Designing An Open-Source Power Inverter (Part 1): Goals And Specifications
by Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize, How2Power Today, May 15 2021
Focus:
This is the first in a series of articles that will disclose the engineering of a
kilowatt-level, scalable open-source battery inverter dubbed the “Volksinverter”—a product
meant to be suitable for widespread use, and which can be built and/or serviced by
technically savvy individuals such as power electronics engineers. In this series, the
design of the Volksinverter will be described in enough detail that a technically savvy
individual will be able to maintain, repair, or even modify the design. Anyone will be
free to manufacture and sell it, as-is or in modified form. This article discusses the
challenges in servicing electronic equipment that motivate this open-source approach, the
system-level architecture of the proposed inverter, its protection features and output
wave shape. The next section lists the functions performed by each of the three modules
that comprise the inverter. The last section outlines basic input and output specs for the
inverter, shows already built prototype boards, defines open-source design goals, and
shares some details on core selection and prototype construction.
What you’ll learn:
- How to improve serviceability of a kilowatt-level battery inverter through open-source design
- How to design an open-source 1-kW battery inverter—system overview, design specs and goals
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