Inductive coupler combines narrow- and broadband comms
Narrowband and broadband inductive couplers, the MICUs, have been introduced by Premo. The MICU devices family covers a wide frequency range for power line communications in Smart-Grid applications and to use in the development of EV-charging stations for communication protocol diagnosis.
The component is designed for a combined use of narrow-band and broad-band communication in the same inductive coupler.
The inductive couplers are non-intrusive, so there is no need to disconnect cables or terminals. They are also easy to install, says Premo, with a clamp, click and connect process that takes less than five seconds. It is possible to wrap cables up to 45mm in diameter (with a current capability up to 300A RMS).
The inductors have high insulation voltage and operate at narrow band (30 to 600kHz) for long distance communications and broad band operation (approximately 2MHz to 40MHz) for short and medium distance communication and narrowband and broadband combined.
Two different high-performance magnetic core materials are used, depending on the frequency band and magnetic saturation (ferrite high permeability for broadband communication (high frequency)) and amorphous material for narrowband communication (low frequency).
This helps to improve communication efficiency as it offers low insertion losses. All inductive couplers are suitable for listen combined charging system (CCS) communication protocol between a charging station (EVSE) and an electric vehicle (EV): ISO/IEC 15118, DIN70121 and IEC 61851-1.
Power line communications (PLC) is gaining interest due to the wide availability of power distribution lines in smart grids, where inductive couplers transmit the communications signals between MV-sub-stations and MV-sub-stations to concentrators, avoiding other special transmission networks.
Smart grids require bi-directional communication links are deployed to interconnect the nodes of the grid. Power line communication (PLC) can be used for this and can potentially reduce the investment cost by exploiting the existing grid infrastructure, says Premo.
PLC can be used to offer several services in the grid through digital monitoring to control for fault detection, power quality and islanding effects. Energy management allows decentralised production and control of storage and electrical vehicles charge. Smart metering is the key component for demand side and demand response management, continues Premo. PLCs are a natural choice to deliver bi-directional connectivity in the power delivery grid, advocates the company.
PREMO is based in Spain and develops, manufactures and sells electronic components with a special focus on enabling technologies of IoT, M2M, virtual reality (VR), connected and electric vehicles (EVs).
The product portfolio includes RFID antennas, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) motion tracking sensors, power transformers, inductors and chokes, current sensors, EMC filters, and PLC components. Premo also designs custom solutions to fit customer requirements, based on the latest technologies to help your systems be more efficient.
