Battery Power - January/February 2013 - (Page 4)

Editor’s ChoiCE Trojan Battery’s Industrial Line Surpasses 15-Year Cycle Life In IEC 61427 Testing Trojan Battery Co. has announced that its Industrial line of batteries for renewable energy applications has achieved a major milestone in Trojan’s ongoing IEC 61427 testing by surpassing a 15-year cycle life. Trojan has been conducting IEC 61427 testing on its deepcycle, flooded Industrial batteries since October 2010, and results to date show that the batteries are outperforming their rated 10-year design life. Because Trojan’s deep-cycle batteries are designed to operate at partial states of charge, the testing parameters being performed involve heavily discharging the batteries, which is a typical scenario in solar applications. By stressing the batteries and operating them in this abusive testing environment, Trojan’s goal is to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the battery line’s ability to perform in renewable energy applications where operating at a partial states of charge is common. Trojan is following IEC cycle endurance testing parameters based on photovoltaic applications where the batteries are exposed to a large number of shallow cycles at different states of charge, inherent in renewable energy environments. The cycle endurance test is an accelerated simulation in extreme conditions of the battery’s operation in a photovoltaic energy system, and is conducted by submitting the single 2 V cell to a period of 150 cycles. Even though the Industrial line has surpassed the equivalent of a 15-year cycle life test, Trojan’s engineering team reports that IEC 61427 testing of the Industrial line is still in progress after 2,250 cycles. The Industrial line supports large daily loads where the batteries are cycled regularly. The batteries are engineered for high-energy requirements delivering 1,500 cycles at 80 percent depth-of-discharge, and features advanced battery technologies that provide optimum performance. of energy to power all the support lighting and audiovisual equipment in an off-grid structure used for the event. “GM’s battery development extends throughout the entire life of the battery, including secondary use,” said Pablo Valencia, GM senior manager of battery lifecycle management. “In many cases, when an EV battery has reached the end of its life in an automotive application, only 30 percent or less of its life has been used. This leaves a tremendous amount of life that can be applied to other applications like powering a structure before the battery is recycled.” During the demonstration, the energy storage system was run in a remote power back-up mode where 100 percent of the power for the facility came from Volt batteries through ABB’s Energy Storage Inverter system. A similar application could one day be used to power a group of homes or small commercial buildings during a power outage, allow for storage of power during inexpensive periods for use during expensive peak demand, or help make up for gaps in solar, wind or other renewable power generation. These functions, along with frequency regulation on electric distribution systems, could someday be used by utilities to reduce cost to customers and improve the quality of power delivery. These applications are referred to as community energy storage to distinguish them from substation-size energy storage projects. Exide Technologies and Maxwell Technologies to Develop and Market Integrated BatteryUltracapacitor Energy Solutions General Motors and ABB have shown the next stage in battery reuse, the repackaging of five used Chevrolet Volt batteries into a modular unit capable of providing two hours of electricity needed by three to five average American homes. The uninterruptable power supply and grid power balancing system was demonstrated during GM’s Electrification Experience. The prototype unit provided 25 kW of power and 50 kWh GM, ABB Demonstrate Chevrolet Volt Battery Reuse Unit Exide Technologies and Maxwell Technologies, Inc. have formed a strategic alliance. The two companies will work together in the development and marketing of advanced, integrated, battery-ultracapacitor energy storage solutions to be used in a wide array of transportation and industrial applications. “The integrated products developed through our alliance with Maxwell Technologies will provide a wide range of benefits for users who require the most that today’s battery technology has to offer,” said Paul Cheeseman, Exide’s vice president, Global Engineering and Research. “These benefits will include high energy density, rapid charging and discharging, extended operational life and superior performance in extreme temperatures.” Exide provides product offerings across a range of applications in both the transportation and industrial markets. With its AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) technology that allows for deep cycling combined with high charge acceptance, Exide supports Start-Stop vehicles, energy recuperation, intelligent charging and other advanced power train features to reduce CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. Maxwell’s ultracapacitor products store energy in an electric field, which is unlike batteries that produce and store energy by means of a chemical reaction, This electrostatic energy storage mechanism enables ultracapacitors to charge and discharge in as little as fractions of a second, perform normally over a broad temperature range (-40°C to 65°C), and operate reliably for one million or more charge/discharge cycles. Maxwell offers ultrawww.BatteryPowerOnline.com 4 Battery Power • January/February 2013 http://www.BatteryPowerOnline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Battery Power - January/February 2013

Battery Power - January/February 2013
Table of Contents
Editor's Choice
GM, ABB Demonstrate Chevrolet Volt Battery Reuse Unit
Features
Testing Requirements in the Electric Vehicle Industry
Nearing the Promise of the Micro-Hybrid Vehicles: Technology Improvements and New Markets
So You’ve Been Placed on Notice... Now What?
Advanced Numerical Simulation for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles
High-Voltage Battery Simulator and Test Systems Critical for Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Development
Key Elements to Assuring a Well Developed Verification Plan for Your Battery Powered Device
New Products
Batteries
Components
ICs & Semiconductors
Departments
Industry News
Marketplace
Calendar of Events

Battery Power - January/February 2013