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Friday, March 15, 2013

FAA approves Boeing to test new battery for grounded Dreamliner fleet

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday approved Boeing's plan to redesign the batteries for its 787 Dreamliner fleet, grounded in January.

The FAA grounded the 50-plane fleet because two of the Dreamliner aircraft caught fire in January. One expert called the battery design "inherently unsafe" due to the lithium-cobalt oxide cathode that was used to power the planes—essentially a bigger version of what's found in a common laptop or cellphone.

The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed in February that the two Dreamliner's burst into flames due to short-circuiting in an individual cell, which led to all the other cells catching fire.

Boeing must rigorously test the new battery before the FAA will allow the fleet to fly again. The plan for the new battery includes addressing the short-circuit problem, and include better insulating the battery's eight cells and adding a new containment and venting system, according to the Associated Press.

After the new battery passes 20 tests the fleet could receive final approval from the FAA, resuming flight as early as late April 2013.

For more of the Ars Technica story: arstechnica.com


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