Fire Apparatus
A typical Fire/Rescue scene: Emergency vehicles arrive at an incident in the middle of night. Instant power is needed for scene lighting and tools, including ventilation fans to clear smoke from a building or hydraulics for rescue work. Time is too precious to waste unloading and setting up a separate generator and hoping it starts! The main engine of the vehicle is unavailable to provide power because the speed of the engine is dictated by its primary function-pumping water. Even with big alternators, the 12-volt DC battery systems are hard pressed to keep up with the power requirements for essential lighting tools and equipment..
So great is the demand that the NFPA requires newer fire trucks to be equipped with a special load management computer to dump loads in a specific order as the battery voltage inevitably fails to keep all but essential functions alive. For significant lighting and tool power, 120 Volt AC power is required. At present, Fire departments have two primary ways to provide this power. Either complicated and noisy hydraulic systems, which couple the main engine to a footlocker sized generator set at a cost of $10,000 for a typical 6kW installation or a separate engine powered generator is installed. Both current options require large amounts of valuable compartment space and create extra maintenance headaches..
The Blackbird™ can provide instant-on power for lights and tools in a simple, under the hood installation. No extra maintenance is required. With no operator involvement, the Raven power solution can provide 5kW of instant output and can accommodate changing engine speeds during normal operations from idle on up.
Application: Construction
