IEEE Steps in on Notebook Battery Standards

The world’s leading professional association for technological advancement, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), is revising its notebook battery standard.

The move follows Sony’s recently disclosed disaster with batteries, in which faults in manufacturing have generated the need to withdraw millions of notebook batteries as included in computers from most major manufacturers.

The IEEE now plans to revise its battery standard, IEEE 1625, “IEEE Standard for Rechargeable Batteries for Portable Computing,” which was approved in 2004.

The update targets an improvement in the overall performance of notebook battery systems and “seeks to address recent calls to make these systems more reliable and robust,” the organization said.

The revised standard will be created within the IEEE Standards Association Corporate Program and is expected to be completed within 18 months.

The standard guides in the design, planning, manufacturing, testing and quality control of notebook batteries.

The revision will draw on the IEEE’s work on standardizing mobile phone batteries.

The IEEE’s manager of new technical programs, Edward Rashba, stressed: “The 1625 update will be a global effort. The leading laptop OEMs and battery manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Panasonic, Sanyo and Sony have indicated strong interest to participate.” The group will meet bimonthly in the United States and Asia to complete the work. The first working group meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15-16 at Intel’s California headquarters.

-Jonny Evans, Macworld.co.uk

Related Links:

• Sony Battery Recalls: Who’s Next?

• Replacement for Lithium-Ion Batteries Debuts

• Assault and Batteries

• U.K. Battery Recycling Plan Enters Phase One

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