Sony tells of Dell cell hell (and pix o' the day)

Boom! It's IT Blogwatch, in which Sony admits it knew about the Dell exploding battery problem ten months ago. Not to mention great pictures from Flickr...

HOW long??? Paul  F. Roberts tells all:

Dell and Sony knew about and discussed manufacturing problems with Sony-made Lithium-Ion batteries as long as ten months ago, but held off on issuing a recall until those flaws were clearly linked to catastrophic failures causing those batteries to catch fire, a Sony Electronics spokesman said Friday. Spokesman Rick Clancy said the companies had conversations in October 2005 and again in February 2006. Discussions were about the problem of small metal particles that had contaminated Lithium-Ion battery cells manufactured by Sony, causing batteries to fail and, in some cases, overheat. As a result of those conversations, Sony made changes to its manufacturing process to minimize the presence and size of the particles in its batteries. However, the company did not recall batteries that it thought might contain the particles because it wasn't clear that they were dangerous ... Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden declined to comment on the conversations with Sony in October and February
...
Lithium-Ion batteries are constructed with coated anode and cathode foils separated by thin layers of polymer material ... The coated layers are wound up on commercial machines to create the individual Li-ion cell, and it's at that stage that contaminants, such as metallic particals, can get embedded in the battery cell. The metallic particles mentioned by Sony and Dell may have been cast off by those commercial machines ... Generally, the polymer separator is very thin -- less than 25 micron (one millionth of a meter) thick. If that is punctured by an electrically conductive material, like a metal particle, the battery cell's anode and cathode short circuit.

Robert L. Mitchell calls the recall a "Fiasco" and wonders if it's a sign of a bigger problem:

A spate of recalls of brand-name batteries in products, including units from Sony that shipped with millions of Dell laptops, makes one wonder if there isn’t a larger quality control problem in the industry ... The proper manufacture of lithium ion batteries requires strict process standards that many factories in places like China simply can’t meet. Poorly manufactured designs can lead to runaway chain reactions that enable a buildup of heat and pressure within the battery, causing it to overheat, burst, or even cause a fire ... Given recent product quality issues, one has to wonder whether in some cases manufacturing of brand name batteries isn't being outsourced to some of those same factories to save costs. Regardless, manufacturers need to focus more on quality. If manufacturers don't act soon, users may become so turned off on lithium ion technology that they refuse products that use those batteries. The recalls to date are still a small fraction of the estimated 2 billion lithium ion batteries that the industry says will be sold this year. Nonetheless, a continuing series of recalls, fanned by the Internet and videos such as this one on YouTube, could do serious damage to user perceptions of the technology.

Slashdotters discuss:

JabberWokky: Um, what exactly is the story here? They talked about and researched the issue before issuing a recall. I have a feeling that could be said about every recall... pretty much every business action that occurs. Seldom are the dart or "mouse with ink on it's feet" methods used anymore. They were alerted to the problem, got confirmation and addressed the problem.

Snover: The story here is that they knew that their batteries were defective and had the potential for damage or loss of life but they didn't do anything about it when they found out.

Minwee: Define "defective". Never mind, I'll read the article and do it for you ... They were aware that some batteries could fail. "Fail" and "In some cases, overheat", do not mean "OHMYGODALLTHEBATTERIESAREGOINGTOKILLPEOPLE!" It means "There is a problem with the batteries and we should look at them." Unless of course you think that that clearly means they were dangerous ... The story here is that they knew the batteries were defective, investigated what was happening, and did something about it when they found out what was happening.

morgan_greywolf: The manufacturing defect that's causing the problem would obviously cause such problems. In TFA, a Dan Doughty from Sandia National Labratories describes the condition that occured -- metal flakes causing a short between the anode and cathode -- as causing the battery to discharge ALL of it's energy at once ... 259,200 joules of energy in that Inspiron battery. Keep in mind that there is other heat around the battery as well. Now discharge those 259,200 joules all at once with all that heat around it. Putting that in perspective, a firecracker only discharges about 3900 joules of energy, while a 100g stick of dynamite discharges about 400,000 joules.
<sarcasm> But no, I'm sure they had no idea. </sarcasm>

Japanese VC Shinichiro Fukushige calls Dell and Sony "Ostriches":

I’m sure consumers will be thrilled to buy from manufacturers who when aware of a problem, just cross their fingers and pray that problems won’t occur. That is such an effective and reassuring strategy. Especially when the results of a battery short circuit are not unforseeable.

Michael Santo makes the obvious connection:

Last year the big winner (or loser) debacle-wise, was Sony, for its DRM issues. This year (so far) it’s … hey, Sony again! (with Dell), for the recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries ... Is Sony going for two straight years at the top of the foolishness chart?

Buffer overflow:

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And finally... Flickr Photos of the Days

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk.