drmikeinpdx said:
As for the issue of exploding batteries... There are many types of lithium batteries and battery packs out there and I assume the manufacturing process has evolved since the airline warnings were issued several years ago. I'd like to know if anyone has had this happen with the type of photo/video battery packs that we are currently using?
You would assume wrong. If anything there are more issues with them, because they are so numerous, and because there are so many that don't meet the basic safety standards. There are many cheap chargers which do not contain the proper safety temperature and charging controls that can damage a battery so it later fails.
Fedex regulations on Li-on batteries went into effect this year, not several years ago. Samsung Batteries in their cell phones melted down last fall, not years ago. HP batteries for a laptop were just recalled in January, only 6 months after a similar recall.
Yes, tougher safety standards were implemented about 3 years ago, but Li-on batteries continue to melt down. These I mentioned are the high quality batteries, not the cheap knock-offs which seem to destroy a cell phone a day.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/01/25/hp-expands-recall-laptop-batteries/97042680/
http://wpri.com/2017/01/04/toshiba-expands-recall-of-laptop-batteries/
http://fox43.com/2017/02/08/sony-recall-affects-18-laptop-models-lithium-ion-battery-pack-poses-burn-and-fire-hazard/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/13/rechargeable-lithium-batteries-come-with-fire-risk/
Why is this still happening?
Why Li-ion Batteries Explode Normally, it’s a manufacturing defect, and apparently that was the situation with the Note7 phones. But the underlying issue is that Li-ion batteries contain a lot of energy in a compact package—which, of course, is why they are used in everything from phones to Tesla electric cars.
A Li-ion battery has an energy density of up to around 160 watt hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), roughly twice that of a fresh alkaline battery or a NiCad rechargeable battery. To produce that power it relies on three main components: the positively charged cathode, which is made of metal oxide, the negatively charged anode, which is made of graphite, and the liquid electrolyte—a solvent containing lithium salts—that enables the electric charge to flow between the two poles.
Like two troublemakers in a grammar school classroom, the cathode and the anode need to be physically separated. Lithium-ion batteries accomplish that with a permeable polyethylene separator, which can be as little as 10 microns thick. As batteries improve and engineers try to pack more power into a smaller package, that thin plastic separator is taxed to its limit.
“The separator has really gotten thin,” says Isidor Buchmann, founder and CEO of Cadex, a battery equipment manufacturer that also runs the educational website
Battery University. “And when that happens, the battery becomes more delicate.”
When the separator is breached, it causes a short circuit, which starts a process called thermal runaway. According to Abraham, this is one of the major ways that fires begin. The chemicals inside the battery begin to heat up, which causes further degradation of the separator. The battery can eventually hit temperatures of more than 1,000° F. At that point the flammable electrolyte can ignite or even explode when exposed to the oxygen in the air."
