Li-ion battery
Today we all use a lot of different devices and technical innovations powered by lithium-ion batteries. This is a type of electric battery that differs from other similar energy carriers in its versatility, high energy density and ease of maintenance.
Despite their positive characteristics, such batteries pose a certain threat. Batteries of this type can explode, damage or destroy property and, worse, cause serious harm to health or even death.
Nevertheless, lithium-ion batteries are widely used in various areas of human life. This type of energy carrier can be found in cars, airplanes, and most importantly, in smartphones and tablets, which the majority of people use every day, on an ongoing basis. Roughly speaking, as stated above, all modern society carries with them explosive devices that can be activated in the event of a mistake, an unfortunate accident or due to the negligence of the manufacturer.
How to dispose of a swollen battery
Any battery poses a serious danger to the environment. Even if it is absolutely fine. Therefore, a whole set of rules has been developed for the disposal of various batteries and accumulators.
Unfortunately, in our country the hazardous waste disposal system is not yet 100% established. Ideally, special boxes for receiving and recycling equipment are located in communication shops or even in residential areas. However, this is a situation that is typical only for large cities.
Residents of small settlements have to contact companies that service their premises. In extreme cases, disposal occurs directly through the plant.
Although there are currently no ideal conditions for hazardous waste disposal, always consider the health of those around you. By all means, try to take your swollen battery to a collection center. This way you will protect nature and all people who, one way or another, may encounter the release of harmful gases from the battery.
Possible causes of battery explosion
Lithium batteries have been tested over time and are considered relatively safe if you follow all the manufacturer's recommendations, but how often does anyone even bother to read the instructions? Any violation can lead to dire consequences. For example, a sudden change in temperature, which is one of the most common reasons why batteries fail. In this case, the lithium-ion battery begins to produce gas, the battery becomes significantly plumper, and in rare cases a leak can be detected. Both symptoms are a reason to immediately stop using the device, disconnect the battery and properly dispose of it. In addition to changing thermal conditions, there are a number of other common causes of battery explosion that are worth focusing on.
Physical impact and handicraft repairs
Any damage, bending or impact may cause the battery to become overheated, causing an explosion. The same goes for punctures that often accompany repair work.
“Jacks of all trades” often resort to repairing anything and everything without turning to professionals for help. Maybe new experiences are great, people are developing their skills and saving money, but when it comes to lithium batteries, you should forget about your "skill" because you can't disassemble and repair lithium-ion batteries. The same applies to small “tents” located in shopping centers and responsible for repairing various types of electronics.
Overdischarge and wear
As ironic as it may sound, even if a lithium-ion battery is left alone, it is still dangerous because it can use up a critical mass of charge. Usually in such cases the battery simply fails and stops functioning, but human stupidity and courage has no limits. Many attempts have been recorded to bring a completely dead battery back to life simply by putting it on charge (with or without a functioning device). In both cases, the battery can short out, instantly heat up to combustion temperature and ignite.
Just as an old cabinet can fall apart at any moment, an old battery can overheat. As it is used, it wears out, loses volume, and certain parts become damaged. There will come a time when physical changes to the battery will require replacement.
Galaxy Note 7 scandal
The most global battery collapse (in the mobile device market) occurred in 2020, along with the release of a smartphone from Samsung. Until the now iconic date, a phone battery exploding was perceived as a rare, unlikely accident. In the summer of 2020, when the media reported more than 35 cases of explosions of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones within a week, everything changed.
Note 7, by the way, was received very positively, the device pleased absolutely everyone, but, trying to overtake its competitors, Samsung miscalculated and seriously set itself up. By early September, official representatives of the Korean company announced that they were launching a global campaign to return defective gadgets. They offered to exchange the phones for the same model, but supposedly from a new batch. Less than a couple of days later, the situation repeated itself on a new scale. People began to turn to Samsung even more often, cars began to burn, property began to deteriorate, people suffered, receiving serious burns. At a certain point, the Koreans backed down, deciding to stop selling and assembling the phone.
Causes of problems with Galaxy Note 7
More than six months later, as of January 2017, the company did not give any clear comments about the incident. Many analysts and people familiar with the company's activities say that the company's engineers are unable to reproduce the explosion in the laboratory.
Independent organizations are inclined to believe that the explosion occurs due to problems with the power controller. The complex (dense) design of the smartphone, including a curved display, caused contact between two parts of the battery: the cathode and the anode, which, in turn, led to excessive heating. A lithium battery always tends to rise in temperature, this is normal, but the manufacturer should have taken care that at a certain moment the smartphone would be deprived of power. Unfortunately, it did not happen. And, no matter how careful users were with their Samsung, battery explosion has become a widespread problem affecting everyone without exception.
Real cases of phone battery explosions among users
It won't intimidate you too much since your phone battery exploding is not a very common occurrence. This mainly happens when the user deliberately tries to cause an explosion, in case of improper disassembly or poor quality battery. But such cases occur periodically and are not something out of science fiction.
Cases of phone battery explosions have been occurring regularly since the second half of the 2000s. Just from the moment when they became widespread in mobile gadgets. Since then, reports of exploding batteries in phones, tablets and laptops have regularly appeared in various media. Here are some of them.
In China in 2007, it was reported that a worker at one of the metallurgical enterprises had a mobile phone battery explode in his clothing pocket.
A couple of years ago, a similar incident occurred in Kazakhstan. There, the battery of a Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone exploded in a girl’s pocket. After the battery ignited and exploded, the girl's jeans caught fire. As a result, the child received a serious burn to his leg.
In Finland, a local resident was not injured when a Nokia battery exploded. She dropped the battery, as a result of which it discharged and did not gain capacity upon subsequent charging. After disconnecting from the charger, the battery suddenly became hot, swelled and exploded.
In Finland, a few years ago, the owner of a Samsung phone had a battery explode when the device fell to the floor. Moreover, the explosion was so strong that the floor at the crash site was severely burned.
Quite a lot of cases of Nokia and Samsung battery explosions have been recorded in Vietnam, India and other countries in the Asian region. In addition, there are even more cases of explosions of counterfeit Chinese batteries. But it's not just Chinese and Korean phone batteries that explode. There are quite a few examples of iPhone, iPad and other top-class products exploding.
For example, in France, several dozen cases of iPhone battery explosions have been recorded in recent years. Several devices exploded in the hands of their owners. Some were seriously injured. Flying fragments hit them in the face. An Apple iPod Touch battery explosion was recently recorded in the UK. Of course, compared to the number of normally used batteries, the number of explosions is a “drop in the ocean.” Therefore, there is no need to panic. But you need to understand why this happens. It all comes down to the materials used in lithium batteries and the processes that occur within them.
Batteries for phones are being produced in an ever-increasing range of different sizes and shapes. Manufacturers are trying to reduce the size of batteries as much as possible at high capacities, as this allows them to make mobile devices thinner and more elegant.
But this is where problems come from. Due to the fact that the main components of the battery (electrodes) are located as close to each other as possible, at the slightest violation of the shape, electrochemical processes are disrupted. As a result, fire and explosion may occur.
As a rule, fire and explosion of a phone battery occurs due to a short circuit (short circuit). The battery design includes a separator that separates the positive and negative electrodes. If it is damaged (as a result of impact, manufacturing defects, puncture, heating, etc.), then a short circuit occurs and strong heating follows. Lithium batteries are very energy-dense, and lithium is an extremely reactive metal. So, as a result of a separator breakthrough, instantaneous heating, combustion and energy release occurs as a result of an explosion.
At the same time, this extreme activity of lithium is very useful in creating high-capacity batteries (lithium-ion and lithium-polymer). Alkali metals of the first group of the periodic table (sodium, potassium), which includes lithium, have high reactivity. These metals can easily ignite in air. In addition, the interaction of some of these metals with water can cause an explosion. All these factors explain why telephone batteries explode.
Attention! Above were photographs and videos of battery explosions. Don't try to reproduce what was shown there. Even if you are experimenting with an old battery, consider that ignition and explosion will cause damage to surrounding objects. And most importantly, you can cause irreparable harm to your health.
Consequences for the company
To understand how such an incident turned out for the company, it is enough to put yourself in their shoes. What will the consumer think about a product that has suddenly become a laughing stock and a threat to life? Most likely, he will avoid it. But it’s one thing to have a reputation that is there today, gone tomorrow, and then there again the day after tomorrow; real facts are another thing. The company suffered losses, quite serious and significant for the mobile division - $22 billion. Phones were remotely prevented from charging to avoid further explosions.
At the moment, the phone is not being produced, the company is conducting an investigation and we can only hope that the explosion of the Samsung Note 7 battery will serve the Koreans as a lesson that will make them stronger.
Why is a swollen battery dangerous?
To consolidate all the previously provided information, we will highlight several main risks when further using a smartphone with a swollen battery:
- possible damage to other elements of the device (display, processor, etc.);
- release of harmful toxic substances;
- high probability of explosion.
Perhaps this is quite enough to once and for all give up the idea of continuing to use a faulty phone. Contact the service, replace the battery or buy a new device. But under no circumstances neglect safety requirements.
iPhone explosion cases
Despite its special position in the smartphone market and the minimum level of defects, even an Apple smartphone can turn into an improvised bomb. One of the most recent cases was the explosion of a new product from Apple, the iPhone 7 smartphone, which one of the fans allegedly ordered on the Internet, but received an already blown up gadget.
There was no confirmation regarding the spontaneous combustion of the iPhone, and this incident was written off as the usual fanning of rumors. Fortunately for owners of new smartphones from California, the iPhone battery explosion was just one of the few caused by improper use (in this case, excessive physical impact), and not a widespread problem.
Other reported cases of iPhone explosions were the result of a short circuit caused by the use of a third-party charger.
Is it possible to use a smartphone with a swollen battery?
Some people are accustomed to turning a blind eye to the occurrence of certain problems. Oddly enough, this also happens with a deformed battery. Having noticed the swelling of the back cover, a person continues to use the device, because this does not affect the interaction experience in any way.
However, a swollen battery poses a serious danger to both the phone owner and others. Bloating is only the initial stage of battery deformation. Ultimately, the battery may simply explode. This happens especially often in environments with high pressure. For example, in the mountains or on an airplane.
Therefore, if you notice signs of bloating, you should not use your smartphone. And this is not a recommendation, but a safety requirement. The same applies to external batteries, which are also subject to deformation during prolonged and active use.
How to avoid an explosion?
The simplest thing any user can do is to look at the instructions at least once in their life and find out how dangerous the battery in a smartphone is and what kind of care it requires.
You should always strictly observe the temperature regime and do not leave your smartphone in direct sunlight for too long. You cannot independently remove the battery in smartphones where this option is not provided by the manufacturer (we are talking about gadgets with a monolithic body).
Give preference to devices that have at least some name, time-tested, and avoid impulsively purchasing the most “top” new products.
The main thing is to understand that an explosion of a lithium battery is real and very dangerous; if possible, do not leave gadgets charging unattended, who knows at what point the technology will fail and a fire will occur.
What's next?
Now in terms of technology, lithium batteries are the cheapest, yet most energy efficient option for mobile devices and other electronics. Naturally, this type of battery is still a priority.
Lithium batteries may be replaced by nuclear batteries. Despite its terrible name, this type of battery is completely harmless to humans, and will allow the gadget to live on a single charge many times longer than now. Unfortunately, development in this area is happening rather slowly and progress should not be expected in the near future. Perhaps the explosion of the Samsung Note 7 battery will not be in vain and will force engineers working in the field of information technology to hurry up.
Why does the battery swell?
The most interesting question is the causes of battery failure. There are many of them:
- Phone defect . We are all human, and no one excludes the possibility of incorrect soldering of circuits, etc. In this case, if the examination shows that this particular reason became the key one, the seller will definitely return the money.
- The gadget fell onto a hard surface . When falling, a strong impact occurs, damaging the mechanisms. If the impact falls on the back of the mobile phone, the battery will suffer the most damage.
- Long life of the smartphone. The optimal battery life is 3-5 years. In this case, you can simply buy a new battery and continue to use your mobile phone without harm to yourself or the gadget.
- Incorrect charging . Different types of batteries prefer different types of charging. So, for some it is better to discharge them completely and then put them on charge, while for others it is better not to bring the device to this state. If the rules are not followed regularly, you can expect rapid failure of the device.
- Contact with moisture and other substances. Any liquid is a discomfort for the gadget. Despite manufacturers' assurances that the device is water-resistant, water is not the best neighbor for chips, both the battery and the phone itself.
iPhone and Android - comparison of characteristics and differences
If any of the above reasons are present, your device's battery will be at risk, so be sure to keep an eye on it.
