Design And Implementation Of Low-Costpower Inverter For The Application Of Rural Household Appliances

Abstract

Ethiopia is the largest and most populated country in the Horn of Africa, but majority of its places lack basic infrastructure including electrical power from the national grid even regardless of the demand by the rural community. Rural households need AC power as compared with the DC at less operating cost. Thus, the objective of the study is to design and develop a low-cost sine wave power inverter which can be used for common household appliances for poor rural households of Ethiopia. The results of the study can contribute significant ideas and knowledge to the rural people, the government, and future researchers in the area. In this study, the three-design models such as with CD4047 IC based, two transistors based, and microcontroller-based inverter were presented. Each of these designs are tested for efficiency versus cost. Among the three designs, it is found that the CD4047 IC based was the lowest cost of development followed by the two-transistor and microcontroller based one. While CD4047 and microcontroller based were more efficient as compared to two transistors-based inverter designs, the Microcontroller and CD4047 IC based designs have little difference by its performance characteristics. In conclusion, designing a low-cost inverter for house appliances in the rural households who cannot buy expensive inverter is possible. There are also several low-cost inverter designing options that are simple and convenient. However, the original materials are not available in the recent market. Thus, the concerned government or regulatory bodies or private organizations can facilitate for their availability, and accessibility of genuine materials for the benefit of the rural community.