Performance Evaluation and Optimizations of PV Powered DC Motor-Driven Home Appliance

Abstract

In the current distribution system, almost all home appliances are designed to use AC supply for powering the home equipment like Refrigerator. But most of the equipment consumes the power first by converting the AC to DC internally or externally. Nowadays, due to the development of renewable energy or AC/DC converter, there is a possibility of getting DC power and supply to the equipment directly. So home appliances are can be designed using DC networks to use DC residential equipment. In the study, the DC supply system was modeled using MATLAB/SIMULINK with the DC loads that is use brushless DC motor instead of single-phase AC motor in the refrigerator, and a comparative analysis was done for AC and DC supply in terms of power loss, energy-saving, and efficiency in the steady-state operation of the system. The major engineering aspect of the DC devices was identified and the cost-benefit of manufacturing of the DC device was compared with the AC devices then analyzed using HOMER SOFTWARE and it was saved 10.32% of AC system of total Net Present Cost for refrigerator only. In this study, 80.11% of annual energy loss could be saved using DC system, 18.72% of drive equipment and 20.92% of non-drive home appliance efficiency saved. The overall system including the PV module efficiency was saved 3.65% and 4.08% of with drive and without drives respectively.