IIT Bombay Racing Team
IIT Bombay is the leading Formula Student Electric team out of all 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The team designs, constructs and races electric race cars for international Formula Student competitions. In fact, IIT Bombay Racing came 1st in low weight sustainability at the Baja SAE and has ranked as the best non-UK team for the past 5 years.
Just like electric vehicles, electric race cars, operate both electrically and mechanically and consist of numerous components. This includes the Li-ion battery pack, controls, switches, transformers as well as power conversion and regeneration units. Race car Li-ion batteries are equally susceptible to fire hazards and thermal runaways. Fire incidents during a race lead to extensive downtime, loss of expensive equipment and can compromise the safety of the driver and others. Therefore, measures to avoid fires are of paramount importance for IIT Bombay Racing Team.
FirePro India has supplied and overseen the installation of a fire suppression system for IIT Bombay Racing Formula Electric Vehicle’s (EV) Li-ion battery pack - two bespoke fire suppression modules as per IIT Bombay Racing specifications. The team engineering crew (trained by FirePro India Fire Engineers) carried out the installation adhering to the designated quality standards and protocols.
The system protects the race car’s Li-ion battery pack and equipment in the engine bay. It is designed to suppress, control and minimize the effects of a fire incident. The mission is to aid the unhindered performance of the vehicle and protect the car’s power conversion, monitoring equipment and other components housed in the engine bay – all of it essential for the safe operation of the vehicle and for IIT Bombay to showcase their talent and expertise. Moreover, the FirePro fire extinguishing agent remains eco-friendly post-discharge.
FirePro technology is reliable and effective and can protect from multiple classes of fire. The non-pressurized system can be installed within the densely packed Li-ion battery pack enclosure, offering automatic protection. The modularity, compactness and appropriate Li-ion fire suppression capability make the technology ideal for protecting the race car. In fact, the FirePro fire protection is specified in the IIT Bombay Racing Rule Book (EV6.3.10.) and is under consideration in becoming the system of choice by the Formula Student UK committee.
