On June 1, 2022, the new direct current laboratory of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology was officially opened with numerous guests. The laboratory has been in operation since December 1, 2021, the opening ceremony was postponed due to corona and is now being held at the Giefinggasse location in Vienna.
With the high-performance laboratory for the development of modern DC systems and components (DC-Lab), the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology has significantly expanded its existing laboratory infrastructure. "We are setting another milestone in the expansion of the research infrastructure at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. The total investment volume for the construction of the DC-Lab and the expansion of the SmartEST laboratory was 3 million euros and is therefore one of the largest investments in our laboratory infrastructure in recent years," said AIT Managing Director Anton Plimon at the opening ceremony.
Today, the areas of application for direct current technology are, for example, in the area of renewable energy systems such as photovoltaics in combination with storage or hydrogen, in on-board networks of electric vehicles or in industrial power supply, for example for data centers. “The new DC Lab is a development and validation platform for DC components that can support the development of new high-performance switching devices for DC grids and characterize new products under real conditions. We play a key role here in advancing DC innovations significantly,” explains Friederich Kupzog, Head of Competence Unit Electric Energy Systems at the Center for Energy, during the opening ceremony.
Services of the DC-Lab
The DC-Lab is a development and validation platform for DC components for companies involved in the manufacture and operation of DC systems. The laboratory covers services along the entire development process - from concept to commissioning. Typical applications are testing the breaking capacity under operating conditions and in the event of short circuits, as well as short-time current and surge current tests.
Numbers, data & facts at a glance
The DC-Lab was completed in October 2021 after only eleven weeks of construction and was completely new territory in terms of planning and construction, as there is no comparable facility in Europe. Together with dedicated companies, 30 tons of steel and over 50 tons of copper were used. There are four special transformers in the switchgear, which can be connected for different test scenarios. In the first expansion stage, the maximum test current is 80,000 amperes with outputs of up to 75 megawatts.
Pictures of the opening ceremony: https://apps.scrappbook.de/S1gGuNjUu9
Video on how to build the DC Lab: https://youtu.be/P3zERXfoTgg
AIT CENTER FOR ENERGY
More information about the laboratory infrastructure at the Center for Energy: https://www.ait.ac.at/loesungen/power-system-technologies-development-validation
INQUIRIES AND PRESS CONTACT
Mag. Margit Özelt
Marketing and Communications
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Center for Energy
M +43 664 88390660
margit.oezelt(at)ait.ac.at I www.ait.ac.at
