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How should we dealing with Li-ion Battery for flight safty?

Posted by Jiro Hattori on January 17, 2013 at 1:55pm

As you know the Boeing 787 has been grounded by caught fire on the Li-ion battery.

It looks like Japanese battery may have some issues on this incident:-(

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You might reminded some laptop PCs caught fire by its Li-ion battery, few years before.

It is ironic to the restriction of Li-ion batteries for carry on baggage and air cargo.

Our copters will not fly without high power density Li-Po.

How do you treat your Li-Po battery and deposit after some failure ?

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Comments

  • Luke Olson January 18, 2013 at 9:37pm

    Not sure if the pressure change would affect anything because lots of batteries are on planes and have had no issues (pilot and crew cell phones, laptops, etc.). A few news sites have suggested overcharging as the cause of the battery fires. Maybe lithium iron phosphate batteries could be better in this scenario since they are more forgiving?

  • John January 18, 2013 at 9:30pm
    There's a difference between having one on a 'toy' flying around outside and having one in your house when your family is sleeping. Crashing into a dirt field and having a fire is different than a fire inside your house... Common sense stuff.
    You should keep them outside or if you have them in your house or transporting them in your car they need to be contained (yes...in an ammo can). We understand the risks but can mitigate their effects by being responsible about it.
  • Jake Wells January 18, 2013 at 6:20pm
    Its very funny. You know why? Because if it was an actual concern you wouldn't fly. By putting one in the air you are risking a fire every single time, we all CRASH. We know what happens but we still risk it with every flight. I think the question is hilarious. I put them in the air everyday. How do i treat my lipo? Lets see, i strap it to a toy and fly around at 300 feet. That in itself is irresponsible. Oh but at home i put it in an ammo can, because it's not safe on the ground.
  • Helldesk January 18, 2013 at 11:27am

    There's next to no monitoring of the health of any equipment on most of our machines, apart from monitoring voltages and current consumption. There's no demand for it in the hobbyist market, so no off-the-shelf solutions, and so far no demand for development of anything more sophisticated in the DIY community either. There's just so many different setups that it could be tough to spec out what it means to have a healthy power system.

  • Copter Richie January 18, 2013 at 9:46am

    I have seen a few videos of lipo fires on model aircrafts, no laughing matter to me. I wonder just how effective would it be to monitor battery temperature?

  • Jake Wells January 18, 2013 at 9:00am

    http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Legends_of_Flight_IMAX/70234505?locale=en-US

    T    hat's a link to a cool flic about the build and design of the 787 on netflix.

    By my engineering standards, if the strap ain't melted on the box, we're good to go. But...then again I was a diesel engineer for the U.S. Navy. Post a fire watch on it with a Co2 bottle and we're good to go. We did things different.

  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer January 18, 2013 at 4:34am

    +1 on Jack

  • Jack Crossfire January 17, 2013 at 9:06pm

    It has more to do with the way information travels around large corporations like Boeing than any technical problem. 

  • John January 17, 2013 at 8:13pm

    The 787 battery and system went through thousands of hours of flight test and certification without a problem. It will be interesting to see what the cause was while in service. I'm sure Boeing and the suppliers are looking at all avenues. This is the first time a Li-ion battery has been used on a commercial aircraft.

    For me I store my Li-po batteries in an ammo can I got for a few dollars from the army navy store. It looks like it's probably a 7.62 round but they had the larger 50 cal boxes as well.

    Just a safety note....After a crash it is very dangerous to reuse the battery if there is any kind of visual damage or not on it. There may be internal damage to the cells that may not be apparent upon visual inspection but that may cause the battery to ignite during a charge cycle. Also do not charge above it's rated capacity.

  • Greg Fletcher January 17, 2013 at 8:10pm

    Gary, It could be a problem not encountered before, pressure cycling many times. Actually the 787's carbon fuse is rated higher than traditional aluminum construction. Normal jets pressurize to 8000 ft. and the 787 goes to 6000 ft. Better for the passengers.

    Having said that, I would bet it is the first jet to use Li for battery back up. Most Lipos don't pressure cycle all as much as a Japanese airliner.

    You could be on to something. I know some scientists working on next gen Li cells(where I work), and I will definitely run this by him. I hate to see Boeing hurt like this. This will be tested in the lab for sure if it hasn't been all ready.

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