NIST trains AI to hear the 'oh crap' moment before batteries explode
- Reference: 1731918426
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/11/18/battery_fail_sound_ai/
- Source link:
The nature of lithium-ion battery fires is that by the time smoke triggers a traditional smoke alarm, the fire might be well under way. They also tend to get considerably hotter far faster than ordinary flames. [1]According to NIST: "A battery can emit a jet of flame up to 1,100°C (2,012°F), almost as hot as a blowtorch, and it reaches that temperature in about a second."
Battery fires pose serious risks. The devices have been known to combust anywhere from the holds of [2]ships to passenger compartments of [3]aircraft and can cause disaster if not dealt with promptly.
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Hence, a few minutes' notice of a potentially catastrophic failure would be very helpful.
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One hint that things might be about to go awry is when the safety valve breaks in a hard battery case to release the pressure caused by a chemical reaction within the unit. NIST described it as "a distinctive click-hiss , a little like the sound of cracking open a bottle of soda."
While the sound has been noted in previous studies, the issue with using it as an early warning system is that there are plenty of similar sounds, such as the dropping of a paper clip. The challenge facing researchers was removing the false positives.
[7]South Korean lithium battery plant blaze kills at least 23
[8]Samsung shows off battery tech it says will see you gone in nine minutes
[9]Toyota, Samsung accelerate toward better EV batteries
[10]A ship carrying 800 tonnes of Li-Ion batteries caught fire. What could possibly go wrong?
The solution came from machine learning. The NIST team took the audio from 38 exploding batteries and tweaked the pitch and speed to create more than 1,000 audio samples, which could then be used to teach the software what a breaking safety valve sounds like. Overheating batteries were subsequently detected 94 percent of the time.
One of the NIST team, Wai Cheong "Andy" Tam, said: "I tried to confuse the algorithm using all kinds of different noises, from recordings of people walking to closing doors, to opening Coke cans. Only a few of them confused the detector."
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With lithium-ion batteries appearing in more settings, an early warning system – even if it provides just a minute or so – would be a welcome innovation. NIST reckoned the alarm, once fully developed, could find its way into homes, office buildings, and electric vehicle parking garages. The NIST team noted that the safety valve gave two minutes' notice in testing, but planned to continue the research with a wider variety of batteries.
"The key to a healthy relationship with lithium-ion batteries might just be careful listening," NIST said. ®
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[1] https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/11/ai-can-hear-when-lithium-battery-about-catch-fire
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/02/ship_li_ion_fire/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/12/taiwan_singapore_powerbank_fire/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZzseV3KFsntpXb-3spxDaAAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZzseV3KFsntpXb-3spxDaAAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZzseV3KFsntpXb-3spxDaAAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/25/aricell_plant_fire_korea/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/25/samsung_battery_twenty_years/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/toyota_battery_buyout/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/02/ship_li_ion_fire/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZzseV3KFsntpXb-3spxDaAAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: "find its way into homes, office buildings, and [EV] parking garages"
Last year there was a similar fire in a multistorey car park at Luton airport. It turned out it was caused by a diesel Land Rover. So don't assume EV every time you hear of a car fire.
Statistically they are less likely to catch fire than diesel or petrol, but as the article suggests, when they do, the intensity is far greater. Some fire departments don't even try to put the fire out anymore because it is close to impossible, merely controlling the fire and preventing it from spreading.
But it is worth mentioning that modern lithium batteries have temperature sensors that can detect a thermal incident and alert the user.
Or a break-wire sensor on the valve
You know, something that costs under half a cent and has a reliability greater than 99.9% and cannot be confused by sounds.
Re: Or a break-wire sensor on the valve
That only really works for things like phone or cars which can then send a warning. The random power banks that people buy from china are not going to add a speaker to give a warning.
Re: Or a break-wire sensor on the valve
"... The random power banks that people buy from china are not going to add a speaker to give a warning. ..."
I suppose preventing the random Chinese cr@p getting into the supply chain in the first place isn't an option?
Re: Or a break-wire sensor on the valve
Might help. To be honest, I've misplaced my random Chinese power bank and I'm a little concerned that I'm going to find it the hard way...
only a matter of time
Before this sound appears as a ringtone...
Re: only a matter of time
100% agree
no one wants to do the boring stuff anymore.... that's the problem
imagine this being implemented at vast cost/scale across multiple sites, the ongoing running and maintenance cost of the system with the many layers that the system uses, each being a point of failure
its because fiat money has been so "easy and plentiful" for so long
you can feel finally that the "times they are a changing"
necessity is the mother of invention .... soon necessity will produce the £1 fix, instead of these wasteful pointless self indulgent but above all energy wasting solutions
Statitstical analysis of large data sets has its niche uses .... the rest are just exercises in mental masturbation and/or greed :)
Is it not possible to engineer it to give a louder and/or more distinctive sound?
"find its way into homes, office buildings, and [EV] parking garages"
Hey, I'm all for it. I know one parking in [1]central Luxembourg that would probably have very much liked to have that alarm in 2019 when it was devastated by a vehicle that caught fire. It was never specified if the vehicle was an EV, though.
It's still closed, and I don't know how many other vehicles were trashed before the fire was put out.
Price tag for renovation ? almost €30 million. And they had a fire alarm.
Yeah, you definitely want all the warning you can get concerning a garage fire.
Or any fire, really.
[1] https://lequotidien.lu/a-la-une/luxembourg-la-renovation-du-parking-des-martyrs-coutera-finalement-286-millions-deuros/