Date
05/29/2013
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Maxwell Technologies, a leading developer and manufacturer of ultracapacitor-based energy storage products, announced that Shanghai ISSON Power Quality installed 126 of Maxwell's 125V Heavy Transportation Modules in a power system that operates 26 ship-to-shore cranes for loading and unloading container ships at the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, a national-grade super harbor connected to the mainland by a 20-mile long bridge. This installation, one of the largest ultracapacitor installations in the world and the biggest in Asia, stabilizes voltage and smooths the fluctuation of the power output, for the electric cranes, allowing for uninterrupted operations. Simultaneous operation of the many high-power, variable-voltage, variable-frequency (VVVF) cranes can create power demand peaks that overload the local electric grid. The ultracapacitor-based power system buffers those demand peaks to minimize their impact to the grid. Liaoning Baina, a Maxwell-certified integrator, installed the ultracapacitor bank into a control center where the system can communicate with the inverter while transferring data - such as system and module voltage, current and temperature - and send an alarm to back-end monitoring software. Equipment operation managers can monitor and operate the system via touch screens at each ultracapacitor bank that display the status of the bank. "Using ultracapacitors for electrical grid network stabilization when the cranes are in operation eliminates voltage supply interruptions so the cranes can consistently lift loads and avoid the costs associated with port operation disruptions," said Jie Huang, a project manager and chief design engineer at ISSON. "The 10-year estimated lifespan of the ultracapacitor-based power system is double our initial expectation, reducing the maintenance cost worries we would have had with batteries." Maxwell's Heavy Transportation Module provides the high power bursts that voltage sag applications require more efficiently than batteries, plus its long life means it can operate effectively for up to 10 years with little to no maintenance. The Heavy Transportation Module includes balancing, monitoring and thermal management capabilities, so the ultracapacitor module can be charged and discharged rapidly and repeatedly while maintaining its high reliability and long operational life. "This large-scale electrical power storage installation demonstrates how ultracapacitor technology optimizes the power system's operation, and we expect this type of system to be duplicated at other harbors," said Brian Eichler, director of sales and marketing, Asia at Maxwell Technologies. "ISSON's ultracapacitor-based power system smooths demand on the electrical grid and protects against voltage sags, which can be detrimental to harbor crane operations." Maxwell Technologies
