Hi Bob,

DC can be converted to AC by an inverter. I live fairly close to the inverter station nr Ashford. Its job is to convert DC to AC. Depending on demand we either export electricity to France or import it via this station, mostly importing these days. The electricity is transmitted between the two countries as DC.

You can buy inverters that plug into car lighter sockets that can be used to power laptops etc. I use one for my work. The wonder of modern power electronics make these units reasonably sized for the power produced and are not too expensive.

See this link for converter station

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.107005,0.974155&hl=en&num=1&t=h&z=17

Edited By Navigator on 09/03/2012 19:31:04

Funny thing is today I was working on a generator in the sewage treatment works that can be seen next to the converter complex, the area with the round filter beds.

Cheers

Dave

Edited By Navigator on 09/03/2012 19:33:47

Edited By Navigator on 09/03/2012 19:36:21

Thats the thing Bob these so called 'green' systems cost a lot more than people are told.

Dave

In some marks of the Hawk jet trainer we used two inverters which ran from the main 28 V DC generator supply and each provided up to 3 KVA (effectively 3 KW) of 3 phase 400 Hz 115 V AC power. Each unit was about twice the size of a shoebox and absolutely packed with power electronics components, diodes, capacitors, transistors, resistors, wiring and a cooling fan. When you took the lid off it was a thing of beauty, all neatly packaged and completely full of 'stuff'. They were pretty heavy and expensive but very reliable ( a good bit of German engineering). The most unreliable part was the only moving component, the fan.

I would think that the solar panel units are now mass produced to a common standard and the price has been brought down to a much lower level. I suspect the reliability may well be very good, its a pretty benign intallation, no extremes of temperature or vibration. A bit like a television really, our current one is nearly twenty years old and has never shown any sign of problems.

Hi Len,

I do not belong to any club at present. We do not have one in Ashford despite trying to set one up some years ago but failing due to lack of water.

I have toyed with joining either Cygnets or Dover but have to be honest I do not have a model ready for use at present. I lost a lot of interest some time ago even had a false start at building the HDML. This was mainly due to ill health and some other problems.

Sorry I appear to have gone right off topic.

Dave

Gareth Wind farms generate 3 phase ac. I think they are started using the generator as a motor to turn the blades, and when 'up to speed' the blades pitch is adjusted to try to overspeed the system, turning the 'motor' into a synchronus generator. A similar startup was used on a gas (not petrol ) driven system in a hospital the generator turned over the gas engine to synchronus speed (1500 rpm) then the decompressors were dropped and fuel Gas turned on, the engine then drove the generator. The big benefit was the cooling water from the engine was used to heat the building.

3 phase 400Hz supplies were normally used for Selsyn synchro electromechanical controllers in my day, the supply being generated useing motor generator sets, (rotory convertors) befor the days of transistors