energy storage publishing

Quick Cable Corporation has launched a targeted DC power programme including an online catalogue of products for stationary battery dealers, installers and OEM suppliers.

This is in response to the growing market for backup power in fields such as telecom centres, financial institutions, manufacturers and distribution centres requiring DC power from battery systems.

The new catalogue expands Quick Cable’s product portfolio of battery connectors, cables and accessories for DC power requirements.

The power programme brings in UL listed cable options up to 777 MCM, battery containment systems and additional chemical and maintenance products specific to the stationary battery market.

The battery containment systems have been designed around a flexible, model to make it easy to design a system based on battery rack dimensions using the Quick Cable online configuration tool.

Cummins Power Generation has launched a website specifically focused on product and technical information to support the needs of its data centre customers.

In a statement, Cummins said the launch of http://cumminsdatapower.com reflected the need for information in one of the biggest growth segments in the world today – backup power for data centres.

Brent Ness, Global Data Centre Segment Leader for Cummins Power Generation, said: “We continually hear from data centre customers and from consulting engineers around the world that they want fast, easy access to information directly related to data centre product offerings,” said

“This website not only contains product information, it also includes technical bulletins, white papers and other information relevant to the application, operation and maintenance of the complete backup power system in data centres.” 

Porous Power Technologies (PPT) has launched a line of ceramic-filled battery separators designed to improve the thermal stability and safety of the large-format lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, flat-cell consumer electronics, and high-power applications.

Under heat, the ceramic-filled polymer separators fuse together, leaving a thin film of ceramic particles between the electrodes and reduce the likelihood of hard shorts that can lead to thermal runaway and cell failure.

The ceramic particles are evenly distributed throughout the PPT chemically inert PVDF polymer. The particles reside primarily in the pore walls, leaving a large and uniform open pore structure that enable ions to pass through with less resistance and less heat generation.

The separators will provide greater power in high-current applications as well as having increased thermal stability with less cell degradation. The design offers reduced separator shrinkage, extended cycle life, higher bake-out and operating temperatures, and improved puncture and abuse resistance.

An energy efficient heating system offering efficiency savings of up to 20% could be key in the transition to low-carbon energy systems in Europe. This is according to a report commissioned by SSE (UK energy generators and distributors) and Dimplex (a global heating solutions firm).

The smart electric thermal storage (SETS) system works by storing up renewably produced energy when production is high but demand is low. The report indicated SETS could provide up to 54GW of additional flexible storage capacity across Europe by 2050, enabling renewable electricity to be stored when demand is low and used to heat homes when needed.

The system, first brought to the market by SEE and Dimplex in a product called Quantum, is intended to replace out-dated night storage heaters with something more efficient and with better room temperature control as well as being designed for smart grid integration.

The report found that if all 27 EU countries replaced storage heaters with SETS, savings of 7.4TWh of electricity and three mega-tons of CO₂ could be made each year. If used in all electrically heated homes as much as 148GW could be provided by 2050.

Stuart Mackenzie, Managing Director of Dimplex, added: “Quantum offers consumers with electric storage heaters the opportunity to reduce their running costs by up to 27%. It’s also a Green Deal approved measure, so the capital cost outlay can be substantially reduced.”