Mission system with Lithium Battery

[Voodoo13]

Hello,

What are the requirements for the integration of systems containing a lithium battery in the cockpit, such as mission system ? i work mainly on helicopters and I saw that the rotorcraft FAQ gives a Decisional Flow chart for the applicability of a Lithium Battery Special Condition. A special condition have to be applied (Battery >2Wh)but i do not have it and i do not have experience on the precautions to be taken for the equipment whose battery is superior to 2Wh.

Thank you very much for your help

 

[WKTaylor]

V13...

In-case you are unaware...

NOTES1.
This is NOT a trivial subject...
This is a very short/obvious list of documents/books on this subject...
I have a much longer list which includes similar/related topics on advanced electrical systems/integration...
I am not inclined to share the much longer list with a new ET member. Please prove yourself worthy by active participation.

BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR LARGE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY PACKS, ISBN 978-1-60807-104-3

THE HANDBOOK OF LITHIUM-ION BATTERY PACK DESIGN, ISBN 9780128016688

LITHIUM BATTERIES

http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Pages/lithium-batteries.aspx

AC20-184 GUIDANCE ON TESTING AND INSTALLATION OF RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM BATTERY AND BATTERY SYSTEMS ON AIRCRAFT

DOT/FAA/TC-TN15/17 FIRE HAZARDS OF LITHIUM BATTERIES

DOT/FAA/TC-15/40 MEASURING ENERGY RELEASE OF LITHIUM-ION BATTERY FAILURE USING A BOMB CALORIMETER

FAA SAFO 16001 SAFETY ALERT FOR OPERATORS - RISKS OF FIRE OR EXPLOSION WHEN TRANSPORTING LITHIUM ION OR LITHIUM METAL BATTERIES AS CARGO ON PASSENGER AND CARGO AIRCRAFT

FAA TSO-C179 PERMANENTLY INSTALLED RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM CELLS, BATTERIES AND BATTERY SYSTEMS

MIL-PRF-29595 BATTERIES AND CELLS, LITHIUM, RECHARGEABLE, AIRCRAFT, GENERAL SPECIFICATION FOR

NEMA C18.3M P1 FOR PORTABLE LITHIUM PRIMARY CELLS AND BATTERIES - GENERAL AND SPECIFICATIONS

NEMA C18.3M P2 PORTABLE LITHIUM PRIMARY CELLS AND BATTERIES – SAFETY STANDARD

RTCA DO-227 MINIMUM OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR LITHIUM BATTERIES

RTCA DO-311 MINIMUM OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM BATTERY SYSTEMS

UL 1642 STANDARD FOR SAFETY – LITHIUM BATTERIES

SAE AIR5561 LITHIUM BATTERY POWERED PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES

J2929 SAFETY STANDARD FOR ELECTRIC AND HYBRID VEHICLE PROPULSION BATTERY SYSTEMS UTILIZING LITHIUM-BASED RECHARGEABLE CELLS

SAE PT-175 LITHIUM ION BATTERIES IN ELECTRIC DRIVE VEHICLES

SAE PT-187 THE ELECTRIFICATION OF CIVIL AIRCRAFT AND THE EVOLUTION OF ENERGY STORAGE

SAE R-396 ADVANCED HYBRID POWERTRAINS FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

SAE R-462 FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRIC AIRCRAFT

SAE T-135 ELECTRIC FLIGHT TECHNOLOGY: THE UNFOLDING OF A NEW FUTURE

SAE/TP 2008-01-2865 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS WHEN DISPROPORTIONATE HEATING OF LITHIUM-ION BATTERY PACKS IS PRESENT

SAE/TP 2008-01-2875 A COMPARISON OF LITHIUM-ION AND LEAD-ACID AIRCRAFT BATTERIES

SAE/TP 2008-01-2884 DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF SAFE, HIGH POWER LITHIUM ION MAIN BATTERIES FOR GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT

SAE/TP 2008-01-2885 HIGH PERFORMANCE LITHIUM ION AIRCRAFT BATTERY FOR DOD

SAE/TP 2008-01-2907 A BATTERY ELECTRONICS UNIT (BEU) FOR BALANCING LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES

SAE/TP 2010-01-1770 SYSTEM INTEGRATION OF A SAFE, HIGH POWER, LITHIUM ION MAIN BATTERY INTO A CIVIL AVIATION AIRCRAFT

Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true. [Unknown]
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation,Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", Homebuiltairplanes.com forum]

 

[Voodoo13]

WKTaylor , thank you very much for theses informations !!!

 

[3DDave]

I cannot add to that very good list but I can relate reported lithium battery experience - There is a device used in the military called a PLGR which could accept either lithium-based PRIMARY cells or lithium-based RECHARGEABLE cells. The problem is that troops would put a PLGR onto a charger with PRIMARY cells installed causing the PLGR to become a fire grenade. My company integrated PLGRs into electronic warfare systems.

The caution from that is to never allow for a lithium primary cell to be exposed to a recharging circuit.

I also recall having to go through a bunch of hoops because a test box I worked on used a lithium primary coin cell as a clock battery because it was going to be shipped by airplane; there was no recharging circuit on that.

 

[Sparweb]

Voodoo13.
Be very careful!
I once had an eager-beaver engineer dig through the specs of a commercial computer unit in a special-mission aircraft, found a lithium coin-cell, and list it on a certification plan as an item to be addressed - but didn't look into what would be necessary to actually deal with it or tell anyone else. The item wasn't noticed until it was in the hands of the regulator and they started issuing a list of requirements to us, somewhat like the list WKTaylor just provided. The battery in question was a rechargeable coin-cell about the size of your thumbnail, meant for storing clock time and CMOS settings on the motherboard. A dead short wouldn't deliver more than a few miliJoules of energy. Nonetheless, 100 billable hours later, we had it "solved" by replacement with an identical coin cell with a Philips rather than a no-name brand. Somebody was able to produce a piece of paper with a Mil-spec reference on it. I was taking bets that the two were made in the same factory in China but nobody took my bet.
While I am not normally an advocate of "don't-ask-don't-tell" approach, the risk associated with that coin cell was no greater than an alkaline cell, and the result of the inquiry was an easily demonstrated zero improvement in safety.

Lithium batteries require charge management system with a suitably programmed computer. Any LI that isn't recharged by a proper algorithm is likely to be destroyed. If the battery has a good, tested, and environmentally tolerant BMS, you really don't have much to worry about. Regulatory experience with batteries does not seem to include consideration of the electronic control, which unfortunately means that the wrong things are being done to "solve" LI battery problems. If you are looking at a computer or a display screen with a little coin cell like I did, just have a game plan before you turn this into a regulatory issue. If the battery in question is removable, externally chargeable, or otherwise not possible to ignore, look for ways to avoid using LI first, and if that's not avoidable, do your research on the charge control before bringing it to everyone's attention. Have all the answers ready so that questions don't remain open to fester.

Also, make sure there aren't any special conditions of airworthiness already in force on the heli you're working on. I can't tell exactly what you mean in your first post if there are or aren't already SCA. Check with the ACO of your engineering organization or just look it up on the FAA website.

http://www.sparweb.ca