load banks – Société Coudoint

Load banks are constructed of switched loads, used for electrically loading electric equipments in order generally to test them (batteries, power supplies, UPS, welding power source) such as, typically, the battery discharge test benches.

They can as well be used for generating the electrical conditions for testing a specific electrical device (electromechanical relay, breaker, …). They become in this case a production or troubleshooting test bench or part of it.

We supply load banks from a few kilowatts to several hundred kilowatts.

Description

The load banks are constructed of :

a set of loads which will absorb the energy taken from the source, the resistive loads being Coudoint products: wirewound, edgewound, woven resistors, optionally linear or rotary, manually driven or motorized rheostats.
a cooling system, by natural air cooling, by forced-air cooling or by water cooling
load switches: manual switches, electromechanical relays or electronic power switches
a control device for selecting the load value, either manually or electronically.

An electronically controlled load bank can be fitted either with an embedded PLC or with an electronic interface. They can work in an autonomous way or be driven by an external PC or controller through a direct link or as part as a communication network.

Series and models

Numerous standard models are proposed in 5 series, see the page Standard load banks.
We produce many custom designs according to the specifications or need descriptions we are given. We use for that our own components and we take advantage of our wide base of validated solutions we have been building for many years:

load banks for laboratory are used for providing electrical loads for the tests of electrical devices including the tests of conformity to electrical norms
custom battery discharge testers
load banks for the aerospace industry are more specifically designed to test aerospace generators and equipment under 28 V_DC or under 400 to 1000 Hz 3-phase AC voltages
other load banks and test benches of various DC, AC, single- or 3-phase voltages

A custom load bank brings often more benefits in all aspects than a poorly adapted standard product.

Examples of products, illustrating the various solutions we can offer, are shown in the pages Realizations, and with more details in the documentation of the load banks available for download: