The wind turbines are located in Mongolia, China, where the temperature extremes subject the WTC to adverse weather conditions. After a lengthy evaluation process, a local integrator in Chongqing, China picked kk-electronic a/s was for the project.
kk-electronic engineers had to design the WTC, the “brain” of the giant wind turbines, to handle extreme weather. The most vital function the WTC provides, blade pitch regulation and other braking techniques during short term grid failure, is backed up with an industrial grade Falcon UPS.
“I contacted Falcon while the Qianwei wind energy project was in its infancy because our wind turbine control systems were slated to be operating in Mongolia and other remote regions in China, where the daytime temperature reaches 55°C (131°F) and the night plunges to ice-cold conditions,” says kk-electronic a/s engineer Claus Damgaard.
"I searched the Internet for high-temperature industrial UPS and found that Falcon Electric offered the only UL-rated UPS for 55°C. Falcon engineer Mike Stout told me they had supplied industrial UPSs for companies like Siemens, GE and Johnson Controls. More importantly, we needed to find a supplier that would modify their UPS for our requirements. The ‘one UPS fits all applications’ approach was a problem we had encountered with other UPS companies, both here in Europe and in the U.S.
“A prime example of Falcon’s flexibility came up early in the project: the new Falcon SSG Series was too deep for the small tray we had designed for the UPS. To my pleasant surprise, Falcon accepted my request to integrate the UPS electronics only, and let us source military-grade high-temperature batteries.
“The fact that Falcon was willing to customize their UPS, then spend time and engineering resources to ensure their battery charging system worked with these batteries, was fantastic. Most UPS companies will not even consider offering this level of customization and support unless we buy a couple of thousand units.”
All electronics are sensitive to damp weather, vibration, heat and cold. Though moisture and vibration aren’t significant factors, the extreme temperatures do present a problem for designers of this type of control system. The consistently wide fluctuation puts the electronic components, connectors and other delicate elements through a constant hot-and-cold cycle, which results in the premature failure of these components. Falcon’s UPS is designed with more robust components and metal housing. In addition, the UPS features a design that shields some of these components – like sealed, valve-regulated lead-acid batteries – from these extreme temperatures.
The end user is a local utility company in one of central China’s largest cities, Chongqing. Qianwei Chongqing Instrument & Meter Factory (CQIMF), a local energy-services company, conducted an in-depth, worldwide search for a WTC that could provide the uptime needed to achieve a return on investment within their wind turbines’ projected lifetime. After several WTCs from different vendors were evaluated and tested, they selected Danish supplier kk-electronic a/s. CQIMF formed an alliance with kk-electronic a/s to build wind turbine controllers locally. The new company, kk-Qwanwei was formerly known as Chongqing kk-Qwanwei Windpower Equipment Company, Ltd. Falcon will sign an agreement with kk-Qwanwei later this year.
Falcon’s SSG Series of high-temperature UPSs, which carry a UL-listed 55°C rating, are priced at $1,690.00 for the 1,500VA SSG1.5KRM-1. The SSG product line also include 2,200VA and 3,000VA sizes, the SSG2.2KRM-1 and the SSG3KRM-1. This product line is designed for worldwide applications, with the option of 120Vac or 230Vac models.
