Compatibility and performance study of home appliances in a DC home distribution system

DC power distribution has gained interest in several applications due to increased solar PV(photovoltaic) penetration and associated storage system. In a typical home, most of the appliances consume power internally as DC. This paper investigates the compatibility of various home appliances on DC grid. Home appliances like mixer-grinder, induction stove, LCD TV, LED lighting, laptop chargers and SMPS based adapters are considered for investigation on 220V DC distribution system. It is found and verified experimentally that most of the home appliances can be powered from 220V DC with no or minor modifications in the appliances. This paper also presents a performance comparison study between 230V AC supplied home appliances and 220V DC supplied home appliances. Since, DC-AC and AC-DC power conversions are avoided in DC distribution, the energy generated from renewable energy sources can be utilized more efficiently.