Homemade Circuit Projects

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How to Design Your Own Inverter Transformer

Designing an inverter transformer can be a complex affair. However, using the various formulas
and by taking the help of one practical example shown here, the operations involved finally
become very easy.
The present article explains through a practical example the process of applying the various
formulas for making an inverter transformer. The various formulas required for designing a
transformer has been already discussed in one my previous articles.
Designing an Inverter Transformer with the Help of a Practical Example
An inverter is your personal power house, able to transform any high current DC source into
readily usable AC power, quite similar to the power received from your house outlets. Although
inverters are extensively available in the market today, but designing your own customized
inverter unit can make you overwhelmingly satisfied and moreover it's great fun.
At Bright Hub I have already published many inverter circuit diagram, ranging from simple to
sophisticated sine wave and modified sine wave designs. However folks keep on asking me
regarding formulas that can be easily used for designing a inverter transformer. The popular
demand inspired me to publish one such article dealing comprehensively with transformer design
calculations.
Although the explanation and the content was up to the mark, quite disappointingly many of you
just failed to grasp the procedure. This prompted me to write this article which includes one
example thoroughly illustrating how to use and apply the various steps and formulas while
designing your own transformer. Lets quickly study the following attached example:
Suppose you want to design an inverter transformer for a 120 VA inverter using a 12 Volt
automobile battery as the input and need 230 Volts as the output. Now, simply dividing 120 by
12 gives 10 Amps, this becomes the required secondary current.
Want to learn how to design basic inverter circuits?
The data in hand are:
Primary Voltage = 230 Volts,
Secondary Current (Output Current) = 10 Amps.

Secondary Voltage (Output Voltage) = 12-0-12 volts, that is equal to 24 volts.

Output Frequency = 50 Hz
First we need to find the core area CA = 1.152 24 10 = 18 sq.cm
We select CRGO as the core material.
Calculating Turns per Volt TPV = 1 / (4.44 10^-4 18 1.3 50) = 1.96
Calculating Primary Current = (24 10) / (230 0.9) = 1.15 Amps,
By matching the above current in Table A we get the approximate Primary copper wire thickness
= 21 SWG.
Therefore the Number of Turns for the primary winding is calculated as = 1.96 230 = 450
Next, Primary Winding Area becomes = 450 / 137 (from Table A) = 3.27 sq.cm.
Now, the required secondary current is 10 Amps, therefore from Table A we match an equivalent
thickness of copper wire = 12 SWG.
Calculating Secondary Number of Turns = 1.04 (1.96 24) = 49.
Calculating Secondary Winding Area = 49 / 12.8 (From Table A) = 3.8 Sq.cm.
Therefore, the Total Winding Area Comes to = (3.27 + 3.8) 1.3 (insulation area added 30%) = 9
sq.cm.
Calculating Gross Area we get = 18 / 0.9 = 20 sq.cm.
Next, the Tongue Width becomes = 20 = 4.47 cm.
Consulting Table B yet again through the above value we finalize the core type to be 6 (E/I)
approximately.
Finally the Stack is calculated as = 20 / 4.47 = 4.47 cm
Table A
SWG------- (AMP)------- Turns per Sq.cm.
10----------- 16.6---------- 8.7
11----------- 13.638------- 10.4
12----------- 10.961------- 12.8

13----------14----------15----------16----------17----------18----------19----------20----------21----------22----------23----------24----------25----------26----------27----------28----------29----------30----------31----------32----------33----------34----------35----------36----------37----------38----------39----------40----------41----------42----------43----------44----------45----------46----------47----------48-----------

8.579--------- 16.1
6.487--------- 21.5
5.254--------- 26.8
4.151--------- 35.2
3.178--------- 45.4
2.335--------- 60.8
1.622--------- 87.4
1.313--------- 106
1.0377-------- 137
0.7945-------- 176
0.5838--------- 42
0.4906--------- 286
0.4054--------- 341
0.3284--------- 415
0.2726--------- 504
0.2219--------- 609
0.1874--------- 711
0.1558--------- 881
0.1364--------- 997
0.1182--------- 1137
0.1013--------- 1308
0.0858--------- 1608
0.0715--------- 1902
0.0586---------- 2286
0.0469---------- 2800
0.0365---------- 3507
0.0274---------- 4838
0.0233---------- 5595
0.0197---------- 6543
0.0162---------- 7755
0.0131---------- 9337
0.0104--------- 11457
0.0079--------- 14392
0.0059--------- 20223
0.0041--------- 27546
0.0026--------- 39706

49----------- 0.0015--------- 62134

50----------- 0.0010--------- 81242
Table B

Type-------------------Tongue----------Winding
No.---------------------Width-------------Area
17(E/I)--------------------1.270------------1.213
12A(E/12I)---------------1.588-----------1.897
74(E/I)--------------------1.748-----------2.284
23(E/I)--------------------1.905-----------2.723
30(E/I)--------------------2.000-----------3.000
21(E/I)--------------------1.588-----------3.329
31(E/I)--------------------2.223-----------3.703
10(E/I)--------------------1.588-----------4.439
15(E/I)---------------------2.540-----------4.839
33(E/I)---------------------2.800----------5.880
1(E/I)-----------------------2.461----------6.555
14(E/I)---------------------2.540----------6.555
11(E/I)---------------------1.905---------7.259
34(U/T)--------------------1/588---------7.259
3(E/I)-----------------------3.175---------7.562
9(U/T)----------------------2.223----------7.865
9A(U/T)--------------------2.223----------7.865
11A(E/I)-------------------1.905-----------9.072
4A(E/I)---------------------3.335-----------10.284
2(E/I)-----------------------1.905-----------10.891
16(E/I)---------------------3.810-----------10.891
5(E/I)----------------------3.810-----------12.704
4AX(U/T) ----------------2.383-----------13.039
13(E/I)--------------------3.175-----------14.117
75(U/T)-------------------2.540-----------15.324
4(E/I)----------------------2.540----------15.865
7(E/I)----------------------5.080-----------18.969
6(E/I)----------------------3.810----------19.356
35A(U/T)-----------------3.810----------39.316

8(E/I)---------------------5.080----------49.803