{"id":2069282,"date":"2023-03-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/?p=2069282"},"modified":"2023-03-22T15:57:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T20:57:27","slug":"innovative-lithium-ion-battery-fire-protection-design-for-multifamily-building-bike-storage-rooms-proposed-by-noted-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/innovative-lithium-ion-battery-fire-protection-design-for-multifamily-building-bike-storage-rooms-proposed-by-noted-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>INNOVATIVE LITHIUM\/ION BATTERY FIRE PROTECTION DESIGN FOR MULTIFAMILY BUILDING BIKE STORAGE ROOMS PROPOSED BY NOTED ARCHITECT<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>New York, NY\u2014March 16, 2023<\/strong>\u2014An architect responsible for scores of successful multifamily projects has revealed an innovative design, engineering and materials solution to reduce the risk of fires from lithium\/ion batteries on electric bikes in apartment building storage rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRecent fatal fires in multifamily buildings started by lithium\/ion batteries on electric bicycles are a lethal threat that can be greatly reduced through effective design and engineering solutions,\u201d said Ariel Aufgang, AIA, principal of Aufgang, <strong>an architecture and engineering design and consulting group.<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aufgang\u2019s engineering team has designed a bicycle storage room with a fire protection system that reduces the threat posed to building residents from such fires.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLithium Ion batteries burn very hot without the presence of oxygen due to a chemical reaction within the battery cell,\u201d said Sam LaMontanaro, PE CEM, Director of Engineering and head of the Building Systems Advisory Unit at Aufgang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe designed a bike storage room for apartment buildings that is fully encapsulated within cinderblock\u2014Concrete Masonry Units (CMU)\u2014to contain and limit the potential for fire and heat spread,\u201d said LaMontanaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs the first line of defense, sprinklers will slow the spread of fire allowing time for fire fighters to get to the site.&nbsp; To maximize sprinkler speed and effectiveness our design increases their density within bike the room to provide 0.3 gallons of water per minute (gpm) per square foot using standard k=5.6 sprinkler heads, with their spacing decreased to a 10ft x 10ft grid, coordinated with the racks and structure. That\u2019s well beyond most building code requirement,\u201d said LaMontanaro.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two floor drains are installed in the bike storage room to prevent flooding in the event of sprinkler discharge, and the room is designed to provide clear access to allow responding fire fighters safe entrance into the space to fully extinguish the fire with heavy hose streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology also plays a role, said LaMontanaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur design specifies smoke and heat detectors, including infrared sensors, that trigger fire alarms and alert building staff in the event of a fire in the bike room,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBuilding residents must be required to keep electric bicycles in the building\u2019s designated bike storage room and never in their apartments, hallways or lobbies,\u201d said Ariel Aufgang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe recommend that municipal and county building departments and fire departments update and revise their codes to contend with the increased risk of fires in multifamily buildings from lithium\/ion batteries on electric bicycles. Our safer dedicated bike room design is an excellent model for new construction requirements as well as retrofits,\u201d said Aufgang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York, NY\u2014March 16, 2023\u2014An architect responsible for scores of successful multifamily projects has revealed an innovative design, engineering and materials solution to reduce the risk of fires from lithium\/ion batteries on electric bikes in apartment building storage rooms. \u201cRecent fatal fires in multifamily buildings started by lithium\/ion batteries on electric bicycles are a lethal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4972,"featured_media":2069285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[7119,5553],"tags":[44064,7670,44061,44066,44063,44062,44065],"acf":[],"views":19,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/caption-BikeStoragefire.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4972"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2069282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2069285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2069282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2069282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csengineermag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2069282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}