An historic overview of controlling domestic water heating

Abstract

The paper investigates the development and use of ripple control for metering, street-lighting and hot water load control. The paper includes a study of the use of ripple control in South Africa to control domestic boilers remotely and evaluates how effective it is to implement demand side management for different tariff structures. The algorithms used to control the hot water load are also investigated and recommendations are made to get optimum control with minimum interference and discomfort to the customer. The paper also points out new trends, developments, present and future applications in controlling loads for the purpose of demand side management in the domestic sector. This will include the use of intelligent load control equipment with 2 way communication.