22/09/2020 – Powered by direct current
DC smart grids for production halls
Most production plants today are still powered by alternating current. In the long term, however, research teams from the Fraunhofer Institutes for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA and Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB would like to see industrial manufacturing shift to operating with direct current.

Electronic power converters and a stationary battery storage system at Fraunhofer IISB. Work on the main distribution neutral unit for the DC test grid at Fraunhofer IISB. © © Fraunhofer/Bernd Müller

The DC Laboratory at Fraunhofer IPA tests components for converting production plants to direct current. Electronic power converters and a stationary battery storage system at Fraunhofer IISB. © © Fraunhofer IPA/Rainer Bez