Thermal aspects of a low cost power electronic converter for high capacity, smart residential distribution networks

A key challenge facing the UK Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) today is the increasing demand for power being placed on residential networks. Also, the increase in distributed generation (DG) is now resulting in unacceptable local voltage rises and power quality issues. A cost effective solution to these problems can be achieved on the existing infrastructure by increasing the local network phase voltage to 400 V and stepping back down to 230 V at each house, using a DNO-owned, voltage regulated power electronic converter (PEC). The thermal and protection issues associated with the design of such a PEC, which is to be installed in the meterbox of each property, are discussed in this paper