Battery Education

Lithium ion Batteries Explode?

"A cellphone exploded in his living room last year, causing up to $100,000 in damages. Ortega and his family had to live in a trailer for a few months while their house in California was fixed" as reported in the Chicago Tribune back in 2006.  Without question the impact that the fire had on this family is devastating but what is alarming about that fire is that through the fire and insurance investigation the cause was found to be due to a cell phone's lithium-ion battery failure and subsequent spontaneous combustion. What? How is that possible?

If you have a PDA, MP3, MP4, Laptop, Cell Phone, Smartphone, DVD player, or other electronic device then more likely then not the battery within your device is a high capacity smart battery pack (the chemical base being lithium ion). What is a high capacity smart battery pack? A high capacity smart battery pack is a complex battery system designed to power high tech consumer electronic products.

What differentiates smart batteries from standard batteries is the specialized hardware that provides calculated on demand current as well as predicted information.

This specialized hardware includes:

• the connector
• the fuse
• the charge and discharge FETs
• the cell pack
• the sense resistor (RSENSE)
• the primary and secondary protection ICs
• the fuel-gauge IC
• the thermistor
• the pc board
• the EEPROM

Each of these components working in concert allows electrical current to be created, controlled, and transferred to your individual electronic device on demand. Your battery in effect was purposely designed to be an energy dense power pack, which used within its properly designed purpose you can feel comfortable that your battery will not explode.

How can I say that you will “feel comfortable” because statistically your battery will not explode or even become defective! The report about the fire at the Ortega’s family house is one of 339 battery-related overheating incidents tracked by the Consumer Product Safety Commission since 2003. 339 overheating cases sounds like a lot but when compared to the well over 100,000,000 battery related devices that have been bought by consumer since 2003 it represents a very small percentage (.000003) of all battery related devices on the market.

However when smart batteries do explode, bubble, or warp the cause is due to an internal cell short that may cause the battery to overheat and explode, posing a potential hazard to consumers.

To isolate the ultimate cause of the short circuit a study of every aspect of the smart battery development and customer use must be considered including:

• the specialized each of the hardware components
• the cell design
• the manufacturing processes
• battery operation in extreme conditions
• intentional battery abuse
• unintentional abuse through the use of the battery in any device, product, and or in any conceivable manner other than what the battery was specifically designed to be used for and in

So yes it is possible to have high capacity smart battery pack explode and cause unexpected damage but as we have seen it is very unlikely considering the sheer quantity of lithium ion based batteries on the market.

Until next time, Dan Hagopian - www.batteryship.com

Battery Types

We know that a battery is a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. We also know that batteries have two electrodes, an anode (the positive end) and a cathode (the negative end). In between the battery’s two electrodes runs an electrical current caused primarily from a voltage differential between the anode and cathode. The voltage runs through a chemical called an electrolyte (which can be either liquid or solid).  We also know many attributes about batteries the different types of voltage, capacity, chemical make-up and other technical aspects.

But one fascinating consideration that is fun to look at has nothing really to do with the technical ratings, or how long a battery can power a PDA or other device for, or any other technical feature.  It is perhaps more journalistic in nature, more inquisitive, more to do with interesting little facts then anything else!

So let’s dive into this fact finding article and discover some of the hidden facts about batteries:

When was the first battery made and who made the first battery?

The first inclination that an electrical path-way from an anode to a cathode within a battery or in this first instance “a frog” occurred in 1786, when Count Luigi Galvani (an Italian anatomist, 1737-1798) found that when the muscles of a dead frog were touched by two pieces of different metals, the muscle tissue twitched.

This led to idea by Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (Feb. 18, 1745- March 5, 1827), an Italian physicist who realized that the twitching was caused by an electrical current that was created by chemicals. Volta’s discovery led to the invention of the chemical battery (also called the voltaic pile) in 1800. His first voltaic piles were made from zinc and silver plates (separated by a cloth) put in a salt water bath (brine). Volta improved the pile, using zinc and copper in a weak sulfuric acid bath and thus invented the first generator of continuous electrical current.

How many batteries are there in the world today?

If you take into consideration every conceivable place a battery can be used it is highly probable that the number would be hundreds of billions. That number of batteries would shrink if you start including certain parameters that would further qualify a family or group of batteries. But without question a lot: children toys, gaming machines, digital cameras, hearing aids, watches, computers, cars. When you start thinking in the broadest possible sense there are quite a bit of batteries being used in the world today.

What is the biggest battery in the world?

ABB, the global power and automation technology group, built the world’s largest battery energy storage system in Fairbanks Alaska. The energy storage system includes a massive nickel-cadmium battery, power conversion modules, metering, protection and control devices and service equipment. This battery provides continuous voltage support during normal operation, as well as energy back-up - to quickly provide power during system disturbances. The battery’s purpose is to be used as an electrical bridge during emergency power outages for customers of the Golden Valley Electric Association Inc (GVEA) in Fairbanks, Alaska.  In operation, the battery will produce power for several minutes to cover the time between a system disturbance and when the utility company is able to bring back-up generation on line. The battery is a high performance nickel-cadmium storage battery made up of 13,760 energy cells. Each cell measures 16 in. by 21 in.  This NiCad battery is approximately 21,520 square feet in size and weighs approximately 2,866,009. This big battery provides 40 megawatts of power - enough electricity for 12,000 people - for up to seven minutes.

What is the smallest battery in the world?

The smallest battery in the world measures 2.9 mm in diameter and 13 mm in length (about the size of a pencil tip). The cylindrical device is only 1/35 the size of a standard AA battery. The battery can, with recharging, last up to 10 years. The battery is made of a polysiloxane polymer, a material that has the highest conductivity ever reported for an electrical conductor. Recharging the battery is done wirelessly by an external electrical field, which is of great benefit since these batteries are designed to stimulate damaged nerves and muscles inside the human body.

What types of batteries are there?

• Alkaline battery
• Aluminium battery
• Atomic battery
• Lemon battery
• Lithium battery
• Optoelectric nuclear battery
• Organic radical battery
• Oxyride battery
• Silver-oxide battery
• Water-activated battery
• Zinc-carbon battery
• Lead-acid battery
• Lithium-ion battery
• Lithium ion polymer battery
• Nickel-cadmium battery
• Nickel metal hydride battery
• Molten salt battery
• 9V battery
• A battery (vacuum tubes)
• AA battery
• AAA battery
• AAAA battery
• B battery (vacuum tubes)
• Backup battery
• C battery (vacuum tubes)
• C battery
• D battery
• Atomic Battery

Until next time, Dan Hagopian www.batteryship.com

6,831 Lithium-ion Batteries

6,831 laptop-type lithium-ion batteries are jam packed in the new Tesla Roadster, a company founded in part by Google executives.

In addition to the 6,831 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries the Tesla Roadster has a range of 250 miles. Fuel efficiency: 1 to 2 cents per mile. Top speed: more than 130 mph.

The full story can be found at: http://www.wired.com/news/wiredmag/0,71414-0.html?tw=rss.index

Unl next time, Dan Hagopian www.Batteryship.com.

Cleanest Light-duty Truck In The World

Mitsubishi Fuso, part of DaimlerChrysler's Truck Group, began selling its Canter Eco Hybrid light-duty truck in Japan. Dubbed as the cleanest light-duty truck in the world, this truck releases 41% less nitrogen oxide and consumes 20% less fuel than conventionally-powered models. It is a hybrid diesel-electric truck that switches its operational mode according to the driving situation.

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation issued a press release about the new Canter Eco Hybrid light-duty truck stating that it:

• includes a small clean-burning diesel engine
• an ultra-slim electric motor/generator
• and advanced lithium-ion batteries in a drive train that also includes a high-efficiency automated mechanical transmission.

"The result is a medium-duty truck that achieves up to 30% better fuel economy in delivery applications and also produces significantly less emissions than its standard diesel-only model." (http://www.mitfuso.com/pages/news-hevconcept.html)

According to Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation the electric motor functions as a generator to brake the vehicle. The generator then converts brake energy into electric energy and stores it in the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery for the next moving off or acceleration.

Conventional trucks use a braking system that will convert the truck’s kinetic energy (its forward motion) into heat energy that is ultimately dissipated into the air via the brake pads and disks.

Until next time - Dan Hagopian, Batteryship.com

Lithium Ion - Your Car?

Altair Nanotechnologies plans to test an electric vehicle prototype that incorporate lithium ion technology. We use lithium ion batteries or the cousins lithium polymer in PDAs, digital camera, and laptops, amongst others, but because of lithium's energy potential the chemical could soon be powerin your car.

Altair Nanotechnologies of Reno, NV, has announced plans to start testing its new lithium batteries in prototype electric vehicles, with road tests scheduled to begin by year-end. The company says its new electrode materials allow higher bursts of power, longer battery life, and more available energy storage capacity -- and far quicker "fill-up" -- than previous lithium-ion batteries. Their goal: an electric car that performs as well as a conventional car.

Altairnano plans to incorporate batteries that use their new lithium-ion electrode material into a prototype electric vehicle. The batteries use a safe, stable structure that increases their lifetime by preventing the electrodes from expanding and contracting as the ions move in and out -- a principle reason for the eventual death of conventional lithium-ion batteries.

The batteries can also handle big bursts of power, which occur in both fast charging and quick acceleration. In fact according to Gotcher their batteries could charge in about the time it takes to fill a tank of gas and buy a cup of coffee and snack -- six to eight minutes.

Until next time - Dan Hagopian, Batteryship.com

Exploding Lithium-ion Batteries

"A mobile phone exploded in his living room last year, causing up to $100,000 in damages. Ortega and his family had to live in a trailer for a few months while their house in California was fixed" reports the Chicago Tribune....

Fire and insurance investigators find that the cause was due to a phone's lithium-ion battery failure and subsequent spontaneous combustion. Ortega's case is one of 339 battery-related overheating incidents tracked by the Consumer Product Safety Commission since 2003.

Conservatively in excess of 100 million battery related devices have been bought by consumer since 2003. So the 339 incidents report by the Saftey Commission represent .000003 (a very small percent) of all battery related devices on the market. So no major alarm about batteries.

In addition most lithium based batteries have integrated power management circuits that protect against over-voltage and under-voltage conditions which minimizes chemical or mehcanical failure.

However it should be made clear that lithium-ion and or lithium polymer batteries are specifically designed to store a tremendous amount of energy in a small space; and yes it is possible if there is a short circuits or other failure the stored energy may (I emphasize MAY) cause an explosion small or large.

Again let me stress that such explosions and fires are rare considering the hundreds of millions of cell phones, laptops, digital cameras and other devices that are powered by lithium-ion batteries.

"The safety record of lithium-ion batteries is very good," said Dan Doughty, a battery expert at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. "But occasionally there are problems."

Lithium batteries contain lithium metal and a break down of lithium (ion and polymer) cna be found here:http://www.batteryeducation.com/2006/04/battery_chemist.html.

Also you can understand the energy potential of lithium here: http://www.batteryeducation.com/2006/04/energy_potentia.html.

The real point of this post is that the liklihood of lithium based batteries actually exploding is minimal.

Until next time - Dan Hagopian, Batteryship.com