The revival of the project

„50/60 Hz-Heartbeat-Generator“
Joannes Richter

Abstract
Professional electrical engineers are warning that we may experience a continental European
blackout, which may be caused by an overload and/or a lack of energy in the mains network. The
overload may be caused by a lack of natural gas.
In contrast to a brownout a blackout may cause the silencing of the European 50-Heartbeat. Of
course this most unusual event may cause serious economic and technical consequences.
Most electrical equipment has been designed for a standardized mains voltage and frequency, which
need to be stabilized within restricted limits: for the European mains 220V and 50 Hz. A blackout is
expected to be accompanied by a few days of serious problems and weeks of local disturbances.
In contrast to earlier power stations, which used to be designed large blocks, a voluminous
percentage of the mains electrical power is generated by locally distributed solar stations. Most of
of the small solar power stations are equipped with inverters which are designed to synchronize the
conversion to the mains frequency. In a blackout these inverters are switched off immediately and
they will be waiting for the return of the 50Hz wave to be reactivated.
Most of the solar power stations however might also be reactivated to deliver a temporary electrical
power during a blackout if the inverters would be designed to be synchronized:
• by the mains standard frequency (in Europe 50Hz, resp. 60Hz in the USA)
• by a remote signal received wave detected by a long-range detector for a 50Hz (rep. 60Hz)
mains hum.
I decided to design and test an extension for two “solar grid tie inverters 1 (for a sinus shaped
waveform)”, which during blackouts allows us to synchronize the solar power stations to other
frequencies. As soon as the blackouts were terminated the solar power stations automatically should
be synchronized to a fully returned mains frequency.
This feature would help to minimize the economic damage caused by the damage of the blackout.

1 Nimomo 600W Solar Grid Tie Inverter Micro Grid Tie Inverter Hohe Umwandlungsrate MPPT Reine Sinuswelle
IP55 Wasserdichter 230V Solar Micro Inverter and Hoymiles HM-600 Solar Mikro-Wechselrichter für 2 PV
Module bis 760Wp
Introduction
Last month I decided to switch my study from philosophy to the survival mode. In the month
September the warriors left the civilized mode and entered the region “East of Eden”.
The first of October started the day with a peculiar sky with a blood-colored stage. I realized I
switched my vocabulary to the old days of 1962/1963, which was named “cold war”. Those days I
was a 14/15 years old kid, living in a boarding school in Europe.
At the beginning2 of that famous “Cuban crisis”-episode Thirteen Days of the Kennedy-Brothers
my parents worked in Caracas, Venezuela. I remember they visited me and promised to fly me back
to Venezuela as soon as the Cuban rumble escalated.
The Thirteen Days however mutated to a long “cold war”, in which the elephants tested their bombs
and people prepared their survival by building bunkers. I remember to have started to dig a deep
hole in our garden around 1964 or 1965. My parents had returned to Europe and I planned to build a
survival shelter.
Those days I also concentrated on electronics. I remember I did build a crystal radio and started to
design transmitters to communicate with remote locations. I remember I chose to concentrate on
electronics for my study at the Technical University.
The antenna wire, right, has a clip to attach to metal objects such as a bedspring, which serve as an
additional antenna to improve reception. Uncle Hubert helped me to build a long wired antenna in
our garden.
Those days I remember to have identified the hum as the frequency of the „50/60 Hz-Heartbeat-
Generator“. My long-wired electrical designs were characterized by the mains hum, which could be
detected in all buildings and even in the gardens 3. I identified this electromagnetic and sound wave
or electrical noise as the mains-heartbeat, which could be detected in remote areas such as the most
remote center of the Lüneburg Heath (German: Lüneburger Heide).
The collapse of the developing blackouts may be detected by early disturbance in the mains-
heartbeat. The mains frequency is allowed to deviate form the standard value. As soon as the
frequency exceeds defined limits the central central command systems will switch of the overloaded
sections. In fact the deviations may also describe an “electrical” median historical pattern of all
human activities:
Electrical network frequency (ENF) analysis is a forensic technique for validating audio
recordings by comparing frequency changes in background mains hum in the recording with
long-term high-precision historical records of mains frequency changes from a database. The
distinctive electrical hums have been used to provide forensic verification of audio
recordings, a process fully automated in the United Kingdom.[9] 4.

2 October 16, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis - John F. Kennedy ...

3 The fundamental frequency of this sound is usually double that of fundamental 50/60 Hz, i.e. 100/120 Hz,
depending on the local power-line frequency.
4 Electrical network frequency analysis
The State of Art

The portable solar generator PowerOak 1500Wh

My first experiments concentrated on a portable solar generator PowerOak 1500Wh / 1000W, in
which the AC-frequency was based on a 50 Hz, respectively 60 Hz clock oscillator. The system
allows inputs in the range 16-60V DC. The Lithium battery is limited to 1500W. In a fully charged
state the battery remains fully loaded for months, but for protection of the cells the battery needs to
be recharged at regular intervals.
This system did not use external frequency standard and cannot be connected to the mains network. 5
The internal clock module may be used as a reference frequency (50 Hz, resp.60 Hz) in my
experiments.
The basic circuit is sketched as follows:

Fig. 1 Basic schematic for the AC-section of the portable solar generator PowerOak
1500Wh

5 PowerOak 1500Wh / 1000W Tragbare Stromversorgung Solargenerator Notstromstation 2 * 230V AC,1 DC-Port
(12V-9A),1 PD 45W und 4 USB Anschlüsse für Reise Camping Emergency Lithium Batterie PowerOak 1500Wh /
1000W Tragbare Stromversorgung Solargenerator Notstromstation 2 * 230V AC,1 DC-Port (12V-9A),1 PD 45W
und 4 USB Anschlüsse für Reise Camping Emergency Lithium Batterie
The Micro Grid Tie Inverter
The Micro Grid Tie Inverters6 are directly connected to the mains grid. The 50Hz frequency is
automatically synchronized from the mains network.
This synchronization allows the direct transfer of the solar-electric power to the mains network.

Fig. 2 Basic schematic for the Micro Grid Tie Inverters (Hoymiles HM-600 Solar
Mikro-Wechselrichter and the Nimomo 600W Solar Grid Tie Inverter )

Unfortunately this concept immediately collapses as soon as the synchronization is lost at the
outbreak of the blackout. In a network with lots of solar power stations the blackout may even be
accelerated if the frequency tolerances in the inverters are more restricted than the mains-heartbeat
of the network itself.
The Hoymiles HM-600 Solar Mikro-Wechselrichter für 2 PV Module bis 760Wp may be connected
to the German mains network. The approval for the Nimomo 600W Solar Grid Tie Inverter seems to
be missing.

6 Nimomo 600W Solar Grid Tie Inverter Micro Grid Tie Inverter Hohe Umwandlungsrate MPPT Reine Sinuswelle
IP55 Wasserdichter 230V Solar Micro Inverter and Hoymiles HM-600 Solar Mikro-Wechselrichter für 2 PV
Module bis 760Wp
Planned concept for a Grid Tie Inverter with a Remote Synchronization
The problematic behavior of the Micro Grid Tie Inverters seems to complicate the blackouts, which
may occur in the European grid system.
Most inverters cannot be removed from the mains network to be plugged in a island network (a
private network with an non-synchronized or remotely synchronized frequency).
The basic concept for the Micro Grid Tie Inverters with a separated synchronization with an
external 50 Hz (or 60 Hz) oscillator may be built by inserting two resistors R1 and R2 between the
oscillator and the inverter. These resistors R1 and R2 allow the transfer of the synchronization, but
may restrict the power transfer from the inverter to the “oscillator”, which is limited to 10 mA or
circa 1 Watt. The synchronization may need a few seconds, in which the load should be switched
off.
The oscillator as the source for the 50 Hz signal may be inserted from several sources:
1. a portable solar generator such as the PowerOak 1500Wh,
2. a portable or Stationary Fuel Cell Power Station, which may be needed for one of your
neighbors' central heating system,
3. a universal sinus generator in the range of 10-100 Hz and the amplitude in the range of 110-
220V.
4. a self-made 50Hz – oscillator circuit, which may be powered from your own inverter. The
self-made 50 Hz – oscillator with a sinus-form may be composed from 10 components. This
is one of the experiments, which I planned for the next month, or
5. a self-made 50Hz – oscillator circuit, which may be controlled by a signal receiver, which is
tuned to a hum-signal from a remote hum-antenna. In the case of blackouts periods this
50Hz signal could also be received from a large radio-transmitter.

Fig. 3: Basic concept for the Micro Grid Tie Inverters with a separated or external synchronization
The Priorities in Synchronizing the mains' frequency
Up to today the stability of modern mains systems may have motivated the engineering developers
to assume the blackouts as impossible events. Up to today this “blackout”-condition is an
exceptional experience, which in the wintertime may transfer to a weekly event.
The optimal priorities in synchronizing the mains' frequency may be ordered as follows:
1. Synchronize with the physical standard mains frequency at your standard electrical socket,
outlet,
2. otherwise synchronize with a remote mains frequency, which is available from an antenna
detector, an auxiliary or emergency power system or neighboring generator equipment (such
as a portable solar generator)7,
3. otherwise synchronize with a clock oscillator which is set to the value of the standardized
local mains frequency (50 Hz, resp. 60 Hz).
In Germany the electrical providers issued legal conditions, which do not allow to switch the power
output of your private solar power system from the public mains network to a private network. The
providers restrict us to use the limited power of the charged batteries.
Without a charged battery a blackout will immediately disable the solar power, which could be used
as an emergency power station for elementary functions (such as a oxygen pump, a refrigerator and
all sorts of remote communication, including radio and television).

7 PowerOak 1500Wh / 1000W Tragbare Stromversorgung Solargenerator Notstromstation 2 * 230V AC,1 DC-Port
(12V-9A),1 PD 45W und 4 USB Anschlüsse für Reise Camping Emergency Lithium Batterie
Conclusion
Professional electrical engineers are warning, that we may experience an extended continental
European blackout, which may be caused by an overload and/or a lack of energy in the mains
network. The overload may be caused by a lack of natural gas and an excessively growing number
of electrical heater systems.
In blackouts most tiny inverters (in balcony solar modules) may collapse before, in or after the
grid's collapse. In the extended period of the blackout most intact inverters cannot be used as an
emergency substitute for the broken down electrical grid.
Most powerful inverters cannot be removed from the mains network to be plugged in a island
network (a private network with an non-synchronized or remotely synchronized frequency).
At least a few self-made solutions may help to modify the tiny inverter circuits by the insertion of a
few components.
Basically the Micro Grid Tie Inverters will need to be unplugged to insert a module with a couple of
components to feed the solar energy in a private power network. In emergencies this electrical
energy may be sufficient to power an oxygen pump, a refrigerator, a water pump or a lamp in a
dark cellar or underground corridor.
The oscillator frequency for the tiny inverters may be synchronized by several sources like a
portable solar generator, a portable Fuel Cell Power Station, a universal sinus generator in the range
of 10-100 Hz, a hum-signal from a remote hum-antenna or a self-made 50Hz – oscillator circuit.
I hope we will never need these modules, but I guess we are going to need these emergency kits.
Have a fine autumn and good luck in the coming wintertime!
Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................2
The State of Art....................................................................................................................................3
The portable solar generator PowerOak 1500Wh............................................................................3
The Micro Grid Tie Inverter............................................................................................................4
Planned concept for a Grid Tie Inverter with a Remote Synchronization.......................................5
The Priorities in Synchronizing the mains' frequency..........................................................................6
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................7