Standards for Lithium-ion Battery

International quality and safety standards for lithium-ion batteries

Battery safety testing and quality standards guarantee the reliability and safety of the batteries used in different applications like vehicles, grid storage, backup applications and UPS. Ensuring the safety of battery systems and applications ensures proper and safe installation and operation of batteries while maintaining reliability of the system.

Main Standards for Lithium-ion Battery Testing

The main Standards for Lithium-ion Battery Testing are:

• UN/DOT 38.3 5^th Edition, “Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods”. This standard is relevant for the transportation safety of lithium ion cells and batteries and it presents a mixture of important environmental, mechanical, and electrical stresses

• IEC 62133-2, “Safety requirements for portable sealed secondary lithium cells, and for batteries made from them, for use in portable applications – Part 2: Lithium systems”. IEC 62133 is the main standard for international compliance.  The UN 38.3 transportation testing above is a vital requirement.

This standard covers the following:

• Molded Case Stress
• External Short Circuit
• Free Fall
• Overcharging of Battery

• UL 2054, “Household and Commercial Batteries”. UL 2054 requirements compliance is mandated by different standards. It is a tough standard which includes nearly twice the number of tests found in the IEC or UN requirements and the number of tests is shown below
  • seven electrical tests
  • four mechanical tests
  • one fire exposure test
  • two environmental tests
  • four battery enclosure tests

The electrical tests are the most challenging tests- with the inclusion of worst-case operation and single faults tests.  The abusive overcharge test is the hardest knowing the over voltage conditions which are applied to the faulted pack.

What's IEC 62133-2:2017 Certification of Lithium-Ion Battery?

IEC 62133-2:2017 is the most recognized and used standard for certification of lithium-ion battery, covering standards for safe installation and operation in different applications like GPS, wearables, Bluetooth devices, sensors, household and medical equipment.This standard covers the safety requirements for single battery and battery packs and portable sealed cell batteries and battery packs which contain alkaline or non-acid electrolytes (including lithium ion(Li-Ion) cells, nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, etc.).The second edition of IEC 62133-2:2017 has a high impact on lithium-ion cell manufacturers and users.The main changes related to lithium cells fall into the following three categories:

• New requirements
• Canceling redundant tests covered in other standards
• Transforming existing tests

Test topics covered in IEC 62133-2:2017

• Type Test Conditions
• Charging procedures for test purpose
• Continuous charging at a constant voltage
• Molded case stress in a high ambient temperature
• External short circuit
• Lithium-ion Battery Freefall
• Thermal abuse
• Crush test
• Over-charging of lithium-ion battery
• Forced discharge
• Transportation Tests