Renewable Energy System

TOPICS: INVERTERS
WEEK: 6
LECTURE: 11
LEVEL: 6 T H SEMESTER 3 R D YEAR
PROGRAM: BE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
 COURSE TEACHER: ENGR DR. OBAID UR
REHMAN ([email protected])
ACCESS AT: portal.suit.edu.pk
Electrical Engineering Department, SUIT Peshawar

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Inverter:
A switching circuit can be used in the conversion of dc voltage to an
ac square wave voltage.
One method is illustrated in Figure where switch symbols are used to
represent switching transistors.
In part (a), switches S2 and S3 are on for a specified time and S1 and
S4 are off.
The direct current is through the load as shown creating a positive
output voltage, as indicated.
In part (b), opposite switches are on and off.

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Figure: A method of producing a square
wave from a dc voltage

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The current is in the opposite direction through the load and
the output voltage is negative.
The complete on/off cycle of the switches produces an
alternating square wave.
The transistors are switched by a timing control circuit
which is not shown for simplicity.
The load is the filter in the pure sine wave inverter.

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Inverters can have two types of interface: stand-alone and
grid-tie.
The stand-alone inverter is used in applications where all of
the output power is used for a specified load, such as
lighting, appliances, and motors, and is independent of the
electrical power grid.
Figure represents a stand-alone system.
The grid-tie inverter is used in applications where all or part
of the output power is provided to the electrical gird.
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For example:
A home solar power system may share excess power not used in the
home with the power company for credit if net metering is available.
Some power companies have a net metering policy in which a special
meter is installed and all power going to the electrical grid is
deducted from power used by the on-site consumer.
A large solar power system may be entirely devoted to producing
power for the electrical gird.

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The Grid-Tie System

The Grid-Tie System

A grid-tie inverter (GTI) must synchronize its ac output frequency
(60 Hz) and phase with that of the grid, limit its amplitude for
compatibility with the grid, and adjust its power factor to unity
(voltage and current in phase).
For safety reasons, grid-tie inverters have to disconnect from the grid
if the grid goes down in a blackout.
An option with grid-tie systems is that the solar panel can connect
directly to the inverter with no battery backup.

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However, batteries allow the consumer to have energy
available when they lose power from the grid.
Figure shows the basic concept of a grid-tie solar power
system with backup batteries.
During normal operation, the grid is supplying electrical
power to the user and the power from the grid-tie inverter is
fed back into the grid through the distribution and control
circuits for credit from the power company.

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If the grid goes down, the ac disconnect prevents the power
from the grid-tie inverter from feeding into the solar power
is then switched directly to the user.

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Dark Current
The electric current flowing in a photoelectric device when there is
no incident illumination.
dark current is due to the random generation of electrons and holes
within the depletion region of the device. 
dark current is the relatively small electric current that flows through
photoelectric devices such as a photodiode, or charge-coupled device
even when no photons are entering the device.

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1 : How much energy can your battery store?
 Battery capacity is measured in Amp Hours (e.g. 17AH).
 You need to convert this to Watt Hours by multiplying the AH by the
battery voltage (e.g. 12V).  this is just the simple calculation below
 X (Battery size in AH) x Y (Battery Voltage) = Z (Power available in watt
hours
For a 20AH, 12V battery the Watt Hours figure is 20(X) x 12(Y) = 240
WH (Z)
 This means the battery could supply 240W for 1 hour, 120W for 2 hours
or even 2w for 120 hours i.e. the more energy you take, the faster the
battery discharges. 

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  However you are never really able to take all the power from a
battery as once the voltage drops below your equipment’s
requirements it will no longer be able to power it.
 There is a simple rule of thumb for this but please check your
battery’s specifications to make sure.
 Lead acid battery’s will give you around 50% of their rated power.
(i.e. a 10Ah battery has 5Ah of usable power)
Li-ion battery’s will give you around 80% of their rated power. (i.e. a
10Ah battery has 8Ah of usable power)

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 2 : How much energy will your appliance(s) use over a period of time?
 The power consumption of appliances is generally given in Watts (e.g. A PC is around 20W this information
can be found on the data sticker that most electrical items have). To calculate the energy you will use over
time, just multiply the power consumption by the hours of intended use.
 The 20W PC in this example, on for 2 hours, will take 20 x 2 = 40WH from the battery.
 Repeat this for all the appliances you wish to use, then add the results to establish total consumption like
below.
 PC 20w on for 2 hours per day                              = 40w per day
 Radio 10w on for 5 hours per day                          = 50w per day
 Water pump (20w) on for 20mins per day               = 6.66w per day
 Main Light 30w on for 3h per day                           = 90w per day
 Spot lights 10w on for 1h per day                           = 10w per day
                                                                                     Total      = 196w per day

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3 : How much energy can a Solar panel generate over a period of time?
 The final part to sizing your solar system is the solar panels. The power generation rating of a Solar
panel is also given in Watts. In Theory, to calculate the energy it can supply to the battery, you
multiply Watts (of the solar panel) by the hours exposed to sunshine.
 In practice it’s not a great way to calculate the output from a solar panel so we work to a few simple
rules.
 ·         We would generally advise that an average PAK winters day will only give you 2 hours
sunshine
 ·         An average PAK summers days will give you 6 hours of sunshine.
 So in winter a 10w panel will provide 10w worth of energy back into your battery. (10w x 2 = 20w)
 In Summer a 10w panel will provide 60w worth of energy back into your battery. (10w x 6 = 60w)
 Using the above calculation takes into consideration any losses in the system from the regulator,
cables and battery you may be using.

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 4 : Putting it all together to size your system.
 Knowing your power requirements and the time of year you want to use the system is vital to
this step.  We will use the example above with a power requirement of  196w per day.
 If this is the requirements for late spring to early Autumn use we could use this equation
 Watts required / time of year sunshine hours = panel size         →           196 / 6 = 32.6W panel
 As we don’t make a 32.6w solar panel we would recommend looking at a 30w or 40w solar
panel for this application.
 However if this was an all year requirement i.e. also needed in the PAK’s winter the numbers
would change
 Watts required / time of year sunshine hours = panel size         →          196 / 2 = 98W panel
 As we don’t make a 98w solar panel we would recommend looking at 100w solar panels for
this application.

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 The final Piece 
 The final Piece to complete your solar system is the Charge
Controller or Voltage Regulator.
 Its basically the same thing just a different name.
 This essential piece of your solar system controls the
Charge put into your battery, stops overcharging and
prevents the solar panel pulling power from the battery at
night. 
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