Investigation under way, name of device not yet revealed

Sep 1, 2017 08:38 GMT  ·  By

Even since the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco it’s becoming more obvious that lithium-ion battery can turn into silent explosives in certain conditions, with all kinds of devices catching fire and injuring owners lately.

One such incident occurred inside a Taylorsville High School classroom, when a lithium battery of an unnamed device exploded and injured 3 students. It turns out the battery was in one of the students’ backpacks, and due to what could be overheating, it started emitting smoke and eventually exploded.

The device was shot out of the bag, Good4Utah reports, with two students injured after the explosion resulted in chemicals being splattered on their arms. A third student inhaled smoke, and all three were treated on scene by Unified Fire Authority paramedics.

Investigation under way

While the name of the device whose battery exploded was not disclosed, there’s a chance it was an external battery pack used to recharge other devices like smartphones and tablets, though there’s word online that this could have been a smartphone itself. For the moment, however, the Granite School District says it’s investigating the incident, and further information would be provided at a later time.

"Students are carrying more and more electronic devices and other types of items and bringing them to school, and while they may not be utilizing them at school, they could be in their backpack, in their locker... We do not believe this was any sort of terroristic threat or that this was intentionally designed to harm people. This battery pack exploded,” Granite School District spokesperson Ben Horsley was quoted as saying.

Li-ion battery alternatives

The exact cause of the explosion is yet to be determined, but as it’s the case of lithium-ion batteries, overheating was mostly at fault, and this once again emphasizes the need for the industry to look for alternative solutions that would reduce the risk of fires on devices like smartphones and tablets.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich have already proposed an alternative based on a mixture of lithium and garnet, which instead of liquid or gel-based electrolytes uses a more porous substance not prone to overheating to transfer the charge between positive and negative rods.

Up until now, however, device manufacturers haven’t shown an increased interest in replacing li-ion batteries, mostly because of the high costs, but the growing number of incidents involving their devices is living proof that sooner or later the industry needs to transition to a safer alternative.