Battcon 2014

  Boca Raton, Florida, May 5^th to 7^th 2014

International Stationary Battery Conference 

    Battcon Conference > Schedule

Program Schedule 2014

The Agenda – People Listening, Discussing, and Participating

Presentations

Featuring leading stationary battery experts, the conference presents papers by users and manufacturers that relate to everyday battery applications, technical advances, and the diverse concerns of the battery industry. You will learn about manufacturing, maintenance trends, testing issues, and safety. Each group of papers is followed by direct audience interaction with the presenters.

Panel Discussions

Panels are comprised of experts discussing specific concerns or areas of interest. Members of the panel are selected based on their knowledge, expertise, and background. After the panel discussion, you can share relevant knowledge and experiences, offer comments, and ask questions.

Participation

Throughout the conference, you are encouraged to ask questions, exchange ideas, and interact with the authors of the papers, members of top-specialized panels, and other attendees. Breakout workshops will allow you to interact with users of similar interests to discuss innovations and solutions that relate directly to your industry or application.

Note: Links to all Battcon™ papers are posted on the Archives Papers page.

Panel 1  Panel 2  Panel 3  Workshops (3)

The schedule of the papers, presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and activities for Battcon 2013 is below. The schedule for 2013 is subject to change without notice. Please refer back to this page for updates to Battcon 2013 activities.

The 2014 conference and trade show events will be at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, a Waldorf Astoria Resort in Boca Raton, Florida. The conference runs Monday through Wednesday, May 6^th to 8^th 2014. Extra activities are on Sunday, May 5^th.

The schedule below is subject to change.

Program Guide

Conference Program Guide (2012)

Special Activities, Sunday, May 5^th 2013

7:00AM Golf
Sponsored by: Robsen Power Systems
Location: Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge, Panther Lake Golf Course, Orlando, Florida

For more information see their Web site at: http://www.ocngolf.com/golf-course/panther-lake-course-information

The $120 per player includes green fees, range balls, beverages, cart, lunch, and prizes.

1:30PM to 5:30PM

Stationary Battery Basics Seminar

Instructors: Garth Corey, RickTressler

Do I use the same charge voltage for all my different batteries? What is the impact of using the wrong charge voltage? When is a battery operating in a cycling environment? A standby/float environment? What are the management differences? What are some of the more predominant battery failure mechanisms? What can be done to avoid and control them? How can I get the most life out of my batteries? This session can help. Our two instructors spend the afternoon discussing fundamentals of the lead-acid battery.

This $99 seminar helps you better understand batteries and the material presented at the conference. See the Seminar page for more information.
Nutcracker 1 (See signs)

1:30PM to 5:30 PM

Beyond the Fundamentals Seminar: Advanced Topics in Lead-Acid Batteries

Instructors: Curtis Ashton and Steve Clark

This seminar provides additional, in-depth information for attendees who need a more in depth understanding of their battery systems. Beyond the Fundamentals explores five key topic areas that will assist in understanding more about what goes on inside as well as outside a battery. These topics include discussions on the following:

·         Advanced lead acid fundamentals.

·         Application, selection, and considerations for both conventional flooded and VRLA types.

·         Data collection, record keeping, IEEE recommendations, warranty, and trending health.

·         Failure modes, the aging process, warranty issues, and end of life determination.

·         Periodic visual inspection criteria, where problems arise, and causes of troubles throughout the service life of a battery.

This $99 seminar helps you better understand batteries and the material presented at the conference. See the Seminar page for more information.
Nutcracker 2 (See signs)

1:30PM to 5:30PM

Focus On Seminar: Ohmic Testing - Methods and Analysis from a Battery's Perspective - A Practical Primer.

Instructor: Mike Nispel

Description: This non-commercial seminar will review the major ohmic testing methods and devices used today to evaluate stationary batteries. We will discuss how batteries operate, what information is provided by these devices, as well as how to interpret the data collected and discuss error and confidence levels. We will have working ohmic testers and various batteries for a hands-on session to demonstrate the proper use of these devices and for a practical interpretation of the results. After attending this session, attendees should be comfortable in the use of today's ohmic testers and will have the knowledge in how to use the results to improve system reliability.

This $99 seminar helps you better understand batteries and the material presented at the conference. See the Seminar page for more information.
Nutcracker 3 (See signs)

4:00PM to 8:00PM Conference Check-In
Fantasia Lobby, Registration Desk

Trade Show Exhibitor Setup

Sunday, May 5^th 2014

4:00PM to 10:00PM Trade Show Exhibitor Setup
Fantasia A through H

2013 Schedule

Conference Day 1, Monday, May 6^th 2013

7:00AM Conference Check-In
Olympus A and B

7:00AM to 5:00PM Internet Café
Sponsored by EnerSys
West Rotunda

7:00AM Paper Presenters and Panel Members Ready Room
Information session for today’s presenters of papers and for today's panel members.
Pastoral 1

7:00AM Continental Breakfast
Fantasia Lobby

8:00AM Opening Ceremonies
Fantasia J through Q

Conference Orientation
J. Allen Byrne, Interstate PowerCare

Welcome to Battcon

Lauri Turevon, Albércorp

8:45AM Presentations 1, 2, 3

Presentation 1

DC Arc Flash:  2013 regulatory updates and recommended battery risk assessment guidelines

Presenter: William Cantor, VP of Technology, TPI

There continues to be confusion in the stationary battery community about how to protect battery maintenance personal from chemical, electrical and arc-flash hazards. This presentation proposes a thought process that can be used to, first, evaluate if and where a hazard may exist in workplaces where dc voltage sources are present, then to determine the degree of risk, and ultimately to determine the personal protective equipment (PPE) that would be appropriate for any given battery activity.

Presentation 2

Making battery safety data sheets actually useful to the user

Presenter: Steve McCluer, Senior Manager, External Codes and Standards, APC by Schneider Electric

In 2011 the USA harmonized its system of classifying hazardous substances with the European GHS system. The former MSDS is now known simply as a “Safety Data Sheet” (SDS). An IEEE working group is trying to develop a guideline for consistently identifying the hazardous materials in a battery SDS, to include information that is actually beneficial to everyone. This session describes some of the issues that they are grappling with.

Presentation 3

Updated Building Codes Are Changing Battery Rack Certification Requirements – Design and Testing Impacts

Presenter: Ken Sabo, Senior Product Manager, Aptus

Building codes affecting Seismic Battery Racks have changed significantly over the past 10 years in the United States. This paper takes a look at the change from the UBC code to the IBC code, defines what is required for specifying IBC racks and the changes that IBC and other codes, standards, and agency requirements have had on traditional battery rack design.

Presenter Panel Discussion and Q&A

10:15AM Break

10:45AM Presentations 4, 5, 6

Presentation 4

Ventilation and Thermal Management of Stationary Battery Installations

Presenter: M.S. (Steve) Clark, Senior Engineer, Bechtel Power Corp.

This presentation will build a bridge between the battery and ventilation system designers. As such, it provides information on battery performance characteristics that are influenced by the HVAC design with a focus on operating temperature control. It then provides information on battery performance during various operating modes for use by the ventilation system designer. The critical factors covered are battery heat generation and gassing (both hydrogen and toxic gasses).

Presentation 5

Effects of Battery Technology on Power System Layout for Telecom and Data Buildings

Presenter: Mike Steeves, Principal Engineer, GE Critical Power

This presentation will review different building DC energy architectures using alternate battery technologies, showing how layouts are impacted and how cost and energy savings can be realized. This will include cost of copper, installation, efficiency of operation and structural impacts.

Presentation 6

Final Test Results on the 80% Service Test and a Path Forward

Presenter: Kyle Floyd, Principal Engineer, Covenant Service Company, LLC.

This presentation will review the final conceptual test results and present plans for implementation of this test in nuclear applications. Some perspective on capacity trending and various capacity calculation methods described in IEEE 450 will be offered.

Presenter Panel Discussion and Q&A

12:15PM Lunch
Ballroom of the Americas

1:45PM Panel 1: Best Practices of Battery Installations (90 minutes)

Panel Members: Rob Anderson, Tom Carpenter, Mike Glaser, and Sean McClelland

This panel session will explore the ins and outs of how to best perform battery installations. We will discuss what items should be utilized to assure a proper installation. Some of the items that will be explored are installation check lists, receiving procedures, lifting equipment, assembly of cells, spill containment, tools, instruments, and initial charging to commissioning. The best practices of all types of battery installations will be the focus of this panel.

3:15PM Break

3:45PM Panel 2: Learning from Battery Failures

Panel Members: Allen Byrne, Bill Cantor, Miguel Flores, Dan Lambert, and Mike Powell

This panel will discuss many of the common and not-so-common battery failures seen in the field. Methods and processes used to correct problems and mitigate reoccurrences will also be explored. Examples of discussion topics include, but will not be limited to:

• Common failures
• Corrective actions
• Lessons learned
• Root cause

Audience participants are encouraged to submit written and verbal questions and present their own problems in this interactive panel session.

5:15PM Session Ends

5:30PM to 7:00PM Cocktail Party
Sponsored by Saft
Appetizers served. The main course food and reception continue in the Trade Show area starting at 6:30.
Porte Cochere

6:30PM to 9:30PM Trade Show and Reception
Sponsored by East Penn/Deka Unigy
Fantasia A through H

9:30PM to 11:30PM East Penn/Deka Unigy Party with Live Music
Ballroom of the Americas

Conference Day 2, Tuesday, May 7^th 2013

7:00AM to 5:00PM Internet Café
Sponsored by EnerSys
West Rotunda

7:00AM Paper Presenters and Panel Members Ready Room
Information session for today’s presenters of papers and for today's panel members.
Pastoral 1

7:00AM Continental Breakfast
Fantasia Lobby

8:00AM Opening Remarks
Fantasia J through Q

8:15AM Presentations 7, 8, 9

Presentation 7

Proper Single-Cell/Module Replacement and Bypass Procedures

Presenter: Curtis Ashton, Senior Lead Power Technical Support Engineer, CenturyLink

This presentation will discuss how single-cell/module replacements in series-connected strings can be tricky (a botched one, where only float current and not discharge current was taken into account, caused a famous fire that directly led to spill containment requirements). This is especially true when a single battery string is directly connected to a live load bus. This paper will explore the proper and safe methods of performing a single-cell changeout in many different situations: online or offline, paralleled with the load or not, with or without initial charge, etc.

Presentation 8

Testing to Evaluate State-of-Charge In Nuclear Grade Lead Acid Batteries Part 2

Presenter: George Greene, Liliana Ramadan, USNRC; and William Gunther, Brookhaven National Laboratory

The U.S. NRC and Brookhaven National Laboratory completed a research project confirming that charging current is a suitable indicator of a fully-charged condition for nuclear grade vented lead-acid batteries as required by nuclear power plant Technical Specifications. Complete results from the testing program are available in NUREG/CR-7148, published in October 2012.

Presentation 9

Practical Ideas to Facilitate Battery Maintenance and Testing in Power Plants

Presenter: Jeffrey Gruseck, PE, Consulting Engineer, Duke Energy Corp

Power plant DC systems are essential for personnel safety and reliable shutdown of equipment, and regulations require these systems remain functional. Taking a battery out of service can compromise the reliability of the protection system. This presentation will describe the risks, and will present examples of field modifications implemented at power plants to ensure continuous reliability making battery maintenance and testing easier.

Presenter Panel Discussion and Q&A

9:45AM Break

10:15AM Presentations 10, 11, 12

Presentation 10

Developing Monobloc Batteries for High Temperature Applications

Presenter: Ralph Fegely, Senior Project Engineer, East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc.

This presentation will outline the long road of design and testing that has lead to the development of a true high temperature lead-acid battery. Based on optimized designs and materials, new lead-acid products have been developed that not only survive but thrive in high heat applications. These high temperature batteries were developed using a common sense approach that relied on historical data, supplier input, new materials, new designs and theories.

Presentation 11

The Effects of Mechanical Electrolyte Mixing on VLA Cells in Renewable Energy Applications

Presenter: Larry Meisner, Managing Director & V.P. Technology

This presentation will discuss the known effects of electrolyte specific gravity stratification on cell performance in renewable cycling applications. The details of an electrolyte air mixing system will be discussed and data presented to show how such a system can improve recharge efficiency, state of charge and overall life as a result of reduced sulfation and corrosion effects.

Presentation 12

Can an 11 year old naturally aged 2 volt VRLA cells endure a seismic event without suffering capacity degradation?

Presenter: Peter DeMar, Battery Research

This presentation will show the results of an EPRI funded investigation into the impact of a seismic event on the capacity of naturally aged 2 volt VRLA batteries of approximately 10 years of age. One set of data is for one manufacturer’s product using a 72 hour discharge rate, and the second system was a different manufacturer using an 8 hour rate.

Presenter Panel Discussion and Q&A

11:45AM Lunch
Ballroom of the Americas

1:15PM Panel 3: Battery Chargers and Charging (90 minutes)

Panel Members: Curtis Ashton, Dave Barnes, Dara Darai, Bill Kaewert, and Allen Pitts

Ask questions of a wide range of experts and manufacturers on all types of chargers (SCR, switch-mode, ferroresonant, etc.). In addition, the panel is also prepared to answer questions on ripple control, ground fault detection, temperature compensation circuits, the options available on chargers, and anything else on charger-related subjects that comes to your mind.

2:45PM Break

3:15PM (concurrent sessions)

The actual content of the three audience-driven workshops below will vary, depending on interaction of the attendees.

UPS Workshop

Nutcracker 2 (see signs)

A battery-backed UPS is only as good as its batteries.

Co-Moderators: Fran Losey and Ed Rafter

This will be an interactive session where we will encourage the audience to share their knowledge and experience to help us understand the challenges of designing, installing, and maintaining a UPS battery installation. We will focus on the various maintenance, design, installation, and occupancy considerations.

3:15PM (concurrent sessions)
Utility Workshop
Fantasia (see signs)

Electric Utility Battery and DC Power Systems - Watts the Scoop

Moderator: Kurt Uhlir and Tom Carpenter

Panelists: Matt McConnell, Senior Electrical Engineer, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Michael Powell, Manager Electric Transmission Substation Operations, Dominion, Chris Searles, Director of Sales, Marketing and Business Development, BAE Batteries USA.

Generation Owners, Transmission Owners and Distribution Providers will have an opportunity to network with industry peers as well as exchange knowledge and experiences relating to stationary batteries and DC power systems in utility applications. Workshop topics will include:

·         Post Fukushima regulatory actions pertaining to the dc power systems for US nuclear plant license  holders -  Matt McConnell, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

·         Chris Searles will be presenting a paper on NERC PRC-005-2 - A Mandate for Battery Maintenance as it Affects the Bulk Electric System and its Implications for Battery Maintenance Personnel. This paper will give a brief history of NERC PRC-005-2 while examining the requirements as they relate to the dc power supply (primarily the station battery but with reference to the battery charger). A careful review of the wording of the standard along with the tables relating to specific maintenance provides practical guidance that ensures compliance while addressing true reliability. Chris is also the Task Force Chair that represents the IEEE Stationary Battery Committee’s interests to the NERC PRC-005-2 Standards Drafting Team.

·         Batteries and DC power systems in smart grid infrastructure.

3:15PM (concurrent sessions)
Telecom Workshop
Nutcracker 3 (see signs)

Telecom Battery Open Season/Session.

Co-Moderators: Curtis Ashton, Dan McMenamin and John Gagge

This audience participation session will discuss the major problems associated with telecom batteries, from supplier problems to user abuse. Also, appropriate backup times for various types of telecom services in an evolving competitive and regulatory market will be addressed. Finally, we’ll discuss other pertinent points the audience would like to bring up.

5:15PM Session Ends

5:30PM to 9:00PM Combined Trade Show and Reception
Sponsored by BAE
Fantasia A through H

Conference Day 3, Wednesday, May, 8^th 2013

7:00AM to 1:00PM Internet Café
Sponsored by EnerSys
West Rotunda

7:00AM Paper Presenters and Panel Members Ready Room
Information session for today’s presenters of papers and for today's panel members.
Pastoral 1

7:00AM Continental Breakfast
Fantasia Lobby

8:00AM Opening Remarks
Fantasia J through Q

8:15AM Presentations 13, 14, 15, 16

Presentation 13

Sodium Metal Chloride Battery Safety

Presenter: Andrew K. Miraldi, Product Manager, Sodium Nickel Technology, FIAMM Energy LLC

This presentation discusses the details of the safety features of the sodium metal chloride battery, including chemistry, product design and construction, and electronic control systems. Particular attention will be given to conditions that can lead to events that have been known to cause catastrophic failures in battery systems, such as mechanical damage, temperature events, and mishandling or incorrect installation. Both internal and third party testing data will be referenced in this discussion

Presentation 14

Integrating Renewables into the Grid: Applying MW Scale Energy Storage Solutions for Continuous Variability Management

Presenter: John Wood, Chief Executive Officer, Ecoult

Successful MW scale storage projects providing grid ancillary services, wind and solar smoothing and shifting and diesel efficiency optimization. All this will be discussed along with groundbreaking concepts to multi-purpose existing data center and telecom UPS infrastructure. This information will help to effectively balance discrepancies between supply and demand on the electricity grid, at the same time as delivering reliable UPS service.

Presentation 15

Performance Testing of Zinc-Bromide Flow Batteries for remote telecom sites.

Presenter: David Rose, Energy Storage Test Engineer, The Sandia National Laboratories

This presentation describes how the application of Zinc Bromine (Zn-Br) flow batteries could effectively support remote telecom applications through extrapolation of performance metrics from example system test data to remote telecom applications.

Presentation 16

Batteries and Heat - A Recipe for Success?

Presenter: Mike Zelinsky, Market and Business Development Manager, BASF Battery Materials – Ovonic

Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries offer attractive solutions for demanding conditions. Newly developed cathode materials allow full charge acceptance up to 65⁰C (>60% at 85⁰C) and cycle life to more than 2000 cycles at full depth of discharge. Several orders of magnitude higher cycle life is achievable at lower depths of discharge. Field trials are validating performance in harsh environments.

Presenter Panel Discussion and Q&A

10:15AM Break

10:45AM Presentations 17, 18, 19

Presentation 17

John Henry, Automation and Remote Monitoring

Presenter: Walter Wilczewski, VP Business Development, Phoenix Broadband Technologies LLC

John Henry was a legend of a man who could drive steel faster and better than anyone.  John Henry won his legendary contest against a steam powered drill. Even Henry's emotional victory couldn't stop progress. We stand at a similar crossroads with automation of battery maintenance. This paper will clearly show the advantages of today's technology and why it just makes too much sense to resist.

Presentation 18

Portfolio Management of Real World Battery Performance

Presenter: Gregory Ratcliff, Director of Lifecycle Management, Emerson

Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) systems are an essential element in modern-day industry. These UPS systems must themselves be resistant to battery failure to guarantee that they will be providing power when necessary. In this paper, we discuss a tool for detecting unusual behavior in battery resistance, and we present a case study demonstrating the effectiveness of this tool on real-world battery data.

Presentation 19

Batteries Die in Thirds

Presenter: Bart Cotton, Founder, Chief Prognosticator, Intellibatt Inc.

This presentation will discuss how battery aging observations have been made over the last couple of decades by various battery monitoring instruments and systems. The advancement of battery monitoring technology and organized collection and archiving of battery performance data has made this possible. By collecting and analyzing historical data, both on individual batteries and battery systems/strings utilizing commonly used battery measurement parameters, typical aging patterns can be observed. These patterns or fingerprints have a commonality. Using the historical record and current data, predictions of battery performance, and prognostication of battery lifetimes can be made using real data versus estimated data based on theory or laboratory results.

Presenter Panel Discussion and Q&A

12:15PM Panel 4: Battcon Technical Committee Panel. (60 minutes)

Panel Members: Curtis Ashton, J. Allen Byrne, Dale Campbell, Tom Carpenter, Garth Corey, Jim McDowall, Mike Nispel, Rick Tressler, Kurt Uhlir, and Lesley Varga

Bring in your boxed lunch and participate in a wrap-up panel session, which is comprised of individuals from across the battery industry, they will attempt to answer any outstanding questions from previous presentations and panels and discuss industry issues in general. The session will be audience driven, all questions are welcomed.

1:15PM Closing Ceremonies

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