and the spray head when the heat supply assembly is turned on, and a thermal insulation fitting to encapsulate the spray head, the pipeline, and the heat supply conduit in thermal isolation from the battery test environment; and a controller configured to control the spraying assembly and the heating assembly to be opened and closed respectively. The application provides a fire extinguishing apparatus and battery test equipment can guarantee the function of putting out a fire safely and reliably under extreme microthermal test condition.

Description

Fire extinguishing device and battery test equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of fire suppression for fires occurring during battery testing, and more particularly, to fire suppression devices and battery testing equipment.

Background

At present, the performance of a battery cell, a module and/or a battery pack is tested under various test conditions by means of battery test equipment, and due to the existence of more extreme test conditions, the tested battery cell, module and/or battery pack are easy to generate thermal runaway and then fire, so that in the process of testing the battery, a closed environment containing the battery cell, module and/or battery pack with the thermal runaway needs to be extinguished in time to protect the battery test equipment.

For example, high-pressure water mist can be sprayed out by means of a high-pressure water mist spray head to extinguish a fire. However, in practice, the high-pressure water mist sprayer and the pipeline for supplying water to the high-pressure water mist sprayer are both made of metal materials, and when the performance of the battery core, the module and/or the battery pack is tested under the extremely low-temperature test condition, the spray holes of the high-pressure water mist sprayer are easy to adsorb moisture in the environment and freeze, so that the fine spray holes are blocked, and the serious consequence of failure of the high-pressure water mist sprayer can be directly caused.

At present, in order to smoothly supply high-pressure water mist under extremely low temperature test conditions, an electric tracing scheme is generally adopted, that is, a heat tracing wire such as a resistance wire is arranged around a pipeline, and the heat tracing wire can heat the high-pressure water mist nozzle and the pipeline after being electrified so as to prevent the water existing in the high-pressure water mist nozzle and the pipeline from freezing, particularly the water remained in a nozzle hole from freezing. As an aid, it is also possible to provide the head and the pipes with a heat-insulating material which adheres to the high-pressure water mist head and the pipes by means of an adhesive, for example glue. However, the operation of electric tracing itself is also prone to thermal runaway, and since when electric tracing occurs, the heat tracing wires can cause local surface high temperatures that can cause degradation of the insulation and adhesive and release some gases, which can not only trigger false alarms, affecting the proper performance of battery tests, but can also damage other components of the battery test equipment, such as gas detectors used to detect gas components in the enclosed environment. Therefore, the existing electric tracing scheme not only has the risk of fire caused by thermal runaway, but also has inconvenient use and maintenance and high installation and use cost.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present application is to provide a fire extinguishing device and a battery testing apparatus capable of ensuring a fire extinguishing function safely and reliably under extremely low temperature test conditions.

According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided a fire extinguishing apparatus comprising: a spray assembly comprising at least one spray head disposed within a battery test environment and a conduit in fluid communication with the spray head through which a first liquid at high pressure flows and forms a spray of high pressure liquid via the spray head into the battery test environment when the spray assembly is turned on; a heat supply assembly comprising a heat supply conduit positioned on an outer surface of at least a portion of the pipeline, a second liquid flowing through the heat supply conduit to exchange heat with the pipeline and the spray head when the heat supply conduit is opened, and an insulation fitting that encapsulates the spray head, the pipeline, and the heat supply conduit in thermal isolation from a battery test environment; and a controller configured to control the spray assembly and the heating pipeline to open and close respectively.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly includes at least one temperature sensor associated with the sprinkler head to sense a temperature of the sprinkler head, and the controller is configured to control the heating conduit to open when the temperature sensor senses that the temperature of the sprinkler head is below a preset temperature threshold.

In an alternative embodiment, the heat supply assembly comprises a thermostatic valve arranged upstream of the heat supply pipeline to open and close the heat supply pipeline, and the controller is configured to control the opening of the thermostatic valve based on a difference value obtained by subtracting the temperature of the spray head from a preset temperature threshold value so as to adjust the opening ratio of the heat supply pipeline and further adjust the flow rate of the second liquid flowing through the heat supply pipeline.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly comprises a heating circuit for heating the second liquid in a circulating manner, the heating circuit being provided with a liquid pump for pressurizing the second liquid, a heater for heating the second liquid, and a manifold, the second liquid heated in the heating circuit being diverted via the manifold to the heating line, the second liquid in the heating circuit also remaining in a circulating manner when the thermostatic valve is completely closed.

In an alternative embodiment, the thermo valve is configured as a three-way proportional valve having an inlet connected to the multi-way tube, a first outlet connected to the heat supply conduit upstream of the heat supply conduit and a second outlet merging with the heat supply conduit downstream of the heat supply conduit, the flow of the second liquid flowing into the inlet being equal to the sum of the flow of the second liquid flowing out of the first outlet and the second outlet.

In an alternative embodiment, the insulated fitting includes an insulated end cap covering the spray head and an insulated sleeve enclosing the pipeline and the heating pipeline, wherein the insulated end cap is friction-fittingly mounted to the spray head.

In an alternative embodiment, the heat supply assembly further comprises a thermally conductive liner surrounding the heat supply conduit along the length of the conduit in a manner interposed between the insulating sleeve and the heat supply conduit to assist in the securement of the heat supply conduit and the uniform heat exchange of the second liquid flowing through the heat supply conduit with the conduit and the spray head.

In an alternative embodiment, the spray assembly includes a gas detector disposed within the battery test environment to detect a gas composition within the battery test environment, and the controller is configured to control the spray assembly to turn on when the gas detector detects a gas composition indicative of an impending fire on the battery.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly includes an alarm including an indicator light and a buzzer that are activated to alert an operator when the heating assembly fails.

According to one aspect of the present application, there is provided a battery testing apparatus including the fire extinguishing device, the battery testing apparatus including an environmental chamber to provide a battery testing environment that can be preset for battery testing.

The application provides a extinguishing device and battery test equipment have no matter the ability of homoenergetic normal operating under high temperature, normal atmospheric temperature and/or microthermal test condition. On the one hand, under the test condition of high temperature or normal atmospheric temperature, extinguishing device can only supply with high-pressure liquid spraying through the spraying subassembly, and on the other hand, under microthermal test condition, extinguishing device utilizes the heat supply subassembly to replace the companion hot filament, through the heating pipeline heating of heat supply subassembly and the temperature of maintaining shower nozzle and pipeline, and this orifice that not only can avoid the shower nozzle freezes, and the highest temperature of heating liquid is controllable in addition, can not produce extra thermal runaway risk and wrong report police and damage battery test equipment's risk. In addition, the fire extinguishing apparatus provided by the application is safer, has excellent isolation, low installation and use cost and is convenient to maintain.

Further features of the present application and advantages thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the application and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the application.

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a battery test apparatus according to an alternative embodiment of the present application, including a fire suppression device according to an alternative embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of at least one spray head of a fire suppression apparatus according to an alternative embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a battery test apparatus according to another alternative embodiment of the present application, including a fire suppression device according to another alternative embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present application will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that: the relative arrangement of the components and steps, the numerical expressions, and numerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scope of the present application unless specifically stated otherwise.

Techniques and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail, but are intended to be considered a part of the specification where appropriate.

In all examples shown and discussed herein, any particular value should be construed as merely illustrative, and not limiting. Thus, other examples of the exemplary embodiments may have different values.

It should be noted that: like reference numbers and letters refer to like items in the following figures, and thus, once an item is defined in one figure, further discussion thereof is not required in subsequent figures.

Battery testing equipment for testing and confirming various performances of various types of power batteries of cells, modules and/or battery packs is known. In general, a battery test apparatus includes: a relatively closed environmental chamber for providing a stable and pre-set battery test environment for battery testing, during which the battery under test is placed in the environmental chamber; battery circuit means for assisting the battery under test to charge or discharge at a suitable current and voltage; the signal acquisition device is used for acquiring various signals related to the working performance of the tested battery; and so on. In order to predetermine battery test environment, the environment storehouse still is equipped with: the temperature and humidity adjusting device is used for adjusting the temperature and the humidity in the environment bin to an expected value; the air pressure adjusting device is used for adjusting the air pressure in the environmental chamber to a desired value; and the explosion venting device comprises a plurality of explosion venting holes covered by an explosion venting film, and when the tested battery is ignited or even explodes, the explosion venting film is jacked open to fluidly communicate the battery testing environment in the environment bin with the external environment outside the environment bin. The battery test apparatus to which the present application relates includes, but is not limited to, the above-described battery test apparatus. For example, the battery being tested may be a lithium battery. Also for example, the battery under test may be used in an electric vehicle.

In the present application, "upstream" and "downstream" are defined with respect to the direction of liquid flow, "connected" may mean a direct connection between two components, may mean that the two components are connected together by an additional connection, and may mean that the two components are coupled together by wireless means.

Referring to fig. 1, a fire suppression apparatus 20 according to an alternative embodiment of the present application is shown, the fire suppression apparatus 20 may be included in, but is not limited to, a battery test device, and thus, the fire suppression apparatus 20 to which the present application is directed is intended to be applicable to devices requiring fire suppression in environments with low temperatures (e.g., 0 ℃ to about-40 ℃ or lower).

In an alternative embodiment, the fire suppression apparatus 20 includes a spray assembly including at least one

spray head

22, 24 and a

conduit

26, 28, 30 in fluid communication with the

spray head

22, 24. The

spray heads

22, 24 are disposed within the environmental chamber 10 of the battery test apparatus, i.e., within the battery test environment, and the

spray heads

22, 24 are mounted individually or collectively on any suitable portion of the environmental chamber 10, e.g., on the top, sides, and/or bottom of the environmental chamber 10. The downstream ends of the

conduits

26, 28 are connected to the

spray heads

22, 24, and a portion of the

conduits

26, 28 adjacent the downstream ends is located within the battery test environment and is referred to hereinafter as the inner conduit 32. Similarly, a portion of the tubing that is outside of the battery test environment is hereinafter referred to as the outer tubing 33. Upstream of the outer line 33 there is a liquid supply solenoid valve 40, which liquid supply solenoid valve 40 can be opened or closed to switch the line on or off, respectively.

Spray heads

22, 24 may be integrally formed with

conduits

26, 28, 30 or mounted to

conduits

26, 28, 30 during assembly.

For example, the fire suppression apparatus 20 includes two spray heads, i.e., a first spray head 22 and a second spray head 24. Correspondingly, the

lines

26, 28 comprise a first line section 26 connected to the first spray head 22 and a second line section 28 connected to the second spray head 24. Outside the environmental chamber 10, the first and

second pipe sections

26, 28 converge upstream and are connected to a manifold section 30 of pipes, on which manifold section 30 there is a liquid supply solenoid valve 40, which can be opened or closed to connect or disconnect the

pipes

26, 28, 30 respectively. When the liquid supply solenoid valve 40 is opened, high pressure (e.g., 10MPa-20 MPa) liquid pressurized by a liquid booster (not shown) flows through the manifold section 30, and thus the first and

second line sections

26, 28, and forms a spray of high pressure liquid via the

spray heads

22, 24 that is sprayed into the battery test environment.

In an alternative embodiment, the fire suppression apparatus 20 includes a controller (not shown) connected to various sensing and actuation components in the fire suppression apparatus 20 to control the operation of the spray assembly and the heating assembly, respectively, as will be described below. Optionally, the fire suppression apparatus 20 includes a gas detector 66 for detecting the gas composition within the environmental chamber 10. The gas detector 66 is high and low temperature resistant and is disposed at any suitable location in the environmental chamber 10. When the battery under test (e.g., a lithium battery) fails to withstand operation under test conditions at a given low temperature, causing the battery to bulge and a portion of the material comprising the battery to vaporize due to the high temperature of the short circuit, the gas detector 66 will detect the gas component of the portion of the material after vaporization, thereby generating a fire signal indicating that the battery is about to fire. The gas detector 66 sends a fire signal, wired or wirelessly, to the controller, which is configured to immediately control the battery circuit means and the temperature regulating means, and the like, to be de-energized and place the battery test environment in the environmental chamber 10 in fluid communication with the external environment outside the environmental chamber 10 upon receipt of the fire signal, and then to control the liquid supply solenoid valve 40 to open to allow high pressure liquid to spray a high pressure liquid spray into the battery test environment via the

lines

26, 28, 30 and

spray heads

22, 24.

Since the battery circuit means of the battery test apparatus comprises a plurality of test pins for connection to the battery under test, which are not adapted to be in contact with various solutions having a corrosive nature, the high-pressure liquid is preferably water, and the high-pressure liquid spray for extinguishing the fire is preferably a high-pressure water mist. It will be appreciated that other types of high pressure liquids for extinguishing fires may be provided depending on the particular application.

As shown in fig. 2, for example, the shower head 22 includes: a fitting 34 having a passageway of a first diameter, the fitting 34 being fluidly connected to the downstream end of the inner conduit 32; a spray head base 36 connected to the fitting 34, said spray head base 36 comprising a cylindrical divergent portion 36A and a frustoconical spray portion 36B in fluid communication with each other, the cylindrical divergent portion 36A having passages of a second diameter substantially greater than the first diameter and the frustoconical spray portion 36B having passages of a tapered diameter to converge the liquid coming from the conduit 26. The frustoconical spray portion 36B also has a frustoconical surface provided with at least one spray orifice 38 for forming a high pressure liquid spray from the high pressure liquid and spraying the high pressure liquid spray into a battery test environment. The orifices 38 are arranged in a manner that tapers, is constant, and expands in diameter from the inside to the outside of the frustoconical surface, and the orifices 38 may also be otherwise sized for smooth ejection of high pressure liquid. It will be appreciated that the spray head itself as well as the arrangement between the plurality of spray heads may also be designed in any other suitable manner depending on the specific application.

Because of the extreme testing conditions possible in a battery testing environment, such as high and low temperatures, high and low pressures, and/or environments with specific gas compositions, etc., and the need to rapidly provide a high pressure liquid spray from the spray head and the piping connected to the spray head within the battery testing environment, the spray head and the piping fluidly connected to the spray head of a fire suppression apparatus are typically made of a hard and stable metal, such as stainless steel or copper, etc. However, when the fire extinguishing apparatus is under an extremely low temperature test condition for a long time, due to the metal characteristic of the nozzle, the spray holes are easy to absorb moisture in the battery test environment and freeze on the spray holes, so that the fine spray holes are blocked, and the functionality of the fire extinguishing apparatus is lost or even completely fails. The application provides a fire extinguishing apparatus will prevent to take place because of the phenomenon that freezes and block up fire extinguishing apparatus.

In an alternative embodiment, the fire suppression apparatus 20 may further include a heat supply assembly, with continued reference to FIG. 2, including a heat supply conduit 42, the heat supply conduit 42 being positioned on an outer surface of at least a portion of the inner conduit 32, and upon activation of the heat supply assembly, heated liquid (e.g., hot water) flows through the heat supply conduit 42 to heat the inner conduit 32 and, thus, the sprinkler head 22, for example, to a desired temperature. The heating conduit 42 is, for example, a conventional flexible hose, and includes an inlet section 46A and an outlet section 48A. Alternatively, the inlet and outlet sections 46, 48 may be helically wound in a side-by-side manner around the outer surface of at least a portion of the inner pipe 32, or the heating pipe 42 may be positioned in a wavy, straight, or any other suitable manner on the outer surface of the inner pipe 32, so long as the heating pipe 42 is capable of exchanging heat with the inner pipe 32 in an efficient manner. It will be appreciated that the heating conduit may also be positioned on the outer surface of at least a portion of the outer conduit 33, depending on the particular application or practical needs.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly further includes an insulation fitting that encloses the spray head 22, the inner conduit 32, and the heating conduit 42 in thermal isolation from the battery test environment. For example, the insulating fitting may be made of a rubber-plastic insulating material. The insulated fitting may be sized and shaped to fit within the spray head 22 and the inner conduit 32. For example, the insulated fitting includes an insulated end cap 50 that completely covers the spray head 22 and an insulated sleeve 52 that encloses the inner pipe 32 and the heating pipe 42. The inner diameter of the insulating sleeve 52 may be equal to the modified outer diameter of the inner pipe 32, wherein the modified outer diameter of the inner pipe 32 is equal to the outer diameter of the inner pipe 32 plus the additional outer diameter added after the heating pipes 42, 44 are positioned on the outer surface of the pipes. The outer diameter of the insulating sleeve 52 may be equal to or greater than the outer diameter of the cylindrical expansion 36A of the spray head 22. The length of the insulating sleeve 52 may be equal to the length of the inner conduit 32. Thus, the insulating sleeve 52 is tightly fitted over the outer surface of the inner pipe 32 and encapsulates the inner pipe 32 and the heat supply pipes 42, 44 to thermally isolate the inner pipe 32 from the battery test environment, while also assisting in the securement of the heat supply pipe 42. It will be appreciated that if the heating line is positioned on the outer surface of at least a portion of the outer line 33, additional insulating sleeves may be provided on the outer line 33 accordingly, depending on the particular application or practical needs.

The insulated end cap 50 is configured to cover the spray head 22 such that when the spray assembly is turned on, the high pressure liquid spray formed through the spray head can easily push open the insulated end cap 50. To this end, the insulated end cap 50 is friction fit mounted to the spray head 22. For example, the insulated end cap 50 has an opening that is shaped to match the spray head 22 to receive the spray head 22. For another example, when the outer diameter of the insulating sleeve 52 is equal to the outer diameter of the cylindrical flared portion 36A of the spray head 22, the length of the portion of the opening that matches the shape of the cylindrical flared portion 36A may be slightly greater than the length of the cylindrical flared portion 36A, such that the insulating end cap 50 may be additionally frictionally coupled to the outer surface of the insulating sleeve 52 in addition to being frictionally coupled to the spray head. This design of the insulating end cap 50 not only thermally isolates the nozzle 22 from the battery testing environment, but also prevents the nozzle 22 from contacting the air in the environmental chamber 10, thereby preventing moisture in the air from entering the nozzle holes 38 of the nozzle 22.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly further comprises a thermally conductive liner 51, the thermally conductive liner 51 surrounding the heating conduit 42 along the length of the inner conduit 32 in a manner intermediate the insulating sleeve 52 and the heating conduit 42 to assist in securing the heating conduit 42 and in providing uniform heat transfer of the heated liquid flowing through the heating conduit 42 to the spray head and conduit, i.e., uniform heat transfer of the heated liquid to the spray head and conduit. The heat conductive pad 51 is made of, for example, a metal sheet (e.g., an iron sheet, a copper sheet, etc.), and may also be used to fix other accessories of the fire extinguishing apparatus, such as a signal line of a temperature sensor, which will be described below.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly further comprises at least one temperature sensor.

Temperature sensors

54, 56 are high and low temperature resistant and are configured to be connected to or associated with spray heads 22, 24, respectively, to measure the temperature of spray heads 22, 24, and thus, if desired, the insulating sleeve also encloses

temperature sensors

54, 56. Referring again to fig. 1, the heating assembly includes a first temperature sensor 54 configured to detect a temperature of first spray head 22 and a second temperature sensor 56 to detect a temperature of second spray head 24. It will be appreciated that one

temperature sensor

54, 56 may be associated with only one of the spray heads in the operational case, for example, where a plurality of spray heads are disposed adjacent to one another, or where the environmental cartridge volume is small. The controller intermittently or continuously receives at least one temperature signal from the

temperature sensors

54, 56 in a wired or wireless manner and identifies the temperature of the spray heads 22, 24 based on the temperature signal. The controller may be configured to control heating conduits 42, 44 to open when the controller determines that the temperature of spray heads 22, 24 (e.g., the average or minimum temperature in the case of multiple temperature signals) is below a preset temperature threshold, e.g., to control thermostat 82 for opening and closing heating conduits 42, 44 to open to pass heated liquid heating conduit and spray heads flowing through heating conduits 42, 44.

In an alternative embodiment, to provide heated liquid to the heating conduits 42, 44, the heating assembly may comprise a liquid tank 60 (e.g., a water tank) and a heating circuit 80 connected to the liquid tank 60 to effect hydronic heating. The liquid tank 60 is provided with: a liquid replenishment valve 61 that allows the liquid tank 60 to be replenished with liquid through a first inlet 62 of the liquid tank 60 when the liquid replenishment valve 61 is opened; a visual level gauge 63 for visually checking the liquid level of the liquid tank 60; and a level switch 64 for alarming when the liquid tank 60 is low to remind the operator to add liquid. One end of the heating circuit 80 is connected to the outlet 65 of the liquid tank 60 and the other end of the heating circuit 80 is connected to the second inlet 66 of the liquid tank 60. By way of example, the heating circuit 80 further comprises or is provided with, in order from upstream to downstream in the direction of flow of the liquid (i.e. from said one end to said other end of the heating circuit 80): a filter 67 configured to filter impurities, such as various debris generated by the liquid tank 60 from its processing and use; a first ball valve 68 configured for disconnecting the heating circuit 80; a second ball valve 69 configured to drain liquid from the heating circuit 80, for example, in the event that maintenance is required, the second ball valve 69 being typically located at the lowest point of the heating circuit 80 relative to the ground; a liquid pump 70 configured to pump liquid in the liquid tank 60 into the heating circuit 80 and pressurize the liquid in the heating circuit 80 to provide circulating power; a heater 71 configured to heat the liquid in the heating circuit 80, the heater 71 being provided with a temperature switch 73 to timely disconnect the power supply to the heater 71 in case of an over-temperature of the heater 71, avoiding a fire caused by overheating of the heater 71; a temperature sensing element 72 arranged near the outlet of the heater 71, the temperature sensing element 72 being capable of detecting the temperature of the heated liquid in real time and sending a signal related thereto to the controller, such that the temperature of the heated liquid can be controlled; a purge valve 74 configured to purge gas mixed in the liquid in the heating circuit 80, said gas being inevitably generated, for example, due to the heating liquid or the tightness of the extinguishing device itself, the purge valve 74 being generally located at the highest point of the heating circuit 80 with respect to the ground; a safety valve 75 configured to release a portion of the liquid in case the pressurized and heated liquid pressure is too high, to avoid too high a liquid pressure in the heating circuit 80; a flow switch 76 configured to detect the presence or absence of heated liquid flowing in the heating circuit 80 after the liquid pump 70 is turned on, and to cut off power to the liquid pump 70 if no liquid is flowing, so as to avoid causing suction damage to the liquid pump 70; a pressure sensor 77 configured to detect the pressure of the liquid within the heating circuit 80 and can be used for remote display and adjustment; a pressure gauge 78 configured to detect the pressure of the liquid inside the heating circuit 80 and to visually display the value of the liquid pressure on site; a pressure regulating valve 79 configured to regulate a pressure of the liquid within the heating circuit 80. It will be appreciated that other necessary components may be omitted or added to heating circuit 80 to provide heating circuit 80 with sufficient heating capacity, flow rate and pressure to achieve scalability while providing constant temperature and constant pressure heating liquid to the fire suppression units of multiple environmental silos.

The heating circuit 80 further comprises or is provided with a multi-way pipe (e.g. a tee or a quad pipe), through which heated liquid can be branched off to the (parallel) heating lines 42, 44 and from the heating lines 42, 44 finally back to the liquid tank 60, whereby the heating assembly further comprises a heating branch 88 starting from the multi-way pipe, the heating lines 42, 44 forming part of the heating branch 88, the heating branch 88 further comprising connecting lines connecting the respective components concerned, the heating lines 42, 44 and the connecting lines can be made of the same or different materials depending on the specific application. In fig. 1, the first pipeline section 26 is heated by the first heat supply pipeline 42 and the second pipeline section 28 is heated by the second heat supply pipeline 44, and thus the heat supply assembly is provided with a four-way pipe 81, wherein an inlet and a first outlet of the four-way pipe 81 are connected to the heating circuit 80 such that the heating circuit 80 maintains fluid communication, a second outlet of the four-way pipe 81 is connected to the inlet section 46A of the first heat supply pipeline 42 by a connecting pipeline, and a third outlet of the four-way pipe 81 is connected to the inlet section 46B of the second heat supply pipeline 44 by a connecting pipeline, such that heated liquid in the heating circuit 80 is diverted to the first heat supply pipeline 42 and the second heat supply pipeline 44.

In an alternative embodiment, described by way of example for first heating conduit 42, thermostatic valve 82 is arranged in heating branch 88, for example, between downstream of the second outlet of four-way pipe 81 and upstream of heating conduit 42, in order to steplessly regulate the flow of heating liquid supplied to first heating conduit 42 and thus the capacity of first heating conduit 42 to heat conduit and spray head 22. Inlet 82A of thermostatic valve 82 is connected by a connecting conduit to a second outlet of a four-way pipe 81 to receive the heated liquid from heating circuit 80. Outlet 82B of thermostatic valve 82 is connected by a connecting conduit to inlet section 46A of first heating conduit 42 to provide a regulated flow of heated liquid to first heating conduit 42. A flow switch is provided at the outlet 82B of the thermostatic valve 82, and when the flow of heated liquid through the thermostatic valve 82 is stopped by a blocked heating branch 88, the flow switch 83 can detect that there is no flow of heated liquid in the heating branch 88 and send a related signal to the controller for the controller to determine that the heating assembly is malfunctioning. Alternatively, the flow switches of first heating conduit 42 and second heating conduit 44 operate independently of each other. In a similar manner, the second heating supply conduit 44 is supplied with heated liquid and the liquid outlet section 48B of the second heating supply conduit 44 and the liquid outlet section 48A of the first heating supply conduit 42 are connected downstream of both by a tee 86 to the connecting conduit to the liquid tank 60, so that all heated liquid flowing through the first and second heating supply conduits 42, 44 flows jointly back into the liquid tank 60 via the third inlet 87 for liquid circulation of the heating supply branch 88. The controller is configured to control the opening of thermostatic valve 82 based on a difference between a preset temperature threshold minus the temperature of spray heads 22, 24 to regulate the flow of heating liquid through heating conduit 42. For example, when the controller determines that the temperature of the head 22 is lower than the preset temperature threshold value through the temperature signal of the temperature sensor 54 and the difference obtained by subtracting the temperature of the head 22 from the preset temperature threshold value is small, the opening degree of the thermo-valve 82 may be controlled to a small-scale opening degree, and when the controller determines that the difference obtained by subtracting the temperature of the head 22 from the preset temperature threshold value through the temperature signal of the temperature sensor 54 is large, the opening degree of the thermo-valve 82 may be controlled to a large-scale opening degree. The preset temperature threshold (e.g., 5 deg.c), and/or the relationship of the difference to the opening degree of the thermo-valve may be obtained empirically, experimentally, or by calculation. Thermostatic valve 82 of first heating conduit 42 and thermostatic valve of second heating conduit 44 may operate independently of each other. It should be noted that even when the controller controls all thermostats to be completely closed so that heated liquid cannot flow into heating conduits 42, 44, heated liquid can be circulated through heating loop 80 to be heated and pressurized in preparation for flowing to heating conduits 42, 44 whenever the controller controls thermostats 82 to be at least partially open.

In an alternative embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, in order to prevent the pressure difference caused by adjusting the flow rate of the heating liquid supplied to the first heating pipeline 42 from causing vibrations of the pipeline as a whole of the heating assembly or affecting the sealing performance of the thermo valve, the thermo valve is configured as a three-way proportional valve 90 having a flow dividing function, the three-way proportional valve 90 has an inlet 90A connected to the four-way pipe 81 through a connecting pipeline, a first outlet 90B connected to the heating pipeline upstream of the heating pipeline, and a second outlet 90C merged with the heating pipeline downstream of the heating pipeline, and the flow rate of the second liquid flowing into the inlet 90A is equal to the sum of the flow rates of the second liquids flowing out of the first outlet 90B and the second outlet 90C. For example, the controller is configured to control the opening of the three-way proportional valve 90 based on a difference between the temperature of the spray head 22 minus a preset temperature threshold, such that the inlet 90A receives a first flow rate of heated liquid from the second outlet of the four-way pipe 81, the first outlet 90B provides a desired second flow rate of heated liquid to the inlet section 46 of the heating conduit 42, 44, and the second outlet 90C bypasses the heating conduit 42, 44 to discharge the first flow rate minus a remaining flow rate of heated liquid of the second flow rate. The heated liquid flowing through second outlet 90C is combined via another tee 91 with the heated liquid once flowing through heating conduits 42, 44. The three-way proportional valve 90 is adapted to maintain the pressure of the heating liquid in the heating branch 88 constant.

It will be appreciated that instead of a thermostatic valve, a conventional on-off valve may be used, only controlling the on-off of the heating liquid without regulating the flow of the heating liquid.

In an alternative embodiment, the heating assembly may further comprise an alarm (not shown), the controller being configured to activate the alarm to alert an operator when the heating assembly fails. The faults include, but are not limited to: the controller determines that the temperature of the spray head is lower than the safe low temperature or higher than the safe high temperature through the temperature sensor; when the controller determines that the temperature of the spray head (for example, the average temperature or the lowest temperature in the case of a plurality of temperature signals) is lower than a preset temperature threshold value, the controller does not receive feedback information that the temperature control valve is opened; when the temperature sensor includes a plurality of temperature sensors, a temperature difference value between the plurality of temperature sensors is greater than a normal range; when the temperature control valve is opened, the flow switch cannot detect that the heating liquid flows in the heating branch; the temperature of the heater is lower than the safe low temperature or higher than the safe high temperature; and so on. The alarm includes, for example, an indicator lamp and a buzzer connected in series with a power supply to alert the operator both visually and audibly.

Although some specific embodiments of the present application have been described in detail by way of illustration, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above illustration is only for purposes of illustration and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the above embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. The scope of the application is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A fire suppression apparatus, comprising:

a spray assembly comprising at least one spray head disposed within a battery test environment and a conduit in fluid communication with the spray head through which a first liquid at high pressure flows and forms a spray of high pressure liquid via the spray head into the battery test environment when the spray assembly is turned on;

a heating assembly, comprising:

a heat supply conduit positioned on an outer surface of at least a portion of the conduit, upon opening the heat supply conduit, a second liquid flowing through the heat supply conduit to exchange heat with the conduit and the spray head, an

The heat preservation accessory encapsulates the spray head, the pipeline and the heat supply pipeline in a mode of being thermally isolated from a battery test environment; and

a controller configured to control the spray assembly and the heating pipeline to open and close respectively.

2. The fire suppression apparatus of claim 1, wherein the heat supply assembly includes at least one temperature sensor associated with the spray head to sense the temperature of the spray head, the controller being configured to control the heating conduit to open when the temperature sensor senses that the temperature of the spray head is below a preset temperature threshold.

3. The fire suppression apparatus of claim 2, wherein the heat supply assembly comprises a thermostatic valve disposed upstream of the heat supply pipeline to open and close the heat supply pipeline, and the controller is configured to control an opening of the thermostatic valve based on a difference obtained by subtracting the temperature of the spray head from a preset temperature threshold to adjust a rate at which the heat supply pipeline is opened, thereby adjusting a flow rate of the second liquid flowing through the heat supply pipeline.

4. A fire extinguishing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the heat supply assembly comprises a heating circuit for heating the second liquid in circulation, the heating circuit being provided with a liquid pump for pressurizing the second liquid, a heater for heating the second liquid, and a manifold, the second liquid heated in the heating circuit being diverted to the heat supply conduit via the manifold, the second liquid in the heating circuit also being kept in circulation when the thermostatic valve is fully closed.

5. The fire suppression apparatus of claim 4, wherein the thermostatic valve is configured as a three-way proportional valve having an inlet connected to the multiport fitting, a first outlet connected to the heating conduit upstream of the heating conduit, and a second outlet merging with the heating conduit downstream of the heating conduit, a flow rate of the second liquid flowing into the inlet being equal to a sum of flow rates of the second liquid flowing out of the first outlet and the second outlet.

6. The fire suppression apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the thermal fitting comprises a thermal end cap covering the spray head and a thermal sleeve enclosing the pipeline and heating pipeline, wherein the thermal end cap is friction fit mounted to the spray head.

7. The fire suppression apparatus of claim 6, wherein the heat supply assembly further comprises a thermally conductive liner surrounding the heat supply conduit along a length of the conduit in a manner interposed between the heat retaining sleeve and the heat supply conduit to assist in securing the heat supply conduit and uniform heat exchange of the second liquid flowing through the heat supply conduit with the conduit and the spray head.

8. The fire suppression apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the spray assembly includes a gas detector disposed within the battery test environment to detect a gas composition within the battery test environment, the controller being configured to control the spray assembly to turn on when the gas detector detects a gas composition indicative of an impending fire on the battery.

9. Fire extinguishing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the heating assembly includes an alarm including an indicator light and a buzzer which are activated to alert an operator when the heating assembly fails.

10. A battery test apparatus comprising a fire suppression device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, the battery test apparatus comprising an environmental chamber to provide a pre-settable battery test environment for battery testing.