Conceptual Design of a Portable Measuring Box for Monitoring Ripple Currents affecting the Lifetime of Electrolytic Capacitors in Industrial Open DC Grids

Abstract:
Due to the increasingly widespread use of efficient power electronics, DC grids today offer more and more advantages over AC grids. In the field of energy supply, the use of DC technology is also growing and is state of the art in offshore, high-voltage, vehicle and data center applications. The spread of industrial open DC grids is currently starting and is completely different due to the requirements. The DC links of each device are connected directly and the capacitors of individual devices shall not be overloaded. Especially not by ripple currents from other devices. The paper describes the easy use of a measuring box which evaluates and optically displays the load of electrolytic capacitors. No further measuring equipment is required. The simple, temporary integration into a grid makes it easy to check whether capacitors of individual devices are overloaded, and their lifetime is limited.