Maker Pro
Maker Pro

120vac inversion (eff factor?)

M

mkr5000

Jan 1, 1970
0
I may start to dabble with some solar panels and was wondering, as I'm
completely out of touch on this one.....

What is the efficiency factor on a state of the art 12vdc to 120vac
inverter?

Also, is there an IC option available for inverter guts that you can
build around? I know there are some chip mfrs that specialize in power
control stuff.

THANKS kindly.
 
P

Paul E. Schoen

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tim Wescott said:
85% is good for store-bought.

90% is reasonable if you're designing it.

95% or higher is getting really good.

Dunno if there's a single-chip AC inverter, but this would be a snap with
one of the modern DSP chips that has PWM generation built in with some
gate drivers and some herky FETs.

The International Rectifier IRAMS modules contain all the power components
required, and you can connect it to a PIC that has a PWM module. It is
designed for three phase, and you need a high voltage bus supply. So you
will either need to boost the voltage from the solar panels and batteries,
or have enough in series to get about 350 VDC.

A better option for solar power may be to have lights and appliances that
run directly on fairly low DC voltage (48 VDC). That would probably be the
most efficient overall. Most high-tech electronics itemsm such as TVs,
computers, printers, and such convert the AC to DC for a switching supply
that could run just as well, or better, on pure DC.

Paul
 
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