New Industry Products

QE Series of battery chargers and power supplies

October 24, 1999 by Jeff Shepard

Schaefer Inc. (Ashland, MA) recently introduced the QE Series of thyristor-controlled battery chargers and power supplies. The series operates from a standard single-phase input and provides outputs of 100W to 30kW. Outputs are available from 12V to 220Vdc with currents as high as 110A in the standard product line. According to Schaefer, custom solutions have been manufactured with currents up to 2500A. Monitoring features include ac main failure, dc charger failure, low and high battery voltage, battery circuit failure, ground insulation failure and fuse failure. According to the company, typical applications include control and supervision of power plants, charging and supervision of batteries, telecommunication systems, control and operation of power substations and transformer stations, emergency shutdown systems, backup power systems, critical power systems applications for electricity generation, process control industries, repair of locomotives and streetcars, and as power supplies for control of aluminum plants. In addition, Schaefer claims the units are ideal when used as uninterruptible power supplies with battery supervision and step-up circuit to eliminate the voltage drop during the process of discharging of the batteries for airports, chemical plants, hospitals and automobile production. Pricing in quantities of 100 starts at $2,479 each.