Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT
Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT
© Fraunhofer ICT

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire, flame and explosion protection

Due to the history of the institute, protection against flame, fire and explosion events occupies a special place in the research topics and development work of the Fraunhofer ICT. Due to the complexity of the topics, issues are addressed on an interdisciplinary basis and across product areas. An overview of the main research areas and applications is shown below.

© Fraunhofer ICT

We apply our expertise in flame, fire and explosion protection across all disciplines at the institute

Selected research projects

 

Flame protection

LiquiFiRe

  • Development of liquid flame retardants for PU foams based on s-heptazine, s-triazine and dicyanamide derivatives
  • Duration: 2019 - 2023
more info (German only)
 

Flame protection

Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy – CCPE

  • Subproject: development of flame-retardant PLA particle foam
  • Duration: 2018 - 2023
more info

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire protection

Solid-Safe

Solid-state battery safety testing
 
  • Safety testing on solid-state batteries incl. development of AI to predict the safety of solid-state cells.
  • Subproject: safety tests incl. gas analysis on solid-state cells and creation of a project database.
  • Duration: 2022 - 2023

Fire protection

FoFeBat 2

Battery cell production (FFB 2)

  • Construction and commissioning of a production line for large-format pouch and prismatic cells incl. expansion of manufacturing flexibility.
  • Subproject: development of cell design and construction incl. validation in a sample cell, for example by safety tests and patent evaluation of cell safety features and housing.
  • Duration: 2021 - 2024

Flame protection

HyPerium

Hybrid polymer ceramic Na solid state battery

  • Development of a hybrid polymer-ceramic solid Na-based battery incl. demonstrator.
  • Subproject: production of solid electrolytes (polymer, hybrid) and cathodes, cell characterization and safety tests.
  • Duration: 2021 - 2024

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire protection

LITBAT

Safety concepts and safety features of LIBs and standardization of most common battery format for LIB technology

  • Development and evaluation of the safety of LIBs along their life cycle in military applications.
  • Subproject: overview of standards and assessment of security in LIB systems in various military applications, evaluation of possible misuse scenarios and accidents, and final security recommendation, among others
  • Duration: 2022

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire protection

HybriDT II

Hybrid drive train demonstrator – phase 2

  • Development of a hybrid drive system demonstrator from simulations for military wheel and track applications
  • Subproject: requirements for battery and battery systems, definition of battery and battery systems (market development), safety and abuse tests
  • Duration: 2022 - 2023

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire protection

SafeBatt

Active and passive measures for intrinsically safe lithium-ion batteries

  • The research, development and deployment of new materials, models and sensors aims to make lithium-ion batteries more reliable and, in particular, ensure the market penetration of electric vehicles.
  • Subproject: cell-internal sensor technology, safety tests on new cell materials and cells, gas analysis
  • Duration: 2012 - 2015

Fire protection

EverSafe

Everyday Safety for Electric Vehicles
 
  • Compilation of safety requirements for electric vehicles, taking account of new electric-specific designs and proposing adaptations
  • Subproject: execution of cell tests under abuse conditions, gas monitoring during complete vehicle crash test
  •  Duration: 2012 - 2014

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire protection

AnaLiBa

Analysis of lithium-ion batteries

  • (Further) development of thermal and gas analytical methods ant their combination
  • Subproject: calorimetric measurements on cells, further development of gas analytics, online MS for ARC combinations
  • Duration: 2021 - 2023

Flame protection

Profile Region Mobility Systems Karlsruhe

  • Subproject: design of a battery module and system with fiber composite materials, flame protection investigations and thermal measurement of battery cells
  • Duration: 2019 - 2021

Profilregion, subproject "sustainable lightweight traction battery systems"

Conference contribution: "Investigation of SMC Flame Retardants for Application in Battery electric Vehicles"

 

Flame protection

LM4M

Light Materials 4 Mobility

  • Subproject: development of thermoplastic sandwich structure for battery box and bench scale test method for UNECE R-100-8E test
  • Duration: 2021
more info
 

© Cleansky2

Flame protection

Clean Sky 2 – AIRFRAME ITD

  • Subproject: "hybrid seating structure", development of a flame-retardant aircraft seat structure made of polyurethane
  • Duration: 2016 - 2023
more info

© Fraunhofer ICT

Explosion protection

Lighthouse project H2Mare

  • Wind turbines with integrated electrolyser demonstrate sustainable hydrogen production at sea
  • Subproject: Explosion protection in the storage system
  • Duration: 2021  - 2025

© Fraunhofer ICT

Fire protection

LöschGel

  • Investigation of the use of gelling agents to accurately drop extinguishing agents from firefighting aircraft or helicopters
  • Duration: 2021

Flame protection

FoAM-BUILD

Functional adaptive nano-materials and technologies for energy efficient buildings

  • Development of a halogen-free flame-retardant facade insulation material based on EPS (expandable polystyrene)
  • Duration: 2013 - 2017

Impressions of our equipment

Fire shaft incineration hall; here: Test setup for the safety-related investigation of a multi-gas burner
© Fraunhofer ICT
Fire shaft incineration hall; here: test setup for the safety-related investigation of a multi-gas burner
Explosive bunker; 44m³ closed bunker for explosive characterization (exterior and interior view)
© Fraunhofer ICT
Explosive bunker; 44m³ closed bunker for explosive characterization (exterior and interior view)
Flame retardant laboratory
© W. Mayrhofer
Flame retardant laboratory
Outdoor test site; here: H2 high-pressure jet test from our 5l tube accumulator at 300bar
© Fraunhofer ICT
Outdoor test site; here: H2 high-pressure jet test from our 5 l tube accumulator at 300bar
Outdoor test site; here: 30g hydrogen ignited as a stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture in a standard IBC container
© Fraunhofer ICT
Outdoor test site; here: 30g hydrogen ignited as a stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture in a standard IBC container
Outdoor test site; Fraunhofer ICT's fireworks at the annual conference
© Fraunhofer ICT
Outdoor test site; Fraunhofer ICT's fireworks at the annual conference
Battery testing; heatable pressure vessel for (Li-ion) battery tests, mainly also for analyzing and detecting (gaseous) substances generated
© Fraunhofer ICT
Battery testing; heatable pressure vessel for (Li-ion) battery tests, mainly also for analyzing and detecting (gaseous) substances generated
Battery testing
© Fraunhofer ICT
Battery testing
Hot gas test stand with natural gas combustion chamber (400kW, up to 1200°C)
© Fraunhofer ICT
Hot gas test stand with natural gas combustion chamber (400kW, up to 1200°C)
Detonation sphere; intrinsically safe detonation chamber
© Fraunhofer ICT
Detonation sphere; intrinsically safe detonation chamber
Safety center with high-pressure tower; test hall with steel frame ("high-pressure tower") to accommodate medium-pressure and high-pressure vessels
© Fraunhofer ICT
Safety center with high-pressure tower; test hall with steel frame ("high-pressure tower") to accommodate medium-pressure and high-pressure vessels

Contact

Carl-Christoph Höhne

Contact Press / Media

Dr. rer. nat. Carl-Christoph Höhne

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-310

Contact persons in our departments

Michael Abert

Contact Press / Media

Dr. rer. nat. Michael Abert

Applied Electrochemistry

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-658

Björn Beck

Contact Press / Media

M.Sc. Björn Beck

Polymer Engineering

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-593

Lars-Fredrik Berg

Contact Press / Media

Dr.-Ing. Lars-Fredrik Berg

New Drive Systems

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Rintheimer Querallee 2
76131 Karlsruhe

Phone +49 721 91503814

Contact Press / Media

Valeria Berner

Environmental Engineering

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-152

Carsten Cremers

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Carsten Cremers

Applied Electrochemistry

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-665

Fax +49 721 4640-800665

Armin Keßler

Contact Press / Media

Dipl.-Phys. Armin Keßler

Energetic Systems

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-301

Fax +49 721 4640-800301

Sebastian Knapp

Contact Press / Media

Dipl.-Phys. Sebastian Knapp

Energetic Systems

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-643

Fax +49 721 4640-111

Johannes Liebertseder

Contact Press / Media

M.Sc. Johannes Liebertseder

New Drive Systems

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Rintheimer Querallee 2
76131 Karlsruhe

Phone +49 721 91503825

Christoph Mack

Contact Press / Media

Dipl.-Ing. Christoph Mack

Polymer Engineering

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-721

Andreas Menrath

Contact Press / Media

Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Menrath

Polymer Engineering

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-421

Michael Weinert

Contact Press / Media

Dr. rer. nat. Michael Weinert

Energetic Materials

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-113

Volker Weiser

Contact Press / Media

Dipl.-Ing. Volker Weiser

Energetic Systems

Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie ICT
Joseph-von-Fraunhofer-Straße 7
76327 Pfinztal

Phone +49 721 4640-156

Fax +49 721 4640-111

Selection of our publications