New Industry Products

Flywheel Energy Storage claims 99.6% Efficiency

April 01, 2015 by Jeff Shepard

Calnetix Technologies' new VYCON® energy storage products division today announced the addition of the VYCON Direct Connect (VDC®) XXE Kinetic Energy Storage System to its highly efficient VDC XE family of clean ride-through backup power systems. The new VDC XXE model delivers over 300kW and 6,000 kW-seconds of energy storage to provide reliable, always on power protection 24x7 for large critical processes, such as data centers, healthcare imaging systems and other power intensive applications. Providing up to 99.6 % energy efficiency, VYCON energy storage systems have no mechanical bearings to be replaced or maintained - substantially increasing critical load uptime and lowering operating costs vs. older lower speed flywheel designs.

"In working closely with our UPS partners and end-customers, we found there was a need to expand our product line to provide customers who operate larger mission-critical applications with more energy storage capacity and higher power density," said Calnetix Technologies Chief Executive Officer Vatche Artinian. "Our new VDC XXE model provides 50 percent more energy storage capacity over our VDC XE model, and does so within the same footprint, giving our customers a highly reliable, environmentally friendly, cost-effective and compact energy storage solution."

The scalable VDC flywheel systems are certified and integrated by major manufacturers of three-phase UPS systems, including Eaton, Emerson, Mitsubishi, Riello, Schneider Electric and Socomec. When paired with a UPS, the VDC flywheel, with its 20-year operational life, provides a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than traditional UPS systems operated with batteries.

"As industry studies have confirmed, non-detectable and detectable battery failures account for greater than 80 percent of all double-conversion UPS failures, and replacing batteries with kinetic energy storage can greatly enhance reliability and mitigate risk of downtime," said Business Unit Leader Frank DeLattre.

The VDC XXE system interfaces with the dc bus of the UPS, receiving charging current from the UPS and providing dc current to the UPS inverter during discharge. Upon loss of utility power to the UPS, continuous and regulated dc power is instantly delivered to the UPS with ample time to transfer to an onsite generator upon a prolonged power outage. The VDC XXE also can be used in conjunction with batteries. Since 98% of utility outages are 10 seconds or less, the VDC XXE delivers the needed dc energy to the UPS first during these events, saving the battery for longer term outages and thus prolonging battery life.

The VDC XE and XXE are UL and CE listed and can be ordered with OSHPD approval (Seismic Certification). Organizations also can achieve LEED points from the installation of VYCON systems due to the elimination of hazardous materials – such as lead acid found in batteries. The VDC XXE is available for immediate shipment.