Trojan's battery sizing calculator is designed to simplify the task of properly sizing a battery bank for off-grid renewable energy systems. A battery bank is a vital component of a system, so careful attention must be paid to battery sizing to ensure maximum battery performance and longevity. Three factors must be considered when sizing battery banks for renewable energy systems: 1) the electrical power required, or load, of a particular application, 2) the maximum depth of discharge (DOD) the battery will be allowed to go down to and 3) the autonomy desired, or the number of days the battery will be used to power the loads.
"Failing to properly design the system to meet specific load requirements, leads to improper sizing of the batteries which can reduce the life of the battery bank. Therefore, it is important to optimize systems to meet the load requirements of a customers particular application requirements," said Kalyan Jana, technical product manager at Trojan Battery. "Not fully understanding the system's load profile for both the real energy demands and the duty cycle can have a dramatic impact on system performance. It also can potentially cause the system to lose power or require a replacement battery bank sooner than necessary. Trojan developed its battery sizing calculator to simplify this process and make it more convenient for our customers to determine their battery needs."
Trojan's battery sizing calculator is an easier way to determine battery capacity than manually calculating load requirements and then converting them to battery capacity. Customers simply fill in the appropriate information on the electronic form such as battery voltage, desired to depth-of-discharge (DOD), days of autonomy, AC and DC loads, device types with power ratings, and hours per day or days per week used, and the application automatically determines the required battery capacity. It then recommends the Trojan battery models for their particular set up. The calculator also allows customers to run "what if" scenarios to find specific battery options to meet their budget or configuration requirements.
"It is important to optimize battery systems to meet the load requirements of the application," Jana said. "If manufacturer's data is not available for a particular load, steps should be taken to measure actual power use before calculating the total energy storage requirement. Equally important is the need to truly understand the specific nature of the application and customer expectations."
