Living in a country where electricity supply is unreliable, I'm looking for ways to become less reliant on the only electricity supplier in the country.
While looking around, one sees the term "pure sine wave generator". Which triggered the question "what the heck is a pure sine wave generator". An alternator always produces a sine wave.
So below is how I visualise
- An alternator can generate 110V / 220V AC.
- An alternator can generate e.g. 24V AC and a transformer will convert to 110V / 220V AC.
- An alternator can generate e.g. 24V AC, the generator unit will rectify this and the DC goes through an inverter to convert it to 110V / 220V AC.
For(3), one can use a "normal" inverter or a pure sine wave inverter.
So the question is what are the design considerations when designing a generator? Why choose one over the other?
The only thing that I know about alternators is
- Number of windings on a coil determines the voltage.
- Thickness of the wire in a coil determines the max. current.
- RPM determines the frequency.
- P = V * I so an alternator that has to be able to deliver 500W needs thicker wire in the coils when producing 24V(20A) than when producing 220V(2A).
- When more current is drawn, the RPM of a generator goes down (if no precautions are taken).
One additional question that I coudnot find an answer for(yet)
What does an inverter that is not a pure sine wave inverter produce? A square wave or a stepped signal (like the output of a DAC)?
Note:
I actually don't want to buy a generator and I will defenitely not design one, I'd rather go for solar.