What is a Smart Grid?

Smart grid technology offers an opportunity for power grids to modernize and optimize their infrastructure. The development of smart grid systems relies on a variety of magnetics technology, including magnetic energy storage, magnetic energy conversion, and magnetic sensors used in field monitoring and analytics.

MK Magnetics is at the forefront of the shift toward smart grid technology in the power generation and utility sectors. Since 2003, we’ve been developing and manufacturing the tape-wound soft magnetic cores used in smart grid technology and smart magnetic sensors. Our configurations come in an extensive array of options, including c-cores, toroidal-shaped cores, andspecial shapes, serving all of your requirements for magnetic-field-based monitoring and energy harvesting on the grid.

How a Smart Grid Works & Its Advantages

When utility companies and politicians talk about “the electrical grid,” they refer to the complex network of generator stations, electrical substations, high-voltage transmission lines, and distribution lines that produce and deliver electricity to homes and businesses across the United States and worldwide.

Population increases, changes in energy consumption patterns, and the increasing risks of extreme weather conditions have begun to threaten the stability of the traditional grid. In many cases, all it takes is a sudden spike in energy consumption — often caused by severe weather conditions — to cause power failures like brownouts, blackouts, load shedding, or black starts.

A smart grid modernizes the capabilities of the traditional grid, using digital technology to monitor grid usage and move electricity in a more efficient way. This includes storing energy during times of low demand, then delivers that energy during periods of peak demand. This helps grid operators better maintain and/or restore power usage as energy demand rises and falls. Smart grids will also play key environmental and financial roles as more cities pursue efforts to control and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The opportunities to modernize the power grid have improved in recent years. Smart meters in homes and businesses now provide better data on energy demand and timing, while improved state and federal funding initiatives for renewable energy have created more need for a grid that can incorporate highly variable energy sources.

Advantages of Smart Grids

Smart grids offer numerous benefits over the traditional grid system, including:

Improved outage and energy fluctuation detection/management
Reduced operational costs peak periods
Increased capabilities for incorporating renewable, variable sources of energy
Enhanced management of home and business energy usage through monitoring, consumer education, and more accurate billing

Energy Storage & Magnetics Used in Smart Grids

Magnetic technology is a foundational element in all smart grid deployments. It’s especially critical for the deployment of smart sensors. Smart grids incorporate sensors throughout the grid, allowing utility providers to collect data and analytics remotely from across the grid, facilitating real-time identification of performance problems or malfunctions so they can be addressed as soon as possible.

For example, a smart sensor on a power line will track the line’s temperature and environmental conditions around the sensor. Software can use this data to determine how much electricity the specific power line can safely carry, allowing the smart grid to then adjust in real-time. On a transformer, the sensor can monitor cooling fan operations, input and output voltages, and overall pressure, resulting in reliable transformer operation.

In order to power these smart sensors, many companies employ cores made by MK Magnetics to harvest the energy directly from the power line. The energy to power the smart sensors is harvested inductively. There is no need to “hardwire” the sensor from an outside source, greatly reducing installation costs. It is critical to harvest the most energy possible, especially in low-line conditions. This is where MK Magnetics excels in expertise and quality.

Magnetic solutions underlie all of these functions, making them fundamental for the operation of smart sensors and the overall smart grid. Smart grids need electromagnetic capabilities, magnetic-field-based monitoring and measurement, and magnetic energy storage to function as intended.

“Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is highly concerned as it is critical for the proper operation of the essential facilities in the smart grid,” reports a research study published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. “With the rapid development of magnetic field sensors, the noncontact monitoring by magnetic field measurement can provide an advanced sensing technology for the smart transmission and distribution network. Magnetic fields can store energy and act as the media for transferring energy. Magnetic-field-based energy storage/conversion may become one of the solutions for energy generation and delivery in the smart grid.”

About MK Magnetics

Smart grids are the future of American energy networks. The technology already exists and it’s ready for deployment to improve the stability of the nation’s power grid.

MK Magnetics has been manufacturing magnetic cores since 2003. We offer a broad array of options for material types and thickness. To learn more about our capabilities, please review our customer case studies. To see how we can help you with smart grid sensors or other magnetics solutions, please contact us or request a quote today.