in a recent article on ieee spectrum, philip ross and andrew silver explored the possibilities of what was behind the fires reported in samsung galaxy note 7 that eventually forced the company to recall the line of smartphones, which amounted to more than 2.5 million phones.

a recent article examined the issues behind samsung's thermal issues with the galaxy note 7.
(wikimedia commons)

while question marks still remain over the cause behind the fires (35 total had been reported at the time of the article’s publication), a report in bloomberg news quoted a source as saying it was a manufacturer error in the battery. negative and positive poles came in contact and that caused a short circuit.

but, as ross and silver noted in conversations with outside engineers, a battery design error was unlikely due to the numerous safety regulations it would have to pass before going into production. one engineer felt it was far more likely a “system design flaw” that caused the battery to malfunction.

another engineer threw out the possibility of impurities in the production, an issue with the membrane separating the electrodes, or the “energy management system could be charging them too aggressively.”

ross and silver concluded, “you can tweak any or all of these elements, but if you do, you’ll sacrifice performance and cost. any supplier that did that would risk losing the contract to the next guy.”

in the wake of samsung’s issues, companies have also been trying to capitalize on the problem to raise awareness about other products that could help in the long run. for example, dupont has presented its new temprion thermal management materials as a possible answer to the battery issue and enhancing the performance of electronics.

dupont wrote, “thermal interface materials like dupont™ temprion™ thermal management materials seamlessly and efficiently enable heat to rapidly flow away from the soc and maximize heat dissipation. this thermal optimization helps avoid the built-in fail-safe measures of smartphones, including reduced clock-speed that slows down the processor, partial charging of batteries, and even complete shutdown of your device.”

questions are still being raised about this high-profile recall, but one thing that should be clear in the wake of samsung’s travails is the need to keep thermal management an integral part of a project’s design phase. ignoring thermal issues or trying to over-design  a project rather than managing those issues up front could have disastrous consequences, whether financial or worse.

in the coolingzone library, ake malhammer makes the case for why thermal design is critical. read his paper at https://www.coolingzone.com/library.php?read=531.