Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

Previous work on system level energy distribution will be continued, with a particular focus on DC
systems in domestic and vehicle applications. Much expertise in the modelling of batteries and
photovoltaic systems has been accumulated and explicit application to the electric vehicle and
domestic area will be pursued. In particular, some work on how DC should be distributed in a
house has been published and this will be taken further. Safety is a particular interest in terms of
how designs will fail in a non hazardous manner. Designing a switch which does not arc is of little
value if the eventual failure mode is that it will burn the house down.
A related area is the design of distribution systems in electric vehicles of all types. Of particular
interest is the interface between the vehicle and the rest of the world. In some cases this involves
wiring in a building. In other cases it is a powering or charging system at the road level. There has
been much discussion of wireless systems, but I believe these to be of limited practical interest.
Improved methods of contact charging methods, such as through the use of robot plugging units,
promise more compact and efficient solutions. An extension of the trolley bus system has been used
for large commercial vehicles and this promises to provide a quick way of removing emissions from
city centres, particularly where suitable transportation infrastructure already exists.
Establishing codes and standards and standards for DC distribution will a general goal. It is the lack
of these which has hampered the adoption of DC for many years. The advantages of using DC in a
naturally DC environment of photovoltaics and batteries are clear. The proposed work will focus on
getting beyond the experimental stage.