Relec Electronics is an expert in power conversion and display products, representing leading brands, including Mornsun, Bel Power, Chinfa, Cotek and Premium in the field of power conversion, as well as major display partners Digiwise and RockTouch.
Relec’s team of expert consultants can refine the initial specifications for a given application to include custom features to meet the needs of a specific design or project.
As the world rethinks its energy use during the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of renewable energy is emerging. Managing energy demand through smart grids is the next step in sustainable energy supply. Relec Electronics’ Mornsun product portfolio supports the current demand for smart grid implementation to provide a cleaner, more sustainable energy supply.
Smart grids are a necessity in the modern world, capable of responding to changes in power supply and demand. With the development of smart grids, there is a high demand for efficient, effective and reliable power electronic solutions.
Smart grids use information technology, automatic control, and communication to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity. Using data and analysis and smart meters and other equipment, it can effectively generate, distribute and consume energy.
Smart grids use hybrid energy sources (many of which are renewable energy sources) to provide environmentally friendly and reliable solutions to electricity demand. Smart grids are efficient, compatible with smart devices and smart homes, and support the increasing popularity of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. They can also achieve economic savings and better manage energy consumption.
Smart grids are becoming more and more popular as a means of connecting various distributed energy assets to the grid, managing and distributing energy. Data collection means that the smart grid can repair itself when a service problem is detected, without waiting for customers to report a power outage. For renewable energy, smart grids can transmit information to energy generators and use data from sensors to determine climate and environmental conditions to adjust energy demand as needed.
Research by Markets+Markets predicts that the smart grid market will benefit from the international driving force to use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels to protect the environment. Driven by the modernization of grid infrastructure and increased awareness of carbon footprint management, it predicts that the value of the smart grid market will reach $61.3 billion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.9% from 2018 to 2023.
In the smart grid, the main activities that occur are power generation, transmission, transformation, distribution and consumption. Figure 2 shows a typical block diagram of a smart grid. Electricity is usually generated from multiple sources, such as wind turbines including wind-solar complementary controllers, or nuclear power plants with oxygen content analyzers, or solar (photovoltaic or PV) panels with heliostat solar tracking systems.
Once electricity is generated in a photovoltaic system, it usually needs to be converted or converted into the correct form and the correct voltage for transmission. This may include distributed inverters, DC-AC converters, and DC-DC converters. The energy router ensures that the electricity reaches the correct location in the power generation system. Another key aspect of the smart grid system is the DC distribution cabinet, which includes a combiner box (connecting multiple solar cell arrays together) and a centralized inverter. From there, electricity enters the power line to be transmitted to consumers or end users.
Mornsun provides the latest and advanced high-efficiency power electronic equipment for smart grids, ranging from power generation to distribution and use in homes and businesses. These solutions solve key issues in power generation, such as efficiency and safety. They also solve electrical challenges such as wide input voltage range, high input voltage, small size, adequate isolation, and high efficiency under full and low load conditions.
Large-scale photovoltaic systems consist of multiple solar cell arrays, and the combination of these arrays (or strings) largely depends on the inverter used. The combiner box provides surge protection, fuse and switch disconnection, and system monitoring. Mornsun’s PV series DC-DC converters have an input range of 100V to 1500Vdc, allowing all control elements with a combiner box to operate directly from the solar array itself, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing complexity.
Another key element of the smart grid is power transmission. Technology has been developing steadily, starting from the distribution voltage, rising to high voltage and ultra high voltage. Power transmission has also changed, from high-power, medium-distance power transmission, to long-distance power transmission, and finally to long-distance power system interconnection. In terms of power transmission, Chensheng provides a variety of energy-efficient solutions that are compatible with today’s ultra-high voltage and long-distance power systems, such as the PV75D-36D DC-DC converter series. The module has an input range of 250 to 3300Vdc and an isolation level of up to 6000Vac, making it suitable for use as a component for monitoring traditional power grids. They are usually used in the renewable energy industry (photovoltaics, power generation, energy storage, inverters, and high-voltage DC conversion. Even under abnormal working conditions, they can ensure a stable and safe operating environment. Power conversion is also important for modern smart grids. It is important to provide key functions such as monitoring and control of parameters such as current and voltage to ensure equipment safety and power quality.
A robot used for overhead power line inspection is an interesting example of this type of application. In the United Kingdom, network operator Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) collaborated with Williams Advanced Engineering to design an autonomous overhead line inspection robot for its high-voltage power grid.
The Semi-Autonomous System Line Inspection (LISAS) project, funded by Ofgem’s Network Innovation Grant, aims to create a robotic system that can navigate between steel towers and capture key asset data during maintenance inspections of live overhead lines. The maintenance team can perform the necessary work on the infrastructure to inspect and maintain the network while the network remains operational to minimize interference with customers in northern Scotland and south-central England. Robots can provide the latest asset and safety data, photos, and videos to help suppliers develop maintenance and replacement plans to meet the growing power demand.
Power distribution is another key aspect of the smart grid, including the data transmission unit/feeder terminal unit (DTU/FTU) power supply unit. (DTU and FTU are switch monitoring equipment installed in substations to monitor and communicate with the distribution network.)
Power distribution focuses on system continuity power supply requirements, EMC protection, and high isolation power supply for telemetry systems. Mornsun offers a series of products for such applications, including high-isolation DC-DC converters, and isolated bus transceiver modules for CAN/RS485 and RS232 communications.
The transceiver module integrates a transceiver, an isolation chip and a high-efficiency isolated dc-dc converter. They are a compact, high-reliability, low-power module, integrated in one module. They are designed for use in harsh environments and can be provided in CAN bus, RS232 or RS485 formats according to personal requirements.
The final destination on the power path through the smart grid is end user consumption. One of the latest developments in this field is smart meter technology. Smart meters allow two-way real-time communication between energy distribution companies and consumers using GPRS.
Many countries in the world have launched large-scale deployment of government-sponsored smart meters. Smart meters are popular because they can help track energy usage and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Therefore, according to Valuate Reports (https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/360I-Auto-1L64/smart-rice market).
Smart meters can provide effective management of utilities (gas, water, and electricity). They also play an important role in smart homes and can be used to automatically monitor the energy of electrical appliances as well as electricity, light and energy.
This level of automation requires a higher level of communication interface, large-capacity memory and microprocessor, wide voltage input, low power consumption, small size and high level of EMC protection for power supplies. Mornsun has power electronic products that meet these application specifications, including LS series 1-15W, high-density, low-cost AC-DC converters and high-efficiency, low-power, DC-DC converters and other products
The LS series converters are designed to be used where space is limited. They use high-density, vertical single-in-line package (SIP) devices, with power ranging from 1W to 15W, and physical dimensions from 35 x 18 x 11mm to 44.5 x 24 x 15mm.
Most of the energy produced by photovoltaics is directly delivered to the grid by the system, but there is an increasing need to store excess energy in batteries. Figure 3 is a detailed block diagram of a typical energy storage inverter used in an actual smart grid. This inverter design includes many components from the Mornsun product portfolio.
Mornsun QP12W08S-37 is especially suitable for smart grid inverters. It is a fully integrated IGBT driver with a built-in isolated DC-DC power supply and a high isolation voltage of 3750Vac. QP12W08S-37 can accommodate input signals with frequencies up to 20 kHz, and has built-in fault protection and fault feedback pins to ensure reliable operation.
Mornsun’s TDx01D485H series isolated bus transceiver module allows external systems to communicate with the monitoring system through the RS 485 network. These modules use integrated IC technology to create isolation between power and signal lines in a single module, as well as transmit data and protect the communication bus. This series of products can be easily embedded in end user equipment to achieve a fully functional RS485 network connection.
The MCU used in this design is powered by the Mornsun series of DC-DC converters, especially the Mornun B0503XT-2WR2. The converter has an efficiency of up to 84%, high power density and a wide operating ambient temperature range, making it particularly suitable for photovoltaic (PV) inverters and many other applications. Figure 3 also shows the use of two switching regulators to generate a 5V power rail from a 24V input power supply. These include the K7805-500R3 model, which provides up to 95% efficiency, no-load input current as low as 0.2 mA, and standard output short-circuit protection.
This design requires a 200 to 1500Vdc input voltage isolation converter, and Mornsun’s PVxx-29B24 series are ideal for this application. This series of single output isolated converters are mainly used in the photovoltaic industry. The converter has the characteristics of high efficiency, high reliability and high safety. They have up to 80% efficiency, 4000Vac isolation, wide operating temperature (-40°C to +70°C), and come standard with reverse polarity input, output overvoltage, overcurrent and short circuit protection.
DIN rail mounting version A8 (integrated EMC filter) and A10 options are also available with screw terminals and CE certification.
Smart grids are becoming more and more common, and Mornsun is a single-source supplier of power electronic equipment in this emerging market. Its product portfolio includes components for smart grids, battery management systems, combiner boxes, inverters, and grid monitoring units, as well as end-user applications such as electric vehicle/hybrid vehicle (EV/HEV) charging stations. The power electronic product series provide efficient, reliable, and high-power-density products for smart grid projects.
The recent global Covid-19 pandemic has intensified the strong interest in renewable energy, and the pandemic has caused many traditional industries to close or reduce business hours. Compared with the usage in 2019, the use of renewable energy in the UK has increased by 10%. Wärtsilä Energy reports that in Germany, it has increased by 12% from 2019 and accounts for 60% of the country’s energy.
Relec Electronics is an expert in power conversion and display products, representing leading brands, including Mornsun, Bel Power, Chinfa, Cotek and Premium in the field of power conversion, as well as major display partners Digiwise and RockTouch.
Relec’s team of expert consultants can refine the initial specifications for a given application to include custom features to meet the needs of a specific design or project.
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Post time: Aug-19-2021
