U.S. investigators eye subcontractors in Dreamliner probe

Anyone know if Yuasa subcontract their battery components to China?

nandakandamandaJan. 23, 2013 - 01:33PM JST

Anyone know if Yuasa subcontract their battery components to China?

Possible, but improbable considering they made a few new plants in Japan for it. Most likely culprit is that the new plants weren't fully broken in and had a lapse in QC that allowed some metal to enter the electrolyte.

It is going to take forever for the battery problem to be solved. Boeing, the USA, Japan and any country flying 787 will want to investigate the problem and cause(s). Will each country share their results or will the need to be the first country to solve the mystery delay the result?

Well, if they are going to run these batteries, then as a safety measure perhaps they should all be pulled out and swapped over for fresh/checked ones, every six months. (Or however long it takes before potentially fatal short-circuiting dendrites form inside.)

nandakandamandaJan. 23, 2013 - 02:38PM JST

Well, if they are going to run these batteries, then as a safety measure perhaps they should all be pulled out and swapped over for fresh/checked ones, every six months

Bad idea, the new batteries are the likely issue, and while investigators have the lot numbers, they aren't saying if the batteries are the same lot (but considering the investigations of Yuasa, they are very likely the same lot). Manufacturing errors in cell production don't necessarily manifest themselves within a specific time frame, and can take hours or years to find, and some will never show problems.

There's no "bonus" for being the first to discover the problem, so I doubt anybody is going to withold information. All the parties involved benefit from a quick resolution of this problem, even if a design flaw is discovered somewhere. The sooner the cause is discovered, the sooner a solution can be generated/manufactured and the aircraft put back into service. Until that happens, ALL the subcontractors involved with the 787 are going to be hit due to the loss of sales. No, rather than hiding information, I suspect the problem will be the generation of TOO MANY "solutions" before the actual battery problem is even discovered.

I agree , no brownie points for who finishes first. Information on results will be shared globally so the corrections can be made and these can get up in the air again. They ruled out the charging but are testing the charging process anyways ? Other components involved during that process ? Good to see they are releasing the steps they are taking