DSE Modules Chosen For 'The Coldest Journey' to the Antarctic
DSE was the controller of choice for Sir Ranulph Fiennes and his team when undertaking the Coldest Journey expedition across the Antarctic. The expedition commenced last week, albeit without Sir Ranulph as he was airlifted to South Africa after suffering severe frost bite. The rest of the team unanimously decided to continue the winter crossing of Antarctica and set off in a bid to conduct many scientific experiments and raise money for charity.
The team will face some of the toughest conditions on Earth - near permanent darkness and temperatures dropping close to -90C and the DSE controllers will operate gensets to provide the team with all it’s power requirements including power for the expedition team to carry out a number of important tests which will include mapping the height of the landmass using new GPS techniques, sampling surface snow to establish patterns of large-scale atmospheric transport of water vapour across the ice sheet, and sampling for cryo-bacteria capable of withstanding the extreme cold conditions.
DSE controllers are manufactured in the UK and offer the most reliable control solution for the most extreme and rugged environments including sub zero temperatures, vibration and shock.
For The Coldest Journey, bespoke generators were commisioned using DSE controls.
To protect against some of the worst problems associated with the cold, tractors being used to pull the cabooses contain two other generators that are active during transit, providing warmth and insulating the system and the diesel fuel supplies. This will protect against problems such as waxing diesel, while also providing additional insurance in the form of immediate power in the event of any unforeseen problems.
The generators will automatically jump into action at the end of each day’s travel, and have a number of features adapted for the conditions: air duct ventilators will be manually adjustable for heat-recovery, so that the exploration team have the ability to recycle hot-air as required, maximizing efficiency.
Controlling and monitoring the actions and status of the generators is also critical in an environment devoid of light and a long way from technical support. The Deep Sea Electronics 8610s not only offer ease of use in these testing conditions but also offer load share capabilities allowing the generators to work in unison to meet power demands. These state-of-the-art modules will also identify early problems if anything is going awry within the generator system, keeping a critical eye on the operational status. As efficiency is paramount on this expedition the generators will sit dormant when not required, however the DSE8610 controllers will automatically start the generators on load demand or -most crucially- will stop the engine in the event of a fault, meaning the expedition team can resolve the issue(s) before disaster strikes.
For further information on DSE8610 features and capabilities, please click here
