Tyngsboro, Massachusetts-based Beacon Power has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a next-generation flywheel energy-storage system.
The flywheel module would be capable of storing four times the energy at one eighth of the cost per energy unit, compared with the company’s current Gen 4 flywheel.
Flywheel energy-storage systems work by accelerating a cylindrical assembly, called a rotor or flywheel, to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy. The energy is converted back by slowing down the flywheel. The flywheel system itself is a kinetic or mechanical battery that spins at very high speeds to store energy that is instantly available when needed.
The proposed 100kWh system will use a ’flying ring’ − a lightweight hoop of co-mingled fibre composite with bonded magnetic materials mounted on the structure. This configuration eliminates the need for a central shaft and hub, increasing energy density to 76Wh/kg.
The developers of the flywheel also aim to make it capable of more than 40,000 full charge/discharge cycles in its lifetime, thereby achieving a cost per storage cycle below $0.025/kWh (£0.017/kWh).
’If successful, the development of the flywheel will open up a number of new, commercially attractive applications and markets for clean, long-life flywheel-based energy storage,’ said Bill Capp, Beacon’s president and chief executive officer.
If it were to be eventually commercialised, Beacon expects that the flywheel system would be suitable for a variety of applications, including wind-diesel-storage hybrid systems.
Visitors to London’s 2012 Olympics may travel to the games in taxis powered by hydrogen following the unveiling of a new prototype fuel cell black cab at City Hall yesterday.
London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing Kit Malthouse, who chairs the London Hydrogen Partnership, announced that a fleet of up to 20 of these cabs will be on the streets by 2012. This falls into line with Mayor Boris Johnson’s call for zero emissions from all London taxis by 2020.
The London Hydrogen Partnership, which was created by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone to foster the deployment of hydrogen-based transport technologies, has stated these cabs will also be introduced with a new hydrogen infrastructure throughout the city. The group is currently scoping out locations for approximately six hydrogen pump stations.
Intelligent Energy, Lotus Engineering, LTI Vehicles and TRW Conek collaborated on the design and build of the new prototype cab, which relies on a fuel cell system hybridised with lithium polymer batteries. According to its specs, the cab is capable of top speeds of 80mph with a range of more than 250 miles on a full tank of hydrogen. A refuel takes approximately five minutes.
Ashley Kells, senior programme manager for Intelligent Energy, explained that hydrogen fuel cell technology was decided as the best green solution for London cabs because alternatives such as batteries would not be as reliable.
‘We’re talking about a London cab which will need to take trips to Gatwick and Heathrow,’ he said. ‘A fuel cell is more suited to this application than batteries because with batteries you would not be able to achieve the range required and also in terms of recharging it would take a lot longer if you’re using a traditional three pin plug.’
More importantly it was decided hydrogen would be pumped in and stored on board the fuel cell cab in its gaseous, and not liquid, form. Kells said gas was the right choice because others, mostly notably BMW, found that liquid hydrogen storage in vehicles is too energy consuming.
‘The problem with liquefied storage is the hydrogen needs to be stored at -271 Celsius, which is pretty much absolute zero,’ he said. ‘The bottom line is it boils off because you’ve got to insulate it and use energy to keep it at that temperature and after 10 days you’ve lost all your hydrogen.
‘So if you rocked up to Heathrow Airport went on holiday and came back you’d have no fuel.’
Intelligent Energy was charged with designing the cab’s fuel cell stack. Kells explained its hydrogen fuel cell design works the same as conventional ones except for a slight twist. Just like a conventional fuel cell, theirs generates electricity through reactions between hydrogen and air, which acts as an oxidant.
The difference is the way they manage the heat generated by reactions in the fuel cell. Kells said conventional designs use an external cooling loop and humidifier, but Intelligent Energy makes this extra hardware redundant.
‘We use a patented evaporative cooling technique whereby water is injected straight into the fuel cell stack, he said.
The water evaporates because of the heat present within the fuel cell and it leaves the end of the cell configuration as a mixture of saturated air and liquid water.
Kells said this mixture is then passed through a heat exchanger similar to a car radiator. There the temperature is reduced by 20 degrees Celsius, turning the saturated air and remaining water into its original liquid. The water is then reintroduced into the fuel cell and continues its cycle.
The fuel cell engine was packaged into the cab by Lotus Engineering, which also designed control systems to optimise performance of the fuel cells and electric drive systems.
When in motion the taxi uses an electric motor with a single gear ratio to provide propulsion to the rear wheels. This is a critical feature for cabs in the city of London because it helps maintain the tight turning circle of the vehicle.
The motor is powered by high voltage DC supply and the current from the fuel cell system is regulated via a DC DC converter. Hydrogen is provided by an onboard 35MPa storage tank and air is fed to the fuel cell from a blower. The electric power generated is fed to a lithium battery of the electric drive.
As in typical hybrid cars, during breaking the motor acts as a generator and recharges the battery.
Kells noted that if required it can also be configured as a plug in hybrid and topped up from the mains.
TRW Conekt led a safety analysis programme of the prototype vehicle, which went through tests on braking and steering systems among other things on Lotus test track near Norwich. The cab will still need to be assessed by the Public Carriage Office before it can be used for commercial use on the road.
1. INEOS Chlor is one of the major chlor-alkali and chlorine derivative producers in Europe. Its Runcorn site in north west England has two large chlorine plants: the original J Unit that uses a mercury cell electrolysis process route, and the more recently opened Genesis Membrane Chlorine Plant (MCP). Continuous improvement of the manufacturing processes has taken the Runcorn site to a ’best in class’ cost base and environmental performance, and as part of this improvement programme the company wanted to minimise vented hydrogen and maximise the value of this resource at both plants. Read more
2. Using in-line particle size measurement has enabled Ferrari Granulati to minimise production costs, and reduce waste and energy consumption. The Verona, Italy-based company is a major producer of marble granulates and powders, supplying a wide range of marble in different colours and defined size ranges. Read more
3. Siemens is launching its first Profienergy products on the market: the Simatic ET 200S PM-E RO power module for the Simatic ET 200S High Feature distributed I/O system, and function blocks for Simatic controllers. Profienergy profile enables individual devices or even entire sections of a production plant to be shut down without external hardware using a single controller via Profinet communication. Loads are switched off during production breaks in a co-ordinated fashion from a central location while other automation components are able to remain in operation, for example for safety-related tasks. At the end of the break the loads are then switched on again in a co-ordinated manner.
A NEPIC event on 22 April in Peterlee, will highlight developments in resource efficiency and energy conservation, including Johnson Matthey approach to improving resource use. The programme will also include an update on support from MAS, and views from Envirowise on how improvements in chemistry can help reduce waste. There will also be talks onopportunities for using some of the low grade heat the sector generates. For details email debbie.fitzpatrick@nepic.co.uk.
4. “I want to go into every university in the world and give a right roasting to whoever is responsible for the study of infrared (IR) technology,” declares Frank Wilson, MD of Ceramicx, a Cork, Ireland-based supplier of IR equipment. “Because they are absolutely not giving any information about it.” Wilson’s comments reflect a frustration with the lack of understanding of IR as a heating technology among process, chemical, mechanical and, even, electrical engineers. Read more
5. In April, we will see the long awaited advent of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme within the UK, however questions remain over whether the new CRC legislation will make any real impact on the Government’s aggressive targets for carbon reduction set for the year 2020? Callum Stuart, international project development manager for the energy and environmental services division of McKinnon & Clarke, examines what might happen next. Read more
6. GAMBICA, which represents UK-based automation and control manufacturers, complains that the simple control of electric motors is still being overlooked as a significant energy conservation measure. While energy efficiency attention has tended to focus on building fabric, lighting and heating, it believes that motors have been largely ignored. Read more
7. While process engineers are constantly being urged to fit inverter drives to save energy, Jeff Whiting, energy spokesman for Mitsubishi Electric’s Energy Centre, warns that they should not overlook their sister technology - controls. Read more
8. The UK government is to invest over £6m in a new £20m project that will see the construction and demonstration of Europe’s largest post combustion carbon capture pilot plan. Scottish and Southern Energy, Vattenfall and Doosan Babcock will jointly develop the facility, with support from three UK universities. The project will see the CO2 capture technology installed at SSE’s Ferrybridge Power Station in Yorkshire. Read more
9. District heating has a key role to play in the UK’s low-carbon future but needs much greater support from central and local government, according to a new report by Sustainable Infrastructure Task Group (SITG). As a starting point, the study calls on government to support these schemes by committing to signing up their own buildings in future. Read more
10. The recession may have bought us a year or two by restraining worldwide demand, but the UK must be prepared now to fight for its share of finite energy resources in the future. “The battle will be intense” writes David Hunter, energy analyst at McKinnon & Clarke. “The developing world’s thirst for fuel will dominate the global agenda, with wide-ranging implications for Britain.” Read more
London – Atlas Copco Compressors has supplied equipment for a project to convert domestic and industrial waste into energy is being commissioned at Dargavel, Dumfries in Scotland. Designed, built and funded by Ascot Environmental and operated by ScotGen Ltd the plant uses hazardous and non-hazardous waste to provide power and heat production while managing residual wastes usually destined for landfill.
The project, which is being commissioned at Dargavel, Dumfries in Scotland, is said to use an entirely new process to treat waste and generate heat and electricity from waste that would otherwise go to landfill. Atlas Copco was originally contacted for its proposals for a compressed air supply by process engineering consultants Otto Simon Ltd, who were assisting Ascot Environmental with the project.
Manchester-based environmental, civil and building services group Ascot Environmental claims its design will offer a commercially viable non-landfill alternative for 60ktpa of waste. The plant is able to process waste from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources and will generate 6.2MW of electrical power per year for the National Grid.
Heat from the gasification process could also be used by local industries, while the energy-from-waste plant has capacity to deal with the municipal waste from the population of a town or city of 250,000 people; operating 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
The Dargavel installation currently comprises two network-linked GA37+ 8bar, oil-injected rotary screw compressors, said Atlas Copco. These are designed for integrated air treatment and downstream filtration and are equipped with an OSC600 oil/water condensate separator, an EWD 330 electronic condensate drain, a 3,000 litre air receiver, plus an ES4i integrated sequence controller.
The compressed air system supplies all of the plant and instrument air with its main application being in the flue gas filtration facility. Here pulses of air are required periodically to clean the filtration bags housed in three units on site. Air is also supplied to the continuous emission monitoring system to ensure that all emissions to atmosphere are cleaned of contaminants to a level that satisfies environmental requirements.
“In view of the material we handle and the nature of the gasification conversion process, it is vital that we maintain a reliable emission monitoring system at all times. We need to comply with the strictest air quality and pollution prevention regulations,” said Lloyd Brotherton, project director at Ascot Environmental. “The batch oxidation system technology comfortably conforms to these standards and enables us to meet and surpass even the most stringent requirements.”
UK-based semiconductor company, eoSemi, has developed technology that could significantly change the way electronic devices keep time by removing quartz crystals and reducing the number of system parts.
Currently, almost all electronic devices use a vibrating quartz crystal to provide a timing reference. The material has a long-established reputation for accurately converting mechanical vibrations to electrical signals and is used in a wide range of electronic devices from mobile phones to radio transmitters.
While quartz crystal has an unwavering ability to provide a stable timing reference, changes to electronic products over recent years have highlighted its limitations. For instance, a crystal oscillator can be up to 6mm thick, taking up crucial space in increasingly miniature electronic devices. It also lacks the ability to integrate into silicon, which can further increase manufacturing costs.‘Quartz is basically an 80-year-old technology and is the last simple commodity component left that’s not silicon,’ said Ian Macbeth, chief executive of eoSemi. ‘But there is a shake-up happening now, driven by media phones and modern handsets, where space is at a premium.’
The company claims to have developed a silicon timing device with a square width of less than 1mm for low-frequency sleep-mode applications. The chip is expected to replace quartz crystals while working within the device’s silicon structure to reduce component size.
‘The main reason people haven’t done this before is that crystal is so good at doing its job and the need to shrink hasn’t been there until now,’ said Macbeth. ‘There are some technical difficulties too. Silicon oscillators just don’t behave when you heat them up so we’ve had to find a solution where we are able to exert extreme fine control over the output frequency and ensure it stays within tolerance.’
A precise linear fine tuning technique has been developed by eoSemi that is currently under patent application. Macbeth added that the method could be applied to a wide variety of silicon-based oscillator circuits to replicate the different frequencies produced by quartz crystals in temperatures ranging from of -40˚C to 85˚C.
The technology has attracted interest from several partners and received funding from venture capital firm, EV. The company plans to use the investment to bring a timing device to market by the end of 2011.
A lighting system developed by a Yorkshire company could one day replace traditional sodium street lights across the UK.
Carbon Reduction Technology (CRT) claims its LED lighting system dubbed ‘e-lamp’ uses up to 75 per cent less electricity than traditional sodium street lights and is much more efficient than other LED lights on the market. CRT co-director William Robson said the e-lamp’s improved efficiency is due to its patented microprocessor, which controls the voltage, current, resistance and working temperature of the LED.
‘We operate our LED lighting system at a much cooler temperature than anybody else,’ he said. ‘That helps with the efficiency.’ Robson added that LEDs are commonly used on walkways and car parks, but street lighting is a relatively new application area. The CRT e-lamps are currently being trialled for this purpose with two local councils.
Following those trials, Robson said CRT plans to market the lights throughout the UK and later India and North America. He added that it will likely be a trend in the near future to switch from traditional sodium street lights to LED. ‘A traditional lamp will last between three and four years,’ said Robson. ‘An LED street lamp will last roughly 50,000 hours, which in the lifetime for the lamp is in the region of around 10 to 12 years.’
Robson added that another advantage is that LEDs emit white light, unlike a sodium street light’s yellow glow. ‘With a white light colour recognition is very good, so if you are using the lights in conjunction with CCTV cameras, there will be better recognition of colours and faces,’ he said.
CRT recently received £300,000 in funding from angel investors Ewin Woodward Development to take the concept further.
The Toptec CR twin-walled outdoor enclosure system from Rittal offers protection for sensitive electronics systems such as those needed for mobile telephony, data transmission or instrumentation. The fully pre-configured outdoor enclosure is based around the company's TS 8 system frame in stainless steel with a fully integrated base/plinth and roof.
The completely welded enclosure body ensures top EMC values and Rittal's TS 8 system technology also guarantees a high level of stability and adaptability thanks to an extensive accessory range, which includes 19in (48mm) mounting angles and mounting plates, lighting, heaters and a variety of gland plates for cable entry at the bottom.
Front and rear doors and side panels are made of galvanised and zinc phosphated sheet steel and, together with an outer aluminium roof, comprise a tough and stable outdoor enclosure.As a result of using the same door cut-outs for the cooling unit and air/air heat exchanger, various climate-control modules can be chosen.
The twin-walled doors reduce the influence of solar radiation (the 'chimney effect'), ensure ideal conditions inside the enclosure and prevent condensation forming.The vented rain canopy, which can be unfastened from inside, also helps reduce the effects of solar radiation and is designed to prevent water building up over the doors.
Multiple units may be bayed together for larger systems as the roof/rain canopy does not extend beyond the side walls.Front and rear doors are each equipped with a swivel handle and a semi-cylinder lock with a security locking mechanism, offering protection against unauthorised entry.
Tiny gaps between the doors and side panels make it difficult to use crowbars or jemmies, giving good protection against vandalism.The Rittal Toptec CR is available in widths of 600mm and 800mm, heights of 1,200mm and 1,600mm and a depth of 600mm.
June '09
Hylec-APL has launched the TEE range of outdoor cable connectors that provide up to IP68 ingress protection with varying cable entry options and up to six-pole connection.
The range uses the cable sealing and cable retention capabilities of the IP68 cable glands combined with transparent threaded connector bodies to provide a completely waterproof connection without external screwed caps.
The range includes cable connectors, plug and socket connectors and junction boxes, all of which are quick and easy to install and offer maximum protection against the weather.
Hylec-APL's range of waterproof cable connectors include the Teetube, Teebox and Teeplug, which are all approved to ISO9002 quality standards.The company said they are well-finished, high-quality products that offer aesthetically pleasing connections.The products are promoted exclusively by Hylec-APL in the UK and are available from national stockists and direct to distributors and contractors from Hylec.
The Teetube cable connector is available with two- or three-way cable entry options and up to six-pole connection.The connectors come in various sizes and can accommodate cables up to 17mm (diameter).The connector is available with a transparent polycarbonate barrel, which allows the connection to be checked without compromising its protection, especially useful when the connection is in a wet environment.
The Teebox range of junction boxes is available in various sizes, including the Mini-Teebox, to make sure that there is ample room provided for wiring.The range of formats includes a simple IP20 two-cable entry product to a fully waterproof IP68 four-cable entry product.Improved safety locking avoids accidental seal removal, although the Teebox is easy to open with the use of a simple tool.
The Teeplug plug and socket connectors are available in a range of sizes and pole configurations designed to accommodate most common electrical cable sizes.The plug and socket connectors are available with varying levels of ingress protection (IP20, IP65 and IP68) ranging from low levels of protection to fully waterproof, capable of remaining underwater for extended periods.
A bulkhead-mountable version is also available with a protective cap provided to close-off access to electrical connections when disconnected.
A Scottish construction company and one of its directors have been convicted of failing to ensure proper health and safety standards after the death of an employee.
Andrezej Freitag, a 53-year-old from Poland, fell nearly three metres down an exhaust shaft at a block of flats being built on Arbroath Road, Dundee. The incident, on 29 May 2008, happened because there was not a robust barrier on the edge of the shaft. Mr Freitag later died from his injuries in Ninewells Hospital.
At Dundee Sheriff Court today, Discovery Homes (Scotland) Limited of High Street Kinross, was fined £5,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Mr Richard Lionel John Pratt, a Director of the same company, who also performed the duties of site manager, was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. This is only the second successful prosecution of a company director in Scotland in six years for a breach of health and safety legislation.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Inspector Murray Provan is now warning construction companies about the risk to their employees working at height.“This accident was entirely foreseeable and preventable,” Mr Provan said.“Mr Freitag died because his employer and the site manager failed to do enough about the risks associated with working at height. “Mr Pratt used the type of barrier normally found at a roadworks site as protection at the top of the shaft, which is totally unsuitable for that purpose.
“He was in charge from the beginning of works and the standard of health and safety management was Mr Pratt’s responsibility. The company’s culpability is wholly attributable to his neglect.”
Meltric has brought out a line of portable power-distribution boxes made of a durable rubber material.
The heavy-duty rubber boxes provide portability, while the switch-rated plugs and receptacles ensure electrical safety and simplify code compliance.
Standard and custom configurations are available with inputs up to 100A and voltages up to 600V.Optional features include mini circuit breakers and duplex receptacles.This product line will allow more facilities to benefit from Meltric's switch-rated plugs and receptacles, which distribute power to welders, lighting, pumps and other electrical equipment.
Meltric's switch-rated plugs and receptacles protect workers by preventing exposure to arc flash and live parts.They feature an integral switching mechanism that ensures the safe make or break of live connections and makes certain that the contacts are dead before the plug can be removed.
They are UL-approved for use as a motor-circuit disconnect switch and as a branch-circuit disconnect switch.
Safety is also assured when re-inserting the plug into the receptacle, because the male contacts do not engage the live female contacts until after they are fully enclosed inside the device's arc chambers, thus preventing outside exposure to arc flash.Meltric receptacles feature a safety shutter that ensures user safety by preventing unintentional finger, tool or wire-access to live parts.
By preventing worker exposure to live parts, the safety shutter can maintain an electrically safe work environment as required in the NFPA 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace.
Since a NFPA 70E defined hazard/risk category of zero is sustained during equipment connection and disconnection, a qualified technician does not have to wear PPE nor follow other cumbersome NFPA 70E-specified safety procedures that are typically necessary for electrical safety during change-outs of hard-wired equipment or equipment connected with pin and sleeve devices.
A University of Nottingham-led project that aims to produce hydrogen by using energy from the sun has won one of E.ON’s annual research awards.
The new process of producing environmentally friendly hydrogen uses three abundant and renewable sources: sunlight, biomass and water.It combines solar-driven cleavage of water and the degradation of organic compounds, avoiding the use of energy derived from fossil fuels and carbon-dioxide emissions.
The E.ON Research Awards this year were based on the application of nanotechnology in the energy sector. The awards were given to nine projects by eleven universities and institutes from six countries — the UK, Sweden, Greece, US, Australia and Germany.
The leader of the hydrogen-production project is Gianluca Li Puma, an expert in photocatalysis and photoreaction engineering in Nottingham’s Energy Technologies Research Institute. The €920,000 (£807,159) project is being carried out in collaboration with Patras University in Greece.
The concept works by collecting energy from the sun through a nano-structured photocatalyst and using it in a photoreactor to release hydrogen from the mixtures of biomass and water.‘Hydrogen production by conventional water-splitting over a nano-structured photocatalyst has been the topic of numerous investigations since the pioneering work of Fujishima and Honda in 1972,’ said Li Puma.
‘However, after initial enthusiasm it was quickly realised that hydrogen-production rates were too modest to warrant scale-up. ‘In contrast, the solar-hydrogen process, which has been demonstrated at a laboratory scale, yields hydrogen at rates up to 100-times greater than with conventional water-splitting, making the process commercially feasible.’
Li Puma’s research group in photocatalysis and photoreaction engineering will lead the work on scale-up of the solar-hydrogen process. This year’s E.ON award is not the first for Nottingham.
In 2008 the university secured two other E.ON Research Awards for energy storage.
Engineers at PowerSi Technologies have developed and patented a device that they claim will revolutionise energy conversion through the intelligent control of power semiconductor devices.
The company was recently founded by Dr Patrick Palmer, reader in electrical engineering, and two of his former PhD students, Dr Zhihan Wang and Dr Yalan Wang, from the electronics, power and energy conversion group of the department of engineering at Cambridge University.
Wang said that the company's Active Voltage Controller (AVC) was the most intelligent controller on the market and could reduce the total cost of a conversion system by 40 per cent, improve the efficiency by 10 per cent, and enhance its reliability.
In use, it drives and controls power semiconductor devices, including insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) through the use of intelligent feedback control, enabling the devices switching performance characteristics to be user defined.
Initially, the company is targeting industrial converters found in renewable energy applications, including wind power, solar energy and hybrid vehicles. The total available market of controllers in these three sectors was worth $1.3bn (£0.9bn) in 2008, of which the company aims to take a 20 per cent slice within five years.
Demonstrator products are currently in production and expected to be adopted to control tens of IGBTs in series connection in a large-capacity static compensator in China, a project funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.
Modular electronics housing system for individual electronics assemblies
Heinz Scharlibbe looks at a new modular electronics housing system which provides a home for individual electronics solutions destined for applications in industry, process automation and building technology.
Weidmüller is introducing a newly developed, modular electronics housing system to the market in the form of its IP20 rated CH20M. CH20M encloses individual electronics assemblies for installation in electrical cabinets or distribution systems.
These electronics housings are simply snapped onto TS 35 top-hat rails. CH20M stands for 'Component Housing IP20 Modular' and offers efficiency and innovative design in equal measure for production and applications.
The new housing standard for electronics components combines standardisation with versatility - in a manner of speaking, the customer receives a 'tailor-made suit with off-the-peg convenience'.
Weidmüller's modular housing concept facilitates a highly individual design - tailored to meet the customer's requirements - extremely functional, efficient and optimised for cost effectiveness. Then there is the scalability of the housing series - at the present time a 6.0mm wide SlimLine housing and a 22.5mm wide module are available ex works.
The housing series will be continually extended. The 22.5mm housing not only offers sufficient space for electronics assemblies but large operating and display surfaces as well. The SlimLine housing has been designed with four connection levels and a total of eight connections.
The compact 22.5mm wide housing is equipped with up to three connection levels - each fitted with a release frame. It has been designed for reliability, a point underlined by a leading contact for reliable separation of the connection and a captive coding system.
The transparent top cover can be removed, printed with individual markings or even sealed - to protect the operating and display elements.
Optionally available pin headers are suitable for SMT/THR reflow technology and can be supplied packaged ready for automatic placement. With every square millimetre of the 7400mm2 PCB board available for use, the placement area is very generously dimensioned. The CH20M offers the manufacturer the advantage that the housing can be tailored exactly to suit his application and not the other way round.
Weidmüller's new CH20M (Component Housing IP20 Modular) accommodates individual, powerful electronics assemblies and components. From the point of view of technology and design, Weidmüller's design engineers have developed a fundamentally new housing concept that sets new standards both in production and in use in applications. In fulfilling existing and future user requirements for innovative 'packaging' of just such electronics components, the CH20M housing series addresses users seeking solutions in industry and process automation as well as building technology. The housing series CH20M has been designed as a compact, modular electronics housing system for individual electronics solutions requiring IP20 protection.
tilising Weidmüller's CH20M enables manufacturers to encase their functional assemblies for installation on TS 35 top-hat rails in electrical cabinets and distributions systems. Presently available are the 6mm SlimLine housing and the 22.5mm wide module housing. The installation depth is 115 mm, the installation height 105mm. The housing series will be scalable and continually extended.
The 6mm housing is equipped with eight connection elements. The connection technology utilised is the clamping yoke (screw) - this having proven its reliability millions of times over. Modularity forms the basis for the flexible housing concept of the 22.5mm module; this includes a varicoloured connection section for unambiguous allocation of functions, optional FE and PE connections as well as variable side panels. Different fronts offer variability in design, function and depths.
The individual colour scheme in the connection sections unambiguously allocates the respective function, for example ATEX or safety switching circuits and so forth. The optional PE (protective earth = earthing contact) and FE contacts (functional earth = shield contact) to the mounting rail extend the range of applications.
Utilising space
The new housing series opens up the greatest possible number of applications and design freedom for device manufacturers. Every square millimetre of the 7400mm2 PCB can be utilised without any restrictions.
Electronics production has also been designed for efficiency, for example automatic placement of the pin headers. The 6mm housing has been designed for the future-orientated THR reflow soldering process.
