Tyco takes wireless power beyond Infinity

ATLANTA--

Tyco Electronics Power Systems this week debuted two products targeting wireless applications at CTIA's Wireless 2004, as well as announcing an agreement with Midtronics, a provider of battery management technology, to help monitor the integrity of its customers’ networks.

The –48-volt/+24-volt Infinity FMS Power System, a 23-inch rack-mounted system designed to support two modular rectifier lines, is a new member of the Tyco’s Infinity family, which was introduced in October 2001. The system is capable of deploying a wide range of the company’s NP series rectifiers in either a half-height frame or a full-height frame, and its modularity is a plus for customers looking to reduce the necessity for training, parts inventory and management.

The system offers a lot of interchangeable parts to cater to customers and their needs, said James Saunders, product marketing manager for Tyco.

As for the company’s 48-volt family of NP series rectifiers, Tyco announced an expansion to the line with its NP Control and Distribution Module (CDM) indoor battery reserve system. The NP CDM can be used with the NP0800, NP1200, NP1500 and NP2500 rectifiers, and offers N + 1 redundant reserve power for wireless applications, among others. It connects an NP Power System to one or two battery strings, creating an indoor battery plant capable of 15 amps to 100 amps, N+1 redundant.

Also at the show, Tyco announced an agreement with Midtronics, an effort to develop what the two companies hope will become an effective, user-friendly battery monitoring solution. Tyco plans to license Midtronics’ battery conductance monitoring technology, which will be integrated into the power equipment provider’s Galaxy Manager Remote Monitoring and Control Software. As a result, customers can view conductance values either on-demand or in user-defined intervals directly from the Internet. Because this method is non-invasive, there is no risk of battery failure during a test if batteries happen to be near the end of their life.

The company plans to launch the product in June. “We’ve been in discussions with Midtronics for a long time about this,” Saunders said.