Hire and Rental News - August 2019

EQUIPMENT HALF PAGE Hybrid Energy System for the temporary power market US based manufacturer, Powr2 for construction and temporary power requirements, is resolving the common problems of wet stacking and servicing issues for rental providers when renting generators. T oby Nunn, Powr2’s Director of Operations said a common situation for rental companies is in this example. “At a recent project, a rental company was running some office trailers using a 56kW generator. Inside the construction trailers were the usual items: air conditioners, computer servers, some security cameras, kitchen appliances etc. In order to keep the computers and alarms working seamlessly, the generator needed to be running 24/7,” Toby said. “However, this was causing the rental provider with significant wet stacking and servicing issues. “Our clients obviously have to size the generator based on the highest possible power that may be required. So, in this instance they had to assume all the lights would be on, as well as the air conditioners, microwaves, kettles, at the same time. In reality, this rarely happens, so the generator is spending a lot of time running on low loads. This leads to a condition called wet stacking which is very harmful to the engine and can shorten the engines life by many years. This condition is further exacerbated by the new T4F engines that require a certain amount of load/ heat for the exhaust regen stream to work effectively. “In addition to this, our clients have certain service intervals they are required to keep up with, whether that be 200 hours, 300 hours or whatever they decide. When the generator is running 24hours a day, this can mean servicing is a regular task. In this instance the site was in a remote location, so attending regularly for servicing was a big cost.” Tony said the Powr2 Hybrid Energy System (HES) was able to solve these issues and more in one simple play. “In much the same way as a hybrid car runs off battery power and only starts the engine when additional power or speed is required, the Powr2 HES will power electrical loads, that are usually powered by a diesel generator, until the battery is depleted or the power spikes above what the HES can manage; the HES will then automatically call for the generator to start up. “Wet stacking is eliminated. The HES carries all of the low loads, allowing the generator to be turned off for long periods of time. The HES can set the incoming current limit from the generator to ensure the generator runs at just the right level of load. “Service intervals are increased by six times. With the Hybrid system taking the load the generator running time was cut significantly meaning the operator was attending site once every 60 days instead of once every 10 days. “Reduction in fuel usage and the resulting carbon emissions savings saved both the client money and reduced environmental impact,” Tony said. The Powr2 HES is not available in Australia currently but the company is in talks with potential distributors and has a model suitable for the Australian market in development for launch later in the year or early 2020. n Visit: www.powr2.com HIRE AND RENTAL NEWS AUGUST 2019 P65 Hire & Rental Magazine has been bringing you the latest on the hire and rental market for over 50 years. Now Hire&Rental news.com.au is coming soon The place to get informed about news, events, policy and legislative changes impacting the hire and rental industry hireandrentalnews.com.au