What is an inverter? How to choose?

Inverters are devices that convert DC voltage into AC power. They commonly used for controlling AC motor speed. In this tutorial, I will tell you about inverter usage in UPS.

Why and Where inverter is used?

In case of power outage, we often use batteries to store the electrical energy that’s stored in them. However, when used AC, these batteries can’t use the stored energy. This is why we often use inverters to convert DC to AC supply.

The output of a 12V DC battery is different depending on the battery used. It can be used in series or parallel.

Types of inverters available in market:

Basically there are two kind of invertes according to output efficinency:

1. iron core base inveters ( minimum efficiency and cheap in price)
2. ferrite core base inverters (maximum efficiency and expensive )

Three kinds of inveters are available in market depending upon their output voltage shape:

1. Square wave inverter
2. modified sine wave inverter
3. pure sine wave inverter

Square wave inverter converts output voltage into square wave form.

Square wave and modified wave inverters are usually not very efficient in terms of power consumption. They also have high harmonics and reduce the life time and efficiency of devices.