Mar 5 2008
American Superconductor Corporation, a leading energy technologies company, announced today that it has received its first orders from the commercial marine market for its proprietary PowerModule-based electrical systems. These systems will be utilized to manage more than 30 megawatts (MW) of power aboard three mega-yachts and one river cruiser being built in Europe.
PowerModule converters are power dense and programmable, allowing them to be readily customized for many electrical applications. In these first shipboard applications, the PowerModule-based integrated electrical systems will enable reliable, high-performance operation of the ships' propulsion motors, diesel generators and power distribution systems by controlling power flows, regulating voltage and monitoring system performance to maximize efficiency. AMSC will deliver all of the electrical systems in 2009.
AMSC developed its PowerModule converter technology in 2000 and has sold thousands of the systems worldwide for use in a wide variety of applications, including wind turbines, hydro-electric generators, energy storage systems, fuel cells, utility-grade voltage regulation systems and military pulsed-power systems. PowerModule technology was further developed by AMSC for the U.S. Navy's Power Electronics Building Blocks ("PEBB") program under a contract with the Office of Naval Research for use in military marine applications.
"These first orders for shipboard power management and control systems are a testament to the versatility of AMSC's PowerModule power electronic converters," stated Chuck Stankiewicz, executive vice president and general manager of AMSC's Power Systems business unit.
"Our use of a proprietary printed circuit board design for power converters with ratings of hundreds of kilowatts is unique. This approach allows us to integrate a microprocessor into the converter, which enables us to program these systems to meet the needs of many end-use applications."
AMSC also recently received an order for its PowerModule power converters and PowerModule System Developer Kit (SDK) from a Canadian maritime engineering firm. Utilizing the SDK, which speeds and simplifies the development of power conversion systems, the customer will utilize PowerModule converters to interface with the batteries used to power tugboats, increasing their efficiency and making them more environmentally-friendly. The customer selected PowerModule technology because of its flexibility and AMSC's unique ability to rapidly deliver customized power electronic solutions.
AMSC's PowerModule power converters switch, control and modulate power. Ratings of individual PowerModule converters, which are among the most power dense systems available on the market, range from 60 kilowatts (kW) to 750 kW. These systems can be stacked together like building blocks and interact with each other by way of optical fiber telecommunications to provide multi-megawatt power management systems.
They can be operated remotely and be quickly configured to support AC-AC, AC-DC, DC-DC, or DC-AC power conversion types.