Pure sine wave inverter model STI 200-12-220 by EP SOLAR series EPtech 200W 12V AC 230V

Pure sine wave inverter model STI 200-12-220 by EP SOLAR series EPtech 200W 12V AC 230V

STI series is a sine wave power frequency inverter which can convert 12V or 24V DC to 220VAC or 230VAC 50Hz based on full digital and intelligent design. The inverter can be applied in many fields especially for solar photovoltaic power system.

This device can be used in many applications, specially in solar photovoltaic systems.

FEATURES

• Complete isolation-type inverter technology, noiseless output 
• Adoption of advanced SPWM technology, pure sine wave output
• Dynamic current loop control technology to ensure inverter reliable operation.
• Wide DC input voltage range 
• Excellent EMC design 
• Low output harmonic distortion（THD≤3%）
• LED indicators display input voltage range, load power range, normal output & failure state
• Optional energy saving mode
• Wide working temperature range (industrial level)
• Continuous operation at full power

PROTECTIONS

• Output Short Circuit protection
  
• Overload protection
• Input reverse polarity protection
• Input low voltage protection
• Input over voltage protection
• Inverter abnormal protection
• Overheating protection

Source: Wikipedia

A power inverter, or inverter, is an electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).^[1]

The input voltage, output voltage and frequency, and overall power handling depend on the design of the specific device or circuitry. The inverter does not produce any power; the power is provided by the DC source.

A power inverter can be entirely electronic or may be a combination of mechanical effects (such as a rotary apparatus) and electronic circuitry. Static inverters do not use moving parts in the conversion process.

Input voltage

A typical power inverter device or circuit requires a relatively stable DC power source capable of supplying enough current for the intended power demands of the system. The input voltage depends on the design and purpose of the inverter. Examples include:

• 12 VDC, for smaller consumer and commercial inverters that typically run from a rechargeable 12 V lead acid battery.^[2]
• 24 and 48 VDC, which are common standards for home energy systems.
• 200 to 400 VDC, when power is from photovoltaic solar panels.
• 300 to 450 VDC, when power is from electric vehicle battery packs in vehicle-to-grid systems.
• Hundreds of thousands of volts, where the inverter is part of a high voltage direct current power transmission system.

Output waveform

An inverter can produce a square wave, modified sine wave, pulsed sine wave, pulse width modulated wave (PWM) or sine wave depending on circuit design. The two dominant commercialized waveform types of inverters as of 2007 are modified sine wave and sine wave.

There are two basic designs for producing household plug-in voltage from a lower-voltage DC source, the first of which uses a switching boost converter to produce a higher-voltage DC and then converts to AC. The second method converts DC to AC at battery level and uses a line-frequency transformer to create the output voltage.^[3]

Square wave

Square wave

This is one of the simplest waveforms an inverter design can produce and is best suited to low-sensitivity applications such as lighting and heating. Square wave output can produce "humming" when connected to audio equipment and is generally unsuitable for sensitive electronics.

Sine wave

Sine wave

A power inverter device which produces a multiple step sinusoidal AC waveform is referred to as a sine wave inverter. To more clearly distinguish the inverters with outputs of much less distortion than the "modified sine wave" (three step) inverter designs, the manufacturers often use the phrase pure sine wave inverter. Almost all consumer grade inverters that are sold as a "pure sine wave inverter" do not produce a smooth sine wave output at all,^{[citation needed]} just a less choppy output than the square wave (one step) and modified sine wave (three step) inverters. In this sense, the phrases "Pure sine wave" or "sine wave inverter" are misleading to the consumer.^{[citation needed]} However, this is not critical for most electronics as they deal with the output quite well.

Where power inverter devices substitute for standard line power, a sine wave output is desirable because many electrical products are engineered to work best with a sine wave AC power source. The standard electric utility power attempts to provide a power source that is a good approximation of a sine wave.

Sine wave inverters with more than three steps in the wave output are more complex and have significantly higher cost than a modified sine wave, with only three steps, or square wave (one step) types of the same power handling. Switch-mode power supply (SMPS) devices, such as personal computers or DVD players, function on quality modified sine wave power. AC motors directly operated on non-sinusoidal power may produce extra heat, may have different speed-torque characteristics, or may produce more audible noise than when running on sinusoidal power.

Modified sine wave

A modified sine wave inverter has a non-square waveform that is a useful approximation of a sine wave for power translation purposes.

Most inexpensive consumer power inverters produce a modified sine wave rather than a pure sine wave.

The waveform in commercially available modified-sine-wave inverters is a square wave with a pause before the polarity reversal, which only needs to cycle back and forth through a three-position switch that outputs forward, off, and reverse output at the pre-determined frequency.^[3] Switching states are developed for positive, negative and zero voltages as per the patterns given in the switching Table 2. The peak voltage to RMS voltage ratio does not maintain the same relationship as for a sine wave. The DC bus voltage may be actively regulated, or the "on" and "off" times can be modified to maintain the same RMS value output up to the DC bus voltage to compensate for DC bus voltage variations.

The ratio of on to off time can be adjusted to vary the RMS voltage while maintaining a constant frequency with a technique called pulse width modulation (PWM). The generated gate pulses are given to each switch in accordance with the developed pattern to obtain the desired output. Harmonic spectrum in the output depends on the width of the pulses and the modulation frequency. When operating induction motors, voltage harmonics are usually not of concern; however, harmonic distortion in the current waveform introduces additional heating and can produce pulsating torques.^[4]

Numerous items of electric equipment will operate quite well on modified sine wave power inverter devices, especially loads that are resistive in nature such as traditional incandescent light bulbs.

However, the load may operate less efficiently owing to the harmonics associated with a modified sine wave and produce a humming noise during operation. This also affects the efficiency of the system as a whole, since the manufacturer's nominal conversion efficiency does not account for harmonics. Therefore, pure sine wave inverters may provide significantly higher efficiency than modified sine wave inverters.

Most AC motors will run on MSW inverters with an efficiency reduction of about 20% owing to the harmonic content. However, they may be quite noisy. A series LC filter tuned to the fundamental frequency may help.^[5]

A common modified sine wave inverter topology found in consumer power inverters is as follows:

An onboard microcontroller rapidly switches on and off power MOSFETs at high frequency like ~50 kHz. The MOSFETs directly pull from a low voltage DC source (such as a battery). This signal then goes through step-up transformers (generally many smaller transformers are placed in parallel to reduce the overall size of the inverter) to produce a higher voltage signal. The output of the step-up transformers then gets filtered by capacitors to produce a high voltage DC supply. Finally, this DC supply is pulsed with additional power MOSFETs by the microcontroller to produce the final modified sine wave signal.

Other waveforms

By definition there is no restriction on the type of AC waveform an inverter might produce that would find use in a specific or special application.

Output frequency

The AC output frequency of a power inverter device is usually the same as standard power line frequency, 50 or 60 hertz

If the output of the device or circuit is to be further conditioned (for example stepped up) then the frequency may be much higher for good transformer efficiency.

Output voltage

The AC output voltage of a power inverter is often regulated to be the same as the grid line voltage, typically 120 or 240 VAC, even when there are changes in the load that the inverter is driving. This allows the inverter to power numerous devices designed for standard line power.

Some inverters also allow selectable or continuously variable output voltages.

Output power

A power inverter will often have an overall power rating expressed in watts or kilowatts. This describes the power that will be available to the device the inverter is driving and, indirectly, the power that will be needed from the DC source. Smaller popular consumer and commercial devices designed to mimic line power typically range from 150 to 3000 watts.

Not all inverter applications are solely or primarily concerned with power delivery; in some cases the frequency and or waveform properties are used by the follow-on circuit or device.

Batteries

The runtime of an inverter is dependent on the battery power and the amount of power being drawn from the inverter at a given time. As the amount of equipment using the inverter increases, the runtime will decrease. In order to prolong the runtime of an inverter, additional batteries can be added to the inverter.^[6]

When attempting to add more batteries to an inverter, there are two basic options for installation: Series Configuration and Parallel Configuration.

Series configuration

If the goal is to increase the overall voltage of the inverter, one can daisy chain batteries in a Series Configuration. In a Series Configuration, if a single battery dies, the other batteries will not be able to power the load.

Parallel configuration

If the goal is to increase capacity and prolong the runtime of the inverter, batteries can be connected in parallel. This increases the overall Ampere-hour(Ah) rating of the battery set.

If a single battery is discharged though, the other batteries will then discharge through it. This can lead to rapid discharge of the entire pack, or even an over-current and possible fire. To avoid this, large paralleled batteries may be connected via diodes or intelligent monitoring with automatic switching to isolate an under-voltage battery from the others.

Applications

DC power source usage

Inverter designed to provide 115 VAC from the 12 VDC source provided in an automobile. The unit shown provides up to 1.2 amperes of alternating current, or enough to power two sixty watt light bulbs.

An inverter converts the DC electricity from sources such as batteries or fuel cells to AC electricity. The electricity can be at any required voltage; in particular it can operate AC equipment designed for mains operation, or rectified to produce DC at any desired voltage.

Uninterruptible power supplies

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) uses batteries and an inverter to supply AC power when mains power is not available. When mains power is restored, a rectifier supplies DC power to recharge the batteries.

Electric motor speed control

Inverter circuits designed to produce a variable output voltage range are often used within motor speed controllers. The DC power for the inverter section can be derived from a normal AC wall outlet or some other source. Control and feedback circuitry is used to adjust the final output of the inverter section which will ultimately determine the speed of the motor operating under its mechanical load. Motor speed control needs are numerous and include things like: industrial motor driven equipment, electric vehicles, rail transport systems, and power tools. (See related: variable-frequency drive ) Switching states are developed for positive, negative and zero voltages as per the patterns given in the switching Table 1.The generated gate pulses are given to each switch in accordance with the developed pattern and thus the output is obtained.

Power grid

Grid-tied inverters are designed to feed into the electric power distribution system. They transfer synchronously with the line and have as little harmonic content as possible. They also need a means of detecting the presence of utility power for safety reasons, so as not to continue to dangerously feed power to the grid during a power outage.

Solar

Internal view of a solar inverter. Note the many large capacitors (blue cylinders), used to store energy briefly and improve the output waveform.

A solar inverter is a balance of system (BOS) component of a photovoltaic system and can be used for both, grid-connected and off-gridsystems. Solar inverters have special functions adapted for use with photovoltaic arrays, including maximum power point tracking andanti-islanding protection. Solar micro-inverters differ from conventional converters, as an individual micro-converter is attached to each solar panel. This can improve the overall efficiency of the system. The output from several microinverters is then combined and often fed to the electrical grid.

Induction heating

Inverters convert low frequency main AC power to higher frequency for use in induction heating. To do this, AC power is first rectified to provide DC power. The inverter then changes the DC power to high frequency AC power. Due to the reduction in the number of DC sources employed, the structure becomes more reliable and the output voltage has higher resolution due to an increase in the number of steps so that the reference sinusoidal voltage can be better achieved. This configuration has recently become very popular in AC power supply and adjustable speed drive applications. This new inverter can avoid extra clamping diodes or voltage balancing capacitors.

There are three kinds of level shifted modulation techniques, namely:

• Phase Opposition Disposition (POD)
• Alternative Phase Opposition Disposition (APOD)
• Phase Disposition (PD)

HVDC power transmission

With HVDC power transmission, AC power is rectified and high voltage DC power is transmitted to another location. At the receiving location, an inverter in a static inverter plantconverts the power back to AC. The inverter must be synchronized with grid frequency and phase and minimize harmonic generation.

The High voltage DC transmission method can be useful for things like Solar power since solar power is natively DC as it is.

Electroshock weapons

Electroshock weapons and tasers have a DC/AC inverter to generate several tens of thousands of V AC out of a small 9 V DC battery. First the 9 V DC is converted to 400–2000 V AC with a compact high frequency transformer, which is then rectified and temporarily stored in a high voltage capacitor until a pre-set threshold voltage is reached. When the threshold (set by way of an airgap or TRIAC) is reached, the capacitor dumps its entire load into a pulse transformer which then steps it up to its final output voltage of 20–60 kV. A variant of the principle is also used in electronic flash and bug zappers, though they rely on a capacitor-based voltage multiplier to achieve their high voltage.

Miscellaneous

Typical applications for power inverters include:

• Portable consumer devices that allow the user to connect a battery, or set of batteries, to the device to produce AC power to run various electrical items such as lights, televisions, kitchen appliances, and power tools.
• Use in power generation systems such as electric utility companies or solar generating systems to convert DC power to AC power.
• Use within any larger electronic system where an engineering need exists for deriving an AC source from a DC source.

Circuit description

Top: Simple inverter circuit shown with anelectromechanical switch
and automatic equivalent
auto-switching device implemented with two transistors and split winding auto-transformer in place of the mechanical switch.

Square waveform with fundamental sine wave component, 3rd harmonic and 5th harmonic

Basic design

In one simple inverter circuit, DC power is connected to a transformer through the center tap of the primary winding. A switch is rapidly switched back and forth to allow current to flow back to the DC source following two alternate paths through one end of the primary winding and then the other. The alternation of the direction of current in the primary winding of the transformer producesalternating current (AC) in the secondary circuit.

The electromechanical version of the switching device includes two stationary contacts and a spring supported moving contact. The spring holds the movable contact against one of the stationary contacts and an electromagnet pulls the movable contact to the opposite stationary contact. The current in the electromagnet is interrupted by the action of the switch so that the switch continually switches rapidly back and forth. This type of electromechanical inverter switch, called a vibrator or buzzer, was once used invacuum tube automobile radios. A similar mechanism has been used in door bells, buzzers and tattoo machines.

As they became available with adequate power ratings, transistors and various other types of semiconductor switches have been incorporated into inverter circuit designs. Certain ratings, especially for large systems (many kilowatts) use thyristors (SCR). SCRs provide large power handling capability in a semiconductor device, and can readily be controlled over a variable firing range.

The switch in the simple inverter described above, when not coupled to an output transformer, produces a square voltage waveformdue to its simple off and on nature as opposed to the sinusoidal waveform that is the usual waveform of an AC power supply. UsingFourier analysis, periodic waveforms are represented as the sum of an infinite series of sine waves. The sine wave that has the same frequency as the original waveform is called the fundamental component. The other sine waves, called harmonics, that are included in the series have frequencies that are integral multiples of the fundamental frequency.

Fourier analysis can be used to calculate the total harmonic distortion (THD). The total harmonic distortion (THD) is the square root of the sum of the squares of the harmonic voltages divided by the fundamental voltage: {displaystyle {mbox{THD}}={{sqrt {V_{2}^{2}+V_{3}^{2}+V_{4}^{2}+cdots +V_{n}^{2}}} over V_{1}}}

Advanced designs

H bridge inverter circuit with transistor switches and antiparallel diodes

There are many different power circuit topologies and control strategies used in inverter designs. Different design approaches address various issues that may be more or less important depending on the way that the inverter is intended to be used.

The issue of waveform quality can be addressed in many ways. Capacitors and inductors can be used to filter the waveform. If the design includes a transformer, filtering can be applied to the primary or the secondary side of the transformer or to both sides. Low-pass filters are applied to allow the fundamental component of the waveform to pass to the output while limiting the passage of the harmonic components. If the inverter is designed to provide power at a fixed frequency, a resonant filter can be used. For an adjustable frequency inverter, the filter must be tuned to a frequency that is above the maximum fundamental frequency.

Since most loads contain inductance, feedback rectifiers or antiparallel diodes are often connected across each semiconductorswitch to provide a path for the peak inductive load current when the switch is turned off. The antiparallel diodes are somewhat similar to the freewheeling diodes used in AC/DC converter circuits.