Mobile Power without Flickers and Surges

Whether dropping into a hostile war zone, or providing relief after a hurricane disaster or a terrorist act, our military and civilian first-responders need grid-quality power to operate their equipment.

For a field-based hospital, communications center, or weapons command post – poor power quality can be a nightmare. But current mobile generating systems include a variety of control and conditioning challenges, that produce flickers, spikes, and inconsistent output that challenge the operation of sophisticated electrical equipment.

To find a solution to this increasingly important issue, the US Department of Defense has turned to NextEnergy and a talented team of Michigan electrical systems contractors. Led by Coffman Electric in Grand Rapids and Newkirk Electric in Muskegon, the NextEnergy team is developing a power control and conditioning system that will manage all of these problems. This project is being executed in conjunction with the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and National Automotive Center (NAC), as well as with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

The program capitalizes not only on the expertise of several Michigan companies, but also is advancing several new technologies and new Michigan ventures in the alternative energy industry.

The purpose of the Electrical Power Control & Conditioning (EPCC) module is to manage the power quality of both the upstream generating assets and the downstream loads. EPCC promotes efficient generator fuel use, the seamless integration of alternative power sources, load control and the elimination of the flickers, surges that cause electronic equipment to fail.

Prior to this initiative, no such system existed to reliably control power in the field.

EPCC can concurrently manage electric power from a variety of external resources such as conventional generators using diesel, JP-8 and other diesel fuel blends, fuel cells, wind power, solar power, power exported from vehicles including electric or hybrid electric vehicles, batteries and more. The resultant power is a continuous, transient-free electrical supply that is consistent and compatible with electronic-based system loads.

In short, if you run any and all power sources through EPCC, then the electricity is made smooth and consistent.

The EPCC program is now in the final testing of proof of concept prototype systems. The one-piece module is housed in an ISO container and can be lifted onto a flatbed trailer or loaded into a military transport aircraft. It is designed to operate 24 hours a day with minimal maintenance.

EPCC can be manufactured in a variety of sizes from Tactical power levels at less than 200KW to Main Expeditionary Base power levels between 250 and 500KW to Installation power levels at greater than 1 MW.