UL White Paper Examines Safety Issues of Lithium Ion Batteries

As a developer and manufacturer of rechargeable batteries for professional applications, Accutronics have developed rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries for many years and seen the technology expand into all of the markets we operate in. Safety is always our number one concern and we boast a 100% safety record. We are however never complacent and constantly upgrade our design and assembly techniques to include the latest developments and practices.

In addition to only using Lithium ion cells which hold UL certification, Accutronics hold a number of UL files for those OEM customers who request external regulatory certification at a battery level. As one of the leaders in battery testing UL have released the following paper which will be of interest if you are developing a product requiring a Lithium Ion Battery:

Extract from UL 23/11/2010:

UL recently released the first in a series of white papers that review evolving battery technology. This paper explores many of the issues and opportunities associated with the new technology as well as current and recommended safety standards to address changes in the technology and use.

Lithium-ion battery technologies have evolved over the last two decades, with batteries now offering longer cycle life and improved reliability for products in the areas of consumer electronics, medical devices, industrial equipment and automotive applications.

In this white paper, entitled Lithium Ion Battery Hazard Analysis, UL explains the need for risk assessment as part of the product design and development process to identify and address root causes of safety issues. UL currently conducts risk assessments on the lithium batteries it tests and those assessments used in developing effective standards

Download the paper here.

Compamed 2010

We are all now back from Compamed 2010 which finished on Friday. One word sums up the response we received.. 'amazing'. Accutronics has always been strong in the medical / healthcare market and both existing and prospective customers were able to witness first hand our wide range of products and capabilities for the medical market.

On behalf of Mark Edlin, Gareth Morgan, Rob Phillips, Hans-Martin and myself I want to thank all of the people we spoke to and we look forward to talking to you again very soon.

Neil

Compamed 2010

The first day of Compamed has been hugely successful with a record number of first day enquiries.

Customers were very interested in our ability to design customised rechargeable batteries which include features such as fuel gauging, charge control and enhanced safety protection.

Our growing range of off the shelf standard medical batteries were of interest to both dealers and distributors of medical products.

Our Managing Director, Mr Rob Phillips will be visiting the exhibition tomorrow to meet with key account customers.

As >75% of our products are smart batteries, we found this cartoon on page 16 of the November edition of New Electronics magazine rather amusing....

Neil

Accutronics Invests in Further Solder Training

As part of Accutronics’ policy of continuous improvement, we have recently undertaken a training programme to further develop the skills required for successful lead-free soldering.


Working with Michele Robinson, a Certified IPC Trainer from the Faculty of Technology and Enterprise and Newcastle-under-Lyme College, Accutronics’ Production Operators, Quality Department and Battery Technician each undertook a days bespoke training covering the following key areas:

• Principles in lead free soldering theory
• Lead free soldering techniques
• Correct soldering tip selection and temperature
• Tinning of stranded wires
• Re-work using braid
• Rework of through hole components using Pace soldering and rework station.
• Fuse soldering with heat sinks

"With more than 80% of our batteries now containing electronics it is vital that our operators receive the latest training to ensure our product quality remains high" said Gareth Hancox, Engineering and Production Manager. "The feedback we have received from our operators is that the training was useful, interesting and beneficial".


I am pleased to say that everybody who attended the course completed it successfully, and certificates have been awarded to acknowledge this.


Neil

Electronica 2010

Electronica 2010 is now over. On behalf of the whole team at Accutronics I want to thank all of our existing and prospective customers for their interest during the show and we look forward to continuing our discussions over the coming days and weeks.


The exhibition was also a time to catch up with colleagues past and present, many of whom were very interested to see the new Accutronics business. I wish them all good health and business for 2011.

We now move onto Compamed in Dusseldorf, Germany where Accutronics will demonstrate a large number of rechargeable batteries, both standard and custom, for the medical and healthcare market.

Electronica Update

We are now starting day three of Electronica and we are very pleased so far with both footfall and enquiries. There is significant interest in both our custom battery expertise and the standard smart battery range from Inspired Energy. Day three looks like it will be just as busy!

Electronica Approaches

We are traveling out to Germany today to set up for Electronica 2010 in Munich. Our stand is number 355 in hall B2.

As well as the full range of Inspired Energy standard smart batteries we will be showing a wide range of custom Lithium Ion and Nickel Metal Hydride smart batteries which have developed for some of the worlds leading OEMs. We also have some exciting new developments for 2011 which are far too exciting for me to talk about on here, you will have to come and see us at the show.

See you in Munich!

Neil

Decade

Last week, Carl Banks, our Electronics application engineer celebrated ten years with the company. Carl has been heavily involved in many of our OEM battery projects and has been instrumental in the development of many smart batteries for the medical market. Carl also developed much of the automated test equipment which calibrates the fuel gauge inside tens of thousands of smart batteries each year so they arrive at our customers ready to use.

Thank you Carl.

Neil

Milestones

I wanted to post something about Accutronics people today. Mark Edlin, our Sales Manager who covers the United Kingdom, Ireland and Israel has been with the company for 15 years. In addition to his experience with Accutronics, Moltech Power Systems and Energizer, Mark has also worked for Ever Ready and Ultralife. As one of the most experienced people in the business Mark provides tremendous value to our OEM customers.

In addition, our two production supervisors, Lynn Wintle and Tracey Beech have been awarded their Level 2 NVQ in Team Leading. I congratulate them on this achievement.

Neil