How Does a Sine Wave Inverter Work?
Inverter devices convert electrical current known as direct current (DC) into a different type of energy known as alternating current (AC). A sine wave inverter relies on certain frequency variations to convert electrical current.
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Sine Wave
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Sine waves refer to a mathematical function used to describe oscillation, which is repetitive movement or variation in a frequency. Sine wave form is determined by amplitude--the peak change of the frequency from its center position--and angular frequency--the number of oscillations occurring during a specific time interval.
Waveforms
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Inverters create waveforms--the shapes and forms of electrical signals. Sine waves are the typical waveforms an AC power supply generates. Periods--mathematics functions that repeat at regular intervals--describe the sum of a series of waveforms an inverter generates. The sine wave that shares the same frequency as the original waveform is referred to as the fundamental component of the inverter. Other sine waves, referred to as harmonics, maintain frequencies that are multiples of the fundamental component.
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Inverter Output Quality
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A certain quality of inverter output waveform must be produced to create AC power. This quality is expressed via the total harmonic distortion (TSD). Total harmonic distortion is expressed via an equation reached by taking the square root of the sum of the harmonic voltages and dividing by the fundamental component.
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Comments
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Jibber Jabber. This hardly makes any sense. Not that it's inaccurate. It's mostly true. But darn if this doesn't miss the finer points. A standard DC wall wart uses a transformer to step down AC voltage and then a "rectifier" to convert it to DC. An INVERTER does the opposite. It switches a transformer coil on-and-off at a given frequency (60hz) to recreate the AC current needed by most mains powered devices. Pretty strait forward.
