Ground_Support_August_2020 - 37

Photo courtesy of Vestergaard Company

PRODUCT PROFILE

the gate or a remote location. Once at the
deicing location, the diesel engine can be
switched off and all deicing operations,
including maneuvering around the aircraft, can be accomplished using exclusively battery-power.
Operating without the engine running
helps eliminate pollution and reduce noise
on the ramp.
"The Elephant BETA Hybrid can service all types of aircraft and is particularly
well-suited to engines-running deicing,"
Barsoe says.
With a fully charged battery, the hybrid
unit can deice approximately 15-20 aircraft
without running the truck's chassis engine.
Fluid is heated with diesel in the current
version, however, as soon as the desired
temperature is reached, the heater turns off.
With the heater off, the temperature
drop is only about 1 degree Celsius per
hour, according to company officials.
Presently, Vestergaard is producing the
Elephant BETA Hybrid deicer with a fully
enclosed cab.
"We will, however, in the not-so-distant
future launch an open-basket, fully-electric deicer also," notes Barsoe.
The units follow the standard Elephant
BETA program, he adds, so the same
options are available to customers who opt
for the hybrid model.

"The Elephant BETA hybrid is of course
equipped with collision-avoiding solutions
- both on the chassis and on the telescope,
and there are a number of camera-options
available also," Barsoe says. "The Elephant
BETA is, from the outset, designed to be
able to maintain a safe distance to the aircraft while still putting the nozzle within
1 meter of the surface."
According to Barsoe, charging is always a
critical question when a GSE manufacturer
introduces an electric or hybrid model.
"The Elephant BETA Hybrid has an
on-board charger, which can be plugged
in almost everywhere," Barsoe says, adding
there are also a number of battery-capacity
options. "The units are delivered with lithium-ion batteries and battery management
system, which is simple to use and virtually
maintenance-free."
To improve charging times, he says
fast-chargers can be utilized in the operations areas.
Barsoe points out the Elephant BETA
Hybrid is a first step in the direction of
fully fossil-free solutions for Vestergaard.
"It is possible to use synthetic diesel for
heaters and also for the chassis engine,
which is a solution by some customers
to jump straight into the fossil-free new
world," he says.
When preparing to make a decision

regarding deicing equipment, Barsoe
stresses the importance of considering
what type of deicing operations will take
place. Is the deicing operation remote or
performed at the gate? Is it a one-man or
two-man operation? Will the operation
utilize proportional mixing or pre-mixing?
Other considerations include capacity needed, time desired, availability of
maintenance staff, availability of trained
personnel, distance to filling stations and
the time required to refill and reheat. Also,
in the case of hybrid or electric solutions,
access to charging must be considered.
"In general, the closer you can place
the nozzle to the aircraft surface, the less
amount of fluids are required for deicing,
so it is important to choose/spec units that
have enough reach and design to do just
that," Barsoe explains. "Also, it is important to spec mixing systems that take into
account the outside air temperature to minimize the amount of glycol needed to mix
into your hot water. Also, specify expected
up-time and cost of yearly maintenance.
"For all customers, it is important to
consider what the lifetime of the equipment will be and, thus, also possible resale
value after specified periods," Barsoe says.
"With all those considerations, you arrive
at a total cost of operation, which should be
the overall deciding factor."

AUGUST 2020

AviationPros.com

http://www.AviationPros.com

Ground_Support_August_2020

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