Japanese Safety Standards for Lithium-ion Battery (LIB) Use

In setting lithium-ion battery (LIB) Safety Standards Japan thoroughly tests land, ship and submarine LIBs. Above see a drop impact tester (on left) and vibration tester (on right). Photo courtesy Japan Industry News.---

Anonymous commented about Japanese Industrial Standards on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for ships. These Standards have requirements and recommendations on LIB safety. 

[What are some examples of some Japanese maritime LIB safety standards by code and numbers? For more general Japanese Safety Standard for LIBs see subheading “Legal regulations in Japan”

Pete has found a reference to NDS F8016B, NDS F8016B is not a safety standard, but it is a example of a Standard for Japanese submarines using LIBs. NDS F8016B sets down rules to minimize stray magnetic fields created by LIBs. From the first Soryu Mark 2 (27SS) an extra 240 LIB cell modules may be placed in the space where the old Soryu Mark 1’s AIPs LOx tank assembly was.

Specifically 240 comes from Japanese Ministry of Defence Standard NDS F8016B “General rules for design of equipment with small stray magnetic field”, 5.3”Arrangement of main batteries for submarine” which specifies that submarine generally equips with directly connected 240 single cells as a group.] 

Safety analysis tools for risk reduction measures age equipment using LIBs include:

-  Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

-  Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and

-  Safety Integrity Level (SIL)

Risks of LIBs for submarine are often pointed out. But submarine operation and maintenance involves many risks.

For example the practice of rectangular “sunroof” hull cutting on Collins submarines (scroll 2/3s way down on this 2016 SubMatt article) to service diesel-generator sets) involves risk of fracture when Collins dive deeply. In fact the RAN leadership have limited maximum Collins diving depths because of the risks of extensive hull cutting.

It could be that the possibility of a submarine sinking caused by rectangular hull cutting is far higher than the risk of LIBs failure.

Anonymous's Article and Pete's comment in [...] Brackets