IEC 62619: Safety Requirements for Secondary Lithium Cells and Batteries, for Use in Industrial Applications

IEC 62619 discusses the requirements and tests used to safely operate secondary lithium cells and batteries during industrial and stationary applications. This standard is set to lower the risk of battery fires, explosions, and chemical leaks in their respective applications. To account for this, new revisions have stricter requirements for battery management system (BMS) integration and thermal runway prevention.

This standard applies to the first life of cells and batteries; however, there are a couple of exceptions. The first is for batteries that are split into smaller units, in which case the smaller unit will be tested as the battery’s representative. The second is when there is another IEC standard that utilizes cells for special applications which conflict with IEC 62619, the other IEC standard will take precedent.

Within the scope of IEC 62619, some of the applications that are covered include:

• Stationary applications: electrical energy storage system, emergency power, telecom, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), utility switching, and similar applications.
• Motive applications: automated guided vehicle (AGV), forklift truck, golf cart, marine vehicles, and railway vehicles, with the exception of road vehicles.

This standard tests three main areas of cell and battery safety: electrical safety, thermal management, and mechanical durability.
 

Electrical Safety

Electrical safety focuses on a few different attributes of the cell and battery.
•    Ensuring voltages are within their safe limits through overcharge protection.
•    Maintaining a battery’s integrity and lifespan through over-discharge protection.
•    Preventing potential fire hazards via short-circuit protection.
•    Abnormal charging and discharging monitoring to ensure operational safety under all conditions.
 

Thermal Management

For batteries to maintain satisfactory levels of safety and performance, they must remain stable under extreme temperatures that may be encountered during travel.
 

Mechanical Durability

When RVs travel, the batteries within the vehicle will absorb a variety of shocks, vibrations, and impacts. This standard mandates that batteries must be able to handle these impacts without compromising it’s structure or function.

ATEC rents a variety of devices that can aid in testing cells and batteries. Below are the categories required. Scroll further to view specific products from these categories that can aid in performing testing according to IEC 62619.

• Battery Cyclers/BMS Testers - For charging/discharging, capacity, life, and performance under various conditions.
• Environmental Chambers - To test performance and safety in extreme temperatures, humidity, etc.
• Data Acquisition (DAQ) - High-speed recording of temperature (thermocouples), voltage, current, pressure.
• Electrical Safety Testers -  For insulation resistance, high potential (hipot), grounding.
• EMC/EMI Test Equipment - To ensure electromagnetic compatibility.