From the “smoke‑sensing era” to the “thermal‑release‑particle era,” energy‑storage fire protection is at a quiet yet critical inflection point.

2021, Tesla in Australia Megapack A fire broke out at an energy-storage project and raged for three full days before it was brought under control. Post‑incident investigations highlighted one key factor: the fire went undetected in its early stages.

This is not an isolated incident. Across the globe, from South Korea to the United States, and from China to Europe, fires at energy storage facilities have been occurring with alarming frequency. A harsh reality is that today’s mainstream fire‑suppression systems for energy storage… Essentially, it’s “mending the pen after the sheep are lost.” 。

When tradition Smoke detector By the time it sounds, the battery cell has already ruptured its vent, is emitting smoke, and may even be engulfed in open flames. What’s more troubling is that, with the widespread adoption of liquid‑cooled PACKs (IP67‑rated sealed enclosures), the smoke cannot escape—effectively sealing off the critical early‑warning window.

Have we been relying on an “outdated” logic to safeguard a system that is becoming increasingly advanced?

When many people hear about energy-storage fires, their first reaction is, “The battery cells are substandard.”

However, in reality, the BMS is often capable of detecting sudden failures of the battery cell itself, such as internal short circuits or manufacturing defects. What is truly alarming is another type of risk—slow‑… Thermal failure due to deformation 。

It stems from the complex electrical architecture within the PACK: Wire harness aging, poor contact, insulation damage, creepage, arcing, and localized overheating.

The typical characteristics of these faults are localized high temperatures, low overall heat generation, and random fault locations. They do not immediately trigger the BMS’s temperature thresholds nor produce visible smoke; instead, they silently accumulate heat over time, eventually leading to thermal runaway.

It is this kind of “soft隐患” that poses the most insidious threat to energy-storage safety. 。

Meanwhile, traditional point‑type temperature sensors are like looking for a needle in a haystack—you can never tell which corner inside the battery pack the fault will occur in.
 

Current Arc Tracking Test Data

The traditional logic of fire protection is: wait until smoke appears, then sound the alarm.

This logic may barely suffice in an open environment, but in an IP67‑sealed one… Liquid-cooled PACK Inside, it completely fails. Smoke can’t escape, and the alarm is always a step behind.

So what should we do?

And the answer provided by NOVAPACK is: rather than waiting for smoke, directly detect “thermal‑release particles.”

What is thermally released particles?

In the early stages of thermal anomalies in battery cells or electrical nodes—such as localized overheating, creepage, or arcing—the heating of materials causes the decomposition of ultrafine particles that are invisible to the naked eye but objectively present. These particles are much smaller than smoke particles, diffuse rapidly, and, when thermal runaway occurs… It can be detected within minutes or even days. 。

The core technology of NOVAPACK lies in its highly sensitive detection of “thermally released particles,” capable of capturing particles larger than 20 nm. It comprehensively monitors thermally released particles generated during the temperature rise of various materials inside the battery pack, enabling all‑round, dead‑zone‑free surveillance of every surface within the pack.

NOVAPACK battery overcharge thermal runaway test curve; the green curve represents the thermal release particle concentration.

It does not rely on smoke, electrical signals, or a fixed placement of temperature sensors.

Wherever it’s hot, there are particles; wherever there are many particles, there lies a potential hazard.

The conventional approach relies on a few temperature sensors to “infer” the state of the entire battery pack.

The NOVAPACK system is a three-in-one detector, integrating thermal‑emission particle sensing, H₂ detection, and CO monitoring, ensuring that every corner inside the battery pack—cell surfaces, high‑voltage busbars, relays, and inter‑module junctions—is under continuous thermal‑anomaly surveillance. This means:

It’s not “multi-point monitoring,” but rather “full‑area sensing.”

This system can be seamlessly integrated into various PACK architectures, with a single core detection module covering approximately five commercial‑industrial energy storage PACKs or 8–16 large‑scale energy storage PACKs, while its deployment cost remains broadly comparable to that of conventional “three‑in‑one” solutions.

In other words: with the same amount of money, What you’ve gained isn’t just another detector—it’s an entirely new security framework.

In fact, Early warning It is not a new concept.

As early as 20 years ago, very early smoke detection had already become widespread in data centers and telecommunications equipment rooms ( ASD ).

Why? Because in the event of a fire, the business disruption caused by these scenarios far outweighs the cost of the equipment itself.

Their logic is: intervene at the particle stage, before smoke even forms.

Today, energy storage power stations are undergoing a similar transformation. As energy density continues to rise and PACK sealing becomes increasingly stringent, conventional smoke detection has reached its physical limits. Thermal‑ionization particle detection has emerged as the industry‑recognized next‑generation technology trend.

And NOVAPACK has taken the lead in implementing this concept within the energy storage industry.

From the “smoke‑sensing era” to the “thermal‑emission‑particle era,” this is not merely an upgrade—it is a paradigm shift.

This isn’t about buying a detector—it’s about buying peace of mind, so you no longer have to worry about receiving a fire alarm in the middle of the night.