Man dies from battery explosion in cell phone

[TexLite]

Because the Chinese cell phone battery market is so threatened by western makers that they'd put down their doughnuts and go through all that blackmail/bribing/risk taking trouble, right?

From the story:

The original report caused widespread consternation in China, which is in the middle of a panic about "shanzhai" or fake goods. Since the tainted milk scandal which killed at least six babies last year, fake medicines and medical equipment as well as other theoretically less dangerous products have been exposed.

And yes,China is concerned about PR.They manufacture 50% of the worlds goods.

-Michael

 

[Alan B]

When these types of cells fail they vent flame at pretty low pressure. Does that fit the description of the accident? doesn't seem to. suspicious.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Yes please do research. There have several "reports" of someone dying from a cell-phone battery explosion, but it always debunked. Prismatic cell construction as is in a cell phone, i.e. light plastic casing, etc. can not contain a very high pressure, even cheapy Chinese ones which are even flimsier than name-brand. Could you get a bit of a pop...yes, but not something that is going to cause explosive damage.

On the lithium primaries we use, I am only aware of one or two "explosions"..... from improperly made cells without venting where the metal case split. Could you call it an explosion.... sure, but even if it happened right next to you, not sure it would do much damage

There was that case of Avestor's batteries, but we are talking something the size of a car-battery in a hard metal case able to contain a huge pressure before rupturing.

I said nothing about batteries killing someone. Rather I am 100% sure of having read of many more than 2 incidents of Lithium batteries (Ion & LiPo) exploding with great force on this very forum.

SemiMan, with respect, I'm not going to do your research for you, but trust me that your limited comments are not accurate or complete...but this link will get you started.

I am 100% sure about this, and AlanB, those instances I have read just here at CPF are not necessarily low pressure minor vents. Then there are those over at RC Groups forum--mostly lipo.

Part of the forceful incidents described on this forum have come from the cells exploding while inside of a light tube which contributes to a pressure buildup force until it overcomes tailcap, head, lens constraints.

Has a cellphone resulted in such a forceful pressure release? That is another issue. Does China (& most secretive governments) cover up bad news...duh.....yeah. What's the truth in this specific example? Who knows.

 

[Alan B]

...

I am 100% sure about this, and AlanB, those instances I have read just here at CPF are not necessarily low pressure minor vents. Then there are those over at RC Groups forum--mostly lipo.

Part of the forceful incidents described on this forum have come from the cells exploding while inside of a light tube which contributes to a pressure buildup force until it overcomes tailcap, head, lens constraints.

Has a cellphone resulted in such a forceful pressure release? That is another issue. Does China (& most secretive governments) cover up bad news...duh.....yeah. What's the truth in this specific example? Who knows.

A high velocity explosion requires either a high velocity chemical reaction or a strong containment vessel failure. Lipos aren't high velocity, but a flashlight tube could provide high pressure containment failure. Cellphones are not noted for their containment ability, however, unless they are one of the new secret high pressure underwater variety.

As I said, it is suspicious, for many reasons. But we don't know.

 

[LED61]

I said nothing about batteries killing someone. Rather I am 100% sure of having read of many more than 2 incidents of Lithium batteries (Ion & LiPo) exploding with great force on this very forum.

SemiMan, with respect, I'm not going to do your research for you, but trust me that your limited comments are not accurate or complete...but this link will get you started.

I am 100% sure about this, and AlanB, those instances I have read just here at CPF are not necessarily low pressure minor vents. Then there are those over at RC Groups forum--mostly lipo.

Part of the forceful incidents described on this forum have come from the cells exploding while inside of a light tube which contributes to a pressure buildup force until it overcomes tailcap, head, lens constraints.

Has a cellphone resulted in such a forceful pressure release? That is another issue. Does China (& most secretive governments) cover up bad news...duh.....yeah. What's the truth in this specific example? Who knows.

I'm totally 100% with Lux on this.

 

[n3eg]

The lessons to be learned here:

1. When in doubt, blame everything on the cellphone

2. Don't buy homemade guns from China

3. Lithium batteries are responsible for global warming.

 

[Bones]

You have a government that's terrified of its population at the best of times, and its currently reeling over the continuing reports of death and criticial illnesses caused by counterfeit medicines. This alone is causing some serious unrest. Combine it with the other seemingly endless counterfeiting scandels at home and abroad, and an economic downturn that could end up costing literally millions of jobs, and you have some pretty compelling reasons to suppress the truth in order to avoid further erosion of China's dismal image in the marketplaces of the world.

This death may very well have been caused by a home-made weapon, but if it was caused by a cellphone, I think the odds are very much against that fact ever being revealed.

There is also this statment to take into consideration:

Local reports said that this was the ninth recorded cellphone explosion in China since 2002.

 

[Bones]

An addendum to my previous post.

Past incidences have proven that certain manufacturers in China have absolutely no qualms over using poisonous and toxic substances in their products, even those they know will used or consumed by humans.

Taking this into consideration, I don't think we can reasonably assume that their counterfeit cellphone batteries don't, in fact, contain substances that could do far more than vent with flames.

 

[Sgt. LED]

BOOM! HEADHSOT!! :tinfoil:

 

[2manybikes]

It was one of those new cell phone guns. Top secret, like the shoe phone.

 

[Bones]

It was one of those new cell phone guns. Top secret, like the shoe phone.

Ssssh...!

 

[StandardBattery]

...Does China (& most secretive governments) cover up bad news...duh.....yeah.

Is there any government that is not secretive? It seems so called open governments have have some of the biggest secrets.

We need more information, the initial story does not seem to me to fit an exploding battery situation, and the homemade gun story sounds a little fishy where they said they had to go back to the scene to find the bag; how could they have missed it the first time. Yes it could be incompetence... but let's see if they produce a slug.

 

[StandardBattery]

This seems like a source keeping up-to-date on the story.
Exploding Phone or Zip Gun?

 

[chew socks]

It was one of those new cell phone guns. Top secret, like the shoe phone.

I've seen .22 caliber cell phones before ..........but i think what we really need is a .45 caliber cell phone. :thumbsup:


I was once told by the owner of a local battery shop that a Chinese lithium ion battery's deffective charging circuit caused a battery in a cop car laptop to vent and subsequently destroy the car.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Is there any government that is not secretive? It seems so called open governments have have some of the biggest secrets.

What part of my statement ruled out any particular form, type, or location of government? Stop adding inferences that I didn't make. I'm not xenophobic, yet hyper-suppression of "the truth" is well documented in China.

We need more information, the initial story does not seem to me to fit an exploding battery situation, and the homemade gun story sounds a little fishy where they said they had to go back to the scene to find the bag; how could they have missed it the first time. Yes it could be incompetence... but let's see if they produce a slug.

I stated "who knows what really happened." If I had to guess, the most likely scenario is the guy was stabbed in the neck with a pen by a jealous woman while he was texting another on his cell phone. He fell on his phone and broke it, and the supposed bullets were invented after the story became another negative PR issue for "The People's Republic."

 

[jrv]

A high velocity explosion requires either a high velocity chemical reaction or a strong containment vessel failure. Lipos aren't high velocity...

Lithium batteries most definitely can explode although this problem is mostly solved now. A computer manufacturer I used to work at had several explosions in the field in the 1990's and a co-worker across the hall had a prototype notebook battery sitting on his desktop explode one night; I helped dig pieces of shrapnel out of the walls the next day for the Environmental/Regulatory guys. There's no question that explosion would have killed someone had the debris been aimed at the right plane on the neck.

My understanding is that the explosion problem was essentially solved in 2000 and is rarely seen these days in cutting-edge chemistry formulations, though thermal runaway seems to have taken its place and is in some ways worse.

 

[kongfuchicken]

What part of my statement ruled out any particular form, type, or location of government? Stop adding inferences that I didn't make. I'm not xenophobic, yet hyper-suppression of "the truth" is well documented in China.



I stated "who knows what really happened." If I had to guess, the most likely scenario is the guy was stabbed in the neck with a pen by a jealous woman while he was texting another on his cell phone. He fell on his phone and broke it, and the supposed bullets were invented after the story became another negative PR issue for "The People's Republic."

Lux, no offense meant here (and I have the most profound respect, in fact) but your argument in this thread has mutated wildly, and I'll paraphrase (humorously to blow pressure off):

You basically mentioned:
. Dude, they must have lied about the gun part to cover up the fact that their batteries blow up! It's China, they do that! Look @ linky link, batteries do blow up!

In response to that, some people noted:
. Dude! Prismatic cells don't explode with any degree of force that can harm people because they can't contain dangerous pressure and neither can a phone shell! The whole thing is a myth! Furthermore, do you see our us executives lower their profits to make a stand against the chinese unacceptable 0.0001% failure rate?

To which you responded:
. Dude! Look at my google search! I'm not making this stuff up! (never mind that the first result is an RC cylindrical cell cut in half by machinery, the next 5 are primary LiMn cells reverse charged and the rest of the page show only assertion of confidence in li-ion cells)

To which others replied:
. Dude! lithium cells made this millenium are as safe as a paramedic working for volvo! Besides, any gov would have done shitty things, if their interests were at stake!

To which you finally asserted:
. Yeah but dude, it's China! They already do all kinds of uncool stuff! About the battery, yeah who knows... but screw China! They invent stories! Maybe they did for this news!


I'm going to wager that this discussion has reached an impass on the battery aspect of the news and frankly, after noting that modern lithium cells are fairly safe and that the Chinese government's image is at an all time low, I'll retire from further commenting.

 

[2manybikes]

I've seen .22 caliber cell phones before ..........but i think what we really need is a .45 caliber cell phone. :thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd1SRtkhh-U 4 shot .22

If only Maxwell Smart had this! :laughing:
I don't want to hold a .45 phone when it fires. :sick2:

 

[jzmtl]

Oh come on, the article said he died from a bursted artery in neck, you really think a dinky cell phone battery in a container that cannot build up any pressure would have the power to do that?

 

[jrv]

Modern PCs use coin cell Lithium batteries but the batteries before that - 2CR5? - would sometimes explode, with enough force to eject a desktop PC covers at high speed, sometimes the power supply and other parts too.

As I said this is thought to be a solved problem and I haven't seen a report of explosion in a decade. Of course, I thought fires weren't a problem too until they started happening...