At the 2024 National Business Aircraft Association’s convention and trade show, Kansas-based True Blue Power unveiled the latest model in its growing lineup of lithium-ion main ship batteries. The Gen5 TB-50—intended as a same-tray replacement for the 44-amp battery found in many small turbine-powered aircraft—is a convincing investment because it weighs 50 percent less than typical lead-acid and NiCad batteries.
True Blue’s Van Winter said the main reason for developing the new 50 amp-hour TB-50 is because operators and shops alike wanted a same-size modern and lighter replacement battery that packs more power than a lead-acid model. It’s not accurate to call the TB-50 a direct replacement because lithium-ion batteries really aren’t direct replacements for lead acid and NiCads. But the TB-50 can be called an easy replacement.
The TB-50 housing is 10 inches high by 10 inches deep by 10 inches wide and weighs roughly 43 pounds. Since the battery must be vented outside of the aircraft, the housing has a vent port that can be configured on the side or on the top of the battery’s housing, which makes for an easier retrofit.
Lithium advantage
The TB-50—and most other lithium-ions—are a good match for turboprops and jets because you’ll get cleaner, cooler and faster engine starts. But they do require some extra work and accessories during installation. While the FAA TSO’d TB-50 has a built-in fault and status annunciator on the battery’s main chassis (called BIT, for built-in test), it requires the installation of a cockpit annunciator panel for monitoring the battery’s condition in flight. This can be as simple as dedicated LEDs or True Blue’s annunciator panel.
The TB-50 has a main connector on the side of the housing for ARINC and serial data connections for wiring the external annunciator interface, a main battery connector and also a USB connector that’s used for loading specific parameters into the battery. This can warn when the battery is at a certain state of charge, charging capacity and other parameters. Maintenance is on-condition only—perhaps one of the most compelling reasons for upgrade. This means there is no scheduled maintenance required because with the real-time, full-time annunciation, there isn’t a requirement for capacity checks. “The idea with this battery is that it’s going last between eight and 10 years and it will stay in the aircraft—set it and forget it,” Winter told us.
STC certification is in the works for a variety of turbine applications, and Textron announced the TB-50 for its latest Citation models. Because of its size, the TB-50 will be popular for retrofit in a variety of turbines.
True Blue isn’t apologetic for the TB-50’s $24,000 price point, but it’s convinced that the battery’s long service life with no required maintenance, plus the increased performance factor, will lend to its value proposition.
Watch our video: True Blue’s new lithium-ion battery
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