Early Warning for Li-Pos

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

Nobody wants an airplane fire.  You’re way up in the air, can’t pull over to the curb, and have limited means of quelling the flames.  The most energy-dense batteries, based on lithium chemistries, are subject to failure from physical and electrical abuse.  Most cells run through their promised cycle life without giving a hint of trouble, but sometimes fate or mischance leads to disaster. Battery alternatives with lower risk usually possess lower energy and/or power density, crucial to use in aircraft, since weight is usually a primary consideration in vehicle design. Lithium fires are quite often spectacular, probably a consideration that prompts Dale Kramer to recharge his 100 pounds of cells in his fireplace – with the flue wide open.  Even small cells found in laptop computers and cell phones have caused injury and death to their users. For all lithium battery users, some reassurance may be found in news from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in …