Dell: the flaming laptops

Here are the pictures that started one of the largest product recalls in history. Published on The Inquirer, a technology website, on June 21, the two photos show a Dell laptop first bursting into flames and then burning more sedately on the green tablecloth of a conference table.

A week later, Dell said it had (ominously) "captured the notebook" and last night, the world's largest PC maker said it was recalling 4.1 million Sony-made computer batteries.

The reason? According to the notice put out by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission: "These lithium-ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers." The company says it has received six reports of overheating computers causing "property damage to furniture and personal effects".

Or as The Inquirer reader had it: "The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes... Don't try anything courageous/stupid, stay away, away, away!"

The recall has prompted computer users to wonder whether Sony batteries in other machines are causing similar problems. Channel News Asia reported that Apple was investigating whether it shared any of Dell's faults. Bloggers are asking whether an Apple battery recall last month was just a coincidence. Business Week points out that the recall comes as Dell is investing $100 million in improving its customer service. We have the details of which models are affected and how to replace your batteries.

Comments

[aaa discount hotel scottsdale]

I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning. Today was a total loss. That's how it is. Today was a loss. Basically nothing seems important, but eh. My mind is like an empty room. Basically nothing notable happening these days. My life's been completely boring today.

[johnyo]

Come home to a real fire 4.1 million users can't be wrong :)

[j0nz]

"Business Week points out that the recall comes as Dell is investing $100 million in improving its customer service."

Well thank f*** for that. I work in IT, and Dell has THE worst customer service of any company. All directed through India, poor sods, and us having to spell the most basic of words and trying to explain something highly technical is nigh on impossible! About bloody time!

[Neville]

I do hope that Dell is arranging to recycle the 4 million recalled batteries. That's a fun job for somebody this coming winter.

[Colin, France]

Oops, seems that you were right, Neil. Having googled, I learn there are no lithium atoms, just a shuttling of lithium ions between two compartments. Dastardly subtle and clever, and definitely in contravention of GCSE and A-Level Queensbury rules.
They say you have to unlearn GCSE Chemistry if you go on to do A-Level, and unlearn A-Level Chemistry if you go on to University. I've just discovered it doesn't stop there ........

Given that it really is a lithium ION battery, with nery an atom in sight, it was alarmist of me to suggest that your laptop battery is a virtual incendiary bomb. So what caused the pyrotechnics at that conference ? Well, there's a pink tint to the flame and smoke, which could be the lithium ions (authority: GCSE flame test chemistry !) . But something else must have been burning to provide the flame.

[James Baird]

I think you have the chemistry wrong.

Check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery

[Richard Bradshaw]

This problem with lithium ion batteries is already being addressed successfully by nanomaterials manufacturer AltairNano (Reno, NV). Altair has developed and tested, and is now manufacturing for early automotive EV applications, an advanced lithium ion battery, using lithium titanate spinel material, that will not explode, catch fire, or even significantly overheat. The material has been tested in battery cells at temperatures up to 250 degrees F, at which temperature the material simply ceases to function. The same batteries have been tested by applying a "dead short" that resulted in only a 50 degree temperature rise.

The Altair nano lithium titanate spinel batteries are also completely non-toxic and non-harmful to humans or the environment, asserrtions that have already been proven by independent university lab testing.

Lithiumm ion batteries made with the Altair material, with redesigned anodes and cathodes, would eliminate the possibility of such battery failures as featured in the news clip .

[Colin, France]

The principle of any metal-based battery, Neil, is to have a metal atom become a metal ion while discharging, and then to reverse the process with an external electric current in order to re-charge.

The remarkable thing about the lithium battery is that ability to recharge, given, as you say, the reactivity of elemental lithium, and the associated reluctance of lithium ions to be turned back into atoms. But from memory, lithium ion batteries contain some kind of chlorate, or maybe perchlorate, non-aqueous medium that facilitates the regeneration of those lithium atoms. Modern batteries are as much witchcraft as science !

But why bother knowing all this stuff ? It didn't help pay for one's children to attend university !

[Dianne]

You are allowed to bring them onboard on US flights. So, on Thursday, the TSA confiscated over $100 worth of my toiletries but allowed me to bring a laptop battery on board a flight? What are these people thinking?

[Neil Bell]

Hmm, not sure about the full validity of your science lesson. Lithium is very reactive in a pure form but lithium's reactive nature means that lithium compounds are very stable. Or am I mis-remembering my chemistry. Admittedly, i'm going to have to look at how lithium ion batteries work now...

[Colin, France]

As someone blessed (or cursed) with a chemical education, I knew that one day it would all end in tears. They call them "lithium ion" batteries. Ions are OK in the pyrotechnics department, adding pretty colours, but for oomph you need atoms. That's where the semantics is misleading. A lithium battery can only provide an electric current because it is packed with lithium ATOMS, shedding their outermost electron to become a lithium ion. But lithium atoms are alkali metals, in the same Group I of the Periodic Table as sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium etc. Admittedly, lithium is the least reactive of the group, but it's still a highly reactive metal (decomposes cold water etc). It was only a matter of time before lithium inside electronic gizmos showed its true colours - and incendiary potential. End of science lesson.

[Markus Räty]

But you aren't allowed to have them as hand luggage anyway, are you? And a sleeping laptop in the hold won't overheat.

[JOHN]

KEEP THE LAP TOPS OFF PLANES, 'RIGHT NOW'

THEY ARE WORSE THAN BOMBS