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Product Briefing Outline: SMP Sintermetalle Prometheus (SMP) now offers chokes for power inverters in photovoltaic plants. According to the company these inductive components feature low losses, very low stray fields and a highly compact design, and offer energy efficiency advantages for power inverters that are based on these chokes. SMP uses core materials made of powder composites that are purpose-designed for every individual application.

Problem: Power inverters in photovoltaic plants convert the direct current originating from the solar cells into alternating current. It is desirable that a plant yields a maximum of energy at low cost from the sun’s radiation on the connected photovoltaic modules. The direct current from the modules must be converted into a sinusoidal waveform and be converted into the values required by the grid. So-called filters consisting of capacitors and filter chokes ensure that the current being fed into the grid exhibits a sinusoidal waveform.

Solution: SMP has designed high-performance, low loss chokes which meet the constantly increasing requirements of solar technology. The materials used have low magnetostriction and exceptionally low eddy current and hysteresis losses. This means that the inverters in which they are used are highly efficient, so that a larger proportion of the generated power can be fed back into the grid, resulting in a faster return of investments. This is because the cost-effectiveness of a photovoltaic plant is directly related to the inverter’s efficiency. SMP chokes generate low-intensity stray fields through an encapsulated design. This offers the advantage that other components can be placed in close vicinity to the chokes without the risk of any magnetic interaction. Compact choke design is another important aspect. In comparison to conventional designs, SMP chokes are claimed to occupy 25% less volume. Moreover, SMP chokes operate quietly, which allows their use in residential areas.

Applications: Power inverters in photovoltaic plants

Platform: SMP manufactures all components to customer specifications using in-house developed powder composites. All products are RoHS and REACH-compliant and the materials used are UL-listed. To allow for a wide range of requirements, components can be made to all common standards.

Availability: April 2009 onwards.