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Freqcon Extends Pitch Retrofit Offer for Wind Turbines

Rethem, Germany - In wind turbines powerful pitch systems are decisive for power control or power limitation. At high wind speeds they also ensure that the rotor blades are turned out of the wind and brought into a safe position.

In order to be able to turn wind turbines safely out of the wind even in the event of a grid failure, pitch backup facilities are very important as part of the pitch system. Freqcon GmbH has expanded its range of high-performance pitch retrofit systems based on ultracapacitors.

One of the core competences of Freqcon GmbH from Rethem in Lower Saxony is the field of highly efficient MW-scale power based on leading edge technology. The company now announced the announced the introduction of the 30 Nm GE Pitch Retrofit System for GE Wind Turbines in addition to the existing Pitch Backup System (PBS) for GE 20 Nm and for GE SSB based pitch systems.

The retrofit modules are drop-in solutions that replace fielded batteries. According to Freqcon, they fit seamlessly into the wind turbine’s existing emergency power unit. Freqcon has developed the pitch retrofit system based on ultracapacitors to ensure high availability and reduce the number of service calls due to possible battery failure of the pitch system.

Following the acquisition of Maxwell Technologies, Freqcon will take over the sales and support of the pitch retrofit systems

The ultracapacitor technology used by Freqcon for the pitch systems has a wider functional temperature range (-40 to 65°C) compared to battery technology. This enables fast charging and discharging. In addition, the ultracapacitors have a much longer lifetime than conventional batteries. Freqcon was one of the first companies to establish full power converters and ultracapacitor-based pitch systems for wind turbines on the market almost 30 years ago, Freqcon says. To date more than 900 wind turbines have been equipped with Freqcon's pitch retrofit systems.



Source: IWR Online, 12 Mar 2020

 


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