DC Power Distribution for the Systems That Are Moving Off AC.
Battery storage, AI data-center racks and electric vessels are all putting DC buses where AC switchgear used to be. Litus engineers and builds the DC distribution boards, PDUs and control panels around them, in the brand your spec names, documented to the review they have to pass.
DC POWER DISTRIBUTION · ENGINEERED & BUILT AT LITUS
Where DC is showing up
Three applications, one equipment problem.
Data-center power
AI racks are moving to ±400 VDC and 800 VDC distribution, with a sidecar power rack converting the facility’s 480 VAC a meter from the compute. The OEMs productizing those sidecars and the gray-space DC distribution behind them need an assembly partner that already builds UL 891 switchboards and UL 508A control panels, because those are the equipment categories the architecture calls for.
Battery storage and microgrids
Behind-the-meter and utility storage puts a DC bus between the batteries and the inverters and an AC collection system behind them. Litus builds the collection and interconnection boards, the DC distribution at the voltages the inverter and PCS makers specify, and the auxiliary and balance-of-plant control panels that run the enclosure’s HVAC, fire detection and communications.
Vessels and shore power
Hybrid and battery vessels run a DC bus between generators, batteries and propulsion drives, and the dock side is adding shore power and charging to match. Shipboard DC boards are built to class rules and to MIL and Coast Guard requirements rather than to a UL listing, so the work is engineering, documentation and witnessed test. That is how Litus already builds for Navy and Coast Guard applications.
Capabilities
What we engineer and build for a DC system
- DC distribution boards and PDUs
Bus design and bracing for DC fault levels, DC-rated molded-case breakers in ABB, Schneider Electric (Square D), Eaton or Siemens, and the earthing and isolation-monitoring scheme your protection study calls for.
- Sidecar power rack assemblies
Rectifier shelves, power management, battery backup and distribution integrated into one rack as a repeatable production build, with first-article and per-unit documentation.
- AC collection and interconnection boards
The UL 891 switchboards and UL 67 panelboards on the AC side of a storage or data-center system, built and supplied the same way as the rest of our power distribution work.
- Auxiliary and balance-of-plant control panels
UL 508A Listed panels for enclosure HVAC, fire detection, communications and energy-management I/O, built to your drawings or designed from your I/O list.
- Shipboard DC switchboards and PDUs
Designed and documented to class rules and to MIL and Coast Guard requirements, with hipot and FAT to your form or ours.
- Shore power and charging distribution
Dock-side boards and enclosures for shore connection and vessel charging, in the enclosure rating the site needs.
- Retrofit of existing DC boards
Breaker replacement, bus modification and controls upgrades on DC gear that predates a catalog replacement.
- Engineering support
One-line development, DC arc-flash and protection assumptions stated in writing on every quote, and a drawing package built to survive a class, program or field-evaluation review.
How a DC job runs
Engineering, documentation and witnessed test, in that order.
01
Review
Your one-line, protection scheme and the governing standard, whether that is UL, a class society, a MIL spec or a program requirement. We say in writing which listing or evaluation path the board will take and what assumptions sit under the DC arc-flash and short-circuit numbers.
02
Engineer
Bus, bracing, breaker selection and isolation monitoring designed to the fault levels and the earthing scheme, in the component brands your spec names.
03
Build and test
Built in San Diego, with hipot and functional test on every board and FAT to your form or ours, witnessed if you want to be in the room.
04
Document
The drawing package, test records and component data your reviewer needs, whether the reviewer is an AHJ, a class surveyor or a program office.
| Scope | Basis |
|---|---|
| Control and auxiliary panels | UL 508A Listed, Litus file |
| AC switchboards and collection boards | UL 891 Listed, Litus file |
| Panelboards | UL 67, supplied by Litus |
| DC distribution boards and PDUs | Engineered per project within the UL 891 and UL 67 scope, which runs to 1,000 VDC; the listing or evaluation path is stated on the quote |
| Shipboard boards | Built to class, MIL or Coast Guard requirements; documented for class or program review |
We’re often called when
- The inverter or PCS maker ships the core and the project still needs the distribution, collection and auxiliary gear around it
- An OEM has a DC power rack design and no production line for it
- A storage enclosure needs its auxiliary and balance-of-plant panel built to the fire and HVAC spec
- A vessel or a dock is adding a DC bus, shore power or charging and the board has to pass class or Coast Guard review
- An existing DC board needs new breakers or a bus modification and the original builder is gone
- The AHJ wants a documented path for equipment the code does not yet describe
Have a DC system on the drawings?
Send the one-line and the standard it has to meet. We will tell you what we can build, how it gets evaluated and when.
Questions