STOBA Determined to End Laptop Fires Forever
January 20th, 2010
Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons
Are laptop fires resulting from overheating lithium batteries a thing of the past? If STOBA gets their way, they might be.
One of the largest research and development in institutes in Taiwan recently unveiled STOBA, the first product of its kind to improve the safety of lithium-ion batteries.
Here’s how STOBA works: A tiny electronic component sits between the positive and negative poles of the lithium-ion battery. When the temperature reaches 130 degrees Celsius, STOBA transforms from a porous material to a solid film to shut down the battery and prevent fire.
Researchers who led the development of STOBA say lithium-ion batteries develop internal shorts that can quickly raise the temperature over 500 degrees. The result is usually a laptop that explodes or ignites into flames unexpectedly.
STOBA-equipped cells are not yet available for order United States. Battery manufacturers in Taiwan are still testing the full-scale production capacity of these units and expect them to start shipping STOBA to stores in the first quarter of 2010.
Experts are hopeful STOBA technology will be taken advantage of with more than just laptop batteries in the future. Lithium-ion batteries are used to power many consumer electronic devices like MP3 players, cameras, cell phones, and hybrid cars. The lithium-ion battery has long been considered the most unstable component within these popular devices.
In addition to safety, researchers claim STOBA can also improve battery life by about 20% and only costs about 3% more to produce than traditional batteries. This makes the innovative product commercially viable as it improves safety and doesn’t pass the bill on to consumers.
PriorityElectronics.com will keep you posted on STOBA news and let you know when the product is available for order word wide.




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Spilling soda or trapping remnants of Cheeto’s beneath the underbelly of your laptop keyboard is an unfortunate event that’s occurred at one time or another for most longtime users. This can create anything from a small nuisance like a sticky F5 button to an all out catastrophe that renders your machine incapacitated. Fortunately, with a bit of tech savvy you can replace your laptop’s keyboard at a much lower cost than having to buy a new system. But before opening the hood of your notebook, there are a few precautions that must be taken.
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