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Are Market Trends increasing Lithium-Ion Battery Explosions?

When our customers approach us about battery reliability, the most pressing question is always, “How do we prevent catastrophic failures?” While catastrophic failures can be detrimental to business, it’s not only about business. In some cases, catastrophic failures of lithium-ion batteries can be life threatening.  But while there is concern that lithium-ion batteries are simply dangerous and that alternatives are necessary, the reality is that there are underlying market trends that are increasing the occurrences of catastrophic failures in lithium-ion batteries.
BatteryInsightSeries

WHY DO LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES SWELL?

My cousin recently came to me with a battery problem. He got a drone for Christmas, and he had not unboxed it for a while. Last Christmas, right? I asked. Apparently, it was the Christmas before (i.e a year and a half of being in a box). Uh-oh, I go. I almost knew what was coming.  The drone obviously did not work, and I got to see a picture of a very bloated Lithium Ion pouch cell.  
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 BATTERY FIRES

Lessons Learned From The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Battery Fires

Samsung finally released details early this week on the root cause of the Galaxy Note 7 fires and explosions that started to show up in August 2016. You can find details on the story here, but the gist of the matter is – failures and explosions started to show up with batteries from Manufacturer A, soon after the phone started to sell. Samsung provided replacement phones with batteries from Manufacturer B, but the failures and explosions continued (if you are in the battery world you would use the phrase “spontaneous disassembly”). The company had to halt production and eventually scrap the entire product.
ARE LITHIUM-ION CELLS YOU BUY ONLINE ALWAYS LEGIT

Are Lithium-Ion Cells You Buy Online Always Legit?

In recent years the practice of buying spare e-cigarette batteries online has started to increase, with some users scouting for higher amp-hour/power batteries in order to get a better vaping experience. This is particularly true for mechanical mod e-cigs, which are highly customizable and do not use protection circuitry. The battery protection circuit is what keeps a lithium-ion battery within its operating window, and prevents it from overheating, overcharge and other potentially dangerous situations.
ARE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY EXPLOSIONS INCREASING

Are Lithium-Ion Battery Explosions Increasing?

It seems like a month does not go by, without hearing news reports about battery explosions in e-cigs, headphones, smartphones or other electronic gadgets. Granted that stories about explosions are considered newsworthy, but has the statistical rate of battery failures actually gone up in the last few years? Has the impact of battery failures increased and if so, why? And, I am of course talking about Lithium ion batteries, the go-to battery chemistry in rechargeable electronic devices owing to their high energy density. I am certain you do not want to be carrying around a brick for a smartphone.
CAN STANDARDS-BASED TESTING PREVENT LITHIUM-ION BATTERY FIELD FAILURES?

Can Standards-Based Testing Prevent Lithium-Ion Battery Field Failures?

In my conversations with product engineers and designers, I often come across people who feel confident that their lithium-ion batteries are safe because they passed standards-based safety tests.  If that is indeed the case, then why did major global companies experience thermal events even after having passed compliance tests?  And that brings up a bigger question – are standards-based tests such as UL safety tests sufficient to guarantee lithium-ion battery safety?
IMPORTANT BATTERY METRIC CONSIDERATIONS

How To Select The Right Battery For Your Application? Part 1: Important Battery Metric Considerations

The one thing to remember about battery selection is that there is no such thing as a perfect battery that works for every application. Selecting the right battery for your application is about identifying the most important battery metrics and trading these off against others. For instance, if you need a lot of power for your application, cell internal resistance needs to be minimized, and this is often done by increasing electrode surface area. But this also increases inactive components such as current collectors and conductive aid, so energy density is traded off to gain power.
COMMON PRIMARY BATTERY CHEMISTRIES

How To Select The Right Battery For Your Application? Part 2: Common Primary Battery Chemistries

In part 1 of this 3-part blog series, we discussed the most important metrics for battery selection. One thing to remember about battery selection is that it is essentially about managing tradeoffs. You trade off one feature in order to gain in another – for example in order to gain power density, you may have to reduce energy density.
COMMON SECONDARY BATTERY CHEMISTRIES

How To Select The Right Battery For Your Application? Part 3: Common Secondary Battery Chemistries

In part 1 of this 3-part blog series, we discussed the most important metrics for battery selection. One thing to remember about battery selection is that it is essentially about managing tradeoffs. You trade off some battery metrics in order to gain in others – for example in order to gain power density, you may have to trade off energy density.

Webinars: 
WHY DO LITHIUM ION BATTERIES FAIL?

WHY DO LITHIUM ION BATTERIES FAIL?

You want to be proactive about the safety of your battery-powered product, and don't want your company to be on the evening news. Is qualifying your battery manufacturer to industry standards enough? The answer is that most compliance based testing is related to abuse tolerance, but the vast majority of battery field failures are not due to abuse, but happen under normal operating conditions! Compliance based testing is necessary but not sufficient to ensure lithium ion battery safety and reliability.
BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND THEIR ROLE IN SAFETY AND RELIABILITY

BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND THEIR ROLE IN SAFETY AND RELIABILITY

 
In our Battery Management Systems and Their Role in Safety and Reliability webinar, Chris Ewert, a BMS designer and co-founder of Ewert Energy Systems, presents information on the role that battery management systems play in protecting and preserving the lifespan of lithium-ion battery packs. He discusses the primary functions of a BMS, what a BMS can and cannot do, the basic protection provided by a BMS, the role of cell balancing, and the ability of a BMS to detect cell failures. Additionally, he outlines strategies for improving the reliability of BMS design and installation and overall battery pack design.

Services & Resources:
BATTERY RELIABILITY

Battery Reliability

Battery safety, reliability and performance are increasingly important in new technologies. DfR Solutions is leading the way in risk mitigation through our Technical Director, Dr. Vidyu Challa. Dr. Challa has direct hands-on experience in battery manufacturing as well as in developing custom battery solutions for a range of customers in the consumer (wearable), industrial, and medical industries.
AUTONOMOUS MAINTENANCE AND HEALTH MONITORING OF RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES

AUTONOMOUS MAINTENANCE AND HEALTH MONITORING OF RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES

A major issue facing the military in the utilization of a lithium ion battery renewable energy source is to develop solutions for the logistical problems associated with self discharge of rechargeable batteries while in storage aboard amphibious vehicles, Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) ships, and at ground-based storage facilities. A second issue is having a methodology for rapidly and cost effectively determining the state of health (SOH) of a large number of batteries during storage.

In the News:

DFR SOLUTIONS TO TACKLE THERMAL ISSUES IN ELECTRONICS AT INTERPACK

DfR Solutions announced that it would be presenting two sessions at InterPACK, Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems, August 27 and 28 in San Francisco.  Dr. Vidyu Challa will present How to Qualify Your Batteries to Prevent Failures and Thermal Events on August 27 and participate in the Women in Engineering Panel on August 28. Maxim Serebreni will present the paper, Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Underfill Materials on Thermal Cycle Fatigue of Second Level Solder Interconnects.

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