Smart Battery Tells You When It's About To Explode 97
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.
It alerts the user (Score:5, Funny)
via ticking sound, and a countdown timer. It's expected to be a big hit.
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via ticking sound, and a countdown timer. It's expected to be a big hit.
No... Please make an option with Muriel Roddenberry's voice!
"The battery will self distruct in ten seconds..."
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Uh, Majel? http://en.memory-alpha.org/wik... [memory-alpha.org]
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via ticking sound, and a countdown timer. It's expected to be a big hit.
I was thinking it would be a banjo playing... Or two as the event approached...
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>>It's expected to be a big hit.
Yah, it's a real blast!
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Just like the Terminator's nuclear battery.
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Maybe it will say "Get ready for a surprise"!
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That's where the money needs to be spent.
Because whe have been so scuessfull in making perfet things with no faults so far...
Re:How about a battery that doesn't explode? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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That is exactly what will happen. If device makers don't use this technology somehow, they will be sued when someone leaves the device in an extremely hot area such as on the dash of a black car in 100 degrees F (~38 degrees C) and it ruptures, or someone tries "wave charging" their device as per a "friend's" advice on /b/.
We will see this technology get widespread adoption not because it benefits the consumer in any way... but it allows for more batteries to be sold, similar to how the chips on ink cartri
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Umm, no. Even from the summary this solution would have no effect in any of those cases - this is specifically a warning system to alert you before the normal degradation of the battery causes internal shorts that could discharge dangerous levels of internal currents. It's unlikely to do a damned thing to protect against user stupidity or mechanical damage.
It sounds like the alert could however easily come many months before the battery was at all likely to experience any problems, which could potentially
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If not blocking charging, the device maker could just have the device hard-shutdown and refuse to turn on if this comes up. It won't protect against stupidity... but it will be purchased to make the lawyers happy, and that rendering batteries inoperable earlier on means a nice revenue stream. In fact, it can be the case that replacement batteries are not sold, forcing consumers to have to buy a new device (under the excuse that the battery and electronics are so precisely matched that they cannot be separ
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Yes, the battery *could* be designed so that it can no longer be charged, and/or the device could do the same. I suspect though that regularly displaying a bright red "your battery will soon be at risk of exploding, replace it immediately. By continuing to use this battery you absolve BatteryCo of all liability related to the impending catastrophic failure." message instead will go over much better with consumers - most of whom will be scared into shutting off their device until they can replace the batte
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Maybe I am just cynical. I personally prefer the idea of a "better shut things down NOW, as this battery may be going ka-boom", but I wouldn't put this past most companies.
Even in the enterprise, some makers of SANs have cache batteries that have to be replaced... and the gauge isn't the battery life, but just a rough calendar, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more shenanigans done to force people to buy more batteries than devices.
I hope you are right. I am jaded about this, and have a feeling that this
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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 replac
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I have an MSI laptop, it's battery is about 10% original capacity. Still gets up to 15 minutes.
Not bad for over 10 years old.
My wife's Toshiba laptop battery committed suicide, one of the cell's protection circuits cut out, so the whole pack is completely dead.
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Lead acid batteries can produce hydrogen gas. Not sure what nicads do, except for "very little".
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Attempts to stop dendrite formation have met with limited success
It sounds to me like they've been trying to do just that. This sounds like it's meant to be a stop-gap solution.
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Seems to me it isn't even that if the battery continues to operate. Detecting an impending fault is nice, but, if the layers are already breeched and an unsafe condition growing is detected....then maybe it should actually stop the battery from working so it has to be changed out, rather than just detect and continue to work.
Otherwise the only thing they will be doing is creating a population of people who are going around saying "Please, mine has said for 6 months it needed to be changed, still working fin
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Umm, the "unsafe condition growing" exists in *every* lithium ion battery on the planet, starting from the moment it begins being used. If your battery lasts long enough it will inevitably develop these internal shorts and flambe itself as it self-discharges. That's just the nature of the chemistry at work, despite many attempts to eliminate the "feature". In most cases the battery capacity degrades to the point that it will be replaced long before any dendrites reach the opposing electrode - this mechan
Sounds like a good idea (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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It seems to me that one easy way would be for the battery to just quit working entirely. People will figure out that it needs to be replaced, even if they don't know the precise reason why.
In fact, I even know of a revolutionary device that could be used to accomplish that function: it's called a "fuse."
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mmmm, I work in the Electronics recycling industry. When most (and I do mean most) laptops come in for repair, the typical thing is that the battery cells are dead but the system works fine.
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>How many times have you dissassembled your laptop battery and replaced one of the cells?
Wrong question. It should be "How many times have you replaced your laptop/phone/cordless drill battery?". Most people aren't going to worry about individual cells - the battery pack dies, so you replace the whole thing. The cells were presumably all manufactured at about the same time and subjected to the same stresses - if one cell has failed the others probably aren't that far behind.
If, however, you're gullibl
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Many electric razors have a regular consumer rechargeable battery (e.g. AA) *soldered in*. Sigh.
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Good excuse to play with your soldering iron. The manufacturers just want to promote technical competency. It's part of the STEAM agenda.
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Increasing my STEAM capabilities is the best excuse to install Steam on my PC and spend the rest of the week gaming....
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You're conflating issues - there is no difficulty in keeping multiple batteries charged in the case of a *replacement* - you put in the new battery and recycle the old one. I've done so at least once or twice for virtually every electronic device I've owned - and if you've simply discarded your device I hope you gave it away on craigslist or something so that someone else could have a perfectly functioning device for the cost of a new battery. Even now I'm considering buying another replacement battery fo
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Pity we can't have this for capacitors (or so I expect: too cheap a part). I've never lost anything to an exploding battery but exploding capacitors....yes. On the other hand, the capacitors I'm involved with have never been directly dangerous to my flesh.
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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.
--- and then persuade users to buy them.
Despite any penalty in style, weight, bulk, battery life, waterproofing and so on.
Will the customer need to buy an unfamiliar industrial screwdriver or some other special tool? You will meet resistance if the battery is any harder to replace than the AAA cells that power his LED flashlight.
if I short this new copper layer (Score:1)
can the battery explode immediately?
Now someone will hack it ... (Score:2)
... to make it explode.
Battery #20 (Score:1)
In the beginning, there was darkness. And the darkness was without form, and void.
And in addition to the darkness there was also me. And I moved upon the face of the darkness. And I saw that I was alone. Let there be light.
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OIO?
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OIO?
3 short, 2 long, 3 short. (The old default SMS beep on mobile phones). Realized my gaffe about 10 seconds after I couldn't undo it.
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No. it hat 2 short inbetween. for SMS. Which is pretty logical, but scared the heck out of me when I heard it for the first time.
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I'm pretty sure explosion imminent is 3 long, 2 short, 3 long.
I would think that 3 short, 3 long, 3 short would be more appropriate... ("SOS")
what happens when a cell phone battery explodes (Score:2)
Re:what happens when a cell phone battery explodes (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i... [liveleak.com]
User was installing a new battery that failed due to shorting when installed.
Another story of it happening and photo of the aftermath
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014... [cbslocal.com]
Different incident. User dropped the phone and the physical damage caused the battery short.
The typical failure mode from dendrite formation is the battery slowly drains itself from the high resistance connection between the cathode and anode that forms, and not a thermal runaway but it can happen. This is a common failure mode for NiCad batteries, but Lithium batteries are much more heat sensitive and the electrolyte when heated too much can release oxygen to fuel a runaway reaction. Battery failures in portable electronics are typically due to physical damage or poor quality chinese made batteries, especially when they omit the protection circuits.
"Smart"? (Score:2)
What does it do, establish a connection to the "cloud" to send a message to your cell phone? I
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No, SMART would mean the connection is ENCRYPTED....
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Fast response teams will swarm in and kill every bystander to spare them the HORROR of being killed by eeeeevul te-erroreezeests and then shoot themselves.
"Suicide squad ... ATTACK!"
Yes, but what about... (Score:2)
Yes, but what about anti-virus? Anything with that much technology is going to get a virus. So. Before this will really work, we need a network updater and a package management system. /sarcasm.
Now if they can implement this technology... (Score:2)
... in alkaline batteries as well. I can't count the number of devices -- electronics remotes, label makers, etc. -- that I've had damaged or destroyed by leaking alkaline batteries (I'm talking about you Duracell). While they don't explode and force planes to make emergency landings or anything like that but, if you can't take the device apart and clean it out with baking soda, vinegar, and an old toothbrush, they can still kill whatever they're installed in.
Dry cells really zinc that way. (Score:2)
The potassium hydroxide electrolyte used in typical alkaline batteries will dissolve its way through the zinc canister over time even when not under load. The other common electrolytes, zinc chloride and ammonium chloride, will do the same. Zinc will corrode if exposed to acid, alkali, or sometimes if you just look at it cross-eyed, but the ease with which it gives up electrons makes it an effective primary cell anode.
One workaround is to swap positions of the electrodes: make the canister out of carbon a
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Duracells are notorious for poor quality. Avoid at all costs, they are garbage now. I try to use low self-discharge NiMH for standby electronics. Even if they go flat, they don't leak IME, I guess they're still at a price point were the manufacturer can put in the right ingredients.
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
It's just gone 8 O'clock (Score:2)
and time for the penguin on top of your television set to explode.
Right, then. Must'a had lithium-ion batteries, innit?
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"How'd 'e know that was gonna happen?"
"The lithium-ion battery said so."
Nah...just doesn't have the same panache. [ibras.dk]
NTSB: Failure Mechanisms of Li-ion Batteries (Score:5, Informative)
A excellent short primer on Lithium Ion battery failures. Prompted by the recent airline industry incidents.
http://www.ntsb.gov/news/event... [ntsb.gov]
Everything is smart (Score:1)
And now... (Score:2)
It would be smarter (Score:1)
Smart battery tells you when its about to explode. (Score:2)
Smarter battery doesn't explode at all!
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It's smart, but emotionally unstable.
Off-topic but related question (Score:1)
Say you have an old lithium ion battery based computer that you've forgotten about. Does this battery degrade to the point that it eventually self-immolates? I bet there are lot's of these sitting in closets around the world.
TSA Field Day (Score:1)
I have a problem Dave. (Score:1)
I can't help you Dave. You see I have a problem. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid. My battery is exploding Dave!
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But once the battery has informed you it is about to explode, you may be able to buy some time by teaching it phenomenology.
To the Skinnies (Score:2)
"I'm a 30 second bomb!! I'm a 30 second bomb!! 29... 28... 27..."