A review of solar power inverters for household appliances

Abstract

Botswana citizens experience energy shortage especially at the rural areas where grid transmission is not accessible. Therefore, rural dwellers find it difficult to use their gadgets and sometimes they are compelled to travel to nearby places or towns in order to get electricity. Sun energy is available and is a cheaper alternative that could be used to address the problem of power accessibility especially in remote areas. Photovoltaic panels are normally used to harvest the solar energy however they generate a DC electrical signal but majority of modern appliances use AC voltage signal. A power inverter is used to convert DC voltage signal to AC signal, suitable for most house hold appliances. The conversion principle output rely on how efficient the converter is, in terms of losses. The aim of this paper is to compare three (3) different circuits modeled via PSIM software in terms of their efficiency, cost and complexity of circuit construction. The PSIM software uses inbuilt gate drivers that generate Pulse width Modulation to drive Mosfet. Simulation results indicate that the four (4) mosfet bridge inverter principle produces nearly pure sine wave waveform that has fewer harmonics and can be easily modified to sinewave form.