What Is All These Problems With The 787's Lithium Battery? Is The Plane Reliable?

All Nippon Airways, launch customer of the 787-8

... They say, when you put out a new product, it always has some errors. These "errors" have cost Boeing their reputation and also has impacted sales. The delivery of the first 787 to launch customer All Nippon Airways was 3 years late. Factors causing this were engineering errors, strikes and installation of incorrect parts. Outsourcing that was thought as something that would boost production quality and save money was actually increasing costs.

INCIDENTS

Recently, the 787 Dreamliner had encountered major problems with it's Lithium batteries. These batteries are lighter but run on an extremely high voltage. Most future airliners are using a similar type of battery. After just one year of service, there have already been 4 incidents linked with the Lithium battery. Soon the FAA ordered a review of the Lithium batteries, and then followed by the grounding of all 787s mid-January 2013.

Courtesy of Reuters

TIMELINE OF LITHIUM BATTERY INCIDENTS

January 7 2013, A battery overheated and caused a fire in an empty Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport. A few days later, the US Department of Transportation along with Japan's Transport Ministry launched an investigation onto the causes.

January 15, 2013, an All Nippon Airways 787 made an emergency landing on Shikoku Island after the pilots received a computer warning that there was smoke inside one of the electrical compartments. According to ANA, there was an error message in the cockpit citing a battery malfunction. 

CAUSES?

The main cause of the Lithium battery incidents according to some people is overheating, leading to thermal runaway and damage to major parts of the battery. The official cause is not yet known.

787 Battery Locations

SOLUTION?

The solution? Since Boeing is not going to replace it's Lithium batteries, they have come up with a new battery kit. The kits take about five days to install and include a 1/8th-in.-thick stainless steel battery enclosure, vent line assembly, battery charger, wire bundles and associated hardware. The enclosure is designed to meet a 300°C event without thermal risk to the aircraft. New batteries, which have been redesigned to better insulate their eight cells, are being shipped directly to airlines across the globe.

Besides isolating cells better to prevent thermal runaways, the improved installation is designed to rob the battery of the oxygen necessary to sustain a fire by venting fumes overboard.

Damaged battery and Improved battery

ANOTHER FIRE RELATED INCIDENT

July 12, 2013, an Ethiopian Airlines 787 caught fire while parking at a remote apron. Since there was nobody onboard, there were no injuries. This caused a shutdown of Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports. Ethiopian Airlines said they had detected smoke, earlier that day. The fire resulted in smoke throughout the cabin and damage to the upper part of the rear fuselage.