Have your own Electricity-made!

The main purpose of the PowerCube is alternative power generation to ensure that the same grid voltage reliably comes out of the socket as with the public power grid.

To enable this, the various individual components must interact perfectly and be perfectly coordinated with each other:

• The standard 20-foot freight container in which the technology is mounted
• The control units that direct the current to where it is needed
• The battery storage (rechargeable and maintenance-free)
• The self-developed generator powered by an internal combustion engine
• The photovoltaic system, which is mounted outside the container

PowerCube includes more components, but the aforementioned are the most essential for self-sufficiency in electricity.

Standard 20-Foot-Freight Container

Since PowerCube is shipped worldwide, its outer shell must also be suitable for these transport conditions: Designed as an ISO container, it corresponds to a standardized steel container (sea freight container) made of steel, in accordance with ISO standard 668.

Its exterior dimensions are:

For reasons of logistics and transport costs, only these standardized containers are used.

Control Units

The control units represent the brain of the PowerCube.

Simplified, their function can be described as follows: they direct the electricity to where it is needed and ensure that at least one power source is always in operation.

In reality, their task is much more complex: starting with constant monitoring of battery voltage and photovoltaics, starting and stopping the motor, controlling how much power is supplied to the outside, listening to a variety of sensors inside the PowerCube and so on …

Battery Storage

A weighty part, in the truest sense of the word. Batteries can be really heavy.

In any case, the battery storage is maintenance-free and rechargeable. The capacity of the batteries ranges from 10 KWh up to 230 KWh, depending on the expansion stage.

For example, during the night hours when the photovoltaic system does not provide power, the electrical consumers will most often be powered by the batteries.

Motor with Generator

The engine forms a connected unit with the generator. This unit is the only component with moving parts, so special attention is paid to features such as simplicity, robustness and longevity.

Depending on the desired output power, up to 4 such units can be mounted in one PowerCube. Depending on the level of completion, they can handle from 8 KW to 32 KW.

Motor

The control unit starts and stops the engine fully automatically. The engine (and thus also the generator) is always operated with a constant power. As a result, the entire unit always works in its optimum range.

As fuels diesel, fuel oil, or vegetable oil can be used. An admixture of biogas to the aforementioned fuels is possible. This admixture can be up to 60%, depending on the methane content of the existing biogas. The switching of fuels and the addition of biogas can be done during operation without stopping the engine beforehand.

The engine is the only part that requires maintenance. This maintenance mainly consists of oil change, oil filter replacement and air filter replacement. Since the engine is used only when needed, the operating hours are - compared to a running 24 hours a day commercial emergency power unit - low, and the maintenance intervals correspondingly long.

To extend the maintenance intervals of oil changes even further, the engine is equipped with its own oil pan extension. This further extends the times between oil changes. Run times of 500 hours to 1,000 hours between oil changes are standard, but they also depend on the quality of the fuels used. If maintenance on the engine is required, this will be indicated on the control cabinet display.

Generator

The generator (which is connected to the engine) is our own development. It is designed to work optimally with the entire combination of batteries, photovoltaic and control unit.

The generator itself requires no maintenance.

Waste Heat from the Motor-Generator Unit

All waste heat (engine, generator and exhaust waste heat) can be provided for hot water or heating purposes. This results in a 100% use of the energy generated by the motor-generator unit.

Photovoltaic

The photovoltaic modules are mounted on consoles on the roof of the PowerCube and, depending on the expansion stage, also laterally at an angle to the PowerCube.

During installation, attention must be paid to the orientation, so that no possible shadow-casting objects (for example, roofs, walls, trees, walls, rocks, or the like) prevent or attenuate solar radiation.

For reasons of space, only a maximum of 15 KWPeak can be mounted on the PowerCube itself. If enough space is available to be able to set up further photovoltaic modules in the vicinity (within a radius of up to approx. 40 meters), the total output of the photovoltaic system can be increased up to 60 kWPeak. The latter makes it possible to increase the number of possible consumers.

If the photovoltaic modules are dirty, for example due to dust and wind, cleaning is recommended. In case of snow cover, the photovoltaic modules should be swept away with a soft broom.