ITW GSE has two products in focus for this year’s 5th British-Irish Airports EXPO: the battery-driven eGPUs and the ITW GSE Intelligent Power Management.
ITW GSE is a first-mover within battery-driven eGPUs and recently sold 10 eGPUs for the British market to various airports and airlines. From a global perspective, it has sold the eGPUs all over the world from Australia to Estonia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Japan, China, USA, Canada, and many more.
eGPUs for any aircraft: with ITW GSE into a greener future
ITW GSE has introduced a new eGPU family member to help the industry recover and accelerate the transition into a greener future. The company can now power aircraft from business jets to narrow and wide-body aircraft with emission-free battery GPUs.
Until ITW GSE launched the game-changing ITW GSE 7400, 400 Hz battery-driven Ground Power Unit – the first of its kind – there was no alternative to the diesel GPU at remote areas. The addition of the ITW GSE 28 VDC JetEx eGPU to the battery portfolio only increased the interest.
Now, ITW GSE has announced the arrival of another eGPU to complete the battery family. It’s a 180 kVA, 400 Hz model, including a 140 kVA model off the same platform. The new and more powerful eGPUs are especially suited for wide-body aircraft as they have two 400 Hz power outlets and larger battery capacity than the 90 kVA eGPU. With the completion of its strong battery family, ITW GSE can supply an eGPU for any aircraft.
In comparison with a corresponding diesel GPU, ITW GSE estimates CO2 reductions in the order of 275,000 lbs CO2 per year for the new 180 kVA eGPU, based on five hours of use per day. Also, on the bottom line, the replacement of one diesel GPU with an eGPU stands out. Assuming that the diesel unit consumes approximately 165 litres of fuel per day, still based on the conservative five hours use, savings of more than €50,000 per year on fuel costs alone can be achieved. Besides, major savings on maintenance can be taken into account, as eGPUs have no moving parts, vulnerable to wear and tear. The result is a return on investment of only two years for the 180 kVA.
Utilise Your Power Infrastructure Smarter
ITW GSE has received great interest in its Intelligent Power Management from major airlines in the USA and from airports in Europe.
Airport gate installations often have excess power capacity because they are designed to cover the power needs in a worst-case scenario and not just to cater for the actual power consumption. The surplus may be rather considerable, hence a great resource of upgrade of gate performance.
To utilise the available power smarter, it’s a matter of removing complexity in the existing installation ITW GSE claims. Can it be as simple? Yes, says Poul Elvstroem Vice President Sales & Marketing. “Many years of experience doing worldwide airport installations have provided us with extensive field data recordings. Those recordings show that 400 Hz ground power units rarely draw full current. And if they do, it’s only for very short time windows. Due to its variable frequency drive technology that allow stepless regulation of the discharge temperature, the intelligent ITW PCA, the brain of the IPM system, can easily cope with these peaks. At ITW GSE, we call it from box to gate system!”
At all times, the PCA ensures that the total power consumption does not exceed the power capacity limit. When connected GPUs draw more power – i.e. during aircraft engine start – the PCA smoothly reduce its own consumption, if required. And because the GPUs only require more power for a very short time – i.e. from a few seconds to a few minutes – passengers will not even register any rise of the cabin temperature.
The IPM system is a big advantage for airports that have reached their power capacity limits. Besides the opportunity to upgrade gate systems, without investments in expensive infrastructure, the simpler installation reduces maintenance costs.
ITW is ready with advice and calculations and confident that this will be very attractive for airport consultants and engineering firms specialised in airport expansion projects.
ITW GSE is committed to supplying the aviation industry with the cleanest, most reliable and cost-efficient GSE systems available. The new IPM solutions is definitely proof of concept and a demonstration of the company’s capacity.
