thermal runaway
Self-accelerating heat failure
Thermal runaway is a dangerous feedback loop in which rising temperature causes a system to generate more heat, which further raises temperature, potentially leading to fire, explosion, or destruction.
It occurs most commonly in batteries, power electronics, and chemical reactors.
Lithium-ion batteries are particularly susceptible: internal damage or overcharging can trigger thermal runaway, causing cells to vent flaming gases.
The laptop fire was caused by thermal runaway in a defective battery pack.
- smokeAirborne combustion byproduct
- smoke alarmAirborne combustion sensor
- chain reactionSelf-sustaining causal sequence
- cascading failureSuccessive linked breakdowns
- combustionExothermic reaction with oxygen
burn · safety recall · lithium-ion battery · charging station · exothermic reaction · energy density · heat buildup · decomposition · oxidation · separator · anode · feedback loop · point of no return · activation energy · dendrite · pyrolysis · burst · battery fire
- battery problemsdead battery, battery drain, low battery, flat battery, power loss
- hardware failurespower failure, hard drive crash, boot failure, overheating, dead battery
- Heat Problemsoverheating, heat stroke, hyperthermia, fever, heat loss
- Overheatingfever, heatstroke, boiling, hyperthermia, heat exhaustion
- Transistorstransistor, bipolar, CMOS, collector, gate
- electrical faultsshort circuit, fault, overcurrent, ground fault, overload
thermal runawaythermal equilibrium
Equal temperature throughout system
heat dissipation · passive cooling · heat sink · thermal regulation · temperature regulation
thermal runawaynegative feedback
Response indicating problems
self-regulation · system stability · stable equilibrium · homeostasis · graceful degradation