Hey all, Vann here. If you have a background in Power Electronics, and are interested in acting as a consultant, mentor, or remote developer of our Power Inverter project, please contact me at vann.miller@gmail.com.
We’re just starting and thus still defining our design parameters (in accordance to OSE Specifications), but the initial goal is to develop an inverter capable of taking up to 72V DC and outputting 120v AC, say up to 5000W. Eventually we’d like one with three phase power, perhaps expandable via modules. And we’d like to do all this using a (so-called) modern, high frequency design, to help keep component costs low.
So far we have Darren of Open Capitalist onboard, formerly of Intel’s Research & Development of Power Engineering, who’s offered his skills on an advisory basis. We also have the inimitable Yoonseo onsite here at FeF. Still, we could use more hands, specifically someone not only with the expertise and time, but also access to accessory technology we need to do this well: a real power supply, a network analyzer, and a programmable load. These things don’t come cheap, so borrowed use would be ideal.
Think you can help us out? Care to join the team? If you haven’t filled out the Team Culturing Survey, please do so, and email me.
Thanks, all.
it would be a nice feature it the output would be 120/220 V and 50/60 Hz, so it can be used worldwide.
Is this inverter meant as a bridge technology? Because later, when you also have just open source electric appliances, you could as well base them on low-voltage DC power (24 – 48 V) and eliminate the need for an inverter.
I’m using 24 V DC for an expedition vehicle project and found that there are commercial tools I can mod as 24 V DC power tools (like accumulator tools, remove accu, add cable) and that the safety requirements for low-voltage DC are much more manageable for DIY tech. Still, if you need 5 kW devices, low-voltage DC might need unmanageable high currents.
Just a thought though. As Kent Beck said, simplicity is the art of maximizing the amount of work not done.
Thanks for all your hard work, folks!
I wonder if solid-state is the best fit for your design parameters: to get a smooth curve and high power, it might be worthwhile to just use a DC motor to drive a flywheel and an AC generator. The 2-phase and 3-phase coils could be on the same drive shaft, and the only difficult thing to regulate would be briefly cutting power to the motor whenever the frequency gets higher than spec.
The generator and motor would also be useful components to have around, when they aren’t needed as part of the inverter system.
Why not just have everything run off of DC? We have a ton of testing facilities down here at NCREPT. A load center, network analyzer, and other stuff are available. I will see what I can do. Please email me if you would like to come down to fayetteville.
-AMD