Omron DMS Europe has launched a bi-direction high power DC relay for the next generation of renewable energy systems as part of a push to tackle climate change.
The manufacturer says it is committed to helping the shift to net zero emission fuels as it launched the Omron G9KB, a PCB power relay that provides bi-directional high-power DC switching for the next generation of renewable battery energy storage systems (BESS) for homes and DC wall boxes for electric vehicles (EVs). It can replace two standard uni-directional relays in this type of application.
Omron says the market for domestic-scale renewable energy generation systems is transitioning from a feed-in tariff (FIT) model where unused (“redundant”) energy from solar panels is fed into the electricity grid, to a self-consumption or larger-scale energy storage system (ESS) that reduces grid dependency and makes it easier to make the most of low or zero emissions power.
The G9KB (DC 600V/50A) features Omron’s arc cut off technology (CAE) that “stretches” the arc using the magnetic force of a permanent magnet placed near the contact point. This makes the relay suitable for next generation vehicle to home (V2H) and vehicle to grid (V2G) charger systems. In a V2H system, the relay enables an EV battery to be used as a source of power for a household electricity system when the solar panels are not generating power; whereas in a V2G system the stored energy can be exported to the grid.