TAKING PORTABLE POWER TO A NEW LEVEL

Atlas Copco is always on the forefront of the latest cutting-edge technology in a bid to offer customers and end-users efficient and sustainable solutions that will help to optimise their plants and job sites. The global engineering group has cornered the portable power generation market with a wide range of world-class generators from its Power Technique business area.

Holding flagship status in Power Technique’s generator portfolio is the QAC1100 TwinPower™ which consists of two fully loaded generators housed inside a custom 20-foot container. Atlas Copco’s objective with this engineering innovation is to provide customers and end-users with a reliable and flexible prime and critical standby power solution.

“When we design and engineer products, we always do so with the customer’s needs top of mind and with the objective of looking how we can add maximum value,” states David Stanford, Atlas Copco Power Technique Business Line Manager – Portable Products. “By containerising two QAC generators alongside each other, we have essentially packaged up to 1MW of predictable power on a single platform, in effect doubling the power and flexibility for our customers and end-users. Adding even more value, this time from a productivity and uptime perspective, the QAC1100 TwinPower™ is also a back-up solution as one generator can run at 50% while the other is being serviced, thus providing end-users with seamless 24/7 power supply.”

The QAC1100 TwinPower™‘s smart configuration, with its fast-paralleling system, allows the two generators to work independently or in parallel with each other, providing multiple solutions and combinations between prime and standby use, one unit working at 50Hz and the other at 60Hz. Subsequently, customers can conveniently choose the power solution best suited for those applications with changeable power and current usage requirements. “This modular solution is unrivalled when it comes to flexibility and economy and will provide reliable power for virtually any application that has variable load requirements across a wide range of industries including utilities, construction, mining, quarrying, and oil & gas, not forgetting the rental sector,” notes Stanford.

From an operational and cost perspective, the highly efficient QAC generator again delivers. First looking at operational performance, the smart electric VSD (Variable Speed Drive) motor-driven cooling fan adjusts the cooling flow to the specific requirements of the engine. The unrivalled load acceptance ability of these generators is due to the engine/alternator performance which, in association with its respective advanced control systems, is able to accept a 100% load step with more than 70% load step acceptance within the ISO 8528-G3 class respectively. The standard heavy-duty dual-stage fuel and air filtration contribute to longer up-time and extended service intervals.

Moving to cost savings, the fuel efficient QAC generator saves up to 10% at maximum performance, making it equal to or even better than the conventional single engine generator running under normal load. This efficiency also helps to reduce customers’ carbon footprint. And staying with the green narrative, the spillage free frame, which can contain 110% of the fuel tank capacity, reduces any potentially negative impact on the environment.

With a low noise level of 70dB(A) at 7m, these containerised generators are highly suited for applications that are at the heart of the working environment, adding to workspace safety and comfort. A touch screen provides operators with easy functionality.

To ensure a sustainable and profitable operation necessitates maximised uptime along every phase of the supply chain. With a compact footprint and equipped with solid lifting eyes and forklift inlets, the 20-foot ISO-certified container, housing the two QAC generators, can be easily manoeuvered onto flat-bed trucks for transportation to site where is can then be safely positioned to provide power with minimum delay.

Further contributing to optimum uptime and subsequent elevated production levels is the QAC generator’s remarkable serviceability, requiring less than two hours of service after 500 hours of operation. Large access panels and several custom service tools ensure effortless maintenance. Furthermore, the two generators’ engines and alternators are strategically positioned on opposite sides of the platform, providing fast, easy access to major components. The convenient slide in/out base frame facilitates the removal of the aggregate engine from the container for maintenance and other operational tasks.

Ensconced in their robust container, these generators will perform seamlessly in extreme temperatures and at high altitudes, with the QAC’s intelligent VSD driven engine/alternator cooling system guaranteeing 100% power at 40°C at an altitude of 1000m.

Atlas Copco generators are defined by rugged reliability and efficiency over an extended life span and these EU compliant QAC machines align with these high standards. “Designed by highly trained engineers, manufactured from superior quality materials and produced in world-class facilities applying best practices, our machines perform optimally and efficiently over a long, productive lifespan, delivering low total cost of ownership for customers,” concludes Stanford.