Standard for Safety for Batteries for Use in Stationary, Vehicle Auxiliary Power and Light Electric Rail (LER) Applications

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL)
Standards Development Organisation:
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
Working Program:
View the UL work program
Designation Number:
ANSI/CAN/UL 1973
Standard Type:
National Standard of Canada - Domestic
Standard Sub-Type
Joint Canada-U.S. National Standard
Standard Development Activity:
Amendment Revision
ICS code(s):
29.220
Status:
Proceeding to development
SDO Comment Period Start Date:
SDO Comment Period End Date:
Posted On:

Scope:

Note: The scope for this NOI (originally published on December 18, 2018) was updated by the responsible SDO on February 1, 2022.

1 Scope

1.1 These requirements cover battery systems as defined by this standard for use as energy storage for stationary applications such as for PV, wind turbine storage or for UPS, etc. applications. These systems shall be installed in accordance with NFPA 70, C22.1, or other applicable installation codes.

1.2 These requirements also cover battery systems as defined by this standard for use in light electric rail (LER) applications and stationary rail applications such as rail substations. These systems are intended for installation within either the rail car or within a sheltered stationary location such as a rail substation. These battery systems may utilize regenerative braking from the trains as a source of energy for recharging and are intended for direct or indirect connection to the rail power lines. These battery systems are intended for balancing loads during peak hours, serving as an energy storage device during regenerative breaking of the trains, and as a source of emergency power to move trains to the nearest station during power outages.

1.3 Appendix B of this standard includes requirements specific to sodium-beta type technologies. Appendix C of this standard includes requirements specific to flowing electrolyte technologies.

1.4 This standard evaluates the battery system's ability to safely withstand simulated abuse conditions. This standard evaluates the system based upon the manufacturer's specified charge and discharge parameters.

1.5 This standard does not evaluate the performance (i.e. capacity measurements under various discharge conditions) or reliability (i.e. capacity measurements under various environmental conditions) of these devices.

1.6 Figure 1.1 is a boundary diagram example for a battery system for this application. Figure 1.2 is a boundary diagram example for a module for this application.

Project need:

Standard being updated to revise the scope and requirements to clarify that vehicle auxiliary power batteries are addressed by the Standard. The title has also been revised to "Standard for Safety for Batteries for Use in Stationary and Motive Auxiliary Power Applications" to make it more succinct. Other changes include: revision of tests for flowing electrolyte batteries, clarification of the single cell failure design tolerance test, revision of overcharge and overdischarge tests to add measurement of cell voltages during test, clarifications of spacings criteria, clarification of lithium requirements, addition of a new definition for secondary cells, addition of cell test method from UL 9540A for information gathering, clarifications to the external fire test, clarification of lead acid battery system requirements, addition of requirements for repurposing batteries, inclusion of lithium cell requirements, revision of single cell failure design tolerance for outdoor use only, proposed exception for state of charge for drop impact test, proposed exception for loss of primary control, revision of test time for secondary lithium cells, and clarification of safety analysis section.

Note: The information provided above was obtained by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) and is provided as part of a centralized, transparent notification system for new standards development. The system allows SCC-accredited Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), and members of the public, to be informed of new work in Canadian standards development, and allows SCC-accredited SDOs to identify and resolve potential duplication of standards and effort.

Individual SDOs are responsible for the content and accuracy of the information presented here. The text is presented in the language in which it was provided to SCC.