Domestic Voltage Reduction Device

To understand the potential savings the first thing to do is understand how your individual household is affected.

Domestic voltage reduction device.

How does voltage optimisation save money. By doug lowe. Voltage reduction has become another option for utilities to reduce demand typically unbeknownst to the customer. It is generally used in residential homes to save energy and to reduce electricity bills.

While some voltage optimisation devices have a fixed voltage adjustment others electronically regulate the voltage automatically. For instance a 10 ohm resistor with 1 a drops 10 volts v a silicon diode drops about 0 7 volts direct current vdc while five diodes in series drop about 3 5 vdc. When a masterweld vrd 450i is fitted to a welding machine it reduces the maximum unloaded open circuit voltage across the output terminals of the welder to a safe voltage. Voltage reduaction also reduces the power output of electric heaters but here there is no gain because they will run longer so that ultimately the same amount of energy is delivered.

It is a small device which is to be plugged in any of the ac sockets in the house mostly near energy meter. Savings are mainly achieved around a kw h reduction as the electrical device operates closer to its fundamental design voltage the main areas of saving on an electricity bill are detailed below. A transformer is a device that uses the principal of electromagnetic induction to transfer voltage and current from one circuit to another the transformer uses a primary coil that s connected to line voltage and a secondary coil that provides the output voltage. The resistor will have a voltage drop equal to the mathematical product of the current in amperes a and the resistance in ohms.

The voltage reduction system takes the fluctuation inflow of power from the grid makes it a consistent 215 volts throughout the household. Voltage optimisation is a term given to the systematic controlled reduction in the voltages received by an energy consumer to reduce energy use power demand and reactive power demand. When a load of less than 200 ohms resistance is applied to the output of the welding machine the vrd will sense this and turn the. Dependent on the load dynamics the savings will come from a kw h reduction.

The device comprises a pwm or phase angle switched autotransformer which is sufficiently compact and lightweight to be incorporated into a standard. A voltage regulation device adapted for connection to a varying electrical supply and to regulate the voltage supplied to certain selected circuits whose loads benefit from voltage regulation. Loads such as incandescent lights and heater coils will use less power as the voltage is lowered. Voltage reduction is possible because many consumers supplies are maintained at higher levels than is strictly necessary.

In most electronic power supplies the transformer reduces the voltage. In electronic circuits voltage reduction is implemented with resistors diodes and transistors.