News Article
OKI Sees Sunny Opportunities
OKI joins the photovoltaic power conditioner market
OKI Electric Industry and OKI Power Tech (OPT), an OKI Group company developing and manufacturing power supply units, today announced that OPT, together with JFE Electrical & Control Systems, has developed a photovoltaic (PV) power conditioner. This power conditioner applies a DSP (Digital Signal Processing) controller to an insulated DCDC converter, which offers high efficient power generation even in insulated applications where power conversion efficiency has been an issue. The power conditioner will be available through OKI, OPT and JFE Electrical & Control Systems' sales channel from October 2009.
“We are excited to enter the PV market with our power conditioners, leveraging our advanced DSP control technology. We will first offer a 10kW output product to Japan's industrial market and will sequentially expand our product lineup to include models with higher capacity,” said Akira Ugawa, President of OKI Power Tech. “From October 2009, we plan to offer the product to companies offering systems for use in industrial and commercial applications. In addition, working together with solar battery manufacturers and trading companies, we aim to further expand our business by providing the products to overseas markets.”
This newly developed 10kW PV power conditioner system is a compact high-frequency insulated power conditioner to be used outdoors with a focus on heat dissipation and maintainability. Using OPT's advanced DSP control technology, the power conditioner offers energy-saving by maintaining high efficiency over a wide range of input power. The power conditioner adopts the “multi-phase control method,” in which a number of DCDC converters are controlled through a DSP control for best operation and conversion rates, enabling the power conditioner to flexibly control the input/output power voltage and current. Thus, compared to conventional DCDC converter control, it can maintain high power conversion efficiency even when electricity production from solar batteries is low and can maintain a conversion efficiency of over 90% at only 50% output. The power conditioner enables not only parallel operation with multiple units, but also includes a network connection function, in which OKI excels. In addition, it can easily increase output capacity that was difficult with previous power conditioners, and can enable monitoring functions.
The PV system market is expanding 30-40% yearly worldwide, and thus, PVs are expected to find increased use in various applications. In Japan, clean energy is an area that is carefully watched, and various frameworks are being organized to support the installation of PVs to reduce CO2. OPT is an expert in designing, developing, manufacturing and selling power supply units and electronic devices. Based on its long years of developing technologies, OPT will continue to develop and offer highly efficient power conditioners that respond to customer needs.
“We are excited to enter the PV market with our power conditioners, leveraging our advanced DSP control technology. We will first offer a 10kW output product to Japan's industrial market and will sequentially expand our product lineup to include models with higher capacity,” said Akira Ugawa, President of OKI Power Tech. “From October 2009, we plan to offer the product to companies offering systems for use in industrial and commercial applications. In addition, working together with solar battery manufacturers and trading companies, we aim to further expand our business by providing the products to overseas markets.”
This newly developed 10kW PV power conditioner system is a compact high-frequency insulated power conditioner to be used outdoors with a focus on heat dissipation and maintainability. Using OPT's advanced DSP control technology, the power conditioner offers energy-saving by maintaining high efficiency over a wide range of input power. The power conditioner adopts the “multi-phase control method,” in which a number of DCDC converters are controlled through a DSP control for best operation and conversion rates, enabling the power conditioner to flexibly control the input/output power voltage and current. Thus, compared to conventional DCDC converter control, it can maintain high power conversion efficiency even when electricity production from solar batteries is low and can maintain a conversion efficiency of over 90% at only 50% output. The power conditioner enables not only parallel operation with multiple units, but also includes a network connection function, in which OKI excels. In addition, it can easily increase output capacity that was difficult with previous power conditioners, and can enable monitoring functions.
The PV system market is expanding 30-40% yearly worldwide, and thus, PVs are expected to find increased use in various applications. In Japan, clean energy is an area that is carefully watched, and various frameworks are being organized to support the installation of PVs to reduce CO2. OPT is an expert in designing, developing, manufacturing and selling power supply units and electronic devices. Based on its long years of developing technologies, OPT will continue to develop and offer highly efficient power conditioners that respond to customer needs.
