Gross Automation and Westermo Unite to Make Power Accessible

Gross Automation, based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is partnering with Westermo and American Electric Power (AEP) to design a new type of panel and enclosure that can be attached to phone poles instead of running underground fiber.

For nearly four years, Gross Automation engineers have been working to customize and revolutionize the hardware for these highly technical panels. Westermo has primarily provided the software that allows for data to be transmitted back to the municipalities that utilize the panels. This data concerns the backup power and general health of the battery.

The panels are about 24 x 20 inches and are constructed of molded fiberglass and polyester. However, not all the enclosures are made of the same materials. They can be made to specification. For instance, a municipality in southern Texas requested stainless steel enclosures for their panels to withstand the salt air and humid weather.

The boxes are designed to accomplish fiber splitting—one fiber run can be split multiple times. This can provide resources to many separate homes or several homes and businesses simultaneously. The panels are backed up with 24-volt DC batteries, similar to those found in cars. In a brown-out, when memory is not disrupted, and the power merely flickers, all is well. In an absolute blackout, they have about 13-18 hours of power remaining.

There is a sustainability aspect to the project, as the panels hang on telephone poles (but within reach of technicians), which are mostly unused now. Recycling, or rather, repurposing the poles, has another positive result. In forest-heavy or very rugged, desolate terrain, the phone poles are much more convenient than other methods of delivering power. It is more difficult to lay fiber lines in the ground that is rife with root systems or to trudge across mountain ranges, such as those found in Appalachia. One of the project’s major customers is in Virginia for this very reason. Allen Von Asten, an engineer at Gross Automation, stressed, “It is especially advantageous to use the poles to hang the fiber in pre-established neighborhoods where digging isn’t a good idea.”

The wave of the future is known as the Merlin switch, which sends communications feedback to the counties and municipalities that use the panels. In the future, this application will hopefully send back notifications or warnings on people’s phones about outages and maintenance work. “We try to stay on the cutting edge,” said Von Asten. “Westermo is a good partner for that.”

Written by: Sarah F. Hill