Page 5 - NewsLester Issue 03

A REGENERATIVE WAY TO LOWER ENERGY BILLS
Regenerative energy solutions for lifts have been around for some time now, but are not yet fully taken advantage of in the industry. So with rising costs, now may be the right time to consider the options.
One of the solutions now offered by Lester Controls
is Green Gem, a high-efficiency bi-directional DC /
DC convertor, integrating an energy storage module
of ultracapacitors. Green Gem only requires a simple connection of the unit to most VVVF drives, to transform the lift into a regenerative one with energy storage.
How Green Gem Works
It’s simple and efficient, Green Gem stores what would
otherwise be wasted energy on a downward trip and
returns it to the VF drive, to be utilised on the next upwards journey. With energy savings of up to 70% with no harmonic distortion and negligible standby consumption and Green Gem’s simple two-wire connection, the unit is ideal for many new and existing VF drives.
In operation, the DC Bus of the VF drive system automatically analyses and stores the regenerative energy in Green Gem’s ultracapacitors. The system then continues to analyse the DC Bus and returns the power, when there is a consumption requirement.
The ultracapacitors modules offer better power density and life cycling features than that of batteries, thus making them the best possible solution for fast charging and discharging applications such as those in lifts.
Benefits
• Ultracapacitors require no maintenance.
• Simple integration both in new and existing lifts.
• Solar panel connection is also available to top up the
ultracapacitors, where there is no lift movement.
COMING IN 2022
ALMEGA II HALL-CALL
As many of you will know, we have been developing an ALMEGA II hall-call solution with renowned lift technology experts, Peters Research. Due to the various COVID-19 limitations we have all experienced over the past 20 or
so months, the launch date for this important ALMEGA II additional feature, alas had to be pushed back.
However, over the 18 months at our Lutterworth R&D facility, we have completed numerous amounts of functional system testing, working as part of a scaled-down lift shaft, produced at Lutterworth. This pre-site testing has been undertaken to help highlight any potential software errors that may occur in an operational environment.
The next phase is to install a fully functional ALMEGA II hall-call solution in an operational building. With this in place and for a period of six months, we will be able to evaluate its performance and compare it to the high levels of reliability that we have achieved in testing at Lutterworth.
We would like to thank the various external organisations including Peters Research, who have and are assisting in facilitating this important part of our testing and quality processes.
We anticipate that the new ALMEGA II hall-call solution will have its debut during the Autumn of 2022.
NEWSLESTER Issue 3 :: Page 5