Hitting Brakes to Go Forward

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Vycon is looking underground for new business. As in subway lines.

Earlier this year, the Cerritos energy company installed a kinetic energy storage system at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Red Line Westlake-MacArthur Park station. The system captures energy from braking trains, stores that energy and then transfers it to departing trains.

Subway stations already routinely transfer energy in that manner, but can only do it if the trains pass through at about the same time. Vycon’s innovation is in storing the energy so it can be used by a train that might not depart for several minutes.

“What it’s trying to do is save money on electricity,” said Frank DeLattre, president at Vycon. He estimates that the system can reduce a station’s energy consumption by up to 15 percent.

Vycon won a $3.6 million contract after working with Metro on a 2009 grant proposal to the Federal Transit Administration.

Vycon is the energy storage division of Calnetix Technologies of Cerritos, which makes motor generators and bearings. Vycon has about 30 employees out of roughly 220 at Calnetix.

This is the first use of Vycon’s technology in a subway stop. Previously, Vycon had supplied its energy storage systems to hospitals, where continuous power is essential – even for the 10 seconds it takes for a gas generator to kick in if there’s a power outage. The company also has supplied its technology to the local ports, where it is used in diesel-powered cranes that store energy as they lower storage containers.

DeLattre said the system at the Red Line station will serve as a showcase of its technology as the company shops for more contracts.

“There are a lot of metros that are interested in seeing the results,” he said.

– Jonathan Polakoff

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