Boeing: New Enclosure 'Keeps Us From Ever Having a Fire'

Design News ^ | 3/15/2013 | Charles Murray

[null and void]

Yes. And the Titanic is still unsinkable...

[steve86]

Even hobbyists, most of whom are not chemists, know that Li batteries provide their own O₂ in thermal runaway events.

[BipolarBob]

This is your pilot speaking “Even God and icebergs can’t put this plane down.”

[chrisser]

Their claim is probably accurate.

The battery won’t catch fire.

It’ll just explode instead...

[BikerJoe]

I own Boeing stock and root for them when deserved, but this is just papering over the problem. Batteries shouldn’t catch fire. Period. Fix THAT problem.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sounds like they are turning it into a pipe bomb instead.

The pressure has to go somewhere.

[Abathar]

Much of the same green thinking that went into these batteries were what caused the Columbia disaster, I pray we don’t see another caused because of PC thinking here.

Seems the best foam was not used on the SS because of ozone restrictions by the EPA, even though when that bad boy went THROUGH the ozone it did about a million times more damage to it than a few whiffs of esters ever could.

Why are they using these at all, to reduce running the APU?

[Defiant]

ping

[Gamecock]

Sinnett defended the performance of the lithium-ion battery packs to date...

Other than that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?

[Gamecock]

My policy is to never buy a car that is in it’s first model year, or to fly on a new model airplane.

I won’t fly on an A-380 for a couple more years or a 787 for at least 5.

[llevrok]

This is big news here (seattle area). In none of the reports has there been note that the battery is fixed.

Just that it is contained.

Comforting. /s

[dfwgator]

[pfflier]

If man were ment to fly he would have wings.

Travel over 60 mph will suck the air out of passengers' lungs and cause them to suffocate.

Shut down the patent office. Everything that will be invented has been invented.

If we listened to this advice, there would never be technological innovation. That innovation involves risk. Boeing will fix the problem while some just continue to wring their hands in despair.

[NonValueAdded]

Ah, the Apollo 13 solution - a burst disc.

[John Valentine]

Sounds like they are turning it into a pipe bomb instead. The pressure has to go somewhere.

It appears that you missed this part from the second paragraph... "...the pressure disc in the rear of the enclosure would open after about 1.5 seconds of cell venting. Vented electrolyte would then entrain the air inside the enclosure and 'take it overboard... So as long as we keep the vented air out of the battery enclosure, there’s no oxygen to support combustion.'"

[null and void]

Even hobbyists, most of whom are not chemists, know that Li batteries provide their own O2 in thermal runaway events.

Precisely.

[null and void]

What? You mean eco-friendly terpenes don’t clean as well as Freons?

[null and void]

My policy is to never buy a car that is in it’s first model year, or to fly on a new model airplane.

I won’t fly on an A-380 for a couple more years or a 787 for at least 5.

Or buy any microsoft product before service pack 2

[null and void]

Comforting. /s

Quite.

[Little Ray]

Or switch from XP.