Keep on trucking to tackle climate change

In the fight against climate change, Surefire’s customer who is leading global supplier of haulage equipment has taken a giant leap forward to convert and upgrade their fleet of vehicles to become fully electric.   This supports the UK Government compliancy and emissions targets which will soon come into force nationwide.

The technology to drive this innovation means that they are now installing and testing Lithium ION battery cells to their vehicles, which is a potential fire risk.   The project team at Surefire partnered the customer to look at a range of different solutions to provide early warning of the batteries overheating and signal via the existing fire detection and alarm system to a control station where they could shut down the testing effectively mange the risk.

Surefire proposed an infra-red camera solution to meet the clients risk requirements, and after assessing with the client, cameras were installed at key positions around the testing rig to monitor the batteries for heat and thermal runaway during the charging of the lithium-ion batteries on the trucks.  The compact spot finder IR camera has motor focus capability where objects are thermally analysed and hot or cold spots can be found automatically.

These cameras were connected via a central controller back to house fire alarm system to provide local alarm at the control centre. We also provided a video screen and PC software for the client to use to provide live monitoring of the batteries throughout the testing process.

Once installed a fully comprehensive training package was delivered to site along with detailed instructions and even Youtube videos on how the system works in order for the client to maximise their fire protection. The system is now functional and working in real test scenarios providing an increased level of fire safety for the client.