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Defense Holdings, Inc. Inks Distributorship Agreement with Wazee Wind for Revolutionary, Extended-life Wind Turbine Slip Ring

Dépèche transmise le 30 août 2011 par Business Wire

Defense Holdings, Inc. Inks Distributorship Agreement with Wazee Wind for Revolutionary, Extended-life Wind Turbine Slip Ring

MANASSAS PARK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DHi® (Defense Holdings, Inc.®) of Manassas Park, VA has signed a distributorship agreement with Wazee Companies, LLC for advanced wind turbine slip ring systems featuring HiPerCon® metal fiber brushes (MFBs) capable of operating for up to 5 years without maintenance. The first slip ring using MFBs was installed in May of this year in a GE 1.5MW wind turbine at the PacifiCorp Leaning Juniper Wind Farm near Arlington, Oregon.

“We are really excited to be working with Wazee and NAWSA to bring this exciting new brush technology to the wind power industry. Our new and remanufactured slip rings offer up to a five year maintenance interval (cleaning/inspection) and a 200 million revolution brush service life.”

MFBs, which gain their name from the fact that they are constructed of thousands of hair-fine silver alloy fibers running on their tips, offer significant improvement over carbon brushes in both data and current transfer, offering extended brush and slip ring service life of at least twice the service life of carbon brushes, high current capacity of 250 amps/inch², and significant decreases in acoustic and electrical noise at sliding speeds up to 70 meters/second. These brushes produce 80% less wear debris than solid brushes reducing the need for expensive maintenance and reducing the potential for short circuits and grounds. MFB silver alloy fiber offers significantly better service life and higher sliding speeds over gold wire technology at a considerable price advantage. HiPerCon® MFB slip rings can be supplied as a form, fit, function, replacement to most existing slip ring designs.

DHi originally developed MFB technology under the Small Business Independent Research (SBIR) program working with HiPerCon, LLC, the U.S. Navy and the University of Virginia. MFBs have been retrofitted to a large portion of the Navy’s nuclear submarine fleet, are in testing for various types of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, and are being used for other commercial applications including shaft grounding systems.

Wazee Companies, LLC provides electrical and mechanical solutions to aerospace, manufacturing, municipalities, mining, power generation, oil and gas and other heavy industrial customers. Wazee Wind provides wind generator repair and maintenance in the Rocky Mountain region and is a member of NAWSA (North American Wind Service Alliance), which is North America's only integrated wind service network dedicated to providing efficient and professional repair service for wind powered engines.

Rich Martin, DHi’s President and CEO, states, “We are really excited to be working with Wazee and NAWSA to bring this exciting new brush technology to the wind power industry. Our new and remanufactured slip rings offer up to a five year maintenance interval (cleaning/inspection) and a 200 million revolution brush service life.”

Founded in 1994 and originally operated as Noesis, Inc., DHi is a privately-held, service-disabled, veteran-owned, minority-owned, small business that works with customers to overcome the limitations of conventional carbon and carbon-metallic brush and slip ring systems. DHi is based in Manassas Park, VA with other facilities in Charlottesville, VA and Trenton, NC. DHi has been ISO 9001 registered since 2003 and has received awards from the federal government for outstanding technical innovation and performance.

Started in 2007, Wazee Wind provides a wide range of wind turbine repairs including, but not limited to, generator, gearbox and electrical repair both up and down tower. Wazee Wind also offers many replacement wind parts and brushes, inventorying them in its Colorado warehouses.