With the increased interest in renewable energy sources across the globe, the interest in solar systems has also shot up at amazing rates. Solar systems consist of solar panels, (or photovoltaic (PV) panels), a solar inverter ( super important) and a rack to keep everything in place. They may also contain a battery, depending on the system and an electric meter, and the amount and type of panels for each system will depend on the energy output needed. As solar energy is DC, so to operate the residential, commercial, industrial products solar inverter plays an important role.
What is Solar inverter:
Direct current (DC) is electricity that flows in one direction. It’s the type of electricity used by portable electronics, like phone, laptop, telecom BTS etc. The solar modules produce DC energy, but home appliances can’t use DC power directly. The North American electric grid uses alternating current (AC) at 60 hertz, which is electricity that switches direction 60 times a second. It’s the job of a solar inverter to convert the DC power from solar panels into AC power that a home can use.
How does a Solar inverter works:
A solar inverter works by taking in the variable direct current, or 'DC' output, from solar panels and transforming it into alternating 120V/240V current, or 'AC' output. The appliances in home, industry or commercial run on AC, not DC, which is why the solar inverter must change the DC output that is collected by solar panels.
To be a little more technical, the sun shines down on the solar panels (or photovoltaic (PV) cells), which are made of semiconductor layers of crystalline silicon or gallium arsenide. These layers are a combo of both positive and negative layers, which are connected by a junction. When the sun shines, the semiconductor layers absorb the light and send the energy to the PV cell. This energy runs around and bumps electrons lose, and they move between the positive and negative layers, producing an electric current known as direct current (DC). Once this energy is produced, it is either stored in a battery for later use or sent directly to an inverter (this depends on the type of system is deployed).
When the energy gets sent to the inverter, the inverter grabs the energy and runs it through a transformer, which then spits out an AC output. The inverter, in essence, 'tricks' the transformer into thinking that the DC is actually AC, by forcing it to act in a way like AC – the inverter runs the DC through two or more transistors that turn on and off super fast and feed two varying sides of the transformer.
Types of Solar inverters:
There are different types of solar inverters based on different applications with various benefits.
Standalone or Off-grid inverters:
Stand alone inverters are a type of solar inverter designed for systems that are typically isolated. These inverters are designed to work alone and can't synchronize with the grid. They connect to the property in place of grid power and cannot work in conjunction with it. A stand alone inverter draws its DC power from solar batteries and converts it to AC power. Usually these do not interface in any way with the utility grid, meaning that it does not require anti-islanding protection. ESC series, Freedom Series, RMI series inverters are one of the best performed standalone inverters in the market with precision accuracy. Since, it doesn't synchronize with grid, so anti-islanding feature is not compatible with this type of inverters.
Grid-Tied or On-grid inverter:
Grid-tie inverters are designed to connect to home to supplement mains power. When there is solar energy to use, the system will deliver it to the property. When there is insufficient energy to deliver, the system will switch back to grid power. Grid tie inverters must mirror the exact phase and voltage of the grid sine wave AC waveform to be able to best transfer electricity into the grid. Grid-tied inverters work with mains to provide energy wherever possible. They have the processing intelligence to know when to deliver power and when to not deliver it and will synchronize power delivery with grid power. Solar panels, wind turbines, hydro-electric systems and the grid all use grid tie inverters.
SSB series inverter is a pure sine wave grid-tied inverter with robust technology which ensures maximum conversion efficiency. As the inverter synchronizes with the grid, so it is compatible with anti-islanding feature, so that during the event of power outage, it shouldn't feed energy to the grid to avoid any accident. Usually there are 3 types of Grid-Tied or On-grid inverters in the market:
i. Micro inverters
ii. String inverters
iii. Central inverters
Hybrid inverter:
Hybrid inverters are basically a combination of both off-grid and on-grid inverter. A hybrid inverter (sometimes referred to as a multi-mode inverter) is an inverter which can simultaneously manage inputs from both solar panels and a battery bank, charging batteries with either solar panels or the electricity grid (depending on which is more economical or preferred). Hybrid inverters allow to connect the batteries to solar system. It helps to store the convert the DC energy to AC energy and also store energy to the batteries. Most importantly it's compatible with electrical grid power as well. If the necessary energy for load is generated by the solar module, then the excessive generated energy can be sold to the grid only with the help of hybrid inverter. EHCS series inverter is a high quality hybrid inverter with precision accuracy.
EverExceed has more than a decade of experience in solar industry. Based on the vast knowledge, EverExceed select the best, high quality, high reliability products to manufacture solar systems. Also with the expertise, the quality, after-sale service of EverExceed can make you stress free. Based on different industry and requirement, EverExceed provide different electrical equipments for different applications. If you want to know more about EverExceed Inverter solution contact EverExceed today. Our team is experienced enough to provide you best solution for your needs.
