Samsung Galaxy Note 7 / Apple iPhone7 Potential Reasons to Battery Self Combusting.

With the unavoidable topic of energy storage issues once again brought to the centre of attention from the Samsung Note 7 and now Apple iPhone 7 smartphone models catching fire. I wanted to ask the community for their opinion on the true reasons behind the faults.

From the first page of google searching, on the topic, I noted the following facts for the reasons of the phones catching fire;

Device overheating

Material defects

Anode and cathode contact

Overcharging due to software failure

Over discharge

Battery charging too rapidly

Known devices for also catching fire;

Sony Vaio – I first hand use a Sony Vaio (Pro13 and Duo13) both escalating in heat temperatures, with the heat built up in the battery cell vicinity of the computer. Both devices have not caught fire, but you could fry your eggs, bacon and beans on it - put it that way.

Boeing Dreamliner

Hoverboard

Electric Bikes

Samsung have different suppliers and they are trying to lock into which supplier is causing the fault, Apple now face the same issue, so we can now understand that this is a common supplier to Samsung and Apple. AZ Electronics from a visit to RS Mines in 2012 stated they were one of very few companies who supplied screens and batteries to Samsung and Apple. What will be interesting is to understand who the supplier was and what exactly was the fault, so that lessons can be learnt as we move on in developing safer, better efficiency and longer lasting energy storage devices.

At first, after reading the articles on page one of google (most of which relate to the devices on the charger) I concluded that the fast charging of the device created so much heat which caused the separator to burn thus leading to the anode and cathode coming into contact and causing the ignition.

However, after reading the latest news on Apple’s ver 7, not being on a charger and catching fire, after being left wrapped up in clothes in a car (again in a hot environment - Australia), it occurred to me as a matter of the device crossing a temperature threshold which causes the internals to melt, the separator corroding due to the heat and allowing the short of the cell causing the device to catch fire.

With companies battling each other to provide consumers better energy storage systems for our electronic devices, electric vehicles, and numerous other products, without proper testing, we could all be walking into a self combusting disaster zone.

One thing is for sure, the demands of technology and the extremities of performance placed on devices, higher quality materials will no doubt be needed – there is no getting around this.

I welcome the professional opinions you all may have on the topic and hope you are all enjoying your weekend.