Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson , B.Bus.
Editor
Greg Swain , B.Sc.(Hons.)
PUBLISHER'S LE'I*l'ER
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John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
Robert Flynn
Darren Yates, B.Sc.
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Garry Cratt, VK2YBX
Marque Crozman
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Jim Lawler, MTETIA
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Jim Yalden, VK2YGY
Bob Young
Photography
Stuart Bryce
Editorial Advisory Panel
Philip Watson, MIREE, VK2ZPW
Norman Marks
Steve Payor, B.Sc., B.E.
SILICON CHIP is published 12 times
a year by Silicon Chip Publications
Ply Ltd . A.C .N. 003 205 490 . All
material copyright © . No part of this
publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher.
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in Australia. For overseas rates , see
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disclaims any liability for the infringement of such patents by the manufacturing or selling of any such
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ISSN 1030-2662
2
SILICON CHIP
Solar power will come into its own
This month we are proud to present the first article in a series on building
a 2 kilow:att sinewave inverter. We think it will be very popular with users
of recreational vehicles, boats and those on farms and remote locations far
from any mains supply. It has been a marathon effort to produce and is
rivalled only by the 16 channel audio mixer we published during 1990 in
the amount of time and resources we have had to devote to its development.
The ZkW sinewave inverter comes at a time when there is increasing
interest in solar power and renewable energy sources and, in fact, the article
on the Sanyo solar-powered plane in this issue emphasises the advances
that are being made with solar cells. The concept of a solar-powered plane
is really intriguing and just shows what can be done in applying presently
available technology.
In fact , while it would be a fairly costly exercise in terms of the required
solar panels and battery storage, it is now quite practical to have a continuous 50Hz 240VAC sinewave supply on farms and other remote locations.
When you consider that it can cost $1000 a pole for mains supply to be
brought to a remote property, then providing your own power becomes
quite an attractive proposition.
Furthermore, it would not surprise us if some city dwellers decided to
take the plunge and provide their own AC supply and thus be completely
independent of mains supplies. While it may not be strictly practical at the
moment, we think that many people would like the idea of running their
own power supply and being super careful about their energy use. In doing
so , they would be minimising their contribution to greenhouse gases.
Such a project could be done in stages, by first acquiring a few solar
panels, a modest number of batteries and a sinewave inverter to provide at
least part of the energy demand. This would have the benefit of providing
power during blackouts and could be gradually extended to ultimately
provide the full load.
Nor would you necessarily need to rely on solar panels in such a project.
Many locations in Australia have good potential for wind generators and
they don't have to be very big to pump out quite a lot of energy in a 24-hour
period. Remember, when the sun is not shining, the wind is often blowing.
Leo Simpson
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