IPC Rackmount / Server Case

we create a robust case for the energy storage field. It provides great protection to the fragile batteries, including thickened case body to prevent penetration, optimized fire stop strategy while keeping the cooling ability, and an anti-corrosion coating to resist the damage from the harsh environment. The enclosure is easy to assemble and maintain, suitable for any battery storage application.

Super storm, unusual flood, record breaking heatwaves, those rare phenomenon in the past have been occurring commonly in recent years. Thousands of people lost their home and government spending on recovery kept rising. We’re facing the severe weather caused by the climate change.

In 2016, 195 country leaders signed the Paris Agreement, promising to reduce the impact of the climate change by controlling the temperature increasement under 2℃ or 1.5℃ to the record before Industrial Revolution by 2030. In this agreement, there’s an important 20/20/20 targets, which meant it must achieve the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20%, the increasement of renewable energy's market share to 20%, and a 20% increasement in energy efficiency. This important target has then become the central principle in many countries’ carbon emission reduction policy.

Though the target seemed easy to achieve, there are challenges when realizing. Most challenges come from the nature limitation of the renewable power source. To solve it, a new energy system must be introduced in.

The popular renewable energy source nowadays includes hydraulic, wind, solar and geothermal power. Among the options, the hydraulic power and geothermal power are the most stable choice, and both have been widely established for years. Some are even the main power generating utilities in some area, such as the hydraulic power plant near the Niagara Falls. However, the sites are restricted. Not every place is suitable to build the hydraulic or geothermal power station. They both need special geometric condition. Sometimes, it may have severe environmental problems like the hazardous gas leakage, especially for the geothermal power plant. It is not practical to raise the green energy share by building hydraulic power and geothermal power plants.

Fortunately, with the power generating efficiency improved, wind and solar power became a worth-considering solution.

The wind and solar power have the following benefits. First, they are sizable. People can buy the suitable power generator set based on the space they want to install. This important feature gives the wind and the solar power the flexibility. Second, the site requirement is not high compared to other energy source. Because the sunshine and the wind are so easy to access, the wind turbine and the sun power panel can be set at almost every place. Wrong place only limits their efficiency. Last, they are affordable. With the mature of the fabrication and design, the cost of each set drops quickly. Take small generator sets for example. Even normal household can afford it. Having the benefits, the wind and solar power spread widely and quickly. They turn to be the main substitutional energy every policy maker considers.

However, the challenges come after. The efficiency of wind and the solar energy are easily affected by the weather and the time. The power output is not stable. If we directly link the renewable power station into the power grid, the instability will increase the burden of the power system. In worst case, it may cause massive blackout. Therefore, it is essential to have advanced power management system to help regulate the power generation between traditional power plant (nuclear, fire or gas) and the renewable energy.

Most of the time, only the power management system is not enough. Due to the design, the solar and wind power plants are lack of the protection and are more fragile than the tradition power plants. The sudden incident may cause the unrecoverable power drop and destroy the system. To further stabilize the power output and prevent the fluctuation of the power system, the energy storage system must be taken into consideration.

The energy storage system works just like a huge capacity. It can storage the overdue power when the renewable energy generator run in peak while the power demand is supplied by the traditional power plants. When the power demand comes in cloudy or no wind weather, or in night, the energy storage system can release the power it saved before to fill the demand. By this way, the power harvested by the renewable power harvesters can be fully used. No energy will waste because of the over generating. The traditional power plant can also work less, reducing the carbon emission. At this viewpoint, we can say the energy storage system plays the key role in the renewable energy industry.

Interestingly, the energy storage system doesn’t work just like a huge capacity, itself is the cluster of a bunch of batteries. To fix and protect the fragile batteries, a multiple layer structure was proposed. It aims to prevent the fire safety risks. In nowadays energy storage station, it consists of at least 4 layers from bottom to top: the batteries, the battery modules, the module racks, and a container.

To understand the consideration behind the multilayer structure, we must first understand the battery. The batteries in energy storage station can be divided into two main group: one is the lithium-ion based battery and the other one is the hydrogen fuel cell.

The hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its main fuel as it names. It generates energy when the hydrogen ion react with the oxygen and its only product is water. Though the whole process is clean, it is hard to be popularized. The main challenge comes from the high cost of the transport facilities and the storage facilities. Because hydrogen is highly active, it will need higher energy to isolate the hydrogen. The requirement of electrolyzing electrode is also high. It must use platinum as the catalyst. To further prevent the leakage and accident, air-proof and fire safe facilities has also need to be considered in the transport and the storage facilities. All these requirements increase the difficulties to commercialize the hydrogen fuel cell energy storage solution.

On the contrary, the lithium-ion based battery energy storage solution is more accessible. First, the lithium-ion battery has been widely adopted in the electronic devices, from mobile phone to the electric car. Most issues are known and preventable. As the characteristics of the lithium-ion battery is fully understood, it is a reliable choice for the energy storage. Second, the cost is competitive. Compared to other energy storage solution, the price of the lithium-ion battery is cheaper. The price drops quickly by year with the increasing adoption of the lithium-ion battery. It may be the key reason that makes the lithium-ion battery solution so appealing. Last, it is easy to transport the lithium-ion batteries. This is especially important because no extra cost or facilities will be required to storage the batteries when transporting to the site. The whole building progress can be totally controlled. Based on these reasons, applying the lithium-ion battery in energy storage field is an unstoppable trend.