Current/OS Foundation

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In 2004, I mastered the plan to research whether we can transition to a DC distribution system due the problems we faced on Power Qualities issues in the AC Power System. For this reason, I founded Direct Current BV in 2009 to put my DC master plan into action. In the following years we improved on the basic concept of DC distribution. The DC system that we defined was based on a few simple but important rules:

1. The DC System shall be safer than the AC System,
2. The DC System shall be more efficient than the AC system,
3. The DC system shall provide new functions, 
4. The DC system shall be efficient for many types of application that are connected to the DC distribution system.

We discarded existing rules and standards, for the simple reason that all the effort and fine tuning was done for AC. The DC distribution system was not well developed in standards and DC had a very bad reputation for safety. So, to make DC a success it was important to develop it from the basis, and to invest into standardisation.

The research, accumulated experiences, and knowledge through many DC use cases over the years has led to the following basic structure:

 
- Distribution voltages 350V DC or 350/700V DC and 700V DC or 700/1400V DC.

 
- DC Zones to coordinate and rules for risk assessment: 

• DC Zone 0 (unprotected source)
• DC Zone 1 (classic protection)
• DC Zone 2 (current limited systems)
• DC Zone 3 (Solid-state protection with distributed sources)
• DC Zone 4 (Solid-state protection final circuit single source)

 
- Earthing arrangements TN-S or optional IT.

 
- Power flow management is one of the strong points of DC. 

 
The Netherlands adopted these basic rules into the NPR 9090 with is a guide in the NEN 1010 series (Dutch 60364). 

We developed a current operated system, the Current/OS, that defined all the rules we created for these systems. In Current/OS, droop control can be used to make the system autonomous and independent of digital control, of course, digital control can be used but is an option.
 

The Current/OS Foundation was established with the scope to create an ecosystem where manufacturers, system integrators, installers, universities work together on a common DC system to enable a global safe DC distribution system. After the acquisition of DC Systems BV and Direct Current BV by Schneider Electric, the foundation was recreated by Schneider Electric and Eaton to setup the legal framework correctly.

For more information, visit www.currentos.foundation