As the global demand for sustainable development continues to increase, energy transformation in mining areas has become a key task. Recently, SCU successfully provided EV chargers for electric trucks in the Wuhai Mining Area, Inner Mongolia, further promoting the pace of upgrading the mining area to green and intelligent. It is worth mentioning that SCU can not only provide efficient EV charging solutions for mining areas but also provide energy storage system, which can serve as a backup power supply to ensure safety and reduce electricity costs by peak-shaving. SCU’s energy storage system has been widely used in many mining areas at home and abroad, and SCU has the ability to integrate energy storage and EV charger solutions to provide comprehensive energy management support for mining areas.
Background
The Wuhai mining area is famous for its rich mineral resources, and the transportation demand for heavy trucks makes it a high-energy consumption and high-emission area. Although traditional diesel heavy trucks provide important transportation capacity for mining production, they are also accompanied by high operating costs and environmental pollution. To this end, the mining area is actively promoting the replacement of diesel heavy trucks with new energy trucks, and providing guarantees for the electrification of heavy trucks in the mining area through the construction of EV charger infrastructure. In this context, SCU was invited to provide professional charging solutions for the Wuhai Mining Area to meet electric trucks’ efficient and safe charging needs.
Solution
The project has invested in the construction of three charging stations inside and outside the mining area, using a split DC charging system, equipped with 9 EV charging stacks and 70 EV charging terminals. It mainly provides charging services for heavy trucks, commuter vehicles and loaders, realizes flexible distribution and intelligent charging, and can also support two charging terminals to charge a truck at the same time, which can greatly improve the convenience of charging.
Intelligent and efficient charging strategy
Heavy trucks have long running times and high charging frequency, and have higher requirements for charging efficiency. The SCU split DC charging system consists of a charger and a charging terminal. Each EV charger can be configured with 8-12 terminals and supports multiple outputs. The flexible distribution system can identify the vehicle voltage and intelligently distribute power according to the BMS requirements of the charging vehicle. It has greatly improved compatibility, utilization, scalability, etc., giving full play to the efficiency of charging equipment and reducing investment costs.
In order to better meet the charging needs of electric heavy trucks, two charger posts are set up in each system, which have the function of dual-gun simultaneous charging. Two charging interfaces can charge a vehicle at the same time, greatly shortening the charging time. For example, in a 360KW charging system, the maximum charging power of each terminal is 180KW, and the power of dual-gun simultaneous charging can reach 360KW, which doubles the charging speed.
In addition, the system is equipped with a VIN automatic identification system, and the charging strategy can be set in the background. The frame number can be identified by plugging in the gun, and automatic charging is performed, which is simpler, more convenient and easier to manage.
Safe and reliable protection design
The two charging stations outside the factory area can provide mid-way replenishment and charging for electric heavy trucks, but they face problems such as dust, rain, and temperature differences, which bring more stringent challenges to the safety of EV chargers.
In terms of external structure, the protection level of the SCU charger and the terminal is IP55, and the metal enclosed shell can play the role of flame retardant, fireproof, explosion-proof and moisture-proof. From the internal structure, it has a unique heat dissipation system with separated cold and hot air ducts. The power module has an independent heat dissipation duct, which is separated from the heat dissipation of the control circuit to prevent the control circuit from working at high temperatures, ensuring a dry and dust-free operating environment and improving the safety factor.
In addition, heavy trucks are usually transported during the day and charged at night. Each charging terminal charges for more than 8 hours a day, and there is no one on duty during this period. Various safety hazards must be considered. SCU has made great efforts in system software and adopted a unified operation and management platform. The charging control software has perfect protection functions, which can perform over-temperature and over-voltage detection. At the same time, the fan speed can be adjusted according to the temperature to improve reliability. After the heavy truck is fully charged, it will automatically cut off the power. At this time, there is no high-voltage DC in the EV charger, and it has an emergency stop function, making the entire charging process more stable and reliable.
Before this, SCU cooperated to build multiple charging stations in Wuhai to serve a variety of new energy vehicles such as loaders, buses, and private cars. In the future, the two sides will also work hand in hand to develop new energy transportation and transportation fields, focus on high-end, intelligent, and information-based future technologies, alleviate the energy crisis, and improve the ecological environment of the Wuhai mining area.