Inverter - Simple

Simple inverters use a single fixed conversion efficiency value.

General

Name

The name of the inverter entered here must also be unique across all other inverters in the model.

Category

Select the type of inverter from the options below:

 

Availability schedule

The schedule that describes when the inverter is available. If the inverter is scheduled to not be available, by scheduling a value of 0, then it cannot produce AC power and will not consume ancillary power during standby. Any non-zero schedule value means the inverter is available to produce AC power and consume ancillary power during standby. If the Inverter is scheduled to be unavailable but it is being supplied with DC power anyway, then the energy is dissipated as heat.

Simple

Inverter efficiency

This field contains the value for inverter efficiency. In the simple model, efficiency is a constant. This is the so-called 1-term model. Input data for different types of inverters is available at:

 

https://www.gosolarcalifornia.org/equipment/inverter_tests/summaries/

 

The “CEC Efficiency” would be the value to enter here.

Heat Gains to Zone

Attach to a zone

If the inverter’s losses are to be modelled as heat gains to a zone in the building thermal model then check this option. Otherwise inverter losses are considered to be lost to outside.

Zone

When including inverter losses and heat gains to a zone select the building zone where the inverter is located.

Radiative fraction

This field contains the fraction of inverter thermal losses that enter the zone as long-wave thermal radiation. This should be a factor between 0.0 and 1.0. The balance of the losses is convective. This data is only required when including inverter losses and gains to a zone.