CoGDEM Comment - Lithium Battery Challenges and IGEM Guest

CoGDEM is the Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring, a trade association with a membership of around sixty companies involved in the gas detection industry. We are pleased to have ILM/ETP (the publishers of this IET magazine) as an Associate Member, so we now place a regular column of news from the gas detection industry in IET magazine.

The use of certain types of lithium batteries in portable electronic devices has received a lot of publicity in recent months, particularly after a major mobile phone manufacturer had problems with a consumer product which used such batteries. Many portable gas detection instruments manufactured by CoGDEM member companies are now powered by high capacity rechargeable batteries, and most of these use lithium electrochemistry in several formats. Users of gas detection instruments can be reassured that these products are entirely safe as they incorporate safety features enabling them to be independently assessed as ‘Intrinsically Safe’ for use in arduous conditions including those that may involve the presence of flammable gases in the atmosphere.

In October 2016, the meeting of CoGDEM’s Industrial Safety Sub Group received updates on several issues related to the hazardous area certification of gas detectors, including a change to the way that instruments containing lithium batteries will be tested and assessed in the future.

It is the IEC 60079 family of standards which highlights the tests and requirements which electrical equipment must meet if it is to be used in hazardous areas containing potentially flammable atmospheres. ‘Intrinsically Safe’ or ‘Flameproof’ apparatus must comply with the relevant parts of this standard family. These standards are under continuous review so that new technology can be tested appropriately before it is introduced. To further improve the safety of instruments which use new generations of lithium battery technology, the new edition of the general requirements standard (IEC 60079-0) will now consider the maximum terminal voltage of the battery to be 4.1V rather than the previous 3.8V. Manufacturers of portable instruments using such power sources will therefore ensure that their I.S. protection circuits cope with this change.

At the same October 2016 CoGDEM meeting, members were given advance notice that there will be a guest speaker at the February 2017 meeting, Ian McCluskey, Technical Director of IGEM (Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers). Ian will present IGEM’s work in relevant areas, such as gas detection, ventilation and shut-down systems in schools and commercial catering establishments, plus a review of the findings of the recent lab testing that investigated whether increased concentrations of CO and CO2 would occur in poorly ventilated spaces where gas appliances are operating.