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Initial Tests of Battery by Boeing Fell Short

March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

As the nail pierced one of the eight cells, it accomplished its goal of setting off a short circuit. But only smoke, not fire, belched from the battery.

But the test and other evaluations that Boeing conducted while the plane was in development proved to be far off the mark in predicting what would happen when the plane was in use and led Boeing to severely underestimate the likelihood of a fire in the 63-pound battery.

Now, as Boeing tries to recover from a battery fire on one of the jets and a smoke incident on another that led to a worldwide grounding of the 787s in January, federal officials say it is crucial that the company collect better data this time from its laboratory and flight tests. That is particularly important, they said, since the cause of the jet’s battery problems is still unknown.

Boeing won approval on Tuesday from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin an extensive array of 20 types of tests to determine if its proposed new battery protection system works.

“It is clear from what happened in January that there are other ways for the batteries to catch fire that clearly weren’t captured by the nail test,” said Donald R. Sadoway, a materials chemistry professor at M.I.T.

He said the test — it is standard in testing lithium-ion batteries in cellphones, laptops and electric cars — measures just one kind of failure mode and represents an extreme short circuit of the battery in a very short period of time.

“It can work on a cellphone battery with a single cell, but you’re talking about a very different configuration here,” he added.

A preliminary report on the fire that occurred in a plane parked at Logan Airport in Boston on Jan. 7, released last week by the National Transportation Safety Board, provided new details of Boeing’s initial battery testing, including its reliance on the nail test for some of the basic data on the odds of incidents with smoke and fire.

The board’s report said that Boeing also gathered information from companies using the lithium-ion batteries in other industries and, based on that and the test data, it calculated that the odds of smoke being emitted from a battery was only one in 10 million flight hours.

Given that Boeing has never made its own batteries, it assigned other crucial tests to its subcontractors, including GS Yuasa, the Japanese battery maker, and Thales, a French company that oversees the battery charging system.

The F.A.A. also delegated much of the testing to Boeing, except for a safety assessment conducted once the plane’s electrical power system was certified. The F.A.A.’s decision to delegate some of its certification authority was done under a decades-old program meant to help the agency keep up with fast-changing technology but also to fill a gap in its own expertise.

In the course of the original testing, the batteries were also subjected to other kinds of destructive tests, including provoking an external short circuit, overcharging the batteries for 25 hours, subjecting them to high temperatures of 185 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period, and discharging them completely. Boeing found that none of these tests in its computer modeling resulted in a battery fire, according to the safety board’s report, leading it to conclude that the chance of a battery fire was one in 1 billion flight hours, a negligible probability. In fact, the Boston fire occurred after the entire 787 fleet had flown with passengers for only 52,000 hours.

F.A.A. and Boeing officials said they did the best they could, given what was known about the batteries when the agency approved them for the 787 in October 2007. The innovative plane, which uses lighter-weight composite materials to cut fuel costs by 20 percent, makes more extensive use of the new batteries than any other commercial aircraft, and the F.A.A. imposed a series of special safety conditions to compensate for that risk.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/business/initial-tests-of-battery-by-boeing-fell-short.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Media Decoder Blog: Reality Show Cast Member Who Died in Crash Was Special Forces Veteran

February 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

8:00 p.m. | Updated
The reality television show cast member who died in a helicopter crash in Southern California on Sunday was an Army Special Forces veteran who had served four tours of duty in Iraq, family members said Monday.

The cast member, Michael Donatelli, 45, “was going to show off a lot of his military skills” on the show, which was in production for the Discovery Channel, said one of his nieces, Venessa Vega.

Mr. Donatelli’s father, William, said that production started a few days before the crash. “They were supposed to do six episodes,” he said in a telephone interview Monday. “They were working on the first one.”

Little is known about the military-themed series, which had not been announced by Discovery, or even given a name. Discovery and Eyeworks, the production company behind the show, declined to comment on Monday. But they said on Sunday that production was halted after the crash, which occurred around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday at Polsa Rosa Movie Ranch, about 30 miles north of Los Angeles, a popular filming location for television shows and movies.

The pilot of the helicopter, David Gibbs, and the show’s cinematographer, Darren Rydstrom, were also killed, making the incident one of the deadliest for the California production community in many years. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, and a preliminary report is expected in a week or two.

A biography of Mr. Donatelli on the Web site of AMJ Security and Vehicle Training, where he worked on a contract basis, describes more than 20 years of military service. In Iraq he was a member of the Army’s elite counterterrorist unit Delta Force. He retired from the military about five years ago and lived in Indiana, Pa., an hour east of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Donatelli’s relatives said on Monday that they knew little about the television show, and were not certain how much they were supposed to discuss with the news media. They did not raise concerns about safety precautions taken by the producers.

His niece, Ms. Vega, said she did not think the series was a competition like “Survivor.” His father said “it was his military expertise that was being used.”

Reality shows about combat and survival strategies have become more prevalent lately; NBC ran a competition called “Stars Earn Stripes” that simulated military training exercises last summer, and Discovery has televised a documentary show called “Dual Survival” since 2010.

A cast member on “Dual Survival,” Joseph Teti, a former Army Special Forces Green Beret, recruited Mr. Donatelli for the untitled series, William Donatelli said. After the crash Mr. Teti wrote on Facebook, “Words can not express the pain I am feeling right now, as I have lost my best friend to a tragic accident that I can not understand.”

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/reality-show-cast-member-who-died-in-crash-was-special-forces-veteran/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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TV Show Mirrors a Japanese Battery Maker’s Bind

February 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

With the real-life manufacturer of Boeing’s Japan-made batteries under intense scrutiny, the three-part series, which was carried by the national broadcaster NHK and showed its finale on Saturday, came at an angst-ridden time, and underscored the hopes that Japan had pinned on technologies like lithium-ion batteries.

As portrayed in the series, Takumi Electronics might as well be Japan Inc. itself. Takumi’s lead in televisions and mobile phones has been eclipsed by more nimble upstarts in South Korea and China, echoing the fate of Japanese technology giants like Sony and Panasonic. The only hope the company has now lies in its advanced battery technology.

“These lithium-ion batteries took us years to develop, and our technological advantage won’t waver so easily,” the Takumi Electronics president says defiantly to reporters after yet another disastrous earnings presentation. “We are betting on big growth in electric cars, and we are about to clinch some big deals.”

GS Yuasa, the real-life maker of Boeing’s lithium-ion batteries, made a similar bet, one that has not yet paid off.

Fire and smoke in batteries aboard Boeing’s next-generation Dreamliner have led to the grounding of all 50 of the planes while authorities around the world try to figure out the cause. On Thursday, the head of the United States National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, said the fire seemed to have originated in one of the batteries, and faulted aviation officials for not anticipating the risks.

On Saturday and again on Monday, Boeing crews took a 787 on test flights to monitor the performance of the lithium-ion batteries. Both flights, Boeing said, were uneventful.

The recent troubles are hardly what GS Yuasa could have envisioned when it started making the batteries. In 2009, it started supplying the batteries for Mitsubishi Motors’ i-Miev electric vehicles, billed as the first mass-produced, fully electric car. Everything seemed to go well at the beginning. GS Yuasa executives said in interviews three years ago that the company was struggling to keep up with inquiries pouring in from automakers.

But demand for the electric vehicles has not taken off. Last month, Mitsubishi Motors sold just 137 i-Mievs, and GS Yuasa’s factories have been running at less than capacity.

That has marred plans at the company, which had hoped its lithium-ion technology would soon replace its older lead-acid batteries as its core business. GS Yuasa has still not turned a profit on its lithium-ion batteries, losing 3.26 billion yen, about $35 million, on the business last year despite directing the bulk of its capital investment to the technology, according to its annual report.

Enter Boeing and its next-generation 787 jet, which relies more than ever on electric systems and the batteries that power them. GS Yuasa won a contract in 2005 to supply Boeing with lithium-ion batteries through the French aviation electronics company Thales, and GS Yuasa has promoted aviation as a growth area that could make up for the disappointing electric vehicle market.

GS Yuasa’s president, Makoto Yoda, had high ambitions, telling Kyodo News in late 2011 that he wanted to double sales of lithium-ion batteries to clients other than automakers within five years. By “building on our track record in supplying Boeing,” he said, the company aimed to open up new uses for the battery technology, including small jets and helicopters.

Advanced batteries are also crucial to wider Japanese industry at a time when the country remains stunned by how swiftly its once-dominant makers of semiconductors and flat-panel televisions have been overtaken by South Korean rivals. The culprit is commoditization, which made Japan’s prized technology indistinguishable from everyone else’s.

There is already fear that Japan’s prized lithium-ion battery technology could go the same way.

Though Japan was long the world’s dominant supplier of lithium-ion technology, led by Sony’s first commercial lithium-ion batteries in 1991, rivals have largely usurped Japan’s lead. The catch-up has been especially swift in smaller lithium-ion batteries, which have become increasingly common.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/business/tv-show-mirrors-a-japanese-battery-makers-bind.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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U.S. Official Faults F.A.A. for Missing 787 Battery Risk

February 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Deborah Hersman, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters that the problems seemed to have originated in the battery, when one of the eight cells had a short circuit and the fire spread to the rest of the cells. But she said that Boeing’s tests showed no indication that the new lithium-ion batteries on its 787 planes could erupt in flame and concluded that they were likely to emit smoke less than once in every 10 million flight hours.

Once the planes were placed in service, though, the batteries overheated and emitted smoke twice last month, and caused one fire, after about 50,000 hours of commercial flights.

“The assumptions used to certify the batteries must be reconsidered,” Ms. Hersman said.

Late Thursday, the F.A.A. said it would allow Boeing to conduct test flights with its 787 to collect data on the batteries and the plane’s electrical system. The agency said the flights “will be an important part of our efforts to ensure the safety of passengers and return these aircraft to service.” It did not immediately specify the number of test flights or when they would begin.

Ms. Hersman, at her news conference, said that before the F.A.A. certified the batteries, Boeing’s tests found no evidence that a short circuit in one of the eight cells could spread to other cells.

But Ms. Hersman said the fire on a 787 parked at an airport in Boston on Jan. 7 started with a short circuit in one cell and then spread to the others.

She said investigators had still not been able to tell what caused the short circuit in that cell and led to a “thermal runaway,” overheating up to 500 degrees, that then cascaded to the rest of the cells.

Still, she said, “This investigation has demonstrated that a short circuit in a single cell can propagate to adjacent cells and result in a fire.”

Battery experts said that the finding pinpointed one step Boeing could take to make the batteries safer: it could expand the size of the battery to create more physical separation between the cells. Ralph J. Brodd, a battery industry consultant in Henderson, Nev., said Boeing and its Japanese battery subcontractor, GS Yuasa, could make the design and manufacturing changes needed to do that fairly quickly.

But unless investigators can determine what caused the first cell to short-circuit, federal officials said, Boeing will also be required to make other changes to prevent any of the possible causes and to better contain or vent any overheated materials. And given the safety board’s findings about how poorly Boeing gauged the original safety risks, the F.A.A. is likely to take its time in assessing the validity of any new tests.

The 787 is the first commercial airplane to use large lithium-ion batteries for major flight functions. All 50 of Boeing’s 787s that were delivered to airlines have been grounded since mid-January, when a 787 made an emergency landing in Japan after the pilots smelled smoke in the cockpit. That incident occurred nine days after the Boston fire.

In searching for the cause of the fire on the plane in Boston, Ms. Hersman said the safety board was still looking at the battery’s charging mechanism and potential manufacturing defects or contamination, and whether the cells were not as isolated as they should have been.

Investigators have so far ruled out two possible reasons for the short circuit — a mechanical or electrical shock from outside the battery.

“We have not yet identified what the cause of the short circuit is,” she said. “We are looking at the design of the battery, at the manufacturing, and we are also looking at the cell charging. There are a lot of things we are still looking at.”

Boeing said in a statement Thursday that it viewed the safety board’s findings as narrowing the likely source of the problem to within the battery itself, as opposed to other components of the plane’s extensive new electric system. But company officials said they also recognized that it would take a combination of changes to restore confidence in the battery system.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/business/us-officials-fault-faa-for-missing-787-battery-risk.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Boeing 787 Batteries Pass Inspection in Japan

January 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Japan’s Ministry of Transport said that for now, investigators had found no quality control problems during an eight-day inquiry at GS Yuasa, the maker of the lithium-ion batteries at the center of the inquiry. But officials stressed that the cause of recent battery malfunctions was still unknown, and that GS Yuasa remained under investigation.

GS Yuasa made the batteries that overheated during an All Nippon Airways flight this month, prompting an emergency landing. That incident came just days after another GS Yuasa battery aboard a parked Japan Airlines plane caught fire at Boston Logan Airport. The incidents have prompted regulators worldwide to ground all 787s, and for Boeing to halt deliveries.

It is still unclear whether problems lie with the batteries themselves or with another part of the plane’s complex electronics. On Monday, the Ministry of Transport said inspectors would start checks at Kanto Aircraft Instrument, which makes a monitoring unit that detects a battery’s voltage, current, temperature and other vital parameters.

“We do not know where the problems lie, so we are simply doing checks in order,” said an official at the ministry’s Civil Aviation Bureau who declined to be quoted by name, citing protocol.

It was too early to say that GS Yuasa was off the hook or that inspectors would not be back at the battery maker for more checks, he said.

“We have seen what we needed to see for now, and are moving on, but that does not mean that there was definitely no problem with the battery,” the official said.

He said that at Kanto Aircraft, officials would check manufacturing processes to make sure there were no quality control breaches. Kanto Aircraft officials could not immediately be reached for comment. GS Yuasa said it could not comment on ongoing investigations.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is also investigating the batteries, has already completed an examination of the monitoring unit at Kanto Aircraft Instrument, in Fujisawa, near Tokyo.

The U.S.-led team examined circuit boards that monitor the batteries, and found the boards damaged, which limited the information the team could obtain. The team “found no significant discoveries,” the board said in a news release.

Plagued by production delays, the 787 Dreamliner finally went into service last year as Boeing’s next-generation, state-of-the-art aircraft made from lightweight composite materials that has greatly improved the jet’s fuel efficiency. The 787 also relies on electronic systems far more than previous aircraft, including lithium-ion batteries, which are lighter but are more prone to overheating.

Japan’s government stepped in to give the plane and its made-in-Japan technology a boost in 2008 by easing safety regulations, fast-tracking the rollout of the groundbreaking jet for Japan’s biggest airlines, according to records and participants in the process, Reuters reported.

“I believe the request for the changes came initially from the airlines. Ultimately, it was a discussion of measures to lower operating costs for the airlines,” Masatoshi Harigae, head of aviation at Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency, told the news service.

There is no suggestion that easing regulatory standards contributed to the problems facing the Dreamliner, and the looser regulations did not specifically address the risk of the plane’s batteries catching fire.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/business/global/boeing-787-batteries-pass-inspection-in-japan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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