On June 29th, the Shift2DC project will be at Técnico ElectroDay, an outreach initiative by Instituto Superior Técnico Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) to promote study programmes, research centers and projects, and students’ organisations affiliated with the department.
The project will be represented by researcher Pedro Costa at the INESC ID booth between 2pm and 7pm.
Key Advantages:
✅ Corrosion Prevention: Identifies safe earthing configurations to prevent continuous electric field corrosion issues.
✅ Comprehensive Selectivity: Defines exact settings and protection equipment coordination to safeguard both equipment and personnel.
Leading Institution: Schneider Electric
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Transient & Steady-State Analysis: Validates complex dynamics, stability limits, and voltage droop control behaviors.
✅ Short-Circuit Studies: Assists stakeholders in designing reliable protection schemes for data centers, industrial plants, and ports.ration with built-in hot-swapping and soft-start capabilities.
Leading Institutions: EDF and Schneider Electric
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Differential Power Processing (DPP): Drastically reduces conversion losses.
✅ Hot-Swap & Soft-Start: Enables high-density integration with built-in hot-swapping and soft-start capabilities.
Leading Institution: Taltech
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Comprehensive Coordination: Unifies DERs, storage assets, and AC interconnections under a transparent white-box framework.
✅ Grid Services: Enables active participation of DC devices in wider grid support services.
Leading Institution: EATON
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Branched Flexibility: Provides multiple power outlets with integrated safety features beyond standard connectors.
✅ Load Disconnection: Safely manages disconnect procedures under active electrical load.
Leading Institution: Phoenix Contact
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Hot-Swapping Architecture: Features an easy swapping mechanism to expand or replace power/energy modules seamlessly.
✅ High Power Quality: Guarantees stable power delivery under fluctuating industrial demands.
Leading Institution: Phoenix Contact
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Zero Energy Overhead: Utilizes passive thermosyphon physics to evacuate heat effectively without heavy mechanical chiller power.
✅ Thermal Reliability: Protects sensitive IT hardware under peak workloads.
Leading Institution: JJ Cooling
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Droop Curve Implementation: Employs customized 
or 
droop characteristics across converters without central communication dependencies.
✅ Fast Inner Loops: Combines fast internal current loops with slower outer droop loops for optimal stability.or future serial product lines.
Leading Institution: EDF and EATON
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Modern Work Trends: Tailors DC efficiency directly to office environments.
✅ Commercial Readiness: Explores multiple concepts to pave the way for future serial product lines.
Leading Institution: BACHMANN
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Balanced Distribution: Ensures equitable energy allocation across all output sockets.
✅ Centralized Warnings: Features a central unit (CU) for real-time monitoring and abnormality alerts.
Leading Institution: BACHMANN
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Multi-Voltage Interconnection: Seamlessly bridges 700 V DC and 350 V DC grid segments.
✅ Reinforced Isolation & Monitoring: Features reinforced galvanic input/output isolation paired with advanced monitoring tools.
Leading Institution: Watt&Well
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Decoupled Responses: Enables separate tuning of steady-state and dynamic responses to load fluctuations.
✅ Optimized Dispatch: Facilitates smooth integration of sources with varying power and energy densities.
Leading Institution: Tecnalia
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ High Range & Precision: Measures up to 1000 A DC and 1500 V DC with 1% accuracy.
✅ Digital Integration: Equipped with a digital interface to feed essential measurement metrics directly to DC grid controllers.
Leading Institution: EATON
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Inrush Current Prevention: Eliminates dangerous voltage spikes and high inrush currents during load connection.mechanical breakers.
✅ Enhanced Safety: Protects grid components and extends equipment lifespan.
Leading Institution: EATON
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Flexible Deployment: Can be deployed standalone or combined with conventional mechanical breakers.
✅ Rapid Interruption: Provides lightning-fast fault clearing capabilities essential for DC networks.and reliable isolation of system faults.
Leading Institution: EATON
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Higher Efficiency: Minimizes conversion stages to significantly reduce power conversion losses.
✅ Cost & Reliability: Simplifies infrastructure, lowers deployment costs, and boosts overall system reliability
Leading Institution: HIRO-MicroDataCenters
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Methodology & Hardware: Combines an open-source-aligned protection design workflow with physical prototype circuit breakers.
✅ Fault Selectivity: Guarantees safe and reliable isolation of system faults.
Leading Institution: Schneider Electric
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Flexible Options (7.1.A & 7.1.B): Includes a 100 kW / 700 VDC device using a low-frequency transformer (SOL7.1.A) and a modular 20–30 kW high-frequency isolated device (SOL7.1.B).
✅ Droop Control Integration: Simplifies system regulation and smoothly manages renewables and energy storage.
Leading Institution: Schneider Electric
Partners:
Key Advantages:
✅ Decoupled Responses: Enables separate tuning of steady-state and dynamic responses to load fluctuations.
✅ Optimized Dispatch: Facilitates smooth integration of sources with varying power and energy densities.
Key Advantages:
✅ High Range & Precision: Measures up to 1000 A DC and 1500 V DC with 1% accuracy.
✅ Digital Integration: Equipped with a digital interface to feed essential measurement metrics directly to DC grid controllers.
Key Advantages:
✅ Inrush Current Prevention: Eliminates dangerous voltage spikes and high inrush currents during load connection.
✅ Enhanced Safety: Protects grid components and extends equipment lifespan.
What makes it different?
The charging station allows bi-directional charging and is fully compliant with ISO 15118-20.
Key Advantages: DC connection, including voltage droop control, V2G capability.
Leading Institution: Watt & Well
Partners: INESC-ID, EDF, CIRCE – Centro Tecnológico, and Eaton.
What makes it different?
The FlexiVerter® technology isn’t just another component: it’s a universal, software-defined DC/DC converter that makes Photovoltaic (PV) integration faster and more intuitive.
Key Advantages:
✅ Universal Compatibility: The system uses a universal software-defined DC/DC converter with advanced control functions that optimize PV generation.
✅ Energy Storage Ready: It supports the distributed integration of low-voltage batteries.
✅ Operational Efficiency: By using a single stock-keeping unit (SKU) for multiple functions, we can significantly simplify and accelerate the deployment of residential DC systems.
Leading Institution: TalTech
Partners: CIRCE – Centro Tecnológico and EDF.
What makes it different?
Unlike standard cables, the Shift2DC prototype features an innovative design that embeds power and intertripping capabilities into a single cable. The cable acts as an active element of the installation, improving safety during faults and maintenance while significantly reducing cabling volume
Key Advantages:
✅ DC‑specific design: to fit the constraints of DC building architectures, enabling direct power distribution for commercial and residential buildings, offices, and data centres.
✅ Long‑term aging performance: a dedicated DC cable leveraging insulation materials designed to ensure durable performance over time.
✅ Sustainability: Built using sustainable materials with low environmental impact.
✅ Safety operations: including intertripping capabilities for safety purposes (during fault and maintenance
✅ Cost-Efficiency: The design allows for significant savings in both installation and labour-related costs.
✅ Standardized: Fully compliant with the Current OS specifications rules.
Leading Institution: Nexans
Partners: Schneider Electric and RWTH Aachen University
What makes it different? Traditionally, most buildings use Alternating Current (AC). This tool helps explore DC infrastructure by offering quick design and operation simulations, as well as comparisons with AC.
Key Advantages:
✅ Electrical Sizing: It helps determine the right sizes for cables and converters, optimizing the system’s operational efficiency based on given scenarios.
✅ Simulating “Load Flow” and power losses: It estimates how electricity flows through the network under real-world conditions.
✅ Performance Comparison (KPIs): It generates Key Performance Indicators to show exactly how a DC setup performs compared to a standard AC setup.
✅ Operational Testing of droop-controlled setup: Integrates the possibility of simulating devices with internal voltage droop control to assess how the network responds to changes in power balance.
Leading Institutions: EDF R&D and INESC-ID
Partner: Nexans
What makes it different?
Semiconductor-based circuit breakers are designed specifically for the challenges of #DC power systems, where fault currents rise rapidly and no natural current zero crossing exists. Solid-State Circuit Breakers (SSCBs) interrupt faults electronically within microseconds, while Semiconductor Hybrid Circuit Breakers (SCHCBs) combine semiconductor switching with low-loss mechanical contacts to achieve both fast protection and high efficiency.
✔️ Within #Shift2DC, these technologies are being integrated into coordinated protection architectures for reliable, resilient and scalable LVDC grids.
Key Advantages:
✅ Ultra-fast protection: Fault interruption from microseconds to the sub-millisecond range, depending on the breaker technology.
✅ Smart protection: Integrated monitoring, configurable trip settings, pre-charge, intertripping and digital communication.
✅ Designed for LVDC: Reliable interruption despite fast-rising fault currents and the absence of natural current zero crossings, with current ratings from 20 A to 100 A, 2-pole full protection, bidirectional operation and each pole sized for 800 V.
✅ Selective isolation: Coordinated breakers safely disconnect the affected branch, provide safe galvanic isolation and maintain operation of healthy grid sections.
✅ Scalable architectures: SSCBs, hybrid breakers and mechanical breakers can be combined according to application requirements.
Team members:
Benedict Mortimer, Kenan ASKAN, Velibor Kajtez, Nissim Uvaidov and Team, and Radek Klof.
Comments are closed.