Developments in Battery Research Lead to New Safety Standards
It's hard to forget the extremely publicized 2006 recall of millions of lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers. Costly incidents of fires in electronic products were linked to over-heating lithium-ion batteries, caused by the build up of pressure and heat inside the batteries' internal short circuits. The reports were damaging to the lithium ion battery industry, raising concerns about the overall safety of lithium-ion batteries.
Despite these incidents, the outlook for the industry remains bright. The lithium battery market is projected to reach nearly $10 billion in annual sales by the year 2014. Incredible improvements continue to be made in lithium-ion technologies, such as energy density, life cycle and reliability.
To help maintain momentum in market growth and continued product development, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) recently released the first in a series of white papers that review evolving battery technology. The paper identifies many of the issues and opportunities associated with the evolving technology as well as current and recommended safety standards to address changes in the technology and use.
"It is critical that safety standards maintain relevance and support safe use of lithium-ion batteries as they become more prevalent and usage expands in new ways," said Carlos Correia, Vice President, UL High-Tech Division. "UL has dedicated significant resources to battery safety research in order to generate improved safety standards."
To download a copy of the position paper or learn more about related testing and certification services, visit www.uluniversity.com/thoughtleadership or www.ul.com/hitech
For more information contact Asli Solmaz-Kaiser.
