'what everyone's been waiting for'
September 1st 2009 By scheduling charging to avoid
costly spikes in electricity demands
and ensuring the correct rotation of
batteries, EnerSys' PowerNet brings
control and significant savings to
battery fleet management.
Management reports can be accessed
remotely via a LAN or internet
connection.
"This is what everyone working in
motive power has been waiting for,"
reckons John Lawton, EnerSys
European Marketing Director.
"Scheduling power consumption to
minimise peak charges while
achieving optimum life and service
from batteries is the goal of good
battery management."
PowerNet software runs on a
standard PC and automatically
switches chargers on and off at the
best time to maintain electricity
consumption within desired
parameters. Spikes in electricity use
can be very costly so different power
thresholds, set for certain times of
the day and night, take advantage of
off-peak electricity rates and reduce
consumption during peak rate.
PowerNet is compatible with up to
10 battery families and 500+
chargers. Communication between
chargers and the PC is automatic –
no data input is required. Each
battery family and the types of truck
are given names to enable their easy
identification. This data is displayed
on a battery room screen that shows
the next battery to be used, available
batteries and battery equalisation
charging and defaults. Battery
selection is simple; truck drivers just
need to look at a screen to select the
next battery for use. It is therefore no
longer necessary to dedicate batteries
to specific trucks. Because battery
charging and rotation as well as
equalisation charging are managed
by PowerNet, battery performance
and service life is improved. More articles from Enersys Ltd: | 
