Do You Know The ABCs Of Inverter Testing?

Focus:

Recent growth in the number of inverter manufacturers has been due to the introduction of new technology and designs to meet changing market needs. These include higher dc input voltage, dc-side arc fault protection and interruption, and transformer-less inverters for better efficiency. As tech innovations are taking over the market, the need for testing services for these products—often to differing standards of import markets—has increased as well. Yet, many manufacturers are unsure what exactly the requirements are and what happens during testing. This knowledge gap may be especially detrimental if an inverter design needs to be changed in the late stages of the development process because of the need to comply with certain standards. This Q&A article offers answers to some of the most often asked questions about inverter compliance testing including requirements for safety, inverter output quality and response to abnormal grid conditions. Among the issues addressed here: which standards apply in different regions, who the governing bodies are, where inverters are tested, in-house versus third-party testing, documentation requirements, what inverter designers need to know about compliance, how to locate a test company, how long does testing take, and where to find requirements for product labeling.

What you’ll learn:

• How to understand the basic requirements and practical aspects of compliance testing for inverters

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Author & Publication:

Fred Zhu, Inverters and Product Safety, TÃœV Rheinland, Pleasanton, Calif., How2Power Today, Mar 15 2014

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