CHAPTER THREE

3.1 MATERIALS

The materials used in the project are as follows:

- Stripboard

- Soldering iron

- Solder

- Resistors[1k,10k, 22k, 470ohms,]

- Relays

- capacitors

- Diodes

- Zener diodes

- Variable resistors

- Transistors

- UC3525A

- Transformer

- MOSFET

(a) Stripboard:
Stripboard is one of the commonly-used types of prototyping board. These boards are intended

for permanently assembling one-off circuits, especially prototypes. The board is made from

insulating material, usually a resin-bonded plastic or fibreglass. It is the components used for

assembling other electronic components.

(b) Soldering iron:

A soldering iron is a hand tool used to heat solder, usually from an electrical supply at high

temperatures above the melting point of the metal alloy. This allows for the solder to flow

between the workpieces needing to be joined.

(c) Solder:

Solder is a metal alloy usually made of tin and lead which is melted using a hot iron. The iron is

heated to temperatures above 600 degrees fahrenheit which then cools to create a strong

electrical bond.

(d) Resistors:
Resistors restrict the flow of electric current. They may be connected either way round (parallel

or series). They are not damaged by heat when soldering. Electrical energy is converted to heat

when current flows through a resistor. Usually the effect is negligible, but if the resistance is

low (or the voltage across the resistor high) a large current may pass making the resistor

become noticeably warm.

(e) Relays:

Relays are electric switches that use electromagnetism to convert small electrical stimuli into

larger currents. These conversions occur when electrical inputs activate electromagnets to

either form or break existing circuits.

Relays differ in their size, capacity, and corresponding uses. However, although they may differ

in these respects, all relays function in essentially the same way: one circuit is used to power

another. The specific manner in which this occurs depends on whether the relay is normally

open (NO) or normally closed (NC).

Normally Open Relays

Most relays are normally open; that is, the second, larger circuit is in the off position by default.

In a normally open relay, power flows through an input circuit, activating an electromagnet.
This generates a magnetic field that attracts a contact to join with the second, larger circuit,

allowing current to flow through. When the source of power is removed, a spring draws the

contact away from the second circuit, stopping the flow of electricity and turning off the end

device.

Normally Closed Relays

The fundamentals of an NC relay are the same as an NO relay: there are two circuits, with the

second being larger, and an electromagnet moves a physical contact between two positions.

But in the case of an NC relay, the default states are reversed. When the first circuit is activated,

the electromagnet draws the contact away from the second circuit. As such, NC relays keep the

larger circuit in the on position by default.

(f) Capacitors:

Capacitors store electric charge. They are used with resistors in timing circuits because it takes

time for a capacitor to fill with charge. They are used to smooth varying DC supplies by acting as

a reservoir of charge. They are also used in filter circuits because capacitors easily pass AC

(changing) signals but they block DC (constant) signals.

They are also used to minimize the effects of voltage variations as the load changes and

provides a low-impedance path for ripple currents generated by power switching circuits.

(g) Diodes:
Diodes allow electricity to flow in only one direction. The arrow of the circuit symbol shows the

direction in which the current can flow. Diodes are the electrical version of a valve and early

diodes were actually called valves. The diode conducts in one direction only when it is forward

biased. The diode is used mainly for conversion of AC voltage into DC voltage. The process of

conversion of AC voltage into DC voltage is known as rectification. The diode is used as a

rectifier.

(h) Zener diodes:

A Zener diode is a special type of diode designed to reliably allow current to flow "backwards"

when a certain set reverse voltage, known as the Zener voltage, is reached.

Zener diodes gives constant reference and it clip and clamp the voltage waveform with an

opamp.

(i) Transistors

Transistors amplify current, for example they can be used to amplify the small output current

from a logic IC so that it can operate a lamp, relay or other high current device. In many circuits

a resistor is used to convert the changing current to a changing voltage, so the transistor is

being used to amplify voltage.

A transistor may be used as a switch (either fully on with maximum current, or fully off with no

current) and as an amplifier (always partly on). The amount of current amplification is called the

current gain, symbol hfe.

There are two types of standard transistors, NPN and PNP, with different circuit symbols. The

letters refer to the layers of semiconductor material used to make the transistor. Most

transistors used today are NPN because this is the easiest type to make from silicon. If one are

new to electronics it is best to start by learning how to use NPN transistors.

(j) Variable resistors:

A variable resistor is a type of resistor whose electrical resistance value can be adjusted on

demand. It is applied in an electronic circuit for adjusting circuit resistance to control voltage or

current of that circuit or part of that circuit. The electrical resistance is varied by sliding a wiper

contact along a resistance track.

(k) UC3525A:

UC3525A is a monolithic integrated circuit that Included all of the control circuit necessary for a

pulse width modulating regulator. There are a voltage reference, an error amplifier, a pulse

width modulator, an oscillator, under voltage lockout, soft start circuit, and output drivers in

the chip.

(l) Transformer:

A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through

inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or

primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying

magnetic field through the secondary winding. This varying magnetic field induces a varying

electromotive force (EMF), or "voltage", in the secondary winding. This effect is called mutual
induction. If a load is connected to the secondary, an electric current will flow in the secondary

winding and electrical energy will be transferred from the primary circuit through the

transformer to the load. In an ideal transformer, the induced voltage in the secondary winding

(Vs) is in proportion to the primary voltage (Vp), and is given by the ratio of the number of turns

in the secondary (Ns) to the number of turns in the primary (Np) as follows:

By appropriate selection of the ratio of turns, a transformer thus allows an alternating current

(AC) voltage to be "stepped up" by making Ns greater than Np, or "stepped down" by making

Ns less than Np.

(j) MOSFET:

The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor or metal–oxide–silicon transistor are

used for the switching operation, current amplification in an Inverter. These MOSFETs or are

connected to the primary winding of the inverter transformer. When these switching devices

receive the MOS drive signal from the driver circuit,they start switching between "on" and "off"

states.

3.2 METHOD
The method used in this project is categorized into the following stages

1- Designing the circuit diagram: this is done using an application (Proteus 8 documentation) of

a computer. Below is the circuit diagram

2- Arrangement of the electronic components in the stripboard and soldering: As in the above

diagram, the components are arranged and soldered in the stripboard.

The circuit consist of three stages namely;

(i) the oscillator unit which consist of the resistors variable resistors, capacitors

(ii) Feedback unit comprises of the diodes connected in series, the variable resistor which serve

as the frequency in the circuit, the resistor which serves as intermediary between the oscillator

unit and the feedback unit.

(iii) Low battery unit: The components here consists of resistors of 470 ohms, 10k, 1k and 10k

variable resistor. Zener diodes 1N4732A and1N4740A. The zener diode activates the saturation
point for the transistor which Bias the diode that enable the capacitor to charge up which

determine the low battery shunt down.

3- Transformer Design:

The equation below is used in calculating the voltage per turns.

k = core area × 4.44 × f × 0.000001 × V/ turn

Core area is the area of core in mm², f is the frequency in Hz = 50Hz.

Number of Turns for the Primary and Secondary Windings is given by;

Np is the number of turns at the primary side, Ns is the number of turns at the secondary side,

Vp is the primary voltage and Vs is the secondary voltage

4- Driver stage design/MOSFET Calculation:

This comprises of 10k and 47 Ω resistor of 6 piece, MOSFET transistors of N-type (IRFP260N),

heat zinc, and a mica paper being used as an insulating paper. The MOSFET used is the IRF 260

in the power switching circuit due to high switching speed. The number of MOSFETs

appropriate for 1500VA is calculated using the equations;

P=IV
The MOSFETs is arranged in two channels which at each channels comprises of 4 MOSFET in

total with a 10k resistor is been twined between the gate and source of the each MOSFET.

5- Packaging:

Packaging of the constructed project was done to achieve a good looking and presentable

device. During the packaging, some factors were considered; these include:

The durability of the material to be used in the packaging, materials like wood, plastic or metal

could be used but for this project work, metal sheet was used; this is to ensure easy dissipation

of heat to the environment.

Again, caution was taken to avoid short-circuiting of any part of the design. The portability of

the package was taken into consideration to limit the space it will occupy as well as to ease the

burden associated with the movement of the device.

The ventilation of the package was also considered; this is to help in temperature control of the

device since most of the components in the construction are heat generating components. The

figure below, shows a picture of the neatly packaged 5kVA Inverter design.