A smartphone has recently caught fire mid flight in India. The passenger who was traveling with IndiGo airlines had his device catch flames likely due to an overheating issue with the battery.

The news arrives following a statement shared by the DGCA (Via 91Mobiles). Apparently, the cabin crew member for the IndiGo flight noticed that the smartphone was sparking, with even smoke being emitted. Thus, the device was taken and the fire was doused immediately with a fire extinguisher. As per the official news, no one was injured during this incident and the flight also landed safely. Notably, the flight was from Dibrugarh to Delhi on April 14.

The DGCA stated that the smartphone caught fire due to an abnormal overheating issue with the battery. Furthermore, the aircraft landed safely at the Delhi airport around 12.45 pm on Thursday, with the ordeal occurring in the IndiGo flight of 6E 2037. In a separate statement, IndiGo said that “There was an incident of a mobile device battery heating up abnormally on flight 6E 2037 from Dibrugarh to Delhi. The crew is trained to manage all hazardous incidences and they quickly managed the situation. There was no harm caused to any passenger or property onboard.”

While the incident is rare, it is not entirely an isolated incident. With electronics becoming more common in day to day usage, airlines across the globe have also begun taking necessary steps of precaution. This includes carrying fire suppression equipment to help take care of any unfortunate fire accidents. As of right now, the lithium ion battery in the smartphone is being blamed for the incident. So stay tuned for more updates regarding this matter.

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The post IndiGo passenger’s phone catches fire mid flight in India due to battery overheating appeared first on Gizmochina.

In the quest to meet buyers’ yearning for smartphones with longer battery life, smartphone makers have developed several technological methods of battery manufacture. Smartphones are now packed with fast charging technology that delivers full capacity charge in just few minutes. But then, the rate of exploding phones seems to have increased as well, most times the phone’s battery is the culprit.

The case of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is perhaps the most notable smartphone till date to have been plagued by defective battery leading to the recall of the entire line. Although Samsung is yet to release the report of its findings on the exact cause of the Note 7 exploding incidence, local media allege that the report finds the battery as the cause.

However, there seem to be an end in sight as scientists at the Stanford University have published in the Science Advances journal that they have developed a battery that cools itself when it gets overheated. The battery is a lithium-ion battery built with flame-retardant triphenyl phosphate (TPP) inside a shell within the electrolyte fluid. The shell melts when the temperature reaches 150C (302F), releasing the chemical compound. The accompanying test result shows battery fires were extinguished in just 0.4 seconds.

Lithium-ion battery is the most popular battery that powers most gadgets, including smartphones and it gets affected by heat which turns it to a potentially explosive material. Attempts have been made in the past to incorporate TPP inside batteries without the shell and that have hampered their performance, so basically what they brought into the mix is the shell which they develop for the TPP compound inside the battery.

Read Also: LG G6’s Battery Won’t Overheat Even at 150 Degrees

It is hoped that this development would lead to a break-through in lithium-ion battery manufacture which would eventually bring to an end cases of battery fire or explosions.

(source)

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