VYCON Introduces Patent Pending Hybrid VDC XEB Energy Storage System

VYCON announced the introduction of its new Hybrid VDC XEB flywheel system. VYCON states that its VDC XEB is the industry’s first environmentally friendly energy storage system to combine flywheel technology with batteries in one patent pending integrated system. Now with the combination of batteries, users who need more backup time can utilize the reliability and green aspects of the flywheel system with minutes of extra runtime from the batteries. Power protection is vital to the digital economy as even momentary power disturbances can cost organizations substantially in lost transactions, production, labor and goodwill.

The VDC XEB is the first line of defense against power disturbances – saving the batteries for prolonged power outages. According to the company, by absorbing the power glitches, the VDC XEB can significantly increase battery life by handling over 98 percent of the discharges that would normally have shortened the battery’s useful life.

Providing up to 300 kW of power, VYCON’s Hybrid VDC XEB is well suited for protecting power dependent applications such as data centers, healthcare facilities, industrial control systems and other mission-critical operations that may require several minutes of backup power. Upon a prolonged power outage, the VDC XEB will gracefully transfer to onsite generators. According to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), 80 percent of all utility power disturbances last less than two seconds and 98 percent last less than 10 seconds. The VDC XEB’s ability to offer extended runtime gives users further peace of mind for applications including those with automatic transfer switch (ATS) time delays and/or synchronization time requirements for multiple generators. Additionally, for users of the VDC XEB requiring higher power, up to four VDC XEB systems can be paralleled for longer autonomy and/or redundancy.

"The rapid worldwide adoption and integration of our award-winning VDC flywheel family by our customers and UPS partners have been significant," said Dann McKeraghan, Sales and Marketing Vice President for VYCON. "For customers, the flywheel will continue to be the first line of support with the battery providing the added runtime when called upon. The Hybrid VDC XEB reduces the number of outages and cycles the battery has to support by 98 percent, thereby offering extended battery life. Now with the addition of VDC XEB, our customers can have the same highly reliable backup power from our clean energy storage VDC flywheel systems with additional runtime from the integrated battery. This is a win-win for our customers and UPS partners alike."

Compatible with all major brands of three-phase uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), the Hybrid VDC XEB connects to the dc bus of a UPS. Receiving charging current from the UPS, the VDC XEB provides clean dc power to the UPS during discharge. VYCON’s 99.4 percent efficient system includes patented technology consisting of a flywheel hub formed from aerospace-grade steel, a high-speed permanent magnet motor generator, a contact-free magnetic levitation system, and a touch-screen display that provides vital information on system performance. Innovative patented technology enables the VYCON flywheel to charge and discharge at very high rates for countless cycles without degradation throughout its 20-year life.

VYCON’s flywheel systems incorporate a host of advanced features that make the systems easy to use, maintain and monitor such as self-diagnostics (including the batteries), log files, adjustable voltage settings, RS-232/485 interface, alarm status contacts, soft-start pre-charge from the dc bus and push-button shutdown. Available options include dc disconnect, remote monitoring, Modbus and SNMP communications and real-time monitoring software.

More news and information regarding the latest developments in Smart Grid electronics can be found at Darnell’s SmartGridElectronics.Net.