Dc to ac inverter with single-switch bipolar boost circuit
AssigneeMr.Rick West
InventorsRichard T. West, Gary A. Fourer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention improves the performance and lowers the cost of DC to AC inverters and the systems where these inverters are used. The performance enhancements are most valuable in renewable and distributed energy applications where high power conversion efficiencies are critical. The invention allows a variety of DC sources to provide power thru the inverter to the utility grid or directly to loads without a transformer and at very high power conversion efficiencies. The enabling technology is a novel boost converter stage that regulates the voltage for a following DC to AC converter stage and uses a single semiconductor switching device. The AC inverter output configuration is either single-phase or three-phase.
Claims16
An inverter for utility interactive applications for converting DC power from solar photovoltaic modules into AC power and comprising:
- a DC to DC boost converter that generates a bipolar voltage with respect to ground and uses a single semiconductor switch;
- a DC to AC converter which converts the output from said DC to DC converter into current regulated sine waves, synchronized with the utility voltage, to source power into the utility grid.
A system for generating AC power from DC sources comprising:
- a DC source;
- a DC to DC converter for regulating said source, wherein said DC to DC converter generates a bipolar voltage with respect to ground and uses a single semiconductor switch and
- a DC to AC converter which converts the output from said DC to DC converter into regulated current or voltage sine waves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.