B787 Dreamliner battery fix?

There is some progress in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery problems. Boeing have given the FAA full details of a fix for the Lithium Ion battery overheating problem. Although the details are being kept under wraps, the fix has to include a new container for the battery which will prevent damage to the aircraft in case of fire and a method of venting fumes outside. There also has to be a redesign of the wiring or monitoring system to prevent the battery overheating in the first place.

Further investigation in Japan, where both All Nippon Airways and JAL have had battery incidents on their Dreamliner’s, has resulted in wiring problems being discovered connecting the APU and the Aircraft main battery. The details of these problems are still being investigated and reported to Boeing.

The original problem with the battery has not been discovered so all possible causes have been identified and fixes proposed to address them. The real test will be when the aircraft starts operating again as there is only so much that can be simulated on the ground or by controlled test flights.

A long term fix may be the change of the battery type but nobody is talking about that.

The update from the NTSB that was published in December 2014 blamed the battery problem on the design and possible manufacturing issues with the batteries. The blame was spread between the FAA and Boeing for not considering the consequences or even possibility of a battery cell overheating and affecting other cells. The manufacturing process was also targeted with foreign material found to be introduced into the batteries.