GE Durathon batteries successfully power underground mining scoop
12 September 2013
In trials, GE’s sodium metal halide Durathon batteries (earlier post) have successfully powered GE Mining’s Scoop, an underground vehicle that transports mining materials, at Coal River Energy, LLC in Alum Creek, West Virginia. GE Mining and GE’s Energy Storage, two businesses within GE Transportation, collaborated to combine the Durathon battery with GE’s Invertex electric underground propulsion system to develop a more advanced and efficient mining scoop.
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| The Durathon-powered Scoop at work. Click to enlarge. |
Invertex Electric Drive Systems feature a compact variable frequency combo-drive that controls the traction and pump motors and is designed to improve wheel slip and speed-on-grade. The traction motor features frameless construction to reduce overall weight, a waterproof design to withstand wet conditions and an easy-access connection cavity.
The advanced, scalable system controller offers multiple communications protocol channels, and a compact smart display shows real-time vehicle and system diagnostics. All components are designed to work as an integrated unit, making it possible to fine tune algorithms for optimal performance.
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| Sodium-metal halide cell basic chemistry. Click to enlarge. |
The Durathon Battery energy storage system replaces lead-acid battery systems with non-toxic sodium-nickel chemistry. GE’s Durathon battery technology features a number of benefits that make the technology faster, cleaner and better than traditional batteries, including at least 40% more operating range. The battery is 25% smaller and 50% lighter than traditional lead-acid batteries, enabling more energy to be stored in a smaller space. The battery-powered scoop operates more effectively in extreme temperatures and requires no cooling and minimal maintenance.
Additionally, the battery contains no lead acid materials. This eliminates the release of gases when charging, removes explosive fuel sources underground and reduces mineworker exposure to diesel particulate matter – three key safety priorities for the mining industry.
GE Mining acquired Fairchild’s underground mining equipment in 2012. Following the acquisition, GE Mining initiated a program to combine the Fairchild underground mining scoop together with GE’s Invertex underground propulsion system and Durathon battery technology into an advanced underground mining solution.
The scoop performed well and we are eager to see the final product. The lightweight, high density battery’s ability to reduce maintenance and charging time while allowing for easier maneuverability will provide advantages over today’s lead-acid scoops.
—Carl Estep, maintenance manager at Coal River Energy, LLC.
GE Mining will continue testing this technology; the Durathon battery-powered scoop is expected to be available in 2014.
Clean, high-tech systems used to mine dirty old coal. Oh well, maybe we will get some positive spin-offs.
Posted by: sd | 12 September 2013 at 09:44 AM
This type of battery was first invented by FORD as the sodium sulphur battery for automobiles. The nickel chloride version was invented and improved later in various places including South Africa and then the UK and intended mainly for and tested in many automobiles The latest was the THINK in Europe. There may be a few other electric vehicles sold in Europe with the Mes-Dea ZEBRA version of the battery. The limited production volumes of the cells made the batteries expensive, but the raw materials cost is quite low. These batteries could be made without nickel, only iron, but the cost of the nickel is low as much less is used than in NICADs for the same energy. The main, perhaps unexpected, use of these batteries is to provide cellphone tower power where diesel fuel is saved with no grid or faulty grid charging operation. GE bought the UK development corporation after testing the MES-DEA cells for mining trucks and hybrid diesel electric locomotives. Rolls-Royce sells units made by Mes-Dea for submarines and ships. They are suitable for all climates because of the necessity of very good high temperature insulation and can be cooled by the hottest air in any climate. I hope that someone will make a unit that fits in Prius to convert such vehicle to plug-in-electric where it will keep the original battery charged so the engine need not run often.
The very large cells made by NGK are sodium sulphur and a bit cheaper and used for grid backup. Their recent fires are not of much concern for the DURATHON because the material do not burn like sulphur, and also NGK has remade the cells to have better fusing and construction.
The very large installation of NGK cells at a wind farm have been proved by nature to be in the wrong location as they could have saved the Japanese reactors during the earthquake. TEPCO funded the NGK batteries. TEPCO also had engineers who designed reactor cooling systems that ran on steam and needed no motors and no moving parts and published papers on their proposal that claimed that the reactor would be cheaper to build and smaller for the same power output. Look up their old papers. The balloonist Henri Giffard developed the original widely used version over a century and a half ago for steam locomotives at far lower pressures. A US Mr. Nicodemus invented higher pressure injectors that might be able to be used for steam power plants according to TEPCO researchers.
Durathon batteries should find a place in most UPS and emergency lighting systems. FZSONICK now has a version of their ZEBRA for railway passenger cars emergency lights. One in the home could power directly many US style Compact Fluorescent Lamps for days from its direct current outputs without inverter. Many electronic power supplies for hand held electronics will also run directly from batteries.
The DURATHON battery can revolutionize light rail traffic and eliminate the cost of many miles of centenary or third rail and also be valuable for goods heavy traffic. The ZEBRA battery has been used in many hybrid multiple passenger vehicles and a few full electric ones. Small limited range cheap electric vehicles, always with tiny range extenders, are suitable for most automobile trips. Perhaps the UK BLADON turbine can be made much smaller and cheaper. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 13 September 2013 at 07:23 PM
Actually it takes about as many BTUs of oil as it does BTUs of Coal to make the same amount of electricity. Coal is burned very cleanly in the synfuels plant in North Dakota. The CO2 is captured and half of it is sold by pipeline to Canadian oil producers. There will be much demand for the rest of it in a few years when the flow of Dakota oil slows. The SO2 is captured by law, but it is sold to farmers as solid ammonium suphate fertilizer. Many tons of Ammonia are sold in this form and in liquid form to produce much maize for bio ethanol. Ammonia can be used as a ZERO local carbon release fuel directly in automobiles.
The flaring or simple release of production gases for oil and the other losses in shipping and refining and use lets the CO2 release of the use of oil be very high compared to coal used in power plants. You would much rather clean up a ton of coal from your house than a ton of un-refined or refined crude oil.
Fast driving in high powered automobiles as is permitted in Germany and now in the US is the dirtiest use of any fuel if CO2 is dirt. The efficiency of the engine is low and the efficiency of the travel style is very low. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 13 September 2013 at 07:52 PM
This type of battery was first invented by FORD as the sodium sulphur battery for automobiles. The nickel chloride version was invented and improved later in various places including South Africa and then the UK and intended mainly for and tested in many automobiles The latest was the THINK in Europe. There may be a few other electric vehicles sold in Europe with the Mes-Dea ZEBRA version of the battery. The limited production volumes of the cells made the batteries expensive, but the raw materials cost is quite low. These batteries could be made without nickel, only iron, but the cost of the nickel is low as much less is used than in NICADs for the same energy. The main, perhaps unexpected, use of these batteries is to provide cellphone tower power where diesel fuel is saved with no grid or faulty grid charging operation. GE bought the UK development corporation after testing the MES-DEA cells for mining trucks and hybrid diesel electric locomotives. Rolls-Royce sells units made by Mes-Dea for submarines and ships. They are suitable for all climates because of the necessity of very good high temperature insulation and can be cooled by the hottest air in any climate. I hope that someone will make a unit that fits in Prius to convert such vehicle to plug-in-electric where it will keep the original battery charged so the engine need not run often.
The very large cells made by NGK are sodium sulphur and a bit cheaper and used for grid backup. Their recent fires are not of much concern for the DURATHON because the material do not burn like sulphur, and also NGK has remade the cells to have better fusing and construction.
The very large installation of NGK cells at a wind farm have been proved by nature to be in the wrong location as they could have saved the Japanese reactors during the earthquake. TEPCO funded the NGK batteries. TEPCO also had engineers who designed reactor cooling systems that ran on steam and needed no motors and no moving parts and published papers on their proposal that claimed that the reactor would be cheaper to build and smaller for the same power output. Look up their old papers. The balloonist Henri Giffard developed the original widely used version over a century and a half ago for steam locomotives at far lower pressures. A US Mr. Nicodemus invented higher pressure injectors that might be able to be used for steam power plants according to TEPCO researchers.
Durathon batteries should find a place in most UPS and emergency lighting systems. FZSONICK now has a version of their ZEBRA for railway passenger cars emergency lights. One in the home could power directly many US style Compact Fluorescent Lamps for days from its direct current outputs without inverter. Many electronic power supplies for hand held electronics will also run directly from batteries.
The DURATHON battery can revolutionize light rail traffic and eliminate the cost of many miles of centenary or third rail and also be valuable for goods heavy traffic. The ZEBRA battery has been used in many hybrid multiple passenger vehicles and a few full electric ones. Small limited range cheap electric vehicles, always with tiny range extenders, are suitable for most automobile trips. Perhaps the UK BLADON turbine can be made much smaller and cheaper. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 13 September 2013 at 09:21 PM