Samsung held a press conference in Seoul, South Korea on Monday morning (3am SAST), where it revealed the full results of the investigation into Galaxy Note 7 fires.
The company said that its investigation, as well as three independent investigations found the batteries to be the cause of the problem.
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However, the big takeaway was that two separate issues were experienced — the battery from the first recall had a different issue to the battery from the second recall.
The first battery’s negative electrode was “deflected” in the upper-right corner of the battery pack, Samsung explained. The company added that an additional factor was that the tip of the negative electrode was incorrectly located.
The Galaxy Note 7 was hit by two major battery flaws, Samsung has revealed
It all suggests that the battery case was too small for the design. In fact, this is the outright assessment of one of the independent investigations.
“The damage was caused by a cell pouch design that provided inadequate volume to accommodate the electrode assembly,” read an excerpt of an investigation from consulting firm Exponent.
As for the battery from the second round of recalls, Samsung found that direct contact between the positive tab and negative electrode occurred. It said that “high welding burrs” resulted in the positive tab penetrating the insulation tape and separator. The tape and separator are supposed to keep the tab away from the negative electrode.
In fact, Samsung added that a number of batteries were simply missing the aforementioned insulation tape.
Check the infographic below…
How will the company prevent this?
The South Korean colossus has announced three major safety measures to be implemented.
First of all, Samsung is implementing an “8-point” battery check, involving eight enhanced and/or all-new tests. These tests include durability tests, visual inspection, x-ray scanning, disassembling and more.
“Multi-layer safety measures” are the second solution, which will see “strict safety standards” on all aspects of Samsung devices, the company claims. These safety standards extend to “the overall design and materials used, device hardware strength and capabilities, and improved software algorithms for safer battery charging temperature, current and duration”.
Finally, the company has also formed a battery advisory group, made up of experts from the likes of Cambridge University, Stanford and UC Berkeley.
