A General Purpose Inverter Set-Up for Power Electronics Laboratory Experiments

A general purpose experimental set-up has been designed and implemented for students to carry out various experiments on inverters in the power electronics laboratories of universities, during a few hours of laboratory work. This is the first inverter setup that incorporates hardware and software control, as well as an optional user interface in a laboratory experimental set-up of a single multi-purpose inverter, thus making the system versatile and very practical for both undergraduate and graduate students. The system can be controlled either by a computer or through a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a keypad control unit, and it constitutes a low-cost alternative to relatively expensive commercial teaching sets. The computer provides a user friendly interface and easier control for laboratory environments equipped with computers. The LCD and keypad units eliminate the need for a computer, which makes this system usable in the laboratory as a standalone unit as well.