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Samsung SDI's uninterruptible power supply (UPS) battery system. / Photo courtesy of Samsung SDI

A battery designed for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems by Samsung SDI has proven its safety technology by clearing a fire containment test conducted by a global certification organization.

Samsung SDI announced on July 14 that it recently satisfied all evaluation criteria in a large-scale indoor fire test supervised by UL Solutions, a global safety certification institution.

A UPS is a critical infrastructure device that guarantees the stable operation of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and other facilities by immediately supplying emergency power stored in batteries during power supply anomalies, such as sudden blackouts or voltage instability.

The evaluation is a safety test designed to verify whether a fire propagates to adjacent racks or systems after a module inside a UPS battery rack is intentionally burned out. While the ignited UPS battery module was completely incinerated, no fire propagation, gas emission, explosion, or rupture occurred in the surrounding racks, satisfying all performance and safety standard criteria.

In particular, the technology demonstrated its capability as the fire extinguished on its own without triggering the overhead sprinklers.

UL Solutions introduced the "Indoor LSFT" early this year to check and verify risks such as explosions or thermal propagation when an actual fire occurs in a UPS system. Samsung SDI became the first in the world to officially fulfill these testing standards.

As global Big Tech companies and AI data center operators currently present "verified fire safety" as a mandatory condition for choosing battery suppliers, Samsung SDI stated that it will leverage these test results to emphasize its differentiated safety competitiveness to global clients.

Furthermore, the company plans to target the AI data center and utility-scale energy storage system (ESS) markets based on various ESS products, including its UPS batteries and the Samsung Battery Box (SBB).

"Clearing this test serves as recognition for our differentiated safety technology," a company official said. "We will provide the most reliable solutions for our customers across various markets, including ESS for AI data centers."

                                                                                                              Kim A-yoon