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Lithium Ion Batteries and Fire...

1/19/2017

4 Comments

 
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The use of lithium ion batteries has become ubiquitous as the portable power of phones, tablets, hover boards, and even multi-rotors, (incorrectly called  drones). But, the convenience and increased run time due to better energy density has caused severe problems in the form of fires that have injured and even been responsible for death. Additionally, a piece of very expensive equipment such as a phone or tablet is destroyed.
There are several reasons for the catastrophic failure of these batteries, but the two most prevalent causes are a failure of the charging control circuit malfunctioning, and metal flakes shorting out between the anode (positive terminal), and the cathode, (negative terminal). Between the two terminals is the electrolyte which allows the ions to travel as the medium for power release that has been stored from the charging cycle. The electrolyte used in lithium batteries is flammable and the lithium is highly flammable in the presence of water. The space between the anode and cathode is very small making short circuits more likely. But, there are processes underway to make the electrolyte self extinguishing, and reducing the potential for damage.
Researchers at Stanford University have successfully encapsulated a flame retardant in a polymer called Polyvinylidene Fluoride,  sometimes called the difluoride. The encapsulated flame retardant is triphenyl phosphate, a well known fire retardant. The polymer is close to what we know as Saran Wrap tm (Polyvinylidene chloride). The concept is extremely simple; as the polymer melts at 160 Celsius it releases the triphenyl phosphate when over-heating occurs extinguishing the fire. Incidentally, the technology  extents to lithium polymer as well. The polymer is just the soft outer container with the lithium ion technology. The cover photo is a scanning electron microscope image showing the encapsulated TPP. Credit: Liu et al. Sci. Adv. 2017;3:e1601978 (Science Advances).
So, the trend is clear; safer batteries are possible and the technology that fostered the lithium ion battery also can be used to solve the problem of runaway fires...
 
 


4 Comments
Kelly Bell link
3/11/2017 08:15:06 pm

Hi Ken! I would humbly argue that the #1 cause of Lithium battery failure is human error ;)
As an avid DIY vaper (I build my own coils/devices, make my own flavored nicotine juice, etc), the need for good battery safety and education is one of the first things you must learn. Sadly many don't bother. So I see these errors all the time - thankfully with typically non-catastrophic results. But the potential is aways there (and why would *anyone* think it's a good idea to carry around loose batteries in their pockets? I don't know, but they do).
Thanks for your wonderful site and observations. I'm about to build your melting point apparatus so wish me luck (and many thanks for that as well!).

Reply
Ken
3/12/2017 10:00:18 am

Hey Kelly,
I don't believe that we disagree with the need for education about the process of stored energy in lithium batteries but there is also need to minimize the inherent problems with the technology.
I am interested in the fabrication of your vaping devices and perhaps you could do a guest post on the coil and fluid vaporizing. Is it based on nichrome or other resistive wire? What about current draw? Since this is an open source and free site a post would be welcome. Slide show or video always helps. Thanks for the comments, Ken.

Reply
Kelly
3/12/2017 07:37:01 pm

Hi Ken! Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a huge DIY community around this very thing. I'm just another humble enthusiast among many. There are people who are absolute artists at coilbuilding. Most of them hang out on Instagram, and if you go to my feed @coilspotting, you'll find a representative, curated collection of amazing works of art+science presented there by people building coils all over the world. I'm nothing compared to these folks. I build mostly alien coil's and stapled staggered fused claptons (bc they're the most useful for the kind of vaping I do, which is a balance of flavor/cloudchasing) - it's truly astonishing, the works of art/science you'll find amongst the masters.

As for coil materials, there are mixed metals involved, and three are primary: Kanthal A1 resistance wire, nichrome 80 resistance wire, and stainless steel, which as you know has very low resistance. The good thing about using these in combination is that you can keep your resistance values within your specified range, but still have plenty of metal to build with.

As for Vape gear in general, the e-cigarette blogs are full of great info on DIY. I'd love to say I can commit to writing a guest post, and I'm honored that you asked. I'm just not sure if I can commit right now. I'm under a heinous deadline atm. But once I've finished, with luck I can do so.

Again, thanks so much for asking!
Kelly

Kelly
3/12/2017 07:59:26 pm

PS there is so much I'd like to write about this subject, by way of a general introduction for folks who enjoy this site, that I'm trying to save some of the "good stuff" for my later post here. But re: diy juice mixing, I highly recommend the web site alltheflavors.com (I'm @coilspotting there too) and diyordievaping.com, both founded by Wayne Walker, master flavorist and the crown prince of diy juice mixology. He also runs a YouTube channel called DIYORDIE which is fantastic, including a live mix session on Friday afternoons, 5pm EST. Highly recommended!

If in the meantime you'd like to discuss anything off-site, pls PM me at kelly@gothamcitydrupal.com




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