KPM Power Achieves Key Safety Certification for its Anzen Battery Management System
May 13, 2021
KPM Power Inc. is pleased to announce that its Anzen Battery Management System (BMS) has been certified by UL, a leading global safety science company, to ANSI/CAN/UL-1973, the Standard for Batteries for Use in Stationary, Vehicle Auxiliary Power and Light Electric Rail (LER) Applications.
The ANSI/CAN/UL-1973 standard covers battery systems for use as energy storage for stationary applications such as for PV, and wind turbine storage, or for UPS applications. The standard also covers battery systems for use in light electric rail (LER) applications and stationary rail applications such as rail substations.
“With over a century of experience and expertise in safety science, we are proud to collaborate with KPM Power to help advance safety in battery storage systems and products.”
“The achievement of ANSI/CAN/UL-1973 certification demonstrates KPM Power’s commitment to providing safe products and solutions in the energy management space and showcases the value UL brings to a highly innovative and rapidly growing industry,” commented Joe Hosey, Vice President and General Manager, UL in Canada.
Achieving UL 1973 certification has been the culmination of several months of close collaboration with KPM Power’s design and engineering team at UL. With an increasing number of battery powered technologies being launched in recent years, this UL certification confirms that KPM Power’s products have been tested to applicable safety standards. This marks a critical milestone for the company to enter the North American market.
Achieving UL 1973 certification is the latest step in KPM Power’s mission to support getting cleantech and alternative energy products to market that transform industrial and manufacturing operations. UL Certification allows for an efficient path to market and clearly differentiates products on crowded shelves.
The key element for market entry for batteries is the battery management system (BMS), an electronic system of hardware and software that monitors and controls the state and performance of the battery, including voltage, temperature, current and battery recharging.
KPM Power’s BMS has a key feature of allowing customization for various applications and battery types. KPM Power’s BMS is approved for chemistries ranging from lithium to nickel zinc and has achieved a number of other UL certifications.
Bringing a versatile BMS to market requires:
1) Functional safety
With the highly combustible nature of many battery chemistries, including lithium, the critical feature of a reliable BMS is functional safety and having redundancy so that a system can fail safely in the field. Testing on full functional safety was completed on KPM Power’s BMS, and UL1998 and UL991 certificates were issued.
The three major components for achieving UL1973 (Batteries for Use in Stationary, Vehicle Auxiliary Power and Light Electric Rail Applications) is the battery cell selection, battery management system and battery packaging.
KPM Power’s BMS can shave years off the development cycle and creates a clear path to market for innovative battery-powered products.
3) Customizability
Every design application is different. KPM Power’s BMS is customizable to various battery chemistries, and applications ranging from 12V to 800V. KPM Power has designed a flexible solution with multiple digital inputs/outputs to simplify control through a single system.
With harness manufacturing done locally in Canada, KPM provides its partners a fast-tracked solution and key support from prototyping to mass production.
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