Dr.-Ing Eko Adhi Setiawan
Team Leader of Nanogrids Research
The energy conversion technology based on renewable energy such as solar photovoltaic and wind energy, is currently dominated by an inverter that acts to convert DC voltage into AC voltage. However, the current development of power electronics industry shows that almost all electronic loads in the market have used switching method that can be supplied from DC voltage source with voltage rating equal to AC voltage (220 volt). This research is fully funded by Kemenristek DIKTI (Industrial Technology Development Program Grant / PPTI) and has succeeded in producing a new breakthrough that is a product of DC-DC converter with 2500 Watt capacity with 95% efficiency (dcon-2.5). The output voltage of the appliance is more stable and more efficient because there are no reactive power losses that occur in the system of alternating current and can be directly connected with household electrical loads such as PC computers, laptops, TVs, mobile phones, water heaters and lamps, without altering or modifying the loaded equipment. Test results conducted by a team of researchers at the Tropical Renewable Energy Center (TREC) FTUI show that this device can reduce power consumption to 15-30% compared to alternating current system.
Currently we are developing the 2nd version with a larger capacity and equipped with security features as well as monitoring. This device can be installed at home/office that are already connected to a grid or isolated.