Date: 10 February 2016
RTCA Paper No. 049-16/SC235-004
Summary of the 2nd Meeting
Special Committee 235 - Non-Rechargeable Lithium Batteries
Meeting Summary:
The 2nd 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
Federal Aviation Administration
Radiant Power Corporation
RTCA, Inc.
Antonio Chiesa
James Christo
Claude Cresp
Rachael Gunaratnam
Alex Haynes
Georges Hessloehl
Stuart Inkpen
Judith Jeevarajan
Nazih Khaouly
Larry Masters
Frederic Menard
Bradford Miller
Charles Monahan
John Nielsen
Thomas Pack
Sean Payton
Jim Russell
Leire Segura Martinez del Ilarduya
Harmohan Singh
Mike Sink
Neil Stanway
Steve Summer
David Swartzendruber
Transport Canada (*)
NASA (*)
Areva
National Transportation Safety Board
DME Corporation
Airbus
Instrumar Limited
Underwriters Laboratories Inc
Federal Aviation Administration
Gulfstream
Orolia
Federal Aviation Administration
Panasonic Avionics Corporation
Ultralife Corporation
ACR Electronics
MGA Research (*)
The Boeing Company
Airbus
Honeywell International Inc
SAFT America Inc (*)
Transport Canada (*)
Federal Aviation Administration
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.
Date: 10 February 2016
RTCA Paper No. 049-16/SC235-004
Opening Plenary

The 2nd 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:
Date: 10 February 2016
RTCA Paper No. 049-16/SC235-004

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.
Date: 10 February 2016
RTCA Paper No. 049-16/SC235-004
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.
Date: 10 February 2016
RTCA Paper No. 049-16/SC235-004
Action Item Summary
The following Actions were assigned during Plenary #2
Action
Owner
1
Densmore
2
Pereira
Action
Post Link to FAA Call for
Participation to the 2016 Fire &
Cabin Safety Conference
Present revised SC-235 completion
date to PMC on March 17, 2106
Date Assigned
Status
13Jan16 (DC)
Closed
14Jan16 (DC)
Open
Next Plenary
Plenary #3 has been scheduled for April 26-27, 2016 at Radiant Power Corporation, 7135 16th 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.
-SJeff Densmore
Secretary
CERTIFIED as a true and accurate summary of the meeting.
-SJohn Trela
Chairman