Yesterday U.S. officials joined Japan's
probe into 787 jets after all 50 of the 787s in use around the
world have been stopped from flying.
A worldwide grounding of Boeing’s ‘revolutionary’ 787 Dreamliner jets is due to a burned out battery. Photographs of the charred remains of lithium ion batteries
from two separate incidents resulting in the grounding of Japanese Boeing Dreamliners indicate it
operated at a voltage above its design limit.
The new generation of light lithium
batteries was going to deliver equal power at half the weight, but it
appears that the chemistry inside the ‘thermal runway’ can self-heat
if external temperature and pressure change, something which frequently
occurs in aviation.
Concerns over the battery,
prompted by an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways plane on
Wednesday, has seen the plane grounded across the globe.
The American investigators - one each
from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation
Safety Board and two from Boeing Co. - today inspected the ANA jet on the
tarmac at Takamatsu airport in western Japan.
An initial inspection by Japanese
officials of the 787 found that a flammable battery fluid known as
electrolyte had leaked from the plane's main lithium-ion battery beneath
the cockpit. It also found burn marks around the battery.
So far, eight airlines fly the ‘plastic
plane’, so-called because its fuselage is ‘spun’ from super-strong but
lightweight carbon fibre, which cuts weight and fuel consumption, rather
than constructed from aluminium.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264437/Pictured-The-lithium-battery-grounded-Boeings-hi-tech-Dreamliner-jets-world.html
Link from Tony Wilson
