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- • TEL: +44 (0) 116 273 3633
CUSTOM LOAD BANKS
Cressall manufactures load banks ranging from small portable loads for testing petrol generators to multi-megawatt load banks for testing gas turbines and diesel generators at up to any voltage in use for generation today.
Our extensive experience of building customised load banks combined with a wide range of different element technologies and cooling mediums makes us ideally positioned to find a solution for unique technical requirements.
Typical situations that require a customised solution are:
- Medium and high voltage direct connection loads
- Non-standard frequency, resistive & reactive loads
- Radiator mounted / duct integrated load banks
PREVIOUS PROJECTS
As part of the testing regime for the new Royal Navy aircraft carriers Cressall have supplied a 17.225MW load bank to load test the 11kV distribution system.
The resistor was supplied as a naturally cooled system mounted on the dockside to minimise noise levels and save on auxiliary power requirements when running as the energy used to operate conventional forced cooled systems would be significant.
This 96MW three phase load bank — the largest ever produced by Cressall — is installed at the Siemens Energy Canada development facility in Montreal, for testing gas turbines.
The 60-metre long load bank is cooled entirely by convection and so is silent in use, an important consideration in this suburban location. It is suitable for both 13.8 kV/60 Hz and 11kV/50 Hz, allowing turbines for markets outside North America to be developed and tested alongside domestic products.
As well as protecting the nearby residential area from intrusive noise, the use of convection cooling instead of fans means that there are no motors to freeze up during the harsh Canadian winter.
As part of the testing regime for the new MT30 gas turbines in 2001 Cressall supplied a 40MW three-phase load bank to load test the 13.8kV rated turbine. This has since been upgraded to 48MW in 2018.
The resistor loading is controlled by the output generator AVR so voltage distribution and loading is equal across the resistors. This is fan forced air cooled system and shows versatility in the way Cressall can meet the customer requirements by offering both naturally and forced cooled systems.
HIGH POWER DUMMY LOADS
A 2MW load bank installed at Canary Wharf in London, acting as a test and exercise load for five 1600kVA standby DG sets and a 2MW uninterruptible power supply. Cressall was able to provide a solution without additional noise-producing fans by fitting the load into the exhaust air duct from the basement engine room and cooling the resistors with the airflow from the engine room fans.
Cressall’s medium voltage load banks installed in central London, act as test and exercise loads for standby generators and uninterruptible power supplies. These were challenging installations because the specification required the loads to add no additional noise to that from the generating sets themselves.
Regular load testing, along with correct battery maintenance, is the best way of ensuring the reliability of standby power systems. Such tests are usually carried out against a temporary load bank brought to site for the purpose and removed afterwards, or a fixed dummy load bank installed with the generator.
