The Use of Lithium-ion Batteries

[straitman]

Boeing Plans 787 Battery Test Flights For End Of Week: Sources

By Reuters

March 21, 2013
Credit: Boeing

Boeing Co plans to conduct two flight tests of its revamped 787 battery system, possibly as soon as the end of the week, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

The 787 flights, the first since February, would mark another step toward Boeing’s recently announced goal of returning the grounded jet to service in a matter of weeks, not months.

Regulators banned the plane from the skies in January after lithium-ion batteries burned on two 787s in quick succession that month. The Federal Aviation Administration gave Boeing permission for a single “ferry” flight on Feb. 7 to move a jet to Washington state from Texas, carrying minimal crew and no passengers.
Boeing declined to comment.

The FAA on March 12 approved Boeing’s plan to test a redesigned battery system, to prove it is safe. The FAA-approved plan includes a rigorous battery testing standard Boeing helped develop but did not previously use.

Boeing said last week that it was one-third of the way through the testing, and expected to finish in a week or two.

 

[straitman]

FAA Faces Obstacles In Approving 787 Fix

By Reuters

March 06, 2013
Credit: Joe Walker

Boeing said this week it can move “really fast” to get its 787 Dreamliner back into the skies once regulators approve a fix for burning batteries on board the plane.
Regulators may not move so quickly.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which grounded Boeing’s high-tech jet nearly seven weeks ago, faces unusually tough obstacles in approving it for flight - one of them brought on by the agency’s own boss.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood set an impossible standard early in the crisis by promising that the Dreamliner won’t return to the skies until regulators are “1,000 percent sure” of its safety.

Because no aircraft is 100 percent safe, “it is going to be a challenge for the FAA to dial back from some of the overheated rhetoric,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at the Teal Group in Virginia.

Boeing Co’s flagship jetliner has been grounded for nearly seven weeks, costing an estimated $350 million, after lithium ion batteries overheated on two 787s in January.

The National Transportation Safety Board this week is due to issue an update on its investigation into what caused the battery to overheat and smoke but has indicated it will take longer to get to the bottom of what went wrong.

 

[eastwest101]

....Boeing Co’s flagship jetliner has been grounded for nearly seven weeks, costing an estimated $350 million, after lithium ion batteries overheated on two 787s in January.

The National Transportation Safety Board this week is due to issue an update on its investigation into what caused the battery to overheat and smoke but has indicated it will take longer to get to the bottom of what went wrong.

Call me an idiot but would it not be possible to return/refit the traditional sealed Ni-Cd that most current commercial aircraft use now and simply take the say 100Kg weight penalty? I assume most current flying Airbus and Boeing aircraft still use Ni-Cd SNC batteries or even the old Sealed Lead Acid (SLA)?

I also found this - everything you ever wanted to know about historic aircraft batteries (its a bit biased towards military aircraft though):

http://www.davi.ws/avionics/TheAvionicsHandbook_Cap_10.pdf

 

[samh004]

Call me an idiot but would it not be possible to return/refit the traditional sealed Ni-Cd that most current commercial aircraft use now and simply take the say 100Kg weight penalty? I assume most current flying Airbus and Boeing aircraft still use Ni-Cd SNC batteries or even the old Sealed Lead Acid (SLA)?

I was under the impression they added so much power drain from the choice of Li-ion that to simply swap to Ni-Cd would mean they'd need a battery much bigger than ever before, or along those lines.

 

[straitman]

Boeing Readies For 787 Ferry And Test Flights

By Guy Norris [email protected]
Source: AWIN First

March 21, 2013
Credit: Alan Barclay

As Boeing prepares to conduct at least one and possibly two test flights as part of the certification of its redesigned 787 lithium-ion battery system, the airframer also is seeking FAA clearance for a series of ferry flights for aircraft stranded around the world.

Several 787s remain at airports where they have been stuck since the fleet was grounded in mid-January. Boeing is working with the airlines and the FAA for some of them to be cleared for one-off ferry flights by the end of this month to relocate them to modification centers.

Airline sources say the negotiations concern flight clearance without the need for modification of either the battery or the addition of the redesigned stainless steel enclosure and its related titanium vent tube.

The affected aircraft include a LOT Polish Airlines 787 at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and another at Warsaw Chopin Airport, both of which, if approved, would be ferried to Houston. A United Airlines 787 at Los Angeles International Airport also would be flown to Houston.

 

[straitman]

787 Ferry Flights To Resume


By Guy Norris
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology

March 25, 2013
Credit: Photo Credit: Boeing
Guy Norris Los Angeles

The tension is mounting for Boeing and its 787 operators as the company prepares to hand over certification data to the FAA from exhaustive tests of the redesigned lithium-ion battery system.

The timing of Boeing's recovery plan from the 787 grounding—now entering its 10th week—and the resumption of commercial services in particular, all hinges on FAA approval of these certification tests. Boeing, which fast-tracked the certification process by conducting around-the-clock ground tests in its extensive Seattle laboratory complex, hopes it will be wrapping up the final reports this week. Testing is also scheduled to include flights of the revised battery system on one aircraft, provisionally set for March 23-24, and ground evaluation in another.

Yet the under-the-gun manufacturer and its customers could see 787s back in the air sooner than most industry observers expect. Assuming the FAA agrees the redesign complies with the special conditions set out in its January airworthiness directive, airline sources say Boeing could be granted approval to resume production flight tests as early as the end of this month. The move would help clear the logjam of completed aircraft building up at Everett, Wash., and Charleston, S.C., and mark a major step toward resuming normal operations.

The aircraft, including some that were undergoing work at a paint facility in Fort Worth when the grounding occurred, will only fly if they have been modified with the battery enclosure and venting system. Airline sources say the batteries on each aircraft also must be either original “901” units that have passed Boeing's new inspection system or be of the updated design agreed on with lithium-ion battery manufacturer GS Yuasa.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Any additional info you discover Bill, would be greatly appreciated. (especially any test reports/data)