News

UL 9540 Certification for Software-Defined Power Hardware

March 11, 2018 by Paul Shepard

CUI Global, Inc. today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, CUI Inc. (CUI), has successfully received UL 9540 certification for its Intelligent Control of Energy (ICE) Block technology, an important milestone for customers waiting to install the innovative hardware into data center environments. The ICE Block, employing lithium-ion battery storage, shaves peaks by supplying power for peak load events and automatically recaptures power during low utilization periods.

When paired with partner Virtual Power Systems' (VPS) ICE® software, the ICE Block hardware and ICE software combine to deliver more power within data centers by elasticizing it as a resource, resulting in lower operating costs and less redundant power supply capacity.

UL 9540 requirements, which cover energy storage systems and equipment that are intended to receive, store, and provide electric energy to applications, were one of the last remaining hurdles for the ICE Block technology before releasing it to market. The UL 9540 requirements also cover several sub-standards, including UL 1741 for inverters, UL 1998 and UL 991 for functional safety, and UL 1973 for battery control modules.

"As an energy storage device containing lithium-ion batteries, the ICE Block's safety in critical environments is of the utmost importance and this UL 9540 certification reinforces the safety of this industry-first design," stated Mark Adams, CUI's Senior Vice President. "This was certainly a long and complex process stretching more than a year due to the fact that UL had never before tested a technology of this nature.

“However, our ICE Block hardware proved itself safe and reliable throughout the rigorous UL testing and we are thrilled to begin shipping these units to customers with UL certification now in hand," Adams concluded.

"Software Defined Power® (SDP) for the modern data center is now a reality," said Karimulla Shaikh, CTO Virtual Power Systems.  "As an early VPS partner and collaborator, CUI has embedded VPS' ICE technology in their digital power platform.  When deployed in conjunction with VPS' software control plane, customers optimize energy utilization while reducing infrastructure cost and risk.  Power-capacity constraints are a major limiting factor in today's data center environments.

“Our partnership with CUI has been very successful; together we continue to redefine power utilization in the modern data center with Software Defined Power solutions.  We applaud CUI for this major accomplishment," Shaikh added.

"This completion of UL certification on our ICE Block Technology is a significant achievement for CUI," said William Clough, president & CEO of CUI Global, Inc.

"CUI and VPS have been pioneers in the development of SDP solutions for data centers, and now that we have obtained full UL compliance, we can confidently market this unique and compelling technology to a significant segment of this ever-expanding market," Clough concluded.