HOT ITEMS: Cases of overheating, even fire, have recently been reported for popular personal electronics that harbor lithium ion batteries.
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Bigger does not always mean better in the world of electronics—unless, of course, we're talking about the width of a flat-screen plasma TV. The latest generation of the iPod shuffle, for example, is just a fraction of the size of the original 2004 iPod mini, yet holds just as many songs. Part of this reduction in size and increase in power for personal electronics is due to improvements in the way that batteries—specifically those that rely on lithium ions—hold and release energy.
But are there drawbacks to this kind of technological miniaturization? Recent reports that some models of the most popular MP3 player can literally burst into flames may suggest so.
An investigative reporter from KIRO-TV in Seattle recently got hold of 800 pages of documents from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which included descriptions of "15 burn and fire-related incidences blamed by iPod owners on their iPods," according to KIRO. There were cases of damaged homes, an injured child, even an iPod catching fire on a 2,000-passenger cruise ship. Fortunately, none of the reports noted any serious injuries.
Flaming iPods have also lit headlines overseas. The Local (which covers Swedish news in English) reported last month that a car fire was allegedly started by an iPod Nano. The heat-damaged music player was recovered, in this incident, from the front seat of the parked Saab, the newspaper noted. The very next day Apple recalled all first-generation iPod Nanos in South Korea, according to The Korea Herald, which also noted iPod Nano batteries overheating or exploding.
Overheating is not limited to iPods. Laptop computers and cell phones have had their share of problems: Sony recalled more than 400,000 Vaio laptops last September for this reason, and potential iPhone recalls in response to overheating have also been circulating in the past few months.
So, how concerned should consumers be? What can be done to mitigate risks—or are these incidents simply too rare to worry about? And given the possible fire hazard from small lithium ion batteries, should we reconsider using large, heavy-duty versions of them in upcoming fleets of electric cars?
We recently sought answers from Zonghai Chen, an electrochemical engineer at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
Why has the lithium ion become the battery of choice for personal electronics?
The lithium ion battery is currently the dominant power source for most consumer electronics due to its high energy density. In other words, in order to store the same amount of energy for electronics, the lithium ion battery is the smallest and lightest compared to other battery types.
And it's getting even more compact. The design of modern electronics has sought more energy while leaving the room for the battery unchanged, or even smaller. In order to meet this demand, battery manufacturers have had to design the battery to load materials in the same size cell. Currently, the same size lithium ion cell stores almost triple the power of its original design.
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27 Comments
Add Comment"It's true that 15 out of the 75 million iPods in use is a small proportion, but it is significant enough to impact the confidence of consumers. "
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBecause consumers lack any concept of risk assessment. For some reason people freek over media pushed OMG Beware articles that are in reality crazy rare but will ignore common and REALLY probable dangers without even a second thought. Go fig?! Sciam come on do not feed the mindless hysteria.
really guys! to extend the concept that car batteries might catch fire, from a ridiculous 15 in a 75million users of iPods is mind boggling. The technology will be available to deliver us safe and environmentally better cars, if not immediately. Furthermore I fully agree with Taerog about the hysteria
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot to mention the author's blatant glossing over the fact that nobody is trying to make cars smaller. Did he completely fail to realize that when you're talking about a CAR, the battery and its housing have enough room to accomodate all of those cooling and protection devices? What is he hoping to accomplish by saying 'Yeah a car can totally catch on fire if it uses this'?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBrownie points, anyone?
Risks are always arond us and we can never predict all of them. But things is goin' to be some strange, then problem come: did the manufacturer obey to the nature law? did he know that is loaded of energy? Yes, he know, but he also know what money is. And waht properties are of a electric device is.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHAHA I give you the Brownie points.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisto you.
not to the author of the article.
15 iPods? Out of how many? 75 MILLION? You *are* kidding, right?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere's the scary car part--who's going to power the grid? And, more precisely, what grid is that again?
Apple will *give* me a new iPod if mine burns.
Where you gonna get a new GRID? Eh?
this is a very debatable case...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe author also forgets that our cars already have huge tanks of gasoline in them... So they already can blow up when heavily damaged! So why all the fuss about Li ion car batteries blowing up?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso no mention about the fact that Carbon Manganese Li Ion batteries that are used in consumer devices are the ones that are vulnerable to high heat induced thermal runaway, but into cars we probably are going to get Lithium Phosphate models installed. Those you can puncture at will with no explosion. They are also high heat proof (>200 C). Or like in Tesla roadster, where they have an extensive water cooling system incorporated around all those LiMnC -cells (6831 pcs) they have.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI too want to remind people about risk assessment. The 15 out of 75 million iPods to fire up (when mismanaged?) has the same probability than to win a jackpot in a lottery. Are people really prepared to pay more of their iPod battery to avoid these very rare occasions? I bet not.
Then compared to the risk of getting overdriven by a car at a street... Risk of that is probably 1:1000 to 1:10000. And that is sure to kill or injure one.
I own several devices that have Li-ion batteries.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have a FAR better chance of dying by being struck by a meteorite than one of my devices catching fire. I have a FAR better chance of dying in a car accident than one of my devices catching fire. I have a FAR better chance of drowning tomorrow (I'm going out on Lake Michigan in a large cabin cruiser then) than one of my devices catching fire.
Sheesh. Anyone who even considers this 'catching fire' issue something to be concerned about needs a fresh bottle of meds.
The risk is trivial, so is this article. Trivial solution too. Thermal fuse or circuit breaker would put an end to the issue for good. Electric motors of any size have a thermal cut-out. Why not large battery packs? If I overload my table saw, it turns off the motor, and I cannot restart it till it cools off. Most battery chargers have a circuit breaker that cuts the charge if it is too hot, or draws too much current, and then turns back on when things cool off. So kids, please keep the hysterical non scientific articles out of Sci-Am. Leave them to National Enquirer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe risk is trivial, so is this article. Trivial solution too. Thermal fuse or circuit breaker would put an end to the issue for good. Electric motors of any size have a thermal cut-out. Why not large battery packs? If I overload my table saw, it turns off the motor, and I cannot restart it till it cools off. Most battery chargers have a circuit breaker that cuts the charge if it is too hot, or draws too much current, and then turns back on when things cool off. So kids, please keep the hysterical non scientific articles out of Sci-Am. Leave them to National Enquirer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgood wish to your far better chance of sth
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow about "don't use your lithium ion battery powered device in temperatures that exceed 100� F, or leave it in such conditions." i.e., don't go jogging with it in your pocket if you live in Arizona, and don't leave it in your car in the summer. Yeesh. Are ovens illegal because someone could stick their head in it? This is bad science, and worse journalism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGeesh, I read the comments before the article and expected a sensationalized article heavy on the scare tactics. I didn't find it. Sure 15 out of 75 million is a small amount. The author rightly questions whether such a small amount should warrant concern. In this case we should be asking ourselves the following questions:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1. Can the risks be easily mitigated thru design changes or thru better use of the product.
2. Is the type of failure a risk that is considered when buying such a product?
3. What is the real and possible impact of a failue when it happens?
The answer to 1 is most likely that a few simple design changes that will not impact the cost of the product much could alleviate or greatly reduce the risk.
2. When I buy a car I know the risks of driving a multi-ton vehicle that is filled with an explosive liquid as fuel. These risks are inherent in the design of cars and they cannot be engineered to a point where the risks do not exist at all. But that doesn't mean that cars can be made safer as they have. To the betterment of us all. I shouldn't expect that my little music player could spontaneously combust and cause a catastrophic fire, no matter how rare.
3. The impact of such a fire may be as small as the device itself being destroyed to something catastrophic. Would you want one of these catching fire while in your luggage in a cargo hold of a plane?
That being said, I will not throw away my I-pod just because of this. However, I do expect and desire that manufaturers continue to strive to make their products safer.
As Jokunen said, the probability of being hit by a car is far higher than of having one of these batteries exploding, let alone killing someone (i.e. still zero). I am sure there have been people killed listening to there iPod and being unaware of there surroundings. This is the 'real' danger from iPods.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyone in the Electric R/C Airplane hobby for the last few years have known of the dangers of lithium ion batteries. The big problem with these power cells usually lay in the actual charging of the batteries themselves...and most electric aircraft use multiple in-series groups of these. As previously stated, overcharging these things can and do cause explosions and small fires. The iPod example of 15 units out of 75 million does not include all the accidents with this type of cell in other applications, so don't jump to a statistical conclusion yet. There is a real issue here, and to ignore it based on love of advanced consumer electronics and electrical products could lead to bigger issues later.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI AM BECOMING A SCIENTIST BY VISTING THIS SITE
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNOTHING MORE SCIENTIFIC NEWS CAN COME TO ME BEYOND THIS WEBSITE.THATS WHAT I THINK.
THIS WEBSITE IS GODS GIFT
The big danger from those little hand-held gadgets is that people use them while driving or doing other tasks that demand attention.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut ignorant scary stuff sells magazines and improves the ratings of talk shows. Hate to see Sciam in that company.
UHHM...OWW?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUHM...OWW?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisiPods are getting smaller and smaller, so when they make the iPod as small as it can be, the fire shouldn't be too dangerous.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's simple logic, really.
When I'm listening to my iPod, I won't keep a bucket of water next to me. I'm a real risk-taker, I know.
Since cars are air-cooled, why not place the cells in the incoming airstream and keep them at least passively cooled? or if they are going to be tucked away, run cooling tubes with circulating air or other heat-dissipating medium? Or perhaps even convection cooled by metal fins? Doesn't sound like such a difficult problem to surmount. As for electronics because of their nature, cooling and heat build-up can certainly be a concern, but I wouldn't go so far as to say a few isolated incidents amounts to an epidemic of incendiary proportions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think that with your third point, you have completely missed the point. The fires would be due to an ipod overheating. this can only happen while it's turned on unless you live in death valley or are holding a soldering iron on the battery. An ipod causing a fire on a comercial airliner is not going to happen. If the ipod is turned on when it catches fire, it will be noticed. The same is true if you are holding a soldering iron on it. The only cause for an ipod exploding that might not be noticed is if it is left outside in death valley. In this case, it is unlikely to cause a huge amount of damage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisas per my knowledge i have got to know that wen we hear the ipod which has nearly 10000kHz it is practically very harmful for our ears so it is better to listen in loudspeaker than in the earphones
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUr dumb
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou can't sue a meteorite. The 15 out of 75,000,000 chance is about the risk to the manufacturer, not the consumer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this