Nicollet Technologies Corp

Source: Energy Digital

Date :4/11/2008 3:37:20 AM

Get ready for Gen 4, Nicollet’s newest ballast system

Written by Ian Armitage and Produced by Pat Harlow

You might not be familiar with the name, but Jonathan Wilkie is today the president and owner of Nicollet Technologies Corp – a company full of potential. It might make sense to remember him.

So we know who the president is, but what does Nicollet Technologies actually do? And why is this an exciting time? “We are a leader in the production of power supplies used by industry to produce ultraviolet (UV) energy,” says Mr. Wilkie. “The UV energy is used to cure things and to help purify water in water-treatment plants.”

Indeed, Nicollet Technologies has pioneered a number of variable intensity power supply and control systems for powering UV lamps – all of which have received wide acclaim, particularly its Electronic Ballast System (EBS). This technology was developed to solve the problems associated with conventional magnetic ballasts and, as a result, it is now possible to fully integrate control of the UV lamp with the curing system.

However, Nicollet never rests on its laurels and is all about the future, focusing on new technology - the likes of which could help change the world as we know it. The company is currently working on a Digital Ballast System (Gen 4), which uses buck-boost power supply topology for controlling the average AC power delivered to the UV lamp.

“Gen 4 is a circuit that connects up to a high voltage utility, rectifies the utility and then has a switching power supply where power converter circuits can produce voltages that can be larger and smaller than the input, which is important for the UV application. Why is that important? Well, when a UV lamp starts the voltage across it is very low and, as it warms up, the voltage goes up. We can help regulate that and reduce the amount of energy wasted,” explains Chris Henze CTO, who has played a key role in the development of this new technology which will be formally launched in the summer.

UV energy – a new wave

“Importantly, Gen 4 has a square wave inverter, which produces AC from the DC that we create,” says Mr. Henze. “So, we create a controlled DC current source that drives lamps and then that is converted into a square wave because the lamp needs AC - it can’t run on DC. Significantly, that is done without a transformer. The outcome is a power factor at the lamp which is 0.99, or unity. What we are doing is saving energy. This output produces about 20 percent more UV energy than conventional ballasts.”

One of Nicollet’s missions, it seems, is to save energy, and Gen 4 is certainly capable of that, according to Mr. Henze. The end user can either turn down the power for the same UV energy, or speed up the production process.

Driven by the end user

The end user is driving this new technology and Nicollet, thanks to Chris’, as well as Jonathan’s, dedication, is trying to give the end user what he needs and wants in an ever changing market place. “We are taking on board considerations like the ability to have the device communicate in industrial protocols, so that it can be tied into factory automation systems,” says Mr. Henze. “This device is conversant not only by LAN (local area networks) but also on the Internet. As such, you can contact your machine in Buenos Aries and take a look at the utility, the power supply and the LAN and see by remote diagnostics what is going on.”

That, it seems, is what customers are after. Downtime is an expensive enemy to most UV processes.

What about now?

Okay, that is the future of Nicollet, but this technology will not be available until later this year, so what about now? Surely UV isn’t the only area of expertise. Indeed, it isn’t - Nicollet Technologies has been designing and manufacturing high quality custom transformers and magnetic products since 1969. It has produced more than 3500 different OEM designs for a wide variety of industries and focuses on price and performance for virtually any configuration and quantity up to the 50kVA size range. “Gen 4 is our future,” says Mr. Wilkie. “Our present is serving the oil tool industry, which is a booming sector.”

Approximately 40 per cent of Nicollet’s sales today, according to Mr. Wilkie, come from around twelve oil tool manufacturing companies based in Houston. He believes the demands on those companies are such that performance is all that matters and this has seen their orders explode.

“The price of gasoline today is astronomical,” says Mr. Wilkie. “The price, as far as energy producers are concerned, doesn’t matter because the demand is just too high. We have a global energy crisis and we are beyond the peak as far as availability is concerned. The oil tool market will continue to grow as will the demand for our products.”

Understanding your strengths

Many have wondered why Nicollet has been such a success, and Exec was no different. According to Mr. Wilkie though, the answer to that question is simple - Nicollet understands its niche. “We are very competitive but we don’t go after any business outside of our niche,” he says. “If we have to, we partner with other firms that are specialised and stronger in that area. We buy instead of build because this industry is so competitive. For example, there are over 1000 companies in the transformer industry - it is very competitive.”

The world economy isn’t doing Nicollet any favors either, although the weak US dollar means the number of inquiries from Europe is growing. “The biggest challenge we are facing in business is the weakening financial system worldwide,” says Mr. Wilkie, who is extremely concerned about the current state of global finance.

However, the future looks bright for Nicollet. “In the UV energy market alone – not even mentioning the oil and gas industry which will remain strong for as far as we can see - there is an incredibly expanding opportunity for the future. In particular, we hope to assist the solution to the worldwide fresh water crisis,” says Mr. Wilkie. “We can assist with the water shortage issue because UV energy is typically used to purify and also to desalinate water. We are very excited about helping in that area and I believe it is something we can all be proud to do.”