Converter vs Inverter

Converter

Inverter

Electrical devices that convert the

voltage from DC to DC of different
.magnitude and AC to AC

Electrical devices that

convert the voltage from
direct current (DC) to
alternating current (AC) and
.vice versa

Convert DC to DC; For feeding to

;DC loads

Convert DC electricity from

solar panels, batteries or fuel
cells to AC; micro-inverters
for converting DC power from
solar panels to AC for the
electric grid; UPS uses
inverter to supply AC power
when main power is
unavailable; induction
.heating

Digital-to-digital converter (DDC)

Square wave inverter Quasi

wave or Modified square
wave inverter True/Pure Sine
wave inverters

Types

Not ideal for inductive AC

and motor loads; sensitive
electronic devices can be
damaged by poor waveforms
.by low batteries

Disadvanta
ges

Poor current overload capacity;

better quality Automatic
regulators are more expensive
than Mechanical regulators

What it is

Applications

Types
The basic difference between various types of converters or inverters is that they
vary in their nature and the devices they support.

Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is a device that converts the input analog

voltage to a digital number proportional to the magnitude of the voltage or
current. Some non-electronic or partially electronic devices, like rotary
encoders, can be considered as ADCs.

Digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is a device that converts a digital code to

an analog signal. DAC are found in CD players, digital music players and
PC sound cards.

Digital-to-digital converter (DDC) is a device which converts one type of

digital data to another type of digital data.

There are three types of inverters:

Square wave inverter: This is a type of inverter which produces a square

wave output. It consists of a DC source, four switches and the load. The
switches can withstand heavy current flow. It is the least expensive inverter
but it produces low quality power.

Quasi wave or Modified square wave inverters: As the name suggest, the
wave form is square, and not sinus as required to have pure sine wave AC.
Modified square wave has a step or dead space between the square waves.
This reduces the distortion or harmonics that causes problems with electrical
devices. It works for all pure loads like lamps or heaters. It costs less and is
more effective than square wave.

True/Pure Sine wave inverters: These are the most expensive form of
inverters. Most of the AC products run on modified sine wave inverters
since they are comparatively less expensive.

Applications
Converters are used to convert AC power to DC power. Virtually all the
electronic devices require converters. They are also used to detect amplitude
modulated radio signals. They are also used to supply polarized voltage for
welding. Converters can be used for DC-DC conversion. Here, inverter converts
DC to AC, then a transformer is used to convert it back into DC.
Inverters are used to convert DC electricity from sources like solar panels,
batteries or fuel cells to AC electricity. Micro-inverters are used to convert DC
power from solar panels to AC for the electric grid. UPS or Uninterrupted power
service uses inverter to supply AC power when main power is not available. It is
also used for induction heating.

Disadvantages
Disadvantages of Converters:

Poor current overload capacity.

The good quality Automatic regulators are more expensive than Mechanical
regulators.

Disadvantages of Inverters:

Not ideal for inductive AC and motor loads.

Sensitive electronic devices can be damaged by poor waveforms by low

batteries.

It should have a good source of power for re-charging

Inverter.
An inverter is used to produce an un-interrupted 220V AC or 110V AC (depending on the
line voltage of the particular country) supply to the device connected as the load at the
output socket.The inverter gives constant AC voltage at its output socket when the AC
mains power supply is not available.
Lets look how the inverter makes this possible.To grasp the functioning of an inverter,we
should consider in the following situations.

When the AC mains power supply is available.

when the AC mains power supply is not available.

When the AC mains power supply is available.

When the AC mains supply is available,the AC mains sensor senses it and the supply
goes to the Relay and battery charging section of the inverter.AC main sensor activates a
relay and this relay will directly pass the AC mains supply to the output socket.The load
will by driven by the line voltage in this situation.Also the line voltage is given to the
battery charging section where the line voltage is converted to a DC voltage(12V DC or
24V DC usually),then regulated and battery is charged using it.There are special circuits
for sensing the battery voltage and when the battery is fully charged the charging is
stopped.In some inverters there will be a trickle charging circuit which keeps the battery
constantly at full charge.
When the AC mains power supply is not available.
When the AC mains power supply is not available,an oscillator circuit inside the inverter
produces a 50Hz MOS drive signal.This MOS drive signal will be amplified by the driver
section and sent to the output section.MOSFETs or Transistors are used for the switching
operation.These MOSFETs or Transistors are connected to the primary winding of the
inverter transformer.When these switching devices receive the MOS drive signal from the
driver circuit,they start switching between ON & OFF states at a rate of 50 Hz.This

switching action of the MOSFETs or Transistors cause a 50Hz current to the primary of
the inverter transformer.This results in a 220V AC or 110V AC (depending on the winding
ratio of the inverter transformer) at the secondary or the inverter transformer.This
secondary voltage is made available at the output socket of the inverter by a changeover
relay.
Automation in an Inverter.
Inverter contains various circuits to automatically sense and tackle various situations that
may occur when the inverter is running or in standby.This automaton section looks after
conditions such as overload,over heat,low battery,over charge etc.Respective of the
situation, the automation section may switch the battery to charging mode or switch
OFF.The various conditions will be indicated to the operator by means of glowing LEDs or
sounding alarms.In advanced inverters LCD screens are used to visually indicate the
conditions.
Block diagram of a basic inverter.

Inside of an Inverter.

Some commercially available inverters.

A New High-Efficiency Single-Phase Transformerless

PV Inverter Topology

There is a strong trend in the photovoltaic inverter

technology to use transformerless topologies in order to acquire higher efficiencies combining
with very low ground leakage current.
In this paper, a new topology, based on the H-bridge with a new ac bypass circuit consisting
of a diode rectifier and a switch with clamping to the dc midpoint, is proposed. The topology is
simulated and experimentally validated, and a comparison with
other existing topologies is performed. High conversion efficiency and low leakage current are
demonstrated.

DC/DC Converter
It is all too often necessary to augment the power supply of an existing electronic
circuit because exactly the voltage that you need is missing. The circuit presented
here may provide a solution in a number of cases, since it can be used to convert a
single-ended supply voltage into a balanced set of supply voltages. Thats not so
remarkable by itself, but the special feature of this circuit is that this is accomplished
without using difficult to obtain, exotic ICs. All of the components used in the circuit
.are ones that every electronics hobbyist is likely to have in a drawer somewhere
The heart of the circuit is formed by an old reliable 555 timer, which is wired here as
a free-running oscillator with a frequency of approximately 160 kHz. The oscillator is
followed by two voltage-doubling rectifiers, consisting of C1, D1, D2, C3 and C7, D3,
D4, C5. They are followed in turn by two voltage regulators to stabilise the positive
and negative voltages generated in this manner. The duty cycle of the 555 is set to
approximately 50 percent using R1 and R2. The square-wave signal at the output of
.the timer IC has a DC offset, which is eliminated by C4 and R3

DC/DC Converter Circuit Diagram 555

Introduction
The task of a power converter is to process and control the flow of electric energy by
supplying
voltages and currents in a form that is optimally suited for the user loads.
Energy was initially converted in electromechanical converters (mostly rotating machines).
Today, with the development and the mass production of power semiconductors, static power
converters find applications in numerous domains and especially in particle accelerators.
They are
smaller and lighter and their static and dynamic performances are better.
A static converter is a meshed network of electrical components that acts as a linking,
adapting
.or transforming stage between two sources, generally between a generator and a load (Fig. 1)