power generation | corporate profile
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by Johanna Gretschel
Bravo Zulu International The average lifespan for an automotive battery is four years. But according to Bravo Zulu International, Ltd., these same batteries can extend their lifespan to six to ten years through a simple utilization of their battery optimization technology. Battery optimization targets and minimizes accumulated sulfation, the leading cause of early battery failure and loss of capacity. The sulfation process starts when sulfur in the sulfuric acid of the battery forms sulfur crystals. The crystals attach to the battery’s lead plates and act as insulation, preventing the battery from accepting the charge and rendering it useless. What California-based Bravo Zulu offers are the Batt-Recon Rapid Sulfation Elimination System and the Zulu One ScanCommand -Control System. “Battery optimization techniques are the new energy savings standards for the industrial battery industry,” Zeier said. “The energy consumption to re-charge industrial batteries in a typical distribution center is about 30 percent of their electrical grid usage. Our data shows that about 20 to 60 percent of this charging grid electricity is wasted because of battery sulfation and charger inefficiencies, which can be dramatically reduced using battery optimization techniques developed by Bravo Zulu.“ President Bruce Zeier and his Bravo Zulu team stumbled upon the key to desulfation by chance. The company’s initial enterprise was in designing helicopter flight simulators. Their creation of the patented Heli-Trainer marked the first time student fliers were able to experience a simulation of a helicopter tail rotor system failure and a fixed wing aircraft flat spin. The simulator’s hydraulic motion-based system required the Bravo Zulu team to master the Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) process. Summer 2010 3