DC Industry

Direct current for the sustainable factory with DC infrastructure

DC Industry

Are you ready for new, climate-friendly technologies?

Are you ready for new, climate-friendly technologies?

Climate change, CO2 neutrality and electromobility are topics that not only move us privately, but also as Weidmüller. That is why we are working intensively on new technologies that contribute to reducing energy consumption and, above all, for implementation in industrial applications.

In this context, DC technology is seen as having great potential for the future. This refers to the use of DC voltage to supply energy to industrial plants, for example to optimise energy efficiency in production, but also to ensure grid quality and security of supply - an important step towards climate-neutral production.

Potentials of industrial DC power distribution

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency

Lower conversion and transport losses, use of recuperation, direct use of renewable energy sources as well as peak power reduction through suitable storage systems

Grid stability

Grid stability

Additional investments for grid filtering and compensation can be omitted and the existing grids are supported and production losses due to grid disturbances areprevented and reduced

Resource efficiency

Resource efficiency

Reduction of copper consumption for cables and lower equipment costs and space savings throughElimination of power electronics

Industrial smart DC grid

Industrial smart DC grid

Infrastructure for intelligent control of energy flows enables advantages in energy purchasing and supports modular machine concepts

Challenges from the production perspective

Climate change, CO2 neutrality and electromobility are topics that also pose particular challenges for production.

Challenges from the production perspective
  • Self-power integrated (no additional power supply needed)
  • Integration of volatile energy generation
  • Conversion losses - recovery of kinetic energy through recuperation
  • High demands on flexibility require a secure infrastructure
  • Load peak reduction, DC personal protection and selective DC protection
The goal is to optimise energy efficiency in production, as well as to ensure grid quality and security of supply. In order to implement this, Weidmüller is working together with over 40 partners on the DC-INDUSTRIE direct current research project.

Dr Jan Michels, Head of Standard and Technology Development.

Solution approaches

Infrastructure for DC grids

Infrastructure for DC grids

Infrastructure for DC grids

Safe connection technology for bidirectional energy flow through recuperation, protection of people and equipment, condition monitoring of the connectors and smart safety functions through interlocking.

Power distribution for efficiency in DC automation

Power distribution for efficiency in DC automation

Power distribution for efficiency in DC automation

Monitoring of the system voltage and energy flows in the DC sectors, management of the network status and protection of the nominal values.

Infrastructure solutions for DC architectures

Infrastructure solutions for DC architectures

Infrastructure solutions for DC architectures

Central pre-charge control of large capacitive network segments to protection units and decentralised pre-charge control for sub-segment maintenance.

Perfect complementation or DC-Ready

This might also interest you:

DC-INDUSTRY

DC-INDUSTRY

DC-INDUSTRY

Learn more about the joint work of over 40 partners in the DC-INDUSTRY and DC-INDUSTRY 2 projects, which are developing the basis for a direct current infrastructure in industry.

DKE - German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies

DKE - German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies

DKE - German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies

Find out more about the DKE's standardisation roadmap for direct current in the low-voltage range here.

Open Direct Current Alliance (ODCA)

Open Direct Current Alliance (ODCA)

Open Direct Current Alliance (ODCA)

Direct current makes important contributions to the success of the energy transition. With the ODCA, we will bring the insights and solutions of DC technology into international distribution. The ZVEI and companies from industry, academia and research founded an Open Direct Current Alliance.

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