Unico, a number one supplier of modern EV check options, has launched its new Quantum Drive Platform. The Unico Quantum Drive platform is designed to assist firms develop and validate batteries for electrical autos and scale back set up prices and ongoing working bills. Unico’s new Quantum Drive Platform is predicted to revolutionize the EV battery testing trade, providing an economical, energy-efficient, and versatile answer for firms creating and validating batteries for electrical autos. The know-how was lately on show on the Worldwide Battery Seminar held in Orlando, Florida.
Headquartered in Wisconsin, simply outdoors of Milwaukee, Unico additionally has manufacturing services in Germany and the UK. Unico has been within the automation trade for over 50 years and is now accelerating its give attention to the subsequent technology of drive and management programs for testing electrical automobile propulsion programs, optimizing steel forming with management purposes embedded into the drives, and delivering precision management programs for a variety of purposes within the changing trade.
Talking on the launch of the brand new Quantum Drive Platform, Don Wright, VP of Engineering at Unico stated:
“Growing and testing batteries for electrical autos requires the validation of cells, modules, and packs throughout a large working vary. This testing requires a number of high-power feeds and important floorspace which ends up in excessive set up and operational prices. The brand new Quantum Drive Platform from Unico goals to handle these challenges by permitting firms to recirculate the vitality from totally different items of check gear which is able to provide an amazing value and floorspace financial savings for our prospects.”
This recirculation of vitality inside the ecosystem enabled by way of second life batteries for instance, unlocks efficiencies, makes the battery testing course of extra sustainable and greener as properly when coupled with vitality from renewables akin to onsite or offsite photo voltaic and wind.
Including second life battery pack models to check stations as a part of these battery testing services helps in a number of areas akin to:
- As a complement vitality supply for check gear to scale back the vitality necessities in giant check services. Because the vitality storage sector is rising at an unprecedented charge for purposes in each electrical autos and stationary storage, gamers within the battery testing trade at the moment are constructing very giant testing labs. To assist all this check gear, they should have satisfactory grid connections, which suggests upgrading their present native grid connection and related infrastructure. Some testing services at the moment are asking utility firms to place in 5 to 10 MW grid connections simply to assist a battery lab, for instance. They will scale back prices and in addition defer investing in costly upgrades by using this native storage to enrich the grid energy and in addition incorporate behind the meter photo voltaic technology and many others.
- Since battery growth firms have a whole lot of outdated batteries, Unico may help by working with them to make these outdated batteries fairly a worthwhile a part of their operations. For instance, as they cycle their check batteries, they will then get well vitality saved within the check batteries throughout discharging cycles by storing this vitality in second life batteries housed in Unico’s new check platform after which reuse that vitality for a charging cycle in a while. It is a nice software and use of batteries which might usually have been sitting idle or disposed too early.
So how does it work? The Unico Quantum Drive Platform permits a number of pack, module, and cell check channels to be utilized in a single system for “back-to-back” battery testing and due to this fact discharge vitality from one channel can be utilized because the cost vitality for an additional and in addition within the second life battery vitality storage system to “save vitality for later.” This additionally implies that a facility can now add extra stations and pace up their work by including extra check channels powered with vitality saved within the second life batteries. This mix with correct sequencing can scale back the necessity for substantial utility connections and permits virtually net-zero battery check purposes. This new platform units a brand new trade normal for multi-channel, high-power AC and DC purposes in a single system, providing important footprint discount and multipurpose functionality. The excessive efficiency channels additionally present galvanic isolation between all check channels with out the necessity for any low-frequency transformers inside or outdoors of the drive system. Pilot packages of the Unico Quantum Drive Platform will start this summer time. Deliveries to prospects will start in Q3 2023.
Dustin Harrison, managing director, UTAC stated:
“We’re excited to make use of Unico’s new Quantum Drive Platform as a robust answer for decreasing the utility energy necessities of our check programs. This know-how represents a major step ahead in our efforts to boost vitality effectivity and scale back the carbon footprint of our check services. We stay up for persevering with our collaboration with Unico and leveraging our mixed experience to drive significant change within the trade.”
The Unico Quantum Drive Platform options:
- Excessive-performance DC channels for cell, module, and pack channels
- Chance of a number of channels of every kind in addition to totally different output voltage ranges mixed in a single system
- Functionality for Unico’s world-class AC drives to be added to create a versatile, multi-configurable answer for multi-purpose check programs with each AC and DC outputs
- An open software program interface, permitting firms to make use of their alternative of information acquisition and controls for managing check runs, gathering knowledge, and lab optimization.
Unico can also be launching a battery deactivation system that may allow safer disposal of batteries to recycling facilities. This new station will enable services to deliver the voltage of battery packs and cells safely all the way down to zero, enabling recyclers to securely get well supplies from outdated battery packs. Recovering all of the vitality from these batteries and storing it within the second life battery stations makes the method extra sustainable than the standard methodology of resistive heating to discharge the cells which simply wastes vitality as warmth. Throughout this resisting heating, over-discharge of the cells can happen, bringing them to a detrimental voltage that facilitates the formation of dendrites should you get previous 12% in detrimental voltage. This may trigger a brief circuit within the batteries and enhance the chance of potential fires throughout discharging.
Photos courtesy of Unico
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