Designing An Open-Source Power Inverter (Part 1): Goals And Specifications

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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Author & Publication:

Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories, Cayo, Belize, How2Power Today, May 15 2021

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