Electrochemical [EC] processes play an increasingly key role within great range of industrial applications in many sectors. These applications include sensors, controllers, surface technology, power generation, metal and chemicals electrolytic production, and wastewater treatment, among others. Despite the large number of uses of electrochemistry and its widely known advantages compared with other technologies, unfortunately its wide adoption has been hampered in by its high operative costs, mainly linked to inefficient energy consumption rates, since these processes demand a constant, direct and large supply of power. For instance, only electrolytic processes (e.g. Hall-Héroult process for Aluminum) consume more than 6% of the United States energy! It is urgent to introduce novel solutions into the affected industries to increase the economic profitability for operators, while also decreasing the environmental impact associated with the technology.
Few years ago, our CEO realized that the Lineal Power Supplies (LPS) used nowadays for EC applications have directly inherit the topology and techniques of the 1970’s, when efficiency was not crucial, but only operational needs and robustness were valuated. These obsolete topologies use Thyristors (SCRs), which present serious drawbacks and non-competitive operational costs as: i) significant efficiency losses ii) overhead costs associated to 30% reactive power generation (power factor), iii) failure propensity and iv) lack of fine control strategies. Based on these statements, in 2017 the DELPHIS concept born with the aim of replacing the current electronic power systems that can be found in every targeted electrochemical industrial-scale process.
DELPHIS consists of an evolved power AC/DC Solid Stage Transformer that has incorporated the latest cutting-edge technologies to revolutionize the EC sector in terms of OPEX (operational expenses) by replacing the current outdated/ancient power supplies. These include the use of wide band gap (SiC, GaN) semiconductors, combined with planar transformers, leading to an optimized topology, working at high frequencies and currents, with IoT control and monitoring capabilities. DELPHIS competitive advantage includes:
Reduction of 30% of losses Low reactive consumption (High power quality) Reduction of 25-50 % of the weight and volume of the unit Increased System controllability and Process regulation (IoT) Same or lower CAPEX (in comparison to traditional technologies) Energy savings of more than 35%.
