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Smart Battery Tells You When It's About To Explode
sciencehabit writes Material scientists have found a clever way to alert users of damaged batteries before any hazard occurs. A typical lithium-ion cell consists of a lithium oxide cathode and a graphite anode, separated by a thin, porous polymer sheet that allows ions to travel between the electrodes. When the cell is overcharged, microscopic chains of lithium, called "dendrites," sprout from the anode and pierce through the polymer separator until they touch the cathode. An electrical current passing through the dendrites to the cathode can short-circuit the cell, which causes overheating and, in some cases, fire. Attempts to stop dendrite formation have met with limited success, so the researchers tried something different. They built a "smart" separator by sandwiching a 50-nanometer thin copper layer between two polymer sheets and connecting the copper layer to a third electrode for voltage measurement. When the dendrites reach the separator, the voltage between the anode and the copper layer drops to zero, alerting users that they should change the damaged battery while it is still operating safely—disaster averted.
via ticking sound, and a countdown timer. It's expected to be a big hit.
Alerting the user to change the damaged battery makes sense. Now we need to convince the manufacturers to design devices which would make this possible.
To keep from getting sued phone makers will make the chargers to refuse to charge upon finding this out. In fact to avoid litigation phones will probably just display a warning message to replace the battery and refuse to allow any other use until it is done.
I don't want to do a sig now
This is a video of what happens when a cell phone explodes. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i... Another story of it happening and photo of the aftermath http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014...
I don't want to do a sig now
I was wondering the same. If the battery can warn that it is about to be compromised to explode, it should also be able to disconnect itself and slowly discharge through a resistor so that it doesn't explode. Many LiIon batteries already have an IC at one end that disconnects it when it is overdischarged or if the discharge rate is too high. If they want to get fancy, that slow discharge could be through a red LED to visibly indicate failure.
Curent generation smart batteries have several systems im place to alert the user to a potentially hazardous or explosive condition in the battery.
smoke: Smart batteries emit choking, acrid fumes to quickly notify users of a problem
warmth: most smart batteries, in order to protect the user, become extremely hot when they encounter a problem. this prevents the user from touching them and in turn, functions as intended to protect the user.
deafening bang: this system, in the event of an explosion condition, emits an extraordinary noise to alert the user. its a technological signal that says, "there is a problem with the battery"
bright flash: Regular batteries have had this ability for a while, but smart batteries utilized an advanced system of both arc flash and visible flames to alert the user of a problem.
toxic shrapnel: is a fast, immediate way of determining when a battery might be about to, or is in the process of exploding. In addition, difficult or impossible to heal wounds from rare earth metals allow the user to retrospectively verify the quality of a particular brand of battery in the future.
Good people go to bed earlier.
A excellent short primer on Lithium Ion battery failures. Prompted by the recent airline industry incidents.
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/event...
But it's not "may be going kaboom" - it's "the dendrites that start growing in every battery the moment it's put into use have finally reached our intermediate warning layer. There's no actual danger until they finish growing the rest of the way between the electrodes, which could potentially take months, but we're now aware that this battery is one of the unlucky few whose dendrites are growing fast enough that they may become a danger before the battery has lost enough capacity that it needs to be replaced anyway."
I wish I could say your cynicism was undeserved, but I'm inclined to agree. There's a simple fix though - refuse to buy any electronics with tightly integrated batteries. We all know that the battery is almost certainly going to be the first thing to fail by an incredibly wide margin - therefore any attempt to tightly integrate it is a transparent attempt at planned obsolescence. If you decide the perks of a slightly sleeker non-user-servicable device is worth the trade off that's your call, but don't try to put the blame on anyone else.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.