Solarcraft, Inc. Receives Class I, Div 2 Groups C,D Certification
Solarcraft, Inc. has received its Class I, Div 2 Groups C,D certification for its production of solar industrial power products designed for instrumentation, pipeline, automation and communication applications.  Solarcraft has worked with many types of industries and with clients such as Chevron, Kinder Morgan and the US Navy in order to produce custom integrated systems for solutions to critical power operations.

This new classification allows Solarcraft’s solar power systems to operate within 5 feet of pipeline in order to provide critical solutions efficiently and quickly.  This new classification expands Solarcraft’s ability to provide customers with products that are resourceful, cost-effective and efficient. 

Hear Solarcraft, Inc. Speak at the Remote 2008 Conference and Expo!
Session Title: The Ten Commandments of Solar Design
www.RemoteExpo.com

Harris Battery Co. Expands with Acquisition of Discover Energy Branch
Harris Battery Co. has expanded its operations to the West Coast with the acquisition of the Los Angeles, Calif.  branch of Discover Energy. Harris Battery's new California operation features a 6,000 sq. ft. regional distribution center located in Westminster, Calif., and a sales office in San Francisco, Calif. The market area served by the new branch includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

"The addition of California to our service area demonstrates our commitment to the Clean & Green movement and to the Discover product,” said Jerry Harris, president. “These products not only use the highest levels of sustainable and environmental stewardship, but are also engineered to provide more energy while reducing our environmental footprint.”

Harris Battery is the US factory warehouse for Discover dry cell batteries, which carry the Clean & Green trademark, identifying the company’s commitment to provide responsible products that conserve resources and help protect the environment. They are 98-percent recyclable.

Additionally, Discover batteries are completely sealed, leak-proof, spill proof and 100-percent maintenance free. They are non-hazardous, non-gassing, approved for environmentally sensitive areas and a direct replacement for hazardous battery technology.

APC Provides Electrical Efficiency Data on the Web for its Enterprise Products to Enhance Product Selection Process
APC has announced that individuals now can obtain the electrical efficiency data for enterprise power products from www.apc.com to help determine energy usage and system efficiencies. APC believes it is the first company in the critical power services industry to offer full and complete electrical efficiency product data in a standard format.

The company now offers product efficiency data including graphs on its products in a consistent format that allows data center designers and others to combine the component efficiencies to predict the performance of an overall system. As of today, APC provides electrical efficiency data for power and cooling products such as its popular three-phase and single-phase uninterruptible power supplies, power distribution units and InRow cooling solutions on its Web site.

Currently the industry does not generally provide detailed efficiency data over the entire operating range of each product. Today, customers only have access to efficiency data for one or a few operating points or no public data exists at all. This information makes it easier for customers, integrators and channel partners to select products to meet efficiency (DCiE) objectives for their data center system. Additionally, the company expects that component and systems manufacturers will all eventually provide this information on their respective products.

Emerson Reports Strong Second Quarter 2008 Results
Emerson net sales for the second quarter ended March 31, 2008 of $6 billion, an increase of 12 percent compared with $5.4 billion in the prior year. Earnings from continuing operations in the second quarter increased 21 percent to $598 million, or $0.75 per share.  This represents an increase of 23 percent in earnings per share from the $0.61 earned in the same period last year. 

Results for the quarter include a $52 million impairment charge relating to Emerson’s intent to sell its European appliance motor and pump business within the next twelve months.  This business was previously reported in the Appliance and Tools segment and its financial results for 2007 and 2008 have been reclassified as discontinued operations.  Impact of the charge is a negative $0.06 per share, resulting in net earnings per share for the second quarter of $0.69 per share, up 13 percent.

Underlying sales increased 6 percent in the quarter, which excludes the impact of favorable foreign currency exchange rates (4 percent) and impact from acquisitions, net of divestitures (2 percent). Strong international results led the growth, where sales increased by 10 percent on an underlying basis.  Regional underlying sales growth included increases of 18 percent in both Asia and Latin America and 19 percent in Middle East/Africa.  As expected, underlying sales in the United States softened and were up approximately 1 percent.

Cummins Provides Backup Power Systems for Critical Facilities
Cummins Power Generation now offers closed-transition bypass switches from 150 to 4,000 amps for critical locations and facilities. Cummins' BTPC bypass switches offer redundant power transfer capability for situations where even a brief power interruption can have serious consequences. The closed-transition BTPC switch automatically transfers loads between two live sources (utility and backup) without interruption.

The BTPC consists of a rail-mounted, removable automatic transfer switch (ATS) and a fixed, manually operated bypass switch. Before the ATS is pulled out for repair or maintenance, the load power is diverted to the bypass switch. By having the bypass switch activated before the ATS is disconnected, the power supply continues without interruption. After the bypass switch is engaged, the ATS can be placed in one of three positions: connected (normal), test (powered but offline) and isolated (disconnected).

BTPC switches from Cummins Power Generation are UL listed, having passed the tests required by UL 1008, the strict standard for emergency, legally required and standby applications. Safety features include closed-door ATS isolation to protect against arc flash, and shutters to protect the stationary bypass terminals during removal.

BTPC switches use field-configurable PowerCommand microprocessor-based controllers featuring easy-to-use push-button controls for activating testing, programming timing delays and setting the exercise clock. Flash memory retains settings, even if the switch loses power. LED indicators provide at-a-glance system status, and a digital display provides status information on other ATS equipment in the facility. In a fully integrated Cummins system, the ATS controller also displays generator set status information.

GE Energy Releases New OpFlex Extended Turndown for 9FA+e Gas Turbines
Citing the need in the power industry for additional operational flexibility, GE Energy hasintroducedOpFlex Extended Turndown, which enables customers to operate their 9FA+e gas turbines with additional turndown without jeopardizing performance, reliability or emissions.

OpFlex Extended Turndown extends the reduced-emissions operating range to lower load levels by increasing gas turbine turndown capability. Currently, the typical turndown minimum for the 9FA+e gas turbine equipped with the DLN 2.6+ combustion system is 40 percent load at ISO conditions. OpFlex Extended Turndown is targeted to provide a minimum of 5 percent additional turndown. By reducing the turndown to 35 percent load, customers are able to reduce the amount of fuel consumed during off-peak hours and avoid shut-down and start-up costs, as well as minimize maintenance requirements associated with shut-downs.

OpFlex Extended Turndown builds upon decades of GE expertise and experience in the area of combustion technology. This software solution optimizes the combustion process and enables power generators to reduce fuel costs significantly. CO2 emissions associated with low-load operation are also reduced, while maintaining low NOx and CO emission levels.

“OpFlex Extended Turndown is an exciting new development that will provide our customers with additional flexibility to meet the challenges of maximizing operational revenues while minimizing operational costs,” said Dan Heintzelman, president of GE Energy’s services business.

Popcorn-Ball Design Doubles Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
By using a popcorn-ball design, tiny kernels clumped into much larger porous spheres, researchers at the University of Washington are able to manipulate light and more than double the efficiency of converting solar energy to electricity.

"We think this can lead to a significant breakthrough in dye-sensitized solar cells," said lead author Guozhong Cao, a UW professor of materials science and engineering. 

Dye-sensitized solar cells, first popularized in a scientific article in 1991, are more flexible, easier to manufacture and cheaper than existing solar technologies. Researchers have tried various rough surfaces and achieved higher and higher efficiencies. Current lab prototypes can convert just over one tenth of the incoming sun's energy into electricity. This is about half as efficient as the commercial, silicon-based cells used in rooftop panels and calculators.

The UW researchers did not attempt to maximize the overall efficiency of a dye-sensitized solar cell to match or beat these previous records. Instead, they focused on developing new approaches and compared the performance of a homogeneous rough surface with a clumping design. One of the main quandaries in making an efficient solar cell is the size of the grains. Smaller grains have bigger surface area per volume, and thus absorb more rays. But bigger clumps, closer to the wavelength of visible light, cause light to ricochet within the thin light-absorbing surface so it has a higher chance of being absorbed.

Other researchers have tried mixing larger grains in with the small particles to scatter the light, but have little success in boosting efficiency. The UW group instead made only very tiny grains, about 15 nanometers across. Then they clumped these into larger agglomerations, about 300 nanometers across. The larger balls scatter incoming rays and force light to travel a longer distance within the solar cell. The balls' complex internal structure, meanwhile, creates a surface area of about 1,000 square feet for each gram of material. This internal surface is coated with a dye that captures the light.

The researchers expected some improvement in the performance but what they saw exceeded their hopes. The overall efficiency was 2.4 percent using only small particles, which is the highest efficiency achieved for this material. With the popcorn-ball design, results presented today at the conference show an efficiency of 6.2 percent, more than double the previous performance.

"We first wanted to prove the concept in an easier material. Now we are working on transferring this concept to titanium oxide," said Cao. “Titanium oxide based dye-sensitized solar cells are now at 11 percent maximum efficiency. Cao hopes his strategy could push dye-sensitized solar cells' efficiency significantly over that threshold.”

New Efficient, Robust and Compact Power Converter for Critical Applications
Schaefer, Inc. has introduced the C4700 Series of 2,500 Watt DC/DC converter, AC/DC power supply and battery charging products. The series’ robust design, using industrial grade components, yields an efficient, space-saving solution for extreme environments in industries such as controls and communications equipment, military applications, alternative energy applications, transportation and process control systems.

The C4700 series features an extensive lineup of over 200 standard models, with requests for modifications also welcomed. Nine standard DC input voltage options span a ra nge from 10 VDC to 800VDC.  AC input models offer either 1-Phase or 3-Phase options as well as battery charging models. Single outputs are available in twelve standard ranges encompassing 4.5 VDC to 400 VDC.  All outputs are adjustable and fully regulated to 0.2 percent or better (load) and 0.1 percent (line). DC/DC and AC/DC models have remote sense capability, while efficiencies are up to 95 percent. Operating temperature is -20°C to 75°C, with -40°C to 75°C as an option.

The units are packaged in a space saving 6U by 19 inch by 306 mm rack module, a wall mount module, or a newly introduced chassis mount configuration. Options include decoupling diodes for parallel / redundant operation, further mechanical ruggedization, inhibit, Power Fail / DC-OK alarms, system reset and programming/monitoring functions.

Remote 2008 Conference and Expo Releases a Preliminary Program Packed with Onsite Power Sessions!

Click here to download the preliminary brochure.

The Remote 2008 Conference and Expo is proud to release its preliminary program. Featuring over 40 sessions, these educational presentations represent some of the best learning experiences you can have at any event in the world!

Included with our Remote Monitoring and Remote Networking tracks is the ever popular Onsite Power track of sessions.  Please session titles below, or download our preliminary program in PDF format: www.remotemagazine.com/images/Remote08.pdf

Onsite Power Session Track Presentations:
• Remote Monitoring for Large Scale Renewable Energy Systems
• The New Alternative: Direct Methanol Fuel Cells for Remote Power
• The Ten Commandments of Solar Design
• Flywheel Technology Provides Energy Efficient and Sustainable Back-up Power
• Ultra Low-Cost Power Quality and Energy Measurement Technology
• Telecommunications Installation for Truly Extended Run Backup Power  
• Battery Powering and Monitoring Considerations for Remote Locations

August 2008
3-7, APCO, Kansas City, Mo. Contact www.apcointl.org

5-6, Solar Metering Performance and Monitoring Expo, Berkley, Calif.
Contact www.solarelectricpower.org

5-7, 3rd Annual Water and Wastewater and Automatic Controls Symposium, Orlando, Fla. Contact www.isa.org/wwac

21-24, SPE Annual Technical Conf. & Exhibition (ATCE), Denver, Co.
Contact www.spe.org/atce/2008

CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2008
September 10-12, 2008
San Francisco, CA

CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2008 is the largest wireless data event in the internet, wireless and telecommunications industries.
With a focus on wireless data applications, software development, network architecture and solutions, CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2008 is where professionals across various industries see first-hand how wireless data technology is applied to a multitude of business solutions.
It’s more than just the next generation of wireless data… it’s how you use it that makes it powerful.

World Energy Engineering Congress- WEEC
October 1-2, 2008
Washington, DC

The key opportunity of the year for end users and decision makers from business, industry, and government to learn about the newest technologies, hear industry’s leading experts, and network. The World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC) is recognized as the energy industry’s premier event. Now in its 31st year, the WEEC is bigger, better, and more comprehensive than ever before. The WEEC offers a 200-plus speaker conference and workshop program, a dynamic exposition, a series of in-depth seminars, poster sessions, facility tours, awards presentations, and much more. World Energy Engineering Congress 2008 will cover the full energy efficiency, distributed generation, HVAC and building systems, facilities management, renewable technologies, energy service, and power marketplace. Find out more by visiting www.energycongress.com

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