Single Phase Solar Inverter with Smart Charge Control

Abstract

In recent years, the interest in solar energy has risen due to surging oil prices and environmental concern. In many remote or underdeveloped areas, direct access to an electric grid is impossible and a photovoltaic inverter system would make life much simpler and more convenient. With this mind-set, this paper aims to design, build, and test a solar panel inverter with thermo electric generator to convert waste heat in to electricity. This inverter system could be used as backup power during outages, battery charging, or for typical household applications. The key features of the system are a true 50Hz, 230V RMSoutput voltage, a wide input range, an intelligent charger and a power output for led lamps. The overall goal is to design this system while minimizing component costs. Although systems with similar features already exist, many are prohibitively expensive. In addition, inverters in the lower price range typically lack the features mentioned above. Hence the main aim of the proposed work lies in designing a solar panel inverter that is flexible and utilizes a wide range of input voltage range for various photovoltaic panels. Also, the proposed scheme is said to provide a charge control option that makes optimal use of any solar panel.