Landkreis Meissen: Power supply of an alarm and message transmission system

Meißen County is responsible for setting up and maintaining a cross-municipality alerting and messaging system in the region. It operates its own digital radio alerting network as a BOS (Behörden u. Organisationen mit Sicherheitsaufgaben). In the event of a long-term power failure, the district, as the lower disaster control authority, must ensure that communications are safeguarded. Until now, there has been no reliable backup power supply for such blackout scenarios.

In the event of power failures, the radio system must be kept operational without interruption for at least 72 hours. Up to now, portable emergency power systems with combustion engines have been used for local incidents, but their operating time is severely limited and they require an enormous amount of manpower for deployment.

The EFOY ProCubes used consist of an EFOY Pro 2400 fuel cell, a 60 Ah lead gel battery, an M5 fuel cartridge and a specially designed collection container for the condensation water produced.

The EFOY ProCubes deliver 60 Ah of battery capacity via the built-in battery. This means that the digital alarm converter can be operated for approx. 46 hours without recharging by the fuel cell. The EFOY Pro’s switch-on threshold is programmed accordingly low; it switches on fully automatically and recharges the battery. With the energy gained from the fuel cartridge and in combination with the installed battery, an autonomous operating time of approx. 25 days is achieved.

The project “Back-up power supply for the BOS radio system” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure within the framework of the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology with a total of 29,198 EUR. The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ).

“The EFOY Pro fuel cells allow us to provide back-up power for our BOS radio system. The system can be used in the black case without personnel expenditure. The new technology and its almost noise- and emission-free mode of operation open up further application possibilities which would not be feasible with combustion engines”.
Jens Mauersberger, Office for Fire, Disaster Protection and Rescue Services