The discovery and utilization of electricity have been one of the most important phases in our history. Mankind has always flirted with the idea of electricity and experimented with currents since the early ages, however, it wasn’t until the late 18th century that it was used to its full potential. Mass experimentation and research meant that more than one scientist was working to bring electricity to homes, and soon enough by the end of the 1800s most cities has lighting and electricity.
The power that was used in that time period was direct current rather than alternating current. This was so, as during that time people, including scientists were not fully aware of the effects and advantages of alternating current and shunned it from use. As time progressed and people began to understand and work with AC its stigma went away and was soon adopted as primary methods of transferring energy.
There are many benefits of using alternating current over direct, but its most prime advantage is that AC can be carried over long distances without losing energy or charge. This is very crucial in the distribution of energy. The energy carried is usually very large and needs to be stepped down to usable current.
There are often times when AC cannot be used all the time as it may damage certain machines. One such machine used to convert AC to DC power is called an Inverter. The first inverters were rather crude and used a combination of rotary converters and vacuum tubes for the conversion process. The term inverter came about as; the first AC to DC converters used an AC motor connected to a dynamo (generator), in which the dynamo’s commutator reversed its connection at the right moment; in combination with a synchronous converter, where the generator and motor are combined into a single armature was invented. The result was AC-input and DC-output. With a great many technological innovations in the 21st century, almost everyone can get their hands on an inverter battery online shopping or by searching online.
As technology and understanding of electricity has advanced over the years, newer types of inverters called controlled rectifiers like a CSI (current source input) were invented. This type of inverter treats the DC supply as the current source rather than as a voltage source. They incorporate the use of transistors which can handle higher voltage and current and can be used as switches. More recently, technology such as rectifiers and pulse numbering is used where they reduce harmonic content in AC input current and reduce rippling in DC output voltage.
In India, the most commonly used inverter is the square waveform inverter. It is a simple waveform inverter and is used for low sensitivity applications, such as lighting and heating. As India regularly experiences power outages and other problems, such inverters are of great use. A combination where one can buy inverter battery and the inverter itself can be used to supply power to households in time of need. In developing countries and backward nations which are yet to make progress in this department, inverters play a very important role.
