After about 120 years of certifying electrical product safety, this company has now invested in raising the safety standards of vaping devices powered by a battery.
Known initially as Underwriters Laboratories, the UL LLC has come up with a testing and certification protocol specifically for other e-cigarette products like vape mods that come powered inner lithium batteries. According to UL, via their website’s FAQ, the company explains that UL standards are about running a certification project of e-cigarettes in order to improve consumer safety.
Like all other types of products that come with their own number name, this one is of the UL 8139 category. UL has a huge list of products it does test and certify. The UL 8139 is a special product for manufacturers of vaping products that enables them to use the company’s scientifically recommended requirements and procedures to assess, test, and certify vaping devices and e-cigarettes. The company website says that this helps to ascertain the safety of their electrical and fire-hazard system.
The company’s evaluation method covers areas of the electrical system like batteries, charger, control circuitry, and the charging circuits. The certification procedure takes plays in seven principal requirements:
Making an assessment to determine whether the operation of lithium cells follows its safety recommendations.
Making an assessment of the [BMS], Battery Management System, to determine its usability and the possibility for its misuse.
Making an evaluation of system compatibilities and interconnectedness.
Looking at expected environmental factors and conditions broadly.
Making a mechanical stress test on the expected use/misuse
They also require a mechanism which keeps venting off the direction of the inhaler.
Enhancing marking and guidelines on user safety.
Several points account for why UL standards may face limitations when it comes to success in this vaping industry project. To begin with, even the best vape mods have a relatively very short lifespan. Vaping products also undergo significantly rapid changes than expected, and a single year may witness five to ten generational changes. Their slow through the careful testing process is, therefore, a welcome approach for the Chinese manufacturers of the vaping industry. Further, this testing protocol covers only battery-powered devices. This exempts a rather huge majority of vape mods out there.
High-wattage mods that come with inner vape batteries keep increasing in numbers, but since batteries generally need sub-ohm atomizers from heavy powering, users won’t keep them for many years. Also, the need to carry another battery in case a user is outdoors for several hours is not encouraging for users. Users with high-power devices will be pushed to lean towards learning what Ohm’s Law, as well as battery safety rules, have to offer.
These standards will work well to offer pod vapes or mini MTL devices certification, but they are perhaps not going to become a safety issue. When it comes to tiny batteries such as those in JUUL or related pod mods that are designed for use with high-resistance coils, the risk of hazardous malfunctions and explosions are lower.
As the popularity of vaping keeps increasing, new vapers may be pushed by this rather confusing vape device marketplace to go towards the UL certification as the best alternative. If in the end, UL standards accomplish its goal of providing a solution against these at-risk battery-powered devices, everyone will feel safe and appreciative.
