Summary of the 2 nd Meeting Special Committee 235 - Non-Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Meeting Summary: The 2 nd Plenary Meeting of Special Committee 235 (SC-235) was held on January 13-14, 2016 at RTCA Headquarters, 1150 18th St. NW, Suite 910, Washington, D.C. 20036. The attendees included: John Trela (Chairman) Norman Pereira (Designated Federal Official) Jeff Densmore (Secretary) Karan Hofmann (Program Director) The Boeing Company Radiant Power Corporation RTCA, Inc. Antonio Chiesa Transport Canada (*) James Christo NASA (*) Claude Cresp Areva Rachael Gunaratnam National Transportation Safety Board Alex Haynes DME Corporation Georges Hessloehl Airbus Stuart Inkpen Instrumar Limited Judith Jeevarajan Underwriters Laboratories Inc Nazih Khaouly Larry Masters Gulfstream Frederic Menard Orolia Bradford Miller Charles Monahan Panasonic Avionics Corporation John Nielsen Ultralife Corporation Thomas Pack ACR Electronics Sean Payton MGA Research (*) Jim Russell The Boeing Company Leire Segura Martinez del Ilarduya Airbus Harmohan Singh Honeywell International Inc Mike Sink SAFT America Inc (*) Neil Stanway Transport Canada (*) Steve Summer David Swartzendruber Textron * Attended Virtually In accordance with the Federal Aviation Advisory Committee Act, Norm Pereira, Federal Aviation Administration, was the Designated Federal Official for this meeting.
Opening Plenary The 2 nd Plenary meeting of SC-235 was convened on January 13, 2016 at 9:00am EDT by Chair John Trela (Boeing). Jeff Densmore (Radiant Power) was the SC-235 Recording Secretary. The Public Meeting Announcement was read by Nazih Khaouly as delegated by Norman Pereira, the Designated Federal Official. An RTCA overview, including RTCA s Proprietary References Policy was read by Karan Hofmann, the Program Director. Each person in attendance was invited to introduce themselves. The meeting agenda was reviewed and approved. The Meeting Summary for SC-235 Plenary #1 was reviewed and approved. During the review, key points were highlighted and discussed as summarized below. o The SC-235 Terms of Reference (TOR) specifies a completion date of September 2016. A more detailed schedule discussion was included in the Plenary #2 agenda to determine if this completion date could be achieved. o It is the objective of SC-235 to adopt common terminology and definitions used in DO-311A and DO-347A. The team discussed the Inter-Special Committee Requirements Agreement (ISRA) process for coordination between SC-225 and SC-235 on this matter. The SC-235 committee came to a consensus that some of the definition may be different than RTCA DO-311A. SC-235 decided to elaborate on the definition of Thermal Runaway and do not intend to proceed with the ISRA on this term. Action Items generated during Plenary #1 were reviewed. All items were closed prior to Plenary #2 except for the generation of a detailed schedule for SC-235 deliverables. This schedule was generated during Plenary #2 and is now considered closed. All documents and presentation material reviewed during Plenary #2 has been uploaded and is available on the RTCA Workspace at the following location: http://workspace.rtca.org/apps/org/workgroup/sc235_nonrechargeble_lithium_batteries/documents.php?folder_id=4983 FAA Tech Center Testing on Non-Rechargeable Lithium Batteries Steve Summer presented a summary of testing conducted by the FAA Tech Center on Non-Rechargeable Lithium Batteries. The presentation described the test methods and the various cell chemistries and sizes tested. During the presentation, several items were discussed as summarized below:
The purpose of using an ignition source was questioned. Steve stated that this was used to evaluate the flammability of the vented battery material and was not intended as a source or trigger for creating a thermal runaway A heat source (Cartridge Heater) was used as a trigger for creating a thermal runaway for each cell type tested. The heater was operated at 100W for each test for consistency. The heating rate was not specified, however, the objective was to create a thermal runaway within 8 to 10 minutes. Collection of calorimetry data was not part of the original scope of testing performed. It was suggested that future tests include this to allow analysis of energy release during these thermal runaway events. A copy of the presentation material has been uploaded and available on the RTCA Workspace at the following location: http://workspace.rtca.org/apps/org/workgroup/sc235_nonrechargeble_lithium_batteries/documents.php?folder_id=4983 It can also be found on the FAA s Fire Safety Website at the following location: https://www.fire.tc.faa.gov/ppt/systems/may15meeting/summer-0515-batteryhazardanalysis.pptx In closing, Steve informed the group of the upcoming Fire and Cabin Safety Conference and welcomed all to participate. The conference will be held on October 24-27, 2016 in Atlantic City. Please refer to the Call for Papers document in the RTCA Workspace folder referenced above. Working Group Meetings Working Groups 1 and 2 held breakout meetings during Plenary #2. Below is a brief update from each. WG-1: DO-227A MOPS Template and Section 1 (Jim Russell Boeing) - For classifying the battery categories, it was agreed to remove the following upper limits: o Cells containing more than 5grams of lithium or lithium allow o Batteries containing more than 25 grams of lithium or lithium allow This results in these larger batteries remaining in-scope of DO-227A - After reviewing the definition of thermal runaway in DO-311A and DO-347, SC-235 has determined that the definition requires enhancement for purposes of non-rechargeable lithium batteries. The new agreed upon definition is as follows: o A thermal runaway is an irreversible exothermic chemical reaction within the cell causing an uncontrollable release of electrical and chemical energy, a rapid and accelerating temperature rise to a peak, and an accompanying collapse of cell voltage and the chemical decomposition of metallic Lithium. - The team also agreed upon the definition of Runaway Propagation and End Item as follows: o Runaway propagation is defined as the progressive thermal runaway of cells in a battery due to overheating by the thermal runaway of previously failing cell or cells. o The End Item is defined as installed equipment making use of the electrical energy provided by an embedded cell or battery - It was also agreed that WG1 should include the generation of requirements and rationale as part of its charter.
WG-2: Cell and Battery Requirements (John Nielsen Ultralife) - WG2 presented and reviewed the latest version of the DO-227A MOPS document including: o Section 2.1 General Requirements o Section 2.2 Design Requirements - A lengthy conversation was held regarding Electrical Performance Requirements - The Requirements Review will be continued during the next schedule WG2 meeting. Review of Proposed Special Conditions for Non-Rechargeable Lithium Battery Installations SC-235 s charter includes evaluation of the FAA s Special Conditions for Non-Rechargeable Lithium Batteries for insertion of requirements and testing into DO-227A. During Plenary #2, the team reviewed the recently proposed Notice of Special Conditions for the Gulfstream GVI aircraft posted in the Federal Register (https://federalregister.gov/a/2015-29626). SC-235 Schedule Review During Plenary #2, the team agreed that a September 2016 completion date was unachievable. A revised schedule, shown below, was collaboratively created proposing a new completion date of June 2017. It was agreed that this revised schedule be presented to the PMC in March 2016 for approval for Terms of Reference revision.
Action Item Summary The following Actions were assigned during Plenary #2 Action Owner Action Date Assigned Status 1 Densmore Post Link to FAA Call for Participation to the 2016 Fire & 13Jan16 (DC) Closed Cabin Safety Conference 2 Pereira Present revised SC-235 completion date to PMC on March 17, 2106 14Jan16 (DC) Open Next Plenary Plenary #3 has been scheduled for April 26-27, 2016 at Radiant Power Corporation, 7135 16 th Street East, Suite 101, Sarasota, FL 34243. A detailed agenda and travel recommendations will be issued closer to this meeting date or you may contact Jeff Densmore for any travel questions you may have. -S- Jeff Densmore Secretary CERTIFIED as a true and accurate summary of the meeting. -S- John Trela Chairman