By Jim Harrison
Samsung has given out an explanation of the cause of Galaxy Note 7 phone fires as follows: “Based on our investigation, we learned that there was an issue with the battery cell. An overheating of the battery cell occurred when the anode-to-cathode came into contact, which is a very rare manufacturing process error. We are working with multiple suppliers to ensure that a rigorous inspection process is conducted to ensure the quality of our replacement units and we do not anticipate any further battery issues.” This is according to the site http://wccftech.com.
Some people have said that they were confused by this explanation because the charge circuit should have a safety mechanism to shut down charging when the battery voltage is not in the normal range. But the destruction evident in the problem phones could have been caused by the energy in the battery itself and not involve any circuit design problem at all. The problem may be the quality control of the 3,500-mAh lithium-ion battery.
Image: http://news.softpedia.com
Samsung has said that, as of September 1st, they were aware of 35 major battery problems with the device. So, 35 out of how many? Can’t find any exact sales figures, but pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 7 were the strongest of any Galaxy device, early reports indicated. The new flagship “phablet” (5.7-in. display) was announced on August 2nd and had pre-orders hitting 200,000 within the first two days. This put the Note 7 at double the number of pre-orders for the Galaxy S7, after the same time period after launch. This is according to the Korea Herald . The Note 7 went on sale in the U.S. and Korea on August 19th .
Lithium-ion cells got a bad rap for starting fires on the 787 Dreamliner, and now this. We'd better hope that lithium-ion is a good thing because Elon Musk and other folks are in the process of making a hell of a lot of them. The problem batteries here were apparently made by Samsung SDI. Now the Note 7 will switch to Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) batteries that are made in China. ATL supplied around 35% of the current model batteries.
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