AC vs DC: energy efficiency of a designed DC system

Niekolaas, K. A. (2017) AC vs DC: energy efficiency of a designed DC system. Bachelor's Thesis, Industrial Engineering and Management.

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Abstract

The AC energy distribution net as known today has been established around 1900, when DC could not easily be transformed to different voltages and most of the loads were inductive. With the development of renewable energy sources that generate DC and electronics that consume DC, possibilities arise for advantageous DC systems. Although there are yet many obstacles to overcome concerning DC systems, such as safety of operation and adaptation of devices to be DC compatible, DC systems can have many advantages over AC systems. These advantages include increased reliability, cost savings and energy efficiency. This study mainly focuses on the advantage of energy efficiency. DC systems require less conversion steps than AC systems and each of these conversion steps generates energy losses. When it is assumed that wiring that is used today can safely be used for DC, energy can be saved through elimination of losses. These energy savings are in the order of 3-8%. Calculation of the losses was conducted by constructing an excel sheet that directly calculates power losses for a given wire length, cable cross-sectional area and the bus voltage. For higher bus voltages, energy losses due to wiring could be neglected. However, these wiring losses have to be accounted for in the case of lower bus voltages.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Degree programme:	Industrial Engineering and Management
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2018 08:29
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2018 08:29
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/15371

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