►
From YouTube: Open Source Inverter State of Art
Description
Notes and links here - https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Tim_Schmidt.
With Tim Schmidt. We walk through the open source state of art in power inverters for solar power applications, using 100% open source toolchains including Arduino and open source hardware/libre software FPGAs that are being developed by Ultimachine.
Why are we here? To deliver the promise of open source hardware.
-----------------
What you see here at Open Source Ecology is an ambitious open source project for the common good. Join our development team:
http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/OSE_Developers
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A
B
A
C
D
D
B
C
A
A
E
A
Like
okay,
you
know,
I
have
all
these
ideas
and
I
have
you
know
I've
written
the
firmware
for
3d
printers
and
laser
cutters
and
things.
So
I
have
some
idea
of
like
the
performance
characteristics
of
these
chips,
yeah
and
what
they're,
what
they're
capable
of
managing-
and
I
have
this
sense-
that
I
should
be
able
to
build
an
inverter
around
mega
like
160
or
something.
C
A
D
A
But
the
neat
thing
about
their
work
is
that
they
not
only
built
the
hardware
and
programmed
it.
They
hooked
it
up
to
industrial
testing
equipment
and
characterized
the
the
sine
wave
and
the
power
questions
and
stuff
that
came
out
of
it,
and
it
was
totally
reasonable.
It
made
me
I'm
like,
oh
okay.
This
is
something
that
I
can
do
and
maybe
won't
up.
C
A
A
At
that
circuit
diagram,
there's
a
big
giant
transistor
in
the
middle
of
the
inverter
and
all
the
power
for
the
whole
system
has
to
flow
through
that
transistor,
and
so,
of
course
it
gets
smoking
hot.
It
has
to
be
made
of
magic
materials,
like
usually
they're
made
of
silicon
carbide
or
some
other
material,
it's
actually
a
worse
transistor,
but
is
able
to
handle
a
lot
more
heat.
A
A
A
A
A
So,
ideally,
each
solar
panel
or
each
battery
cell
gets
individual
control
transistors
and
then
the
control
problem
is
significantly
more
complicated.
The
software
that's
required
is
more
involved,
but
the
control
electronic
systems
that
have
appeared
over
the
last
10
15
years
have
become
best
and
more
sophisticated.
D
A
A
B
B
E
A
C
A
B
A
Right
sure,
a
lot
of
panels
max
out
around
600
yeah.
If
you
want
to
go
directly
to
240
ac,
you
have
to
be
aware
of
the
rms
voltage
so
moving
from
dc
to
ac.
So
like
240
ac,
the
rms
is
more
like
I'm
pulling
numbers
out
of
my
head
here,
so
they
won't
be
a
hundred
percent,
but
I
think
it's
more
like
I'm.
A
B
C
C
A
And
then
that
magnetic
field
is
like
it's:
what
you're
storing
power
in
you're?
Essentially
the
inductor
half
the
inductor
is
the
universe
and
it's
the
functional
half
and
we
don't
really
know
exactly
how
that
thing
works.
But
it
seems
to
obey
equations
so
that
magnetic
field
grows
and
power
is
stored
in
it
and
then,
as
soon
as
you
cut
the
power
off
the
magnetic
field,
collapses.
A
B
A
A
You're,
constantly
loading,
the
inductor
and
then
switching
off
power
to
it
and
allowing
a
diode
to
shunt
kick
back
into
a
capacitor
and
that's
how
you
attain
the
higher
voltage.
The
higher
voltage
exists
in
that
capacitor
and
you
average
it
over
time.
So,
depending
on
how
fast
you
pulse
the
inductor,
you
get
a
different
voltage
out
there.
A
B
E
B
A
So,
and
and
the
reason
that
we
use
a
core
is
that
the
universe
is
really
fast.
So
when
you
power
an
inductor
and
then
cut
the
power
to
it,
that
happens
almost
instantly
the
the
curve.
If
you
graph
it
like
it's
on
microseconds
and
it
just
looks
like
a
spike,
you
can't
there's
it's
really
difficult
to
use
so
by
shoving
an
inductor
in
the
middle
of
that
electromagnet.
A
A
There's
a
dude
at
who
has
built
a
credit
card
size,
1000,
watt,
inverter,
using
air
core
inductors.
You
know
operating
at
the
you
know
200
megahertz,
or
something
how
efficient
it's
remarkably
efficient.
But
the
trouble
is
that
there's
a
trade-off,
so
the
operating
with
air
core
inductors
allows
you
to
skip
the
a
large
part
of
the
inductor
waste,
but
then
you're
switching
transistors
more
often
and
the
transistor
burns
power.
While
it's
trans,
the
transistor
is
an
almost
perfect
conductor.
A
C
A
A
Also
in
that
architecture,
you're
switching
the
transistors
a
lot
less
frequently,
because
okay,
so
another
way
that
I
can
sort
of,
explain
it
and
try
to
visualize.
It
is
that,
when
you're
dealing
with
these
power
systems,
it
seems
like
at
some
point:
okay,
so
there's
two
types
of
power:
loads
right,
there's,
resistive
and
inductive,
and
every
motor
is
inductive.
A
A
A
The
moment
that
you
connect
to
the
power.
The
current
draw
is
infinite
for
an
infinitely
small
amount
of
time
yeah
and
during
that
infinitely
small
amount
of
time,
the
power
electronics.
The
inverter
has
this
much
higher
load
than
it's
that
it's
used
to
experiencing
yeah.
So
inductive
loads
require
the
inverter
to
be
built
quite
a
lot
heavier
duty
than
the
same
resistive
load
like
a.
I
would
expect
to
need
a
4000
wide
inverter
to
drive
a
2000
watt
motor
when
a
2001
inverter
would
drive
a
2000
watt
computer.
A
A
B
A
Oh
yeah,
like
fuses,
ptc's
overheating
things,
yeah,
yeah,
okay,
so
that's
the
major
major
issue
and
then
the
bit
of
the
universe
that
you're
working
with
there
is
the
inductor.
You
have
to
charge
up
the
inductor
enough.
There
has
to
be
enough.
Copper.
There
has
to
be
enough
magnetism
there
to
deal
with
the
sort
of
power
draw
and
those
things
are
all
expensive,
copper's
expensive.
It's
bulky
there.
It
makes
a
lot
of
heat,
there's
all
kinds
of
problems
with
it.
A
A
Difficulty
in
terms
of
max
power
load
because
that
tends
to
be
limited
by
the
inductors,
the
cells
are
actually
the
battery
cells
are
capable
of
ridiculous
loads.
Usually
you
know
a
single
power
tool.
18650
can
do
30
amps,
so
it's
really
shocking
how
much
batteries
you
put
up
with
if
you
can
feed
it
to
them.
B
B
C
C
A
A
What
do
you
need
so
an
inverter
will
produce
different
phases:
power
like
110,
volt,
single
phase
or
220,
two
phase,
443
phase
things
like
this.
Each
phase
is
its
own
sine
wave,
which,
as
as
you
mentioned,
you
have
to
deal
with
rms
voltage
of
in
order
to
synchronize
the
phases
you
need
to
be
able
to
test
amperage
and
voltage
between
them.
A
A
A
So
rap
quarters
is
this:
is
the
state
of
the
art
in
electronics,
so
johnny
he's
the
person
who
developed
the
ramps
electronics?
So
these?
These
are
the
same
folks
johnny
toni
kip,
who
wrote
one
of
the
first
firmwares
for
reprap
they're,
all
working
on
this
fpga-based
controller.
At
this
point,
so
they've
they've
done
a
bunch
of
different
rounds
of
development.
A
They
have
received
their
first
test
asic
that
just
came
the
mail
like
last
week
and
what
they're
doing
is
so
in
you
know,
like
a
rep
rep
controller.
The
most
expensive
bill
materials
item
is
the
stepper
driver.
I
see
you
needed
five
of
them
and
they're
like
three
to
ten
dollars.
Each
which,
for
a
hundred
dollar
board,
is
a
lot
of
money
so
and
they're
also.
E
A
A
D
A
A
But
as
long
as
the
controls
like
a
solid-state
inductor
driver
shouldn't
be
difficult
that
doesn't
require
large
capacitors
you're,
getting
things
like
vfds,
like
a
variable
frequency
drive
where
you're
you're
taking
in
110
and
putting
out
220
at
a
different
frequency
or
you're
you're
taking
in
220
and
putting
a
440
at
a
different
frequency.
Those
things
use
large
capacitor
banks
and
the
capacitor
banks
in
them
are
considered
disposable
because
you're
charging
and
discharging
them
at
more
than
60
hertz
at
their
full
rated
capacity
for
the
entire
time.
The
thing
is
on.
A
B
C
A
Okay,
so
my
understanding
is
that
I
try
to
keep
up
with
these
guys.
They
are
they
just
sampled,
their
first
asic.
They
have
been
through
a
bunch
of
rounds
of
testing
the
stepper
driver.
Circuitry
is
there
and
functional
they
even
have
some
quadrature
feedback,
so
they're
able
to
do
things
like
servo
control,
the
fpga.
It's
really
state-of-the-art
work,
the
the
fpga
that
they're
using
the
ecp5
is
the
largest
fpga.
That's
currently
supported
by
free
software
and.
A
C
A
Also
is
a
major
contributor
to
ice
tools,
which
is
the
reverse
engineered
fpga
development
tool
chain.
It
started
off
supporting
the
ice
40
series
fpgas
from
I
forget
the
the
lattice
I
think,
and
now
it
supports
a
number
of
fpgas
from
different
manufacturers.
The
ecp-5
is
the
largest.
It
has
85
000
gates
in
its
largest
configuration
and
runs
up
to
2
gigahertz
has
things
like
gigabit,
ethernet
and
hdmi,
built
in
wow,
correct.
B
A
And
so
you
can
well,
I
mean
ultra
machine
are
the
folks
who
are
pushing
this
farthest
fastest
at
the
moment,
wow.
They
have
used
this
tool
chain
and
the
the
ecp5
development
boards
that
they've
designed
and
built
to
produce
the
vhdl,
the
netlists,
the
the
tape
out
for
this
custom,
basic
they're.
Just
it's
just
arriving.
B
D
B
A
B
C
C
A
They
take
sort
of
a
different
approach:
they're
they're
architected
differently
than
most
they're,
not
actually
mppt
at
all
they're.
They
use
a
similar
algorithm,
which
is
not
quite
as
efficient,
but
it's
like
one
percent
less
efficient
and
then,
instead
of
transistors,
and
instead
of
switching
attempting
to
like
buck
or
boost
the
power
it
uses
remote
relays.
A
A
B
A
So
rap
quarters
like
where
I
sit
with
it,
is
this:
it's
I
see
it
as
the
next
generation
3d
printer
controller.
The
ultra
machine
folks
are
interested
in
other
applications.
So
when
I
talked
to
them
last,
they
were
excited
about
a
farmer
bot.
They
were
like.
Oh
hey,
we
see
you're
doing
some
things
with
hydraulics
and
we
don't
know
much
about
those
control
systems
and
we
would
like
our
controller
to
be
able
to
handle
them.
C
A
A
So
it's
possible
for,
like
a
220
inverter,
it's
likely
that
we'd
have
to
do
a
custom
board
spin,
something
that
has
higher
voltage
transistors
resistor
networks
that
divide
the
220
voltage
down
to
something
that
mcu
can
sense
so
on
and
so
forth.
It
would
be
a
minor
adjustment
to
the
board.
It
would
be
a
different
production
run.
A
C
A
A
B
A
So
I
I
don't
see
a
lot
of
effort
that
has
to
be
done.
On
the
circuit
side,
I
mean
they're,
basically
putting
in
all
that
effort
up
front
because
it
it
addresses
the
existing
motor
control
issues
that
they're
working
on,
but
the
additional
firmware
and
software
development
would
be
something
that,
like
we'd,
have
to
be
able
to
take
care
of
a
software
developer
for
the
amount
of
time
it
took
to
come
up
with
that.
C
C
A
I
would
love
to
see
something
like
that.
I
would
love
to
see
this
ultra
generic
board
like
and
I
sort
of
imagine
in
my
head
this.
This
thing
there's
not
a
name
for
it.
It's
sort
of
you
know
it's
mashing
together
the
motor
controller
and
the
bms,
and
oh,
my
gosh
the
tricks
that
it's
capable
of
okay.
So
this
circuit,
if
you
were
to
build
it,
the
distributed
transistor
circuit,
you
could
do
there's
a
trick
called
active
rectification.
A
A
This
half's,
open,
close
it
as
the
sine
wave
is
doing
this
thing
so
that
it's
always
you
know
when
the
power
is
in
the
negative
space
you've
configured
the
edge
bridge
so
that
you're
you're
connecting
that
wire
to
the
negative
terminal
battery
the
power's.
On
the
positive
side,
you're
configuring
each
bridge
that
you're
connecting
into
the
positive
terminal
of
the
battery,
so
that,
even
if
you
plug
this
this
battery
with
controller
thing
directly
into
a
110
wall,
it
could
charge
itself
because
it
has
the
ability
to
sense
voltage
and
amperage
across
phases.
A
C
A
A
D
A
A
A
A
A
All
of
us
hackers
like
pitched
in
money.
You
know
throwing
hundred
dollar
bills
at
him.
I
don't
have
much,
but
here
take
this
and
he
was
putting
in
bulk
orders
for
all
the
electronics,
the
pcbs
distributing
them
out,
basically
at
cost
to
all
the
developers
and
you
got
kind
of
burnt
out
on
it
and
we're
like
dude.
Are
you
making
any
money?
No,
okay,
there's
your
problem.
A
So
as
soon
as
folks
stepped
in
and
started
and
introduced
a
bit
of
a
profit
motive,
you
know
had
were
making
enough
money
to
feed
themselves.
In
addition
to
hack
on
the
project
things
started
happening,
it
was
critical
that
people
be
able
to
spend
their
full-time
effort
on
it
and
not
have
to
worry
about
where
the
money
was
coming
from
once
that
happened,
it
really
unlocked
and
unleashed
the
development
effort.
A
C
A
A
B
B
C
A
C
D
B
A
A
I
think
a
big
part
of
it
for
me,
a
big
missing
piece
and
a
lot
of
things
that
I've
run
into
is
modularity
yeah,
which
is
is
why
ruffle
mat
and
grid
and
open
source.
Ecology
are
important
to
me
that
modularity
to
me
is
like
you
know.
We
work
at
repliment
a
lot
with
frame
with
this
aluminum
extrusion
and
to
me
it's
it's
both
a
literal
and
a
figurative
framework.
B
A
B
B
C
Go
into
that
and
create
modules
around
that.
That's
exactly
what
we're
trying
to
do
with
the
apprenticeship
with
the
home
being
a
product.
So
we're
saying:
okay,
hey,
here's,
something
that
somebody
might
want
a
house:
that's
producible
at
the
lowest
possible
cost.
That's
most
effective!
So
yeah
we'll
see
how
that
goes.
But
that's
that's
kind
of
like
that
came
out
of
covid.
A
C
B
B
A
B
C
But
that
thing
is,
I
think,
the
kind
of
response
from
people,
hence
that
that
is
quite
possible
and
quite
desirable,
as
people
are
gaining
back
their
skills
and
that
that
essential
human
thing
of
being
productive
and
if
you're
going
to
change
your
environment,
you
think
differently
about
economics
and
politics.
You
get
on
top
of
that
too.
Yeah.
A
Can
I
ask
I'm
curious
about
so
like
one
of
the
things
that
I've
been
I've
been
working
since
rep
rap
for
10
years
to
reduce
my
my
footprint
and
the
amount
of
bills
that
I
I'm
like
I
own
home,
so
that
I
can
hack
on
these
projects
sustainably
yeah?
Can
I
talk
about
or
ask
about
your
revenue
stream
like
what?
What
does
the
economics
of
open
source
ecology?
Look
like.
B
C
D
B
A
One
of
the
things
one
of
the
approaches
that
we've
considered
is
like
you
know:
building
with
our
product
is
really
fun
and
it
happens
quickly
and
it's
rewarding
like
you're
talking
about
so
the
the
well.
So
replimat
is
this.
So
for
me,
it's
kind
of
grown
out
of
when
I
was
working
on
the
3d
printers.
I
was
focused
on
this
problem
of
bootstrapping
yeah.
I
want
a
3d
printer.
I
don't
have
a
3d
printer.
How
do
I
build
a
3d
printer?
A
So
it's
based
largely
around
grid
beam,
which
is
based
on
a
system
called
matrix
which
is
based
on
a
way
of
building
crates
that
was
developed
in
the
20s
and
maybe
before
then,
and
we've
added
our
own
refinements
to
it
and
then
all
the
other
parts
that
go
around
it.
Things
like
generic
pumps
and
wheels
and
bearings
and
adapter
plates
and
things
how.
A
So
here's
the
store-
it's
still
a
little
rough
until
we
launched
but
you'll
get
the
idea.
We
have
several
kits
that
we
developed
there's
a
kit
for
structure,
so
you
have
to
build
a
frame
for
a
thing.
There's
all
the
parts
for
that.
There's
a
kit
for
making
that
thing
move
around
on
wheels
systems,
there's
a
kit
for
machines
like
a
linear
motion
kit.
A
B
B
B
A
B
A
A
Everything
else
generated
automatically
and
part
of
that
is
that
when
we
get
to
reverse
all
that
data,
so
we
get
to
walk
through
every
project
in
the
wiki
and
ask
you
to
interrogate
that
project.
What
parts
do
you
use?
Well,
I
need
five
five
segment
frames.
I
need
ten
ten
segment
frames,
nine
three
fifteen
segment
frames
and
I
need
this
many
nuts
and
bolts.
So
we
can
tally
up
that
information
for
every
single
project
in
the
wiki
and
then
reverse.
Okay,
I
have
these
parts.
What
projects
can
I
build.
A
E
B
A
There's
a
group
called
n55
in
copenhagen,
I'm
not
sure
if
you're
aware
of
them
not
open
source
yeah
right,
but
they
have
published
a
lot
of
photos
and
things.
So
a
lot
of
information
is
reversible.
I've
contacted
members
of
them
like
tobias
that
who
built
their.
I
don't
know
if
you've
seen
they
built
a
a
frame,
drilling
machine
out
of
frame
which
is
awesome.
B
B
C
A
C
A
C
E
Well,
dad
I've
been
tim's
best
friend
for
ages.
Now
I've
been
allowing
him
this
whole
way.
I've
been
kind
of
managing
the
commercial
side
of
things
getting
the
website
together,
building
our
email
server,
getting
some
of
our
social
media
stuff.
Together,
I've
been
working
on
that
guy
logo
and
some
of
the
artwork
and
that
sort
of
thing,
but
I
I've
I've
taken
part
in
building
some
of
these
3d
print.
I've
inherited
his
his
older
printers.