Project 'DC Industry' - Part 1DC instead of AC in the production grid
Research and industry are working hard to redesign the power supply for industrial systems via a smart, open DC grid. The article describes the challenges of the 'DC Industry' project and the system specification developed so far.
The production cell is the further development of a test facility from the EU Areus project. It is operated at the Daimler plant in Sindelfingen and is used to investigate the aspects of energy distribution, EMC, dynamic load balancing and energy management. Within the cell, four welding robots simulate a sub-process from body-in-white construction. The system also includes an active front end for AC/DC conversion, mechanical, chemical and electrical energy storage systems and a DC/DC converter for feeding in solar energy. Energy is distributed via a DC busbar system. The division into several load zones also enables the testing of protection and switching scenarios.