New Industry Products

VRLAs have Ten-Times More Conductivity in the Negative Plate

April 23, 2018 by Paul Shepard

GNB Industrial Power, a division of Exide Technologies today revealed its new TENSOR xGEL battery to customers and visitors at CeMAT 2018.

“After extensive successful field trials, we opened the order book on April 1st, with intense interest from customers looking for a maintenance-free VRLA battery that can replace a standard flooded traction battery,” Dr. Kai Ruth, GNB Industrial Power Senior Product Manager, Motive Power, told the press and visitors at the GNB stand.

Alongside the (r)evolutionary TENSOR xGEL, the company also showcased its high-performance TENSOR, the Sonnenschein Lithium battery range, and gave a sneak preview of the new ultra-high power 2100 HP High Output charger – enabling fast and opportunity charge of even the largest batteries.

“We are immensely proud of this technological revolution, which uses the TENSOR technology, a 3D copper diamond-shaped mesh galvanized with lead“, said Dr. Ruth. “This gives ten times more conductivity in the negative plate and TENSOR furthermore enhances performance with a completely redesigned positive tubular plate with a maximized surface area.”

In the new TENSOR xGEL, this is combined with Sonnenschein dryfit® technology. As a result, the TENSOR xGEL, is a highly efficient battery, with high energy content, high charge acceptance and zero maintenance that can be fully recharged from 70% depth of discharge in eight hours with the unique GNB X-profile.”

TENSOR xGEL has been tested in field trials with industrial trucks used in the food, chemical and furniture industries, against standard flooded EPzS batteries and EPzV gel batteries.

TENSOR xGEL can reduce energy consumption, increase working hours and running time significantly in various applications. Since it uses dryfit® technology, there is no need for a complex infrastructure for water refilling. Also, there is a much smaller risk of downtimes caused by incorrect battery handling.

“We have shown that the TENSOR xGEL can lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for our customers,” explained Dr. Ruth. ”Opportunity charging within two-shift operations as well as outdoor or low temperature use will particularly benefit from TENSOR xGEL. We invite customers to speak with us directly to determine if their application is one of the many which could benefit from this evolution in stored energy.”

Visitors also saw first-hand how GNB Industrial Power consults with customers to offer the right technology and service with the best Total Cost of Ownership, to meet every application need.

“Our wide range of next-generation products are used worldwide in a variety of challenging applications, helping businesses reduce costs and improve operating performance,” said Dr. Ruth. With the TENSOR xGEL, we are helping customers benefit still further from a gel battery, which has an operational time comparable to standard flooded batteries.”