IC Maker Evaluates Battery-free Energy Storage Unit

Active Power has announced the shipment of an evaluation unit of its CoolAir DC product to Austin-based Freescale Semiconductor. CoolAir DC is Active Power’s latest battery-free energy storage product, which provides customers with both backup power and cool air for up to 2 hr during a utility outage.

Spun off from Motorola last year, Freescale is the third largest independent semiconductor company in the United States. Due to the sensitive nature of equipment used in the wafer processing industry, Freescale purchased three of Active Power’s existing flywheel-based UPS systems mid-2004 and an additional two systems later in the year to insulate some of its critical processes from power disturbances.

“Freescale has been a great customer of our current flywheel-based products and we look forward to working closely with them on the new CoolAir DC line,” said Joe Pinkerton, CEO and chairman of Active Power. “The ability of CoolAir units to provide midrange loads with backup power and cooling is a nice match for the semiconductor industry, since individual pieces of equipment can be protected for extended periods of time without resorting to fuel-based systems and CoolAir units can be easily redeployed as plants evolve over time.”