Electricity + Control May 2018

round up

ENERGY MANAGEMENT + ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Energy efficiency in dc systems

The trend towards efficient utilisation of limited resources has led to the introduction of a host of activities for energy efficiency improvement. For dc systems especially, monitoring their perfor- mance and error-free operation is fundamental. Photovoltaic and battery storage systems are particularly relevant here and the focus is also evidently on the power supplies of emerging electromobility solutions.

tional voltage and current measurement. The dc energy meter can be used to measure the energy consumption of four independent loads as well as charging and discharging currents. The measure- ment data can be parametrized directly on the device using two pushbuttons or via the RS485 Modbus RTU interface. Four inte-

grated relay outputs allow the user to implement functions such as trig- gering a pulse output for additional external counters or for implement- ing time-delayed tasks. The outputs can be activated by an external limit switch for example or other remote triggers. Measurement results can be displayed locally on the large 4-row LED display or sent via Modbus RTU to a higher-level system, (such as the SMARTCOLLECT data management system from Camille Bauer Metra- watt AG ) for display and further pro- cessing. Enquiries: Email rodrick@timecount.co.za or sascha.engel@camillebauer.com

In the case of photovoltaic systems, energy efficiency is normally monitored at string inverter or inverter level. To do this, each string of a PV module or the individu- al inverter is measured in order to capture operating data such as voltage, current and power in both dc as well as ac. This data shows the productivity of the system and also provides the operator with early indications of possible problem areas. The new SIRAX BM1450 multifunction- al dc energy meter was designed for the measurement and monitoring of dc sys- tems. With four independent channels and multi channel support, it is ideal for bidirec-

36 Electricity + Control

MAY 2018