Difference Between Ferrite Core and Iron Core Inverters

ferrite core and iron core inverter. Inverter types based on the core used to make it. Nowadays, many countries have a shortage of electricity. People use batteries to store energy when electricity is available. They use stored energy during load shedding. Batteries store energy in DC form. To utilize the stored energy for AC appliances, we need to convert DC source energy into alternating voltage form energy. Inverters have many applications like UPS, Solar inverters, HVDC transmission, and many others. Inverters are used for solar systems to convert the DC voltage of solar panels into AC voltage. Inverters were also used in old variable frequency drivers for induction motors.

Types of inverters

According to the use of transformers in inverters, there are two types of inverters

• Iron core inverters
• Ferrite core (chopper) inverter

Differences Between Ferrite and Iron Core Inverters

Iron core inverters use low-frequency transformers to convert low AC voltage into high AC voltage. These transformers are widely used in older inverters. But the efficiency of these inverters is not very high. Iron core inverters are bulky, large in size, and have high harmonic distortion and noise. Iron core inverters are also not suitable for solar inverters because they defeat the purpose of making the system efficient and extracting maximum energy from solar panels due to their low efficiency.
Ferrite core inverters use high frequency choppers to convert low voltage DC to high voltage DC, unlike iron core inverters which convert low voltage AC into high voltage AC. There are different kinds of choppers available in the market, according to shape and power handling capabilities. They operate at higher frequencies with a range that varies from a few KHz to hundreds of MHz. The higher the operating frequency of the chopper, the higher its power handling capability (ferrite core transformer) will be. However, there is a limitation in the frequency range because higher frequencies can cause skin effect issues in the windings of ferrite core transformers. For more information related to frequency and winding selection for ferrite core transformers, I recommend you to read “Practical Switching Power Supply Design” by Marty Brown. In the next few tutorials, the difference between low and high frequency transformers used in both types of inverters will become clearer to you. Ferrite core inverters have the following advantages over iron core inverters:

Ferrite core inverters use high frequency choppers to convert low voltage DC to high voltage DC, unlike iron core inverters which convert low voltage AC into high voltage AC. There are different kinds of choppers available in the market, according to shape and power handling capabilities. They operate at higher frequencies with a range that varies from a few KHz to hundreds of MHz. The higher the operating frequency of the chopper, the higher its power handling capability (ferrite core transformer) will be. However, there is a limitation in the frequency range because higher frequencies can cause skin effect issues in the windings of ferrite core transformers. For more information related to frequency and winding selection for ferrite core transformers, I recommend you to read “Practical Switching Power Supply Design” by Marty Brown. In the next few tutorials, the difference between low and high frequency transformers used in both types of inverters will become clearer to you. Ferrite core inverters have the following advantages over iron core inverters:

• High efficiency
• Small in size
• Low in weight
• Low cost
• Heat generation is also less.

Please note that this is a simplified summary and there may be additional factors to consider for each type of transformer.

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