The two companies signed an agreement in 1999 to develop and market a fully integrated flywheel UPS system designed and manufactured to Caterpillar specifications and based on Active Power’s patented flywheel technology. The agreement was recently expanded to accommodate the new enhanced UPS product line that began shipping in North America in December 2000 and in Europe in the first quarter of 2001.
The strategic alliance between Caterpillar and Active Power is a cornerstone for Cat’s growth strategy to rapidly lead the worldwide, power quality industry with a complete Caterpillar solution,” said Jim Parker, director of Caterpillar Electric Power. Caterpillar is an industry leader in distributed power due to low operating costs, proven reliability and global distribution and support, along with the broadest product line designed to meet all customer power supply needs.”
Cat UPS features advanced power conditioning, high overload capacity and environmentally tolerant design to provide complete power protection from the smallest power disturbances to the longest of prolonged outages when integrated with a standby generator set. Cat UPS boasts an industry-leading 97 percent efficiency compared to 90 to 94 percent for conventional UPS systems. Ideal for both new and existing facilities, Cat UPS offers redundant and field-expandable options to meet the rigorous demands of today’s mission critical operations.
Cat UPS holds numerous competitive advantages over conventional systems, including small footprint requirements, fast recharge, greater temperature tolerance, minimal maintenance, improved reliability, higher efficiency, minimal heat rejection, gen-set compatibility, gen-set start feature, high overload capability and unlimited cycle life. These advantages correlate to more reliable protection of critical power at lower cost to the end-user. Cat UPS product line can be expanded up to 1800 kVA for 60 Hz and 1500 kVA for 50 Hz applications.
The recent expansion of the Cat UPS product line further validates our flywheel technology, opening our flywheel-based products up to a global market and makes our firm a recognized player in the expanding UPS industry,” emphasized Joe Pinkerton, founder and chief executive officer of Active Power. The growing need for highly reliable electric power is a major issue at advanced data and telecommunications centers, broadcasting facilities and mission-critical operations such as medical campuses.”
Cat UPS was recognized by R&D magazine as one of the most technologically significant new product developments in 2000. Earlier this month at the National Plant Engineering Show 2001 in Chicago, Plant Engineering magazine announced the Caterpillar Uninterruptible Power Supply 250 (Cat UPS 250) as a 2000 Plant Engineering Product of the Year Awards winner.
The expanded Cat UPS product line, designed and manufactured to Caterpillar specifications by Active Power, provides stored standby power that is immediately available to cover any utility-power voltage surge, sag or outage. The online system senses the interruption and stored energy from the flywheel is instantly converted to electricity to power the critical load during utility disturbances or until a standby generator takes over.
