Wednesday, March 25, 2009

An Introduction To Power Inverters

Electrical power interruptions are quite common in every place especially after a heavy downpour or a severe storm. To counter these power outages a search has been done to find a reliable and economic alternate source of electricity.

A power inverter serves this purpose. It is a device that is used to convert direct current to alternating current. It works by converting 12 Volt DC power into 110 volts AC. Power Inverters are great tools to run household appliances from a car or any other DC source in areas where there is no electricity. There are several types of power inverters available in two categories – The True Sine Wave Power Inverters and the Modified Sine Wave Power inverters.

True sine wave power inverters provide utility grade power. These inverters are expensive and can power almost anything including laser printers and fax machines. A sine wave inverter is recommended to operate higher-end electronic equipment. Modified sine waves are the most common types of power inverters. A modified sine wave inverter can adequately power most household appliances and power tools. It is more economical, but may present certain compromises with some loads such as microwave ovens, laser printers, clocks and cordless tool chargers.

Simple inverters make use of oscillators driving a transistor to create a square wave, which in turn is fed through a transformer to produce the required output voltage. While Advanced inverters have started using more advanced forms of transistors or similar devices such as thyristors.

Inverters are used in a wide range of applications, from small power supplies for a computer to large industrial applications to transport bulk power. A few of the most widely used applications of Power Inverters include running television sets, microwaves and other household appliances and charging cell phones, laptops from a car’s cigarette lighter outlet and running power tools from a 12 volt battery on jobsites where electricity isn’t available.

Power Inverters provides detailed information on Power Inverters, DC To AC Power Inverters, Emergency Power Inverters, Car Power Inverter and more. Power Inverters is affiliated with How to Replace a Circuit Breaker