VYCON has announced that its VDC-XES flywheel system has passed rigorous seismic testing and has been approved by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) in California.

During the testing, the VDC-XES unit underwent shake-table testing in accordance with ICC ES AC-156, “Acceptable Criteria for Seismic Certification by Shake-Table Testing of Nonstructural Components” and IBC 2009. The VDC system must have demonstrated normal operation before and after the test (without modification).

“OSHPD further enhances the value VYCON delivers to customers,” said Dann McKeraghan, vice president of sales and marketing for VYCON. “Inspectors, customers, engineers and hospital associations require or demand systems that are seismic tested and certified. VYCON’s ability to deliver clean energy storage with OSHPD certification meets this mandate.”

For customers and buildings with specific requirements, usually public buildings such as hospitals, health care facilities, schools, fire department buildings, etc., this certification means that the flywheel system has been subjected to and passed a level of tests correlating to seismic demands. As part of the testing procedures, the design of the unit under test (UUT) is reviewed to be in accordance with ASCE 7-05, chapter 13, “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and other Structures.” The seismic certification number is OSP-0163 and can be viewed atwww.oshpd.ca.gov/FDD/Pre-Approval/OSP-0163-10.pdf.