An Innovative Coupling Solution for Power Line Communication in MV Electrical Networks

One of the main problems in the diffusion of power line communication (PLC) in medium voltage (MV) networks is the need of a dedicated PLC coupler to be installed all over the network. To avoid this problem, the authors have studied, prototyped and patented an innovative PLC coupling solution which uses electrical elements embedded in most of the switchgears already installed in MV networks, i.e. the capacitive dividers of the voltage detecting systems (VDS). The new solution prototype is described in this paper, highlighting the advantages in terms of a significant reduction of both direct costs of equipment and infrastructures and indirect costs of installation and service interruption. The coupling performances are verified with PLC signals at different frequency ranges and with different modulation techniques. In particular, this paper shows how the new solution coupling performances can be extended even to the FCC frequency range and the transmission of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulated signals.