As we know, at the end of 2016, Samsung had some serious problems with its Note 7 line. Not only that people stopped buying the Note line, but it also affected Samsung’s image.
So, after months of silence following this unfortunate event, Samsung finally comes with an official statement.
Last October, Samsung made a global recall of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. But, this week, the giant manufacturer disclosed its lengthy findings as to what caused the model to overheat and explode or catch fire.
Based on Samsung’s own investigation by three consulting bodies, the problem was caused by separate problems in batteries sourced from two different suppliers.
For example, in the case of the batteries sourced from Amperex Technology Limited, Samsung declared that some cells were missing insulation tape, and other batteries had sharp protrusions inside the cell that led to damage to the separator between the cathode and anode.
Moreover, the company declared that these batteries also had thin separators in general, which is not good, because it increased the risks of separator damage and short circuiting.
The second battery supplier was Samsung SDI. Here, the investigators found that that there wasn’t enough room between the heat-sealed protective pouch around the battery and the internals.
Moreover, the phone was too slim and the tight quarters placed stress on the upper right corner of each battery. So, this fact caused electrodes inside each battery to crimp and come into contact, which caused thermal runaway and short circuiting.
Samsung has declared that these findings were made official after testing 200.000 devices and 30.000 batteries in a huge charging and recharging test facility built for the task.
Moreover, D.J. Koh, Samsung’s mobile communications chief, has declared that a team of 700 company engineers conducted internal testing, and independent reviews of potential problems were made by Exponent, TUV Rheinland, and UL.
The company has made these statements at a press event held in South Korea.
We are taking responsibility for our failure to identify the issues arising out of the battery design and manufacturing process prior to the launch of the Note 7,” Koh has declared.
So, as we know, after the October recall, there were just a few details about Note 7’s problem. This silence lead people to make hundreds of speculations. On the other side, Samsung wanted to make sure that people are no longer using the Note 7.
Moreover, the company explored any potential problems involving systems software and manufacturing hardware during its months-long investigation. Samsung also tested to see if USB-C charging played a role.
Why?
Because, it was the first phone with a USB-C port for charging released by Samsung.
It seems unlikely, since the battery-facing components in most phones are chips that are used broadly in many phones,” has declared for Wired Jay Whitacre, who researches materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
A cell made to be fast-charged should be engineered to accept the high currents without overheating or having internal shorts. As long as a battery is designed to be fast-charged, it should pose no additional danger,” he concluded.
