GB31241-2014 Portable Electronic Product Lithium-Ion Batteries and Battery Packs – Safety Requirements

Introduction

This introduction is intended to explain the principles upon which the requirements of this standard are based. Understanding these principles is essential for designing and manufacturing safe lithium-ion batteries and battery packs. It should be noted that this standard only considers the most basic safety requirements for lithium-ion batteries and battery packs to provide protection for personal and property safety, without involving performance and functional characteristics.

As technology and processes further develop, further revisions of this standard will inevitably be required. The dangers caused by lithium-ion batteries and battery packs within the scope of this standard are:

• Leakage, which may directly pose chemical corrosion hazards to the human body or cause the failure of internal insulation of the electronic products powered by the batteries, indirectly leading to electric shock, fire, and other dangers;
• Fire, which can directly burn the human body or pose a fire hazard to the electronic products powered by the batteries;
• Explosion, which can directly endanger the human body or damage equipment;
• Overheating, which can directly cause burns to the human body, or lead to a reduction in insulation level and a decrease in the performance of safety components, or ignite flammable liquids. The risk of leakage may be caused by shell damage due to internal or external stress. The causes of fire and explosion hazards may be due to thermal runaway within the battery, which may be caused by internal short circuits or intense oxidation reactions of battery materials.

When determining the design scheme for the battery or battery pack, the following priority order should be followed:

• First, if possible, materials with high safety should be chosen, and materials prone to thermal runaway should be avoided as much as possible;
• Second, if the above principle cannot be implemented, protective devices should be designed to reduce or eliminate the possibility of danger, such as adding protective devices;
• Finally, if the above schemes and other measures cannot completely avoid the occurrence of danger, then measures for labeling and instructions should be taken for residual risks.

The above principles cannot replace the detailed requirements of this standard, but they allow designers to understand the principles upon which these requirements are based.

The safety of lithium-ion batteries and battery packs is related to the selection of materials, design, production processes, transportation, and use conditions. The use conditions include normal use conditions, foreseeable misuse conditions, and foreseeable failure conditions, as well as environmental conditions that affect their safety, such as temperature, altitude, and other factors.

The safety requirements for lithium-ion batteries and battery packs cover all the dangers caused by the above factors to personnel. Personnel refers to maintenance personnel and users.

Maintenance personnel refers to those who maintain electronic products and their batteries. Maintenance personnel can use professional skills to avoid potential harm when there is obvious danger. However, maintenance personnel should be protected against unexpected dangers, for example, by using labels or warning instructions to remind maintenance personnel of residual risks.

Users refer to all people other than maintenance personnel. Safety protection requirements are proposed on the assumption that users have not been trained to identify dangers, but will not deliberately create dangerous situations.

The selection of materials, design, and processes in the production process of lithium-ion batteries and battery packs is crucial to their safety. Examples of quality control in the production process can be found in Appendix A, and design and manufacturing processes can be referred to in Appendix B.