Ten development trends of low-voltage electrical appliances

3.1 Vertical Integration

The largest buyers of low-voltage electrical products are low-voltage complete equipment factories. These intermediate users buy low-voltage electrical components, and then assemble them into low-voltage complete sets of devices such as power distribution panels, power distribution boxes, protection panels, and control panels, and then sell them to users. With the development of vertical integration of manufacturers, intermediary manufacturers and component manufacturers continue to integrate with each other: traditional manufacturers that only produce components have also begun to produce complete sets of equipment, and traditional intermediary manufacturers have also intervened in the production of low-voltage electrical components through acquisitions, joint ventures, etc. .

3.2 The Belt and Road Initiative promotes globalization

The essence of my country’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy is to promote China’s production capacity output and capital output. Therefore, as one of my country’s leading industries, policy and financial support will help countries along the route to speed up the construction of power grids, and at the same time open up a broad market for my country’s power equipment exports. Southeast Asia, Central and South Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin America and other countries are relatively backward in power construction. With the country’s economic development and rising electricity consumption, power grid construction needs to be accelerated. At the same time, the development of domestic equipment enterprises in our country is backward in technology, highly dependent on imports, and there is no local protectionism tendency. Therefore, Chinese enterprises will accelerate the pace of globalization by taking advantage of the spillover effect of the Belt and Road Initiative. The state has always attached great importance to the export of low-voltage electrical appliances, and has given policy support and encouragement, such as export tax rebates, relaxation of import and export rights, etc. Therefore, the domestic policy environment for the export of low-voltage electrical products is very good.

3.3 Transition from low pressure to medium and high pressure

In 5 to 10 years, the low-voltage electrical industry will realize the transformation from low-voltage to medium-high-voltage, analog products to digital products, product sales to complete sets of projects, mid-low-end to mid-high-end, and a great increase in concentration. With the increase of large load equipment and the increase of power consumption, in order to reduce the loss of the line, many countries vigorously promote the 660V voltage in the mining, petroleum, chemical and other industries. The International Electrotechnical Commission also strongly recommends 660V and 1000V as industrial general-purpose voltages, and 660V has been widely used in my country’s mining industry. In the future, low-voltage electrical appliances will further increase the rated voltage, thereby replacing the original “medium-voltage electrical appliances”. The meeting in Mannheim, Germany also agreed to raise the low voltage level to 2000V.

3.4 Maker-oriented, innovation-driven

Domestic low-voltage electrical appliances companies generally lack sufficient independent innovation capabilities and lack high-end market competitiveness. The development of low-voltage electrical appliances should be considered from the perspective of system development, but also from the overall solution of the system, and from the system to all power distribution, protection, and control components, from strong current to weak current can be solved. The new generation of intelligent low-voltage electrical appliances has the remarkable characteristics of high performance, multi-function, small size, high reliability, green environmental protection, energy saving and material saving. Among them, the new generation of universal circuit breakers, molded case circuit breakers, and circuit breakers with selective protection provide the basis for my country’s low-voltage power distribution system to achieve full-range (including terminal power distribution system) and full-current selective protection, and provide a basis for improving low-voltage power distribution systems. The reliability of system power supply is of great significance, and it has a very broad development prospect in the mid-to-high-end market [4]. In addition, a new generation of contactors, a new generation of ATSE, a new generation of SPD and other projects are also being actively developed, adding stamina to lead the industry to actively promote independent innovation in the industry and accelerate the development of the low-voltage electrical industry.

3.5 Digitization, networking, intelligence, and connectivity

The application of new technologies has injected new vitality into the development of low-voltage electrical products. In an era where everything is connected and everything is intelligent, it may trigger a new “revolution” of low-voltage electrical products. Low-voltage electrical appliances play a major role in this revolution, and will serve as the connector of all things, connecting all isolated islands of all things and everyone to a unified ecosystem. In order to realize the connection between low-voltage electrical appliances and the network, three schemes are generally adopted. The first is to develop new interface appliances, which are connected between the network and traditional low-voltage electrical components; the second is to derive or increase computer networking interface functions on traditional products; the third is to directly develop computer interfaces and communication functions of new electrical appliances.
3.6 The fourth generation of low-voltage electrical appliances will become the mainstream

The fourth-generation low-voltage electrical products not only inherit the characteristics of the third-generation products, but also deepen the intelligent characteristics. In addition, they also have remarkable features such as high performance, multi-function, miniaturization, high reliability, green environmental protection, energy saving and material saving. The new products will surely drive and lead the application and development of a new round of technologies and products in the low-voltage electrical industry, and will also accelerate the upgrading of the entire low-voltage electrical product industry. In fact, the competition in the low-voltage electrical appliance market at home and abroad has always been fierce. In the late 1990s, the development and promotion of the third-generation low-voltage electrical products in my country coincided with the completion and promotion of the third-generation low-voltage electrical products. Schneider, Siemens, ABB, GE, Mitsubishi, Moeller, Fuji and other major foreign low-voltage electrical manufacturers successively launched the fourth-generation products. Products have new breakthroughs in comprehensive technical and economic indicators, product structure and material selection, and application of new technologies. Therefore, accelerating the research and development and promotion of the fourth generation of low-voltage electrical appliances in my country will be the focus of the industry for a period of time in the future.

3.7 Development Trend of Product Technology and Performance

At present, domestic low-voltage electrical products are developing in the direction of high performance, high reliability, miniaturization, digitalization, modularization, combination, electronics, intelligence, communication, and generalization of components. There are many new technologies affecting the development of low-voltage electrical appliances, such as modern design technology, microelectronic technology, computer technology, network technology, communication technology, intelligent technology, reliability technology, testing technology, etc. In addition, the need to focus on the new technology of overcurrent protection. It will fundamentally change the concept of low-voltage circuit breaker selection. At present, although my country’s low-voltage power distribution system and low-voltage electrical appliances have selective protection, the selective protection is incomplete. The new generation of low-voltage circuit breakers proposes the concept of full-current and full-range selective protection.

3.8 Market reshuffle

Low-voltage electrical appliance manufacturers that do not have the ability to innovate, product design technology, manufacturing capacity and equipment will face elimination in the industry reshuffle. Enterprises with the third and fourth generation of medium and high-end low-voltage electrical products, with their own innovation capabilities and advanced manufacturing equipment will further stand out in the market competition. Other enterprises will differentiate into two levels of small specialization and large generalization. The former is positioned as a market filler and will continue to consolidate its professional product market; the latter will continue to expand its market share, improve its product line, and strive to provide users with more comprehensive services. Some manufacturers will exit the industry and enter other industries that are currently more profitable.

3.9 Development direction of low-voltage electrical appliance standards

With the upgrading of low-voltage electrical products, the standard system will be gradually improved. In the future, the development of low-voltage electrical products will be mainly manifested in intelligent products, with communication interfaces, reliability design, and emphasis on environmental protection and energy saving. In line with the development trend, four technical standards need to be urgently studied: technical standards that can cover the comprehensive performance of the latest products, including technical performance, use performance, and maintenance performance; product communication and product performance and communication requirements. Good interoperability; formulate reliability and test method standards for related products to improve product reliability and product quality, and increase the ability to compete with foreign products; formulate a series of environmental awareness design standards and energy efficiency standards for low-voltage electrical products, guide and Standardize the production and manufacture of energy-saving and environmentally friendly “green electrical appliances” [5].

3.10 Green Revolution

The green revolution of low carbon, energy saving, material saving and environmental protection has had a profound impact on the world. The global ecological security problem represented by climate change has become increasingly prominent, and advanced low-voltage electrical technology and energy-saving technology have become the frontier and Hot areas of technological competition. For ordinary users, in addition to the quality and price of low-voltage electrical appliances, they are paying more and more attention to the energy-saving and environmental protection performance of products. In addition, legally, the state has also made requirements for the environmental protection and energy-saving performance of low-voltage electrical products used by enterprises and industrial building users. It is the general trend to create green and energy-saving electrical appliances with core competitiveness and provide customers with safer, smarter and greener electrical solutions. The advent of the green revolution brings both challenges and opportunities to manufacturers in the low-voltage electrical industry [5].