Government & Education Flywheel UPS Solutions

Customer:

U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM), Fort Monmouth, NJ

Product Highlighted:

Flywheel UPS

Business Challenge:

The U.S. Army Command at Fort Monmouth hosts nearly 5,000 soldiers and civilians, including the Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM). CECOM provides America's military with the architectural framework and systems engineering necessary to ensure joint interoperability and horizontal technology integration across its weapons platforms.

"Our technology initiatives are front and center on the Army's radar screen, [as] evidenced by the fact that CECOM manages half of the Army's 18 advanced technology demonstrations, 42 science and technology objective programs, and many other R&D programs which significantly benefit the joint war-fighter," said Maj. Gen. William H. Russ. Weapons systems ranging from the Apache helicopter to the M1 A1 Abrahams tank to the Patriot missile rely upon CECOM operating system components.

Given this ever-increasing strategic dependence upon information technology, a crucial responsibility for Fort Monmouth is guaranteeing CECOM's uptime and connectivity to the Army's strategic posts around the world and to government entities such as Congress. "Given the importance of our mission, we need reliable power," said John Alexoudis, Electrical/Mechanical Team Leader for the Directorate of Public Works at Fort Monmouth.

Active Power Solution:

To ensure the performance of their communications system, Fort Monmouth found they needed to replace their old uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units. Active Power's CleanSource technology offered the base a "green" solution to their backup power needs that also resolved floorspace and maintenance issues they were experiencing with their battery-based UPS.

Since the Flywheel UPS has a smaller footprint than an equivalent battery-based UPS and, unlike batteries, can operate in ambient temperatures of up to 104 degrees, Fort Monmouth was able to re-purpose their battery room and lower their HVAC demands. This produced an immediate cost savings. Further, the base can now avoid the recurring cost and risk of removing and disposing of lead-acid batteries every 3 years, due to their limited life cycle.

Most significantly, however, is the fact that the flywheel-based UPS operates at an efficiency rating of up to 98% as compared to typical battery-based systems that usually rate between 86% and 93% efficient. With reliability demands that simply cannot be compromised, Fort Monmouth quickly found Active Power's CleanSource technology to be their optimal solution.