Alternative power distribution in residential and commercial buildings

Historically 220 V/50 Hz or 110 V/60 Hz have become the standard for power distribution in residential and commercial buildings. The number of electronic appliances has increased rapidly, and the state of the art is currently that almost all consumer equipment contains electronics. Electronic circuits prefer DC supplies and the sinusoidal line voltage complicates the construction of power supplies, since rectifiers cause current distortion and EMI problems. Thus, the authors investigate the suitability of different waveforms for the residential power network of the future. Three alternative voltage waveforms have been studied. These are a DC voltage, a 20 kHz square wave voltage and a 50 Hz square wave voltage. It has been investigated whether these systems are compatible to the existing mains and to todays appliances and consumer products. A power conditioner is described which is able to provide the considered waveforms. Finally, some measurements have been taken to illustrate the performance of alternative distribution systems.<>