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Renewable Energy Expo 2018 begins at Greater Noida on Sept18
Navneet Kr. Gupta
Newswave@ New Delhi
IIT-Hyderabad incubated startup PuREnergy has developed Lithium batteries and is commercially launching them during the Renewable Energy Expo 2018 that begins at Greater Noida on 18th September. While the current models of Lithium batteries in the market are expensive, PuREnergy plans to make them available at economical prices due to their strong design capabilities and in-house product development.
Founded in 2016 by Dr. Nishanth Dongari, Assistant Professor, Deptt .of Mechanical and Aerospace Engg., IIT Hyderabad, PuREnergy has designed and assembled Lithium batteries with wide applications in fields from agriculture to aerospace.
Close discussion with defence laboratories
Dr. Nishanth Dongari said, “We are also in close discussion with few defence laboratories for our battery applications in tanks, missiles, and communication Equipment. They need to work under harsh environmental conditions, reduce the weight by four times compared to lead acid technology and deliver high discharge currents, which is to be achieved by doping of anodes and cathodes.”
The startup has been one of the pioneers in developing solar hybrid systems combining solar PV with battery back-up and grid synchronization. It has served more than 100 clients in sectors as varied as Telangana Government, pharmaceuticals, real estate, hospitals and non-governmental organizations at the national level.
Mr Rohit Vadera, CEO, PuREnergy, said, “We have already deployed products in our own solar hybrid projects. With the tremendous increase of excess solar power supply in the day time, the demand for MWH storage solutions is increasing to stabilize the Grid across 24 x 7. We intend to become reliable and quality focused players in the MWH storage market, with the strong backing from academia and our prior operational experience in the MW scale solar projects.”
The team has built expertise in the battery design by choosing application specific cell chemistry to offer lower total cost of ownership, efficient thermal management systems to enhance life by 50 per cent for Indian conditions. It also offersin-house testing and service facilities to achieve better warranty period. The products are currently available in 0.2 KWH to 2 KWH (Agriculture Drones, Automobile), 2 to 20 KWH (Aerospace, Electric Autos & Carriers, Telecom and Household), and 50 to 500 KWH (Residential Societies, data centers and industrial entities).
Unique Lithium batteries
PuREnergy strongly feels that battery swapping stations will also pick up in India, as battery charging at room temperature increases the life by 50 per cent compared to charging them at hotter ambient conditions. Their research investigations also found interesting behaviors of Lithium batteries. For example, the life cycle of a typical EV Battery is found around 2500 if a normal charging station used, while it dramatically reduces to 500 if an ultra-fast charger is used to charge the same battery.
“Hence, active balance battery management systems are implemented in our products and their parameters are optimized through rigorous data analytics by simulating thousands of practical scenarios,” added Dr. Nishanth Dongari.
