A study on the DC distribution system for small scale residential buildings

Abstract

Nowadays, most of electrical load that we use is suitable for DC instead of AC. The portion of DC loads to AC loads is increasing dramatically. Also, environmentally friendly renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and fuel cells produce DC. It means that energy conversion could be effective with DC distribution compared to AC because much potion of loads and power source are changed to DC from AC. Therefore, DC distribution for home and a building has been attractive issue in research area. This paper deals with the core technologies of DC electrical distribution at small-scale residential building that is composed of converted DC home appliances, a grid-interactive converter for regulating bus voltage, bidirectional converter for battery power interface, and renewable energy simulator. To prove and test DC system, the proposed devices and converters are built up with DC loads. Many important configurations and considerations are explained with test facilities.

Feasibility Analysis of a DC Distribution System for a 6 kW Photovoltaic Installation in Ireland

“…Therefore, recent developments in utilizing DC systems have heightened the need for reducing the electricity consumption in commercial buildings in which the energy efficiency could be improved [10,11]. Since the load profile of residential buildings is lower than that of commercial buildings, it is believed that the integration of renewable energy with DC systems and other sources of energy would be promising in terms of cost benefit [12][13][14]. Meanwhile, the relative advantages and disadvantages of employing the DC solution have been discussed in some review studies [15,16], including the effects of battery storage [17].…”