Creating High-Quality Batteries, Sustainably
When you walk through the lab at EnerSys® global headquarters in Reading, PA, you’ll encounter a variety of top-tier engineers and scientists creating and testing some of the world’s best and most reliable energy storage hardware. Because customers utilize EnerSys batteries at such high capacity and voltage, we must be able to test our products in situations that mimic exactly how customers would be utilizing the batteries in real-world scenarios.
That’s why Roy Miller, a Lab Technician responsible for electronic calibrations and repairs, sought out and installed a high-voltage inverter system in the lab in 2017. In the inverter system, EnerSys engineers can test large, 480-volt strings of batteries that customers typically use in utility and industrial applications. The best part about it is that when we perform these tests, the inverter system enables a large part of the Reading campus to draw power from the system so that electricity does not go to waste.
Russ Coller with the high-voltage inverter system.
Previously, when testing high-capacity batteries in the lab, the energy from the batteries would need to be dissipated as heat, requiring complex systems of fans and cooling technologies. These systems were, in turn, powered by additional energy from the grid making the entire process extremely energy intensive.
However, since implementing the high-voltage system, EnerSys is now able to cool energy expenditure and power the headquarters. Russ Coller, an EnerSys engineer, noted that “It’s really amazing to have this piece of equipment that allows us to see and test our batteries in real world applications. This helps us go beyond numbers and voltage calculations on paper – we can actually see our batteries doing the job and doing the job well in a way that is better from the environment than it was before.”
Sustainability is a priority at EnerSys, and it pushes our teams to constantly develop more innovative solutions for our customers in a way that makes our processes more efficient and resilient.