Integrated Safety Management System for Detecting and Responding to Electric Vehicle Fires and Battery Thermal Runaway Risks

Abstract

The present invention relates to an integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to risks of electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway. More specifically, it relates to an integrated safety management system capable of reducing the risk of electric vehicle fire by comprehensively determining environmental information obtained from the electric vehicle or its surroundings and battery status information of the electric vehicle, and by detecting signs of fire or risks of thermal runaway before the time of fire and responding to them.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to risks of electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway. More specifically, it relates to an integrated safety management system capable of reducing the risk of electric vehicle fire by comprehensively determining environmental information obtained from the electric vehicle or its surroundings and battery status information of the electric vehicle, and by detecting signs of fire or risks of thermal runaway before the time of fire and responding to them. Background Technology

[0003] With the recent expansion of electric vehicle (EV) adoption, safety issues at charging stations and parking spaces are emerging as a significant social challenge. In particular, due to the high energy density of batteries installed in EVs, there is a high probability that a battery malfunction will lead to a fire, and once a fire starts, it is difficult to extinguish. EV fires can occur not only while driving but also while parked or charging, posing a risk of the fire spreading into a major accident in crowded parking lots or charging facilities.

[0004] Conventional electric vehicle (EV) fire response technologies primarily rely on reactive measures, utilizing equipment such as smoke detectors, temperature sensors, or sprinklers after a fire has already occurred. Since these conventional technologies only respond after clear signs of fire, such as flames or smoke, appear, they have limitations in detecting abnormal conditions that progress gradually internally, such as battery thermal runaway, in advance. Furthermore, detection methods relying on a single sensor or single piece of information have a high probability of false positives or misses, making it difficult to perform reliable fire prediction and response in real-world settings.

[0005] Meanwhile, despite the fact that battery status information is collected through electric vehicle battery management systems, technologies capable of detecting and responding to fire or thermal runaway risks in advance by comprehensively analyzing this battery status information along with image, temperature, or gas data acquired from the surrounding environment have not been sufficiently proposed. In particular, conventional technologies often treat fire detection and battery status detection as separate issues, which limits the ability to correlate fire signs occurring in the external environment with abnormal conditions progressing within the battery. Consequently, there have been technical limitations in predicting electric vehicle fires before they occur and performing preemptive responses, such as stopping charging, providing warnings, or initial fire suppression. Prior art literature

[0007] Published Patent Application No. 10-2024-0164759 (Published Nov. 20, 2024) The problem to be solved

[0008] The present invention was developed to improve upon the aforementioned problems. The objective of the present invention is to provide an integrated safety management system capable of reducing the risk of electric vehicle fire by comprehensively determining environmental information obtained from the electric vehicle or its surroundings and battery status information of the electric vehicle, and by detecting signs of fire or the risk of thermal runaway before the fire occurs and responding accordingly. means of solving the problem

[0010] The present invention is characterized by comprising: an information acquisition unit (100) including a plurality of sensing means (110) for acquiring environmental information occurring around an electric vehicle or an electric vehicle, and a vehicle status information collection unit (120) for receiving battery status information of the electric vehicle; a judgment unit (200) including a fire sign judgment unit (210) for determining a fire sign in the surrounding environment based on the environmental information among the information acquired from the information acquisition unit (100), and a battery abnormality judgment unit (220) for determining an abnormal state of the battery based on the battery status information; and a response control unit (300) for controlling a response operation according to the dangerous state of the electric vehicle based on the judgment results of the fire sign judgment unit (210) and the battery abnormality judgment unit (220).

[0011] At this time, the plurality of sensing means (110) is characterized by including at least one of: a temperature sensing means (110) for detecting a temperature abnormality occurring in the electric vehicle or around the electric vehicle; a gas sensing means (110) for detecting gas components; and an image sensing means (110) for acquiring visual information.

[0012] In addition, the image detection means (110) may include at least one of a real image camera (111) and a thermal image camera (111).

[0013] Meanwhile, the battery status information includes at least one of the temperature information of the electric vehicle battery, the rate of temperature increase, and information on changes over time.

[0014] Meanwhile, the above response control unit (300) can determine the dangerous state of the electric vehicle by combining the judgment results of the fire sign judgment unit (210) and the battery abnormality judgment unit (220), and control the response operation according to the dangerous state.

[0015] At this time, the above-mentioned corresponding operation may include at least one of charging control of the electric vehicle, output of a warning notification, transmission of information to an external system, and control of safety equipment. Effects of the invention

[0017] According to the present invention, environmental information obtained from an electric vehicle or the surroundings of an electric vehicle and battery status information of the electric vehicle can be used together to detect signs of fire and the risk of battery thermal runaway in advance before a fire occurs.

[0018] In addition, by analyzing multiple environmental information and battery status information using different judgment criteria, the reliability of fire indication and battery abnormality detection can be improved and the possibility of false positives reduced compared to conventional technology that relies on a single piece of information.

[0019] Furthermore, since response actions such as stopping electric vehicle charging, providing warning notifications, and operating fire extinguishing equipment can be performed in stages based on the judgment result, the initial spread of electric vehicle fires can be effectively suppressed. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0021] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway risks according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway risks according to the present invention. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0022] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings so that a person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily practice the present invention.

[0024] The present invention relates to an integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to risks of electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway. More specifically, it relates to an integrated safety management system capable of reducing the risk of electric vehicle fire by comprehensively determining environmental information obtained from the electric vehicle or its surroundings and battery status information of the electric vehicle, and by detecting signs of fire or risks of thermal runaway before the time of fire and responding to them.

[0026] The present invention includes an information acquisition unit (100), a judgment unit (200), and a corresponding control unit (300).

[0028] The information acquisition unit (100) is for acquiring information necessary to determine fire signs and whether there is a battery abnormality, and includes a plurality of sensing means (110) for acquiring environmental information occurring around an electric vehicle or an electric vehicle, and a vehicle status information collection unit (120) for receiving battery status information of the electric vehicle.

[0029] A plurality of sensing means (110) are installed in a space where an electric vehicle is parked or charged to acquire environmental information about the electric vehicle or the surrounding electric vehicle, and may include at least one of a real-image camera (111), a thermal-image camera (111), a laser temperature sensing sensor (112), and a gas sensing sensor (113). These plurality of sensing means (110) are configured to acquire thermal information, chemical information, and visual information as environmental information related to signs of fire and abnormal battery conditions occurring around the electric vehicle or the electric vehicle.

[0030] A visible light camera (111) can acquire visual information by capturing the external condition of an electric vehicle or the surroundings of an electric vehicle, and can provide images including objects or patterns that can be interpreted as signs of smoke, flames, or fire. A thermal imaging camera (111) can detect local high-temperature areas or abnormal temperature distributions by acquiring the temperature distribution of an electric vehicle or the surroundings of an electric vehicle in the form of images and providing thermal information. In particular, the thermal imaging camera (111) can acquire thermal information regarding the lower area of ​​the electric vehicle where the battery is installed. According to one embodiment, the visible light camera (111) and the thermal imaging camera (111) may each be configured as independent devices, but may be implemented in the form of a dual camera (111) in which a visible light capturing unit and a thermal imaging unit are provided together within a single device, thereby enabling simultaneous acquisition of visual information and thermal information at the same point in time.

[0031] A laser temperature sensing sensor (112) can detect local temperature changes in the lower area of ​​an electric vehicle to obtain thermal information and can provide environmental information regarding whether there is a temperature rise associated with the risk of fire or battery thermal runaway. This laser temperature sensing sensor (112) can be installed on the floor side of the electric vehicle parking area.

[0032] The gas detection sensor (113) can obtain chemical information regarding gas components generated in or around the electric vehicle. The gas detection sensor (113) detects the presence of gas components that may be released in the event of a battery malfunction or fire, and in particular, can provide information associated with the abnormal state of the electric vehicle by detecting the presence of off-gas components corresponding to early signs of battery thermal runaway.

[0034] The vehicle status information collection unit (120) is configured to obtain information about the battery status of the electric vehicle and to receive battery status information from the battery management system (BMS) of the electric vehicle.

[0035] For example, the vehicle status information collection unit (120) may be configured to receive battery status information in real time or periodically through the power line of the charging cable using power line communication (PLC). At this time, the battery status information may include at least one of cell voltage, cell current, cell temperature, and state of charge (SoC), and may further include relay fusion detection messages indicating whether there is an abnormality in the internal components of the charger.

[0037] The judgment unit (200) is configured to perform fire indication judgment and battery abnormality judgment using environmental information and battery status information obtained from the information acquisition unit (100). This judgment unit (200) may be configured to operate on an edge device or a charger-side device installed in a space where an electric vehicle is parked or charged.

[0038] The judgment unit (200) may include a fire sign judgment unit (210) and a battery abnormality judgment unit (220), and each judgment unit (200) operates independently according to different judgment criteria so as to be able to distinguish and analyze the fire risk occurring in the electric vehicle or around the electric vehicle and the thermal runaway risk occurring inside the electric vehicle battery.

[0039] The fire sign determination unit (210) determines whether there is a fire sign occurring in the electric vehicle or around the electric vehicle based on environmental information. The fire sign determination unit (210) can determine a fire sign by analyzing objects or patterns related to smoke, flames, or fire included in the actual image, and this analysis can be performed using an object detection method that identifies objects within the image. According to one embodiment, a YOLO-based object detection model may be used for image analysis, and the fire sign determination unit (210) can determine whether there is an object that can be determined as a fire sign using the object detection results.

[0040] The fire sign determination unit (210) can increase the reliability of fire sign determination by using thermal information along with the video analysis results. For example, if a local high temperature distribution or an abnormal temperature distribution in a specific area shown in the thermal image is maintained for a certain period of time or longer, this can be considered as a determination factor related to the possibility of fire occurrence. In addition, if a temperature rise is detected in the lower area of ​​the electric vehicle by a laser detection sensor, the fire sign determination unit (210) can additionally reflect the temperature rise in the fire sign determination.

[0041] The fire sign judgment unit (210) may use gas detection results as an auxiliary criterion for determining fire signs. For example, if the occurrence of off-gas components is detected, the fire sign judgment unit (210) may determine fire signs by comprehensively considering the gas detection results along with image-based judgment and thermal information-based judgment results. In this way, the fire sign judgment unit (210) can reduce the possibility of false positives and improve the reliability of the judgment compared to a judgment method that relies on a single piece of information by performing a judgment by combining multiple environmental information.

[0042] The battery abnormality determination unit (220) determines the abnormal state or risk of thermal runaway of the electric vehicle battery based on battery status information received from the vehicle status information collection unit (120). The battery abnormality determination unit (220) may use not only the absolute value of the battery temperature but also the trend of temperature change over time and the rate of temperature increase as major determination criteria.

[0043] According to one embodiment, the battery abnormality determination unit (220) can detect a pattern of rapid temperature rise by analyzing time series data of the battery temperature, and a time series analysis model based on bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) can be used for this analysis. The time series analysis model based on bidirectional long short-term memory can more precisely determine whether there is an abnormality in the battery state change by simultaneously considering the temperature change over time along with the temperature change in the preceding and succeeding sections.

[0044] As a specific embodiment, the battery abnormality determination unit (220) may determine that if the battery temperature rises by about 10 degrees per second or more and this condition persists for about 5 seconds or more, it is a warning sign of thermal runaway or a pre-thermal runaway stage.

[0045] The battery abnormality determination unit (220) can determine an abnormal state of the entire battery system by considering, in addition to temperature information, voltage deviation between battery cells, current change, or abnormality in the charging state. For example, if the temperature of a specific cell becomes significantly higher than that of another cell or if the voltage deviation between cells increases rapidly, this can be reflected as a factor in determining the battery abnormal state. At this time, the comparison criteria for the determination are set in advance, for example, if the battery state information is determined to exceed a set reference value or differ by more than N times, it can be determined that there is an abnormality in the battery.

[0046] In this way, the fire sign judgment unit (210) and the battery abnormality judgment unit (220) each perform independent judgments based on different judgment criteria and input information, thereby enabling multi-faceted analysis of fire risks occurring around the electric vehicle and battery abnormality conditions occurring inside the electric vehicle. Through this, the judgment unit (200) according to the present invention can recognize a dangerous situation in advance at an early stage where fire signs or battery thermal runaway risks appear, rather than after a fire has actually occurred.

[0048] The response control unit (300) is configured to control response actions according to the dangerous state of the electric vehicle based on the judgment results of the fire sign judgment unit (210) and the battery abnormality judgment unit (220). For example, the dangerous state may be divided into a warning stage and a response stage, in which a notification is provided in the warning stage, and in which, in the response stage, an active response such as stopping charging or operating fire extinguishing equipment (20) may be performed.

[0049] According to one embodiment, when a battery abnormality determination unit (220) determines a risk of thermal runaway, the response control unit (300) can control the charging operation of the electric vehicle to be stopped immediately or the power supply to be cut off. By doing so, the deterioration of heat generation can be suppressed by blocking additional energy inflow into the battery.

[0050] Additionally, if a fire sign is detected by the fire sign detection unit (210), the response control unit (300) may provide a danger warning notification to the user or the charging station operator. The warning notification may be provided via text message, notification message, or control system screen, and may include the location of the fire sign, the detected type of danger, and response recommendation information.

[0051] Additionally, the response control unit (300) may be configured to transmit judgment results and risk information to a control system to enable remote monitoring and response. The control system can check the status of the electric vehicle in real time using the received information and support on-site response as needed.

[0052] In addition, when the response control unit (300) determines that the dangerous condition is above a certain level, it can suppress the initial spread of fire by operating fire extinguishing equipment (20) placed in an adjacent location to the electric vehicle. Here, the fire extinguishing equipment may include a floor fire extinguishing nozzle provided on the floor of the electric vehicle's parking area, an upper fire extinguishing nozzle located above the parking area, and pipes and pumps that supply fire extinguishing water or fire extinguishing agent to each fire extinguishing nozzle, and the fire extinguishing equipment (20) may spray fire extinguishing water or fire extinguishing agent.

[0053] Meanwhile, the fire indication detection unit may perform a fire indication detection by considering the charging status information of the electric vehicle. According to one embodiment, the fire indication detection unit may detect a situation in which charging continues even after the electric vehicle has reached a fully charged state, as the charging cable remains connected. While this state may correspond to normal charging operation, if the charging state is maintained for a long time after full charge, there is a possibility that heat may accumulate around the charging cable, charging connector, or the electric vehicle.

[0054] Accordingly, the fire indication detection unit can be configured to provide a warning notification for fire prevention if the charging state is maintained for longer than a set time after the electric vehicle is fully charged. For example, by providing an alarm to the user or charging station operator at regular intervals based on the time the charging state is maintained after full charge, awareness of the potential fire risk associated with prolonged charging can be induced.

[0056] According to this configuration, the integrated safety management system according to the present invention utilizes electric vehicle surrounding environment information and electric vehicle battery status information together to determine signs of fire and the risk of battery thermal runaway at an early stage, and by performing stepwise response actions based on the determination result, enables a rapid and effective response to the risk of electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway.

[0058] Meanwhile, the present specification and drawings disclose preferred embodiments of the present invention. Although specific terms have been used, they are used merely in a general sense to facilitate the explanation of the technical content of the present invention and to aid in understanding the invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that, in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein, other variations based on the technical concept of the present invention are possible. Explanation of the symbols

[0060] 10 : Parking lot 20 : Fire extinguishing equipment 100 : Information Acquisition Unit 110: Detection means 111: Camera 112: Laser temperature sensor 113: Gas sensor 120: Vehicle Status Information Collection Unit 200 : Judgment section 210: Fire Sign Detection Unit 220: Battery Anomaly Detection Unit 300 : Corresponding control unit

Claims

Claim 1 The system comprises: an information acquisition unit (100) including a plurality of sensing means (110) for acquiring environmental information occurring around an electric vehicle or electric vehicle, and a vehicle status information collection unit (120) for receiving battery status information of the electric vehicle; a judgment unit (200) including a fire sign judgment unit (210) for determining a fire sign in the surrounding environment based on the environmental information among the information acquired from the information acquisition unit (100), and a battery abnormality judgment unit (220) for determining an abnormal state of the battery based on the battery status information; and a response control unit (300) for controlling a response operation according to the dangerous state of the electric vehicle based on the judgment results of the fire sign judgment unit (210) and the battery abnormality judgment unit (220); wherein the plurality of sensing means (110) include a temperature sensing means for detecting a temperature abnormality occurring around an electric vehicle or electric vehicle, including a laser temperature sensing sensor installed on the floor side of the electric vehicle parking area to detect a local temperature change in the lower area of ​​the electric vehicle where the battery is mounted; a gas sensing means for detecting gas components; and an image sensing means for acquiring visual information. The vehicle status information collection unit (120) includes at least one of the following: receiving battery status information including cell voltage, cell current, cell temperature, and relay fusion detection messages indicating abnormality of internal charger components, which are collected in real time from a battery management system (BMS) inside the vehicle via a charging cable using power line communication (PLC); and the fire sign determination unit (210) determines whether there is an object or pattern related to smoke or flames included in the image information, determines whether a local high-temperature area or abnormal temperature distribution included in the thermal information is maintained for a certain period of time or longer, and determines fire signs in a stage prior to the occurrence of fire by comprehensively considering a plurality of environmental information including gas detection results including whether off-gas components are generated.The temperature rise information of the lower region of the electric vehicle detected by the laser temperature sensing sensor (112) is additionally reflected in the determination of fire signs, and the battery abnormality determination unit (220) uses the temperature change trend and temperature rise rate over time of the battery temperature included in the received battery status information, and uses a time series analysis model based on bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) to determine the risk of thermal runaway of the battery by simultaneously considering the temperature change of the preceding and succeeding sections along with the change over time of the received battery temperature, and the fire sign determination unit (210) and the battery abnormality determination unit (220) perform judgments independently according to different judgment criteria, and the corresponding control unit (300) determines the dangerous state of the electric vehicle by distinguishing and comprehensively considering the judgment result of the fire sign determination unit (210) and the judgment result of the battery abnormality determination unit (220), and additionally considers the State of Charge (SoC) information received from the vehicle status information collection unit (120) so that the charging cable remains connected for a set time or longer even after the battery has reached a fully charged state. An integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway risks, configured to determine whether the risk of heat accumulation around the electric vehicle increases when maintained, wherein the response operation includes at least one of charging control of the electric vehicle, outputting a warning notification, transmitting information to an external system, and controlling safety equipment, wherein the response control unit (300) controls to selectively operate a fire extinguishing device (20) located in the lower area of ​​the electric vehicle by considering together the thermal information obtained from the laser temperature sensing sensor (112) and the judgment result of the battery abnormality judgment unit (220), or to output a step-by-step preventive notification according to the heat accumulation risk judgment result. Claim 2 delete Claim 3 An integrated safety management system for detecting and responding to electric vehicle fire and battery thermal runaway risks, wherein, in claim 1, the image detection means comprises at least one of a real image camera (111) and a thermal image camera (111). Claim 4 delete Claim 5 delete Claim 6 delete

Images