Pentagon stands by use of lithium-ion batteries on F-35 fighters

[unhappycamper]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/13/lockheed-fighter-batteries-idUSL1N0BD2N220130213



Pentagon stands by use of lithium-ion batteries on F-35 fighters
Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:34pm EST

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The Pentagon said it plans to continue using lithium-ion batteries on the new F-35 fighter jet despite problems with similar batteries that have grounded Boeing Co's new 787 airliner and are causing Airbus to rethink their use on its A350 jet.

Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon's $396 billion F-35 program office, said on Tuesday that the lithium-ion batteries used on the new radar-evading fighter were made by different manufacturers than those used on the 787, and the jet's battery systems had been rigorously tested.

"The bottom line is the lithium-ion batteries used on the F-35s have been through extensive tests and have redundant systems to protect the aircraft and battery compartments; they are considered safe," DellaVedova said.

DellaVedova said there had been some irregularities with the lithium-ion batteries not starting properly in cold temperatures that were being addressed, but no issues affecting flight safety had come up during years of testing.

[KoKo]

1. Interesting.

If they are a different design from the ones used in the Boeing 787.

[Locrian]

2. dont know the F35 construction

but some interesting design info here on the ways to do it safely:

http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=258307&dfpPParams=ind_184,industry_aero,aid_258307&dfpLayout=article


Questions about the cooling of the Boeing 787's batteries came up again this week, as Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk publicly stated that the plane's large pack design is a risky one.

"Unfortunately, the pack architecture supplied to Boeing is inherently unsafe," he wrote in an email to Flightglobal.com. "Large cells without enough space between them to isolate against the cell-to-cell thermal domino effect means it is simply a matter of time before there are more incidents of this nature."

Tesla uses lithium-ion battery packs in its Tesla Roadster and Tesla Model S vehicles. Its design involves 6,000-7,000 small lithium-ion cells. Musk told Flightglobal that the cells are separated in a way that makes them less likely than large cells to suffer from thermal runaway events.