LG Electronics is conducting rigorous testing on the batteries soon-to-be-powering the LG G6, and the company recently opened the doors to its 640,000 square-meter ‘LG Digital Park’ testing facility for South Korean media outlets who may want to take a closer look at the procedures. The company claims that they are “testing the quality of the LG G6 more rigorously” seeing how consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety of their smart devices. More specifically, LG is conducting various tests in order to determine the resistance of their batteries to shock, penetration, pressure, heat and flammability.
“A battery is like a bomb” explained Kim Sung-woo, a chief engineer at LG’s Digital Park lab, adding that the company is conducting these tests “to prevent injuries to people even if the battery explodes”. In other words, the company is not only testing batteries in order to avoid unwanted scenarios similar to the unfortunate story surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, but LG also wants to make sure that if a battery would be subjected to damage and explode, it would do so in the most confined way possible. In one of the tests, LG’s engineers have thrown a battery into a fire and trigger an explosion in order to analyze the debris. The test is passed only if the debris is confined within a certain distance from the explosion. Another test includes a sharp nail being driven through the center of a battery without the unit bursting into flames, and the company claims that the test is carried out in order to guarantee safety in scenarios where a pet would bite and puncture the battery. Another procedure includes drop tests of the LG G6 from heights of one meter on a variety of surfaces including steel, wood, and carpet, and the entire process is monitored via cameras installed on the floor and later analyzed in greater depth.
LG’s mobile communications chief Lee Seok-jong added that the company is currently manufacturing 50,000 LG G6 units every day in anticipation of the smartphone’s market launch on April 7. The LG G6 is powered by a 3,300 mAh Li-Po (lithium polymer) battery, and unlike previous smartphones in the series, the LG G6 will enclose its battery in a unibody metal design, which will make the unit inaccessible to the end user.