Smart batteries adapt to industrial uses

The Intensium Flex battery system has been developed to provide fully integrated "plug and play" smart solutions to suit the various power requirements of a wide variety of industrial users.

Saft is leading the way in the industrial application of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery technology with its new Intensium Flex system developed to provide fully integrated "plug and play" smart solutions to suit the various power requirements of a wide variety of industrial and telecomms users.

Thanks to its versatile, modular rackable design, Intensium Flex can be configured to provide any system voltage from 24 to 720V for pure standby float or high frequency cycling applications, and discharge patterns ranging from high energy (hours or days of discharge) to very high power demands over minutes or seconds.

Typical Intensium Flex applications will include: industrial power backup, such as high power UPS systems; renewable energy systems - to provide spinning reserve and power quality functions; and telecomms, especially cellular base transceiver stations (BTS).

Saft Li-ion technology offers a number of advantages for industrial battery users such as high power and energy density - providing savings in both space and weight, zero-maintenance, long calendar and service life, operation at both high and low temperatures and state of charge and state of health indication.

However, until now, the integration of the major battery functions (power, intelligence, safety and assembly) into a customised Li-ion battery system required dedicated product developments, with the inherent time and cost restraints.

As a result, Li-ion batteries have only been available for specific high end markets such as military or EV (electric vehicles) or within a limited spectrum of voltage and current applications.

With Intensium Flex, Saft is opening up the potential applications for Li-ion technology by offering all its advantages within a stand-alone "plug and play" smart battery system.

This modular design, with integrated onboard control, communication and safety functions, can readily be adapted to meet the specific needs of a customer without significant development time and costs.

Intensium Flex is based on 24V modular base units that occupy the height of a one and a half rack units (1.5U) within a standard 19in ETSI rack.

The modules are hot-pluggable and completely maintenance free and can enable a battery system to be customised to provide the optimum battery configuration, with series strings of up to 720V and up to 16 parallel strings.

This flexible modular approach offers both ease of installation and deployment and is scalable to allow reconfiguration and expansion to meet a customer's changing needs.

The Intensium Flex battery modules are available in three versions: high power, medium power or high energy.

The high power module provides more than 8kW of power (equivalent to a power density of 1000W/litre).

The high energy module provides 120Wh/litre and the medium power module provides a well balanced compromise of power and energy suitable for discharges of 10min and above.

Intensium Flex can be configured for such 400 to 600V systems requiring typically between 1 and 15min of backup.

It can avoid the usual oversizing of lead-acid batteries, and reduce significantly the floorspace and overall number of cabinets in such an installation.

The intermittent nature of renewable energies makes energy storage devices unavoidable.

Whether in PV (photovoltaic) systems requiring several days of energy storage (typically 48V, several hundreds of ampere-hours), or for medium power cycling in hybrid applications, or for high voltage wind power output stabilisation, Intensium Flex provides highly efficient and maintenance-free energy storage and power buffers for all existing and future renewable energy applications.

Cellular BTS and small outdoor access applications require 48V batteries capable of 8h discharges.

Telecomms operators are looking for batteries capable of providing increased energy densities in existing, limited spaces, with resistance to the harsh conditions of outdoor operations (mainly high temperature) and ensuring reliable and troublefree operation over many years.

Intensium Flex builds on Saft's wealth of experience in the design, manufacture and supply of Li-ion based rechargeable battery systems for a wide variety of demanding roles in aerospace, defence and civil applications.

Each module comprises seven Saft VL cylindrical Li-ion cells manufactured on long-established, high-output production lines in Bordeaux, France.

For maximum performance and safety, this advanced design Li-ion cell uses a nickel-based negative alloy, doped with aluminium and cobalt.

Intensium Flex is the latest addition to Saft's Intensium range of Li-ion battery solutions and will be ready for testing in the summer of 2005, with industrial production planned for 2006.

In 2004 Saft launched Intensium 1, a 48V Li-ion battery in rackable modules for telecomms micro-BTS stations, and at Intelec in Berlin (18th to 22nd September 2005) Saft will launch a new 48V Intensium Li-ion battery system developed specifically for telecomms applications.

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