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Measuring Energy Efficiency Improvements in Industrial Battery Chargers
Abstract
Industrial battery chargers have provided the energy
requirements for motive power in industrial facilities
for decades. Their reliable and durable performance,
combined with their low energy consumption relative
to other industrial processes, has left the core charger
technology unchanged since its introduction to the
market. Recent improvements in charger technology
have led to a new generation of high frequency
chargers on the market that can provide energy
efficiency improvements over existing Silicon
Controlled Rectifier (SCR) and Ferroresonant charger
technologies. We estimate there are approximately
32,000 three phase chargers in use within Pacific Gas
& Electric Company’s service area, using roughly
750 to 1,000 GWh per year. A 10 percent efficiency
improvement on every charger would save about 75
to 100 GWh per year. There are three areas of energy losses in the battery
and charger system:
• Power Conversion Efficiency (energy out of
charger vs. energy into charger)
• Charge Return (energy out of battery vs. energy
into battery): some amount of overcharge is
necessary for battery health, but chargers vary in
the degree which they overcharge
• Standby losses when no battery is connected. PG&E and Southern California Edison (SCE) are
testing industrial battery chargers according to a
California Energy Commission (CEC) approved test
procedure. This test procedure, developed with
charger manufacturer input as part of the CEC’s
Codes and Standards process, specifies test
conditions during active charge, maintenance charge
and standby modes. The results from this testing are
expected to provide independent confirmation of vendor claims of energy efficiency improvements
during all modes of charger operation, and will form
the foundation of data for utility energy efficiency
programs.
Initial test results of one battery charger from each
technology type show the Hybrid and High
Frequency technology as the top performers when
compared to the SCR and Ferroresonant chargers.
Multiple chargers from each technology group will
be tested in the first half of 2009 to determine an
average performance for each technology type. The
full set of results will be available in summer 2009.
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Citation
Matley, R. (2009). Measuring Energy Efficiency Improvements in Industrial Battery Chargers. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /91085.