The PowerShield8 Battery Management System comprises of robust hardware in the form of a PowerShield8 controller, hub, and battery sensors for permanent connection to a UPS or standby power system battery. The data collected can be used to show the health of a battery set, battery string and individual battery blocks in real-time and historically and provide predictive analytics. Server Room Environments provides a complete design and installation for the PowerShield8 system.
PowerShield8 Controllers
The Controller is an intelligent hardware device that at four second intervals captures, processes and stores all relevant data collected from batteries and the operating environment via the Hubs and mSensors. PowerShield8 controllers are available in two sizes:
- Controller MX: small to medium size battery systems of up to 4 strings
- Controller LX: for larger configurations of up to 8 strings of batteries
The Controller captures, processes, and stores data from the Hubs and mSensors. This includes battery voltage (DC and ripple), impedance and temperature, string voltage and current (DC and ripple), humidity, plus ambient temperature.
PowerShield Controller Key Features
- Simple installation, minimal cabling, and the capability to monitor UPS batteries that are up to 8 strings per system
- Battery behaviour captured accurately through non-latching alarms, providing high resolution record of battery readings that cross two level alarm limits. Also captures the extreme values recorded during alarms
- A user-friendly web interface with smartphone/tablet friendly status screens
- Dry contact inputs for monitoring battery breaker status, door status, electrolyte level sensors or other 3rd party devices
- Integration with infrastructure management systems enabled with built-in protocols (SNMP, Modbus TCP, and HTTP)
- Access options for non-networked sites, including LCD version of the Controller LX with keypad access, and simplified data collection option with USB port
PowerShield8 mSensors
mSensors are connected to each battery block being monitored. The mSensors gathers data from the connected battery in terms of individual voltage (DC and ripple), impedance (Ohmic value) and temperature . Compatible batteries include VRLA, VLA and Ni-Cd batteries.
The mSensor incorporates advanced circuits to drive fast data sampling and powerful measurement algorithms. 750Vdc optical isolation inside the mSensor protects from dangerous voltages at the battery and away from the operator, whilst ensuring battery data is passed to the monitoring system at speed.
The mSensor is designed for use with batteries in racks and cabinets. The mSensor comes with pre-terminated harnesses, that make installation ‘plug and play’.
PowerShield8 mSensor Key Features
- Ni-Cd, 2Vdc, 4Vdc, 6Vdc, 8Vdc, 12Vdc and 16Vdc solutions
- Temperature measured at negative terminal as per IEEE guidelines
- On-board high precision reference for impedance self-calibration
- Simultaneous voltage sampling across all batteries
- Factory terminated harness
- Cabinet or rack compatible
- 750Vdc optical isolation
PowerShield8 Hubs
The Hubs connect the various data points on a battery string required to provide an accurate view of the present and future state of the batteries. The use of a Hub reduces the need for extra cabling. The Hub allows for more batteries to be added to every cable. The Hub connects to the Controller and external sensors to measure current and ambient temperature, and has an on-board sensor to gauge humidity, communicating this data to the Controller for aggregation.
PowerShield8 Link battery management software
The Link battery management software provides alerts and dashboards to show the health and performance of a monitored battery system. The data collected and reported allows informed decisions to be taken to ensure battery runtime and manage future battery replacements. The Link software application manages the PowerShield8 Controller and records all battery readings in its database for viewing, trending, and reporting. The software can also send key information to building control rooms and facility management systems. The software can be used to monitor multiple sites and provide data access to multiple users.
Link Software Key Features
- Permanent connection to multiple sites for an unlimited number of batteries
- Reduce the cost of manual monitoring and intervention including associated health and safety risks
- Discharge – individual events in detailed activity summary
- Trending – impedance change, end-of-life, charge voltage and temperature
- Graphing and analysis tools
- Real time battery status
- Remote access via LAN
- Alarm and activity log
- Live discharge data
