Piller France, a subsidiary of Piller, the global power protection leader, has commissioned a Diesel Rotary UPS solution at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (ATB).
The project to secure the power supply to the airport’s runway lighting and landing instrument systems ensures the airport’s power infrastructure complies with European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations.
Located 7km northwest of the city, Toulouse Blagnac Airport serves over nine million passengers in an average year, connecting to more than 70 international destinations.
ATB chose Piller’s UNIBLOCK® electrically coupled diesel rotary UPS over mechanically coupled alternatives for its higher ride-through energy reserve, better efficiency and more cost effective maintenance.
For ATB medium voltage distribution for the runway lighting system includes several step-up and step-down transformers that have to be magnetized autonomously meaning that the UPS must be capable of inherently producing high surge currents. In order to maintain selectivity in all modes of operation, the UPS also has a high short circuit current capability. Both of these critical parameters are comfortably met by the Piller Diesel Rotary UPS.
Another key objective for ATB was to minimise the impact on the environment. The Piller UNIBLOCK® electrically coupled diesel rotary UPS with Powerbridge™ energy storage achieves this by eliminating the need for battery energy storage which in turn significantly cuts down on waste and recycling. This is complimented by lower electrical operating losses saving energy during the whole life of the system. And thirdly, an additional benefit of Piller’s Powerbridge™ kinetic energy store over its rivals is that it ensures emergency diesel starts are kept to an absolute minimum thereby reducing fossil fuel consumption. It accomplishes this by having a much longer full load ride-through before calling for a diesel start.
The 1,000 kilowatt system (enough to power about 1000 homes) was deployed in summer 2020, pre-installed in a standard shipping container in Piller’s factory in Bilshausen, Germany. The standalone containerized solution gives ATB the flexibility of moving the system without incurring additional construction costs.
The system is designed to provide 20+ years life without any drop in capacity. With an operating temperature range that reaches above 40°C, the compact unit with Powerbridge is an especially attractive alternative to batteries in warm and/or cramped environments.
With modern and secure power infrastructure providing improved performance ATB can now accommodate emerging technologies that will be deployed on the airport platform in the future.
The UBTD+ 1.0MW UPS is part of the part of Piller’s electrically coupled UNIBLOCK® UPS family which can accommodate either battery or flywheel energy storage.
1.0MW UNIBLOCK™ system was pre-installed in Piller’s Bilshausen factory. The standalone containerized solution gives ATB the flexibility of moving the system without incurring the construction cost of a new building.
About Piller
Piller is a global watch-word in power protection equipment for mission-critical power applications. Piller’s clients include many of the world’s leading banks and financial institutions, data centre operators, broadcasters, telecom operators and governmental entities. Founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 1909 by Anton Piller, in 1919 the company moved to its current headquarters and production site in Osterode-am-Harz, near Hanover. Today, Piller has a second production facility at nearby Bilshausen and serves its global markets via own sales and service subsidiaries throughout Europe, the USA, Australia, and Asia and elsewhere in the world via a network of distributor partners. In 2016 Piller acquired Active Power, the Austin Texas based flywheel UPS specialist. The Piller group employs around 1000 people worldwide. Piller is a subsidiary of the diverse, privately owned engineering and industrial group, Langley Holdings plc.
