View Hybrid Power Benefits with our In House Testing Facility.
How would you like to see the savings your boats could make by using hybrid power more effectively? We now offer a unique testing facility for boat builders where they can take data logged from boats in the field and then replicate the loads through a programmable loadbank. The loadbank will apply steps in 100 watt steps from 0 to 300 kW in a repeatable way so that fuel use and running hours can be trialled with different system components to achieve the blend of power sources and silent running times that you are looking for. The testing facility has advanced fuel flow monitoring as well as the programmable loadbank and 30 kW of DC to AC conversion equipment – ensuring complete and thorough testing.
We are already working with UK clients to mimic real life information and demonstrate to end customers the potential benefits of various stages of Hybrid set-up. This consultancy and testing facility is unique and provides a significant extra dimension to the product distribution and system design capabilities that customers know us for.
We have developed the testing facility in response to a sharp increase in interest in Hybrid power solutions. Of course boat electrical systems have always had an element of Hybrid about them. - a mixture of shore-power, generator power and battery stored power is a traditional set-up on board most larger pleasure boats, as well as small commercial craft. The real change is the appetite of customers to really integrate these systems to achieve notable fuel savings, lower generator running hours and, as a by-product of these, lower emissions.
A good example of this is to look at a modern 10 Kw marine generator - it will peak in its overall efficiency towards full load. Even at this peak the useful electricity produced is only 24% of the energy in the fuel! Run the generator at 30% load and the efficiency drops to 15%. This is an increase in emissions per kWh of electricity of 60%. So by using high output DC-AC inverter / chargers, such as the 8 Kw Victron Quattro, boat builders can run generators for shorter periods at high load (at highest efficiency) and deliver substantial amounts of power from the batteries at other times.
It is all the same ingredients that customers are familiar with – but selected to work elegantly together to achieve maximum performance for minimum fuel.