Power Electronics

The Penbro Brake Chopper regulates regenerated braking energy by controlling how much is safely dissipated through the brake resistor. This is essential when the battery cannot absorb energy due to charge level or temperature. The system is lightweight and compact, supporting a broad voltage and power range with ratings up to 250 kW and battery voltages up to 1.2 kV.

It works with both fresh water and glycol coolant and can be integrated with resistors. With fully autonomous operation and CAN bus control, it ensures precise and reliable braking energy management for modern EVs and transport systems.

The maintenance challenges associated with lead-acid and Ni-Cad batteries — such as water loss, sulfation, corrosion, overheating, improper charging and temperature sensitivity — can significantly reduce battery life and performance if not properly addressed.

To overcome these challenges, the PENBRO NG-BMS™ can be implemented to effectively monitor and manage the battery's performance, solving most of these issues and prolonging the battery's lifespan.

Penbro manufactures Rectifiers for various applications such as DC power supplies, battery chargers, transformers, cathodic protection, plating rectifiers, modular 19″ rack-mount units and mobile power supplies/battery chargers. All rectifiers include constant voltage and current control with optional alarm features.

We manufacture battery chargers to customer specifications — including chargers for lead-acid (vented or sealed) and NiCad batteries with capacities of a few amp-hours up to several hundred amp-hours. Output voltages range from 6 VDC to 300 VDC.

In addition to these products, Penbro also offers a specialist crew for on-site battery installations and maintenance.

Penbro offers a wide range of 19-inch rack rectifier modules and enclosures. A 19-inch system provides redundancy and is therefore very popular for supplying power to critical loads — a system with two or more rectifiers operating in parallel would still provide power to the load in the event of a failure of one rectifier.

The faulty rectifier may be repaired and re-inserted into the rack without disrupting the supply of power to the load. Each unit includes alarm outputs via a DB9 connector.

Calibration rectifiers are used to calibrate protection equipment such as circuit breakers. Our calibration rectifiers allow fine tuning of the current to be set on the protection equipment, enabling easy and reliable calibration of these important components.

Our calibration rectifiers are available in different versions and sizes for both mobile and fixed installations.

Penbro manufactures plating rectifiers with output power ratings ranging from as little as 100 W for light duty applications up to 200 kW for large volume plating.

Plating rectifiers are usually manufactured in accordance with customer specifications. Due to the hazardous chemical environments in which the rectifiers normally operate, additional precautions are taken into account when manufacturing the enclosure and control circuitry.