Posted on 01/17/2013 10:52:34 PM PST by Seizethecarp
A scale model of a Reaper drone rumbled down the runway and lifted into the gray Canadian sky, powered by a plastic propeller and a lithium-ion battery. When the tiny plane crashed back to earth a few seconds later, white smoke began rising from the wreckage.
“Why is it on fire?” one of the hobbyists asked the other, moments before bright orange flames began shooting from the crash site.
The weary reply, captured on video, was: “Battery.”
Small, potent lithium-ion power packs have transformed the world of radio-controlled model aircraft, much as they have allowed smartphones to get thinner, power tools to work longer and electric cars to go farther. But a pair of serious incidents this month involving rechargeable batteries in Boeing 787 Dreamliners have highlighted what model-airplane hobbyists long have known — lithium-ion technology comes with inherent dangers.
Considering the sheer numbers of lithium-ion batteries — more than 4 billion rechargeable cells were made last year, according to industry figures — fires are not common. After a battery-powered Chevy Volt ignited after a test crash in 2011, federal investigators said electric cars were no more vulnerable than gas-powered vehicles, more than 20 of which catch fire each hour in the United States.
Yet some risk persists, and the results can be startling.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The video included in the article of the model Reaper drone crashing and burning is quite startling. After the initial crash it there is some smoke then the fire seems to be out but when the wreck is approached, it suddenly bursts into flames!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeEn5mVy32Q
Yes they do.
They can be pretty volatile.
Do ya suppose Obama will ban them? LOL
Lithium Ions can deliver major amperage on demand and the can deliver it when not on demand.
Short version: Anyone who does not understand that the level of energy density in a lithium ion battery posses an inherent risk is scientifically illiterate.
72,000 normal cars catch fire each year in the usa? just sitting there? i’m not talking about the ones in accidents, where you could possibly expect it. the electric ones were siting in somebody’s’garage and they started on fire.
OMG!! What if one of those were to crash into a......school??? What if several were to crash all at once into that same school?? In order to save just 1 child they should be banned for ordinary citizens.
It seems that owners would park the car in the garage and go in the house and after several minutes the car would catch fire and in some cases burn the house down!
The GM fools improperly designed the head gaskets on the one bank of the V6 that leans forward and it would leak oil onto the hot exhaust manifold but ONLY after the engine was turned off. Go figure.
A new, improved gasket and an additional flange seems to have worked, at least on my GS, which I still drive.
But that is the exception in gas vehicles to be sure!
Lithium Ions can deliver major amperage on demand and the can deliver it when not on demand.
Lol!
That’s about it, ain’t it!
Like I said on another thread, it’s one thing to put them into cell phones and laptops.
It’s quite another to put them into how-many hundred ton aircraft with two or three hundred people on board flying at 30,000 feet over major metropolitan areas...
They have technology with a much safer MTBF... weighs a bit more, probably ONE LESS person per flight would easily cover it.
There are significant differences between the batteries that Boeing is utilizing and the Volt batteries or others. There are different ‘lithium ion’ types. Boeing is utilizing cobalt oxide batteries to produce a hell of a lot of power, and on a scale never used before. This is necessary because the 787 varies from the 777 and other predecessors in that functions that used to rely on off-gases from the engines (de-icing, cabin climate control, etc) are now being done with battery power. The demands on the batteries are huge. The heat generated by the sustained draw on the batteries on long flights, by de-icing systems should have been forseen.
AFAIK, that rule is still in effect.
These incidents have been covered extensively here (The Seattle environs), and they have not ever reported that the rule had been changed.
No lithium ion batteries in luggage.
I sure hope the author of this hysteria-fest isn’t expecting The Pulizer Prize.
Yes, indeed, Government Motors "engineers" are prone to such...
Improper discharge to zero prior to recharge and held to that constant for an “X” amount of time causing thermal runaway resulting in big time fire of the unit.
IMOP
I predict that model-airplaning will be abolished....too similar to drones. Ya can’t have private drones. It’s just not right.
;-D
Another related story:
“Praised but Fire-Prone, Battery Fails Test in 787”
“Powerful and lightweight, lithium-ion batteries are the perfect power source for modern gadgets. But ubiquitous as they are, their short history has also been fraught with problems — they have caught fire in cellphones, laptop computers and electric cars, and even destroyed a small Navy submarine.”
“In late 2008, a mini-submarine designed to carry Navy SEALs to shore was destroyed when its lithium-ion battery exploded as it was being charged.”
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