“DC distribution is safe” says Nicolas, our intern who completed his master thesis

This year, Nicolas Coumouyn, an industrial engineering student from HELMo Gramme, has joined our team for his internship and thesis [in French] related to insulation fault management in telecommunication infrastructure power supply systems.

Such supply systems may involve DC distribution for its advantages over AC (cf. Volta seminar recorded last year [in French]). They address the needs of the telecom market, the first for CE+T Power with their Metrogrid solution (cf. left figure here below). Such systems efficiently rely on an IT earthing scheme and insulation monitoring devices (cf. right figure here below) which lead, in case of fault to ground on one of the conductors, to a fault current quickly decreasing towards a safe value – smaller than 25 mA – with respect to effects on the human body.

Such design aspects will also shape the infrastructure to be implemented in the framework of the MIRaCCLE project awarded to CE+T by the Walloon government few months ago.