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Info on Prius Inverter

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by moshe_levy, Aug 15, 2007.

  1. moshe_levy

    moshe_levy Junior Member

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    Hi All-

    Just ordered my 2008 today and was getting curious about the Prius' DC-AC inverter. My company (Nova Electric) designs and manufactures ruggdized inverters for US military applications (mostly running off of the 28 VDC from Hummer alternators) and naturally I am interested in any information that exists about the Prius' inverter. If anyone can share who makes it and what its specs are, I would appreciate it. Just for curiousity's sake, as it would be interesting to compare what my new Prius has under its hood with what I make on my production floor. Thanks.

    -MKL '08 Prius Touring Package 6 (Grey, of course)
     
    #1 moshe_levy, Aug 15, 2007
  2. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi Moshe,

    The Toyota publication "The Prius that Shook the World", has details of the inverter developement. Specifically that it was an in-house developement, using SiC, and that they developed an on-chip temperature sensor to be sure to protect the inverter in over-temp situations.

    Hobbit has some pictures on PC here that show the internals of a mechanically beat-up inverter. Do a search on Hobbit and Inverter.
     
    #2 donee, Aug 15, 2007
  3. Pinto Girl

    Pinto Girl New Member

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    The inverter thread is absolutely amazing; the innards of the inverter are a work of art.
     
    #3 Pinto Girl, Aug 15, 2007
  4. ken1784

    ken1784 SuperMID designer

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    #4 ken1784, Aug 15, 2007
  5. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    #5 FL_Prius_Driver, Aug 15, 2007
  6. FireEngineer

    FireEngineer Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(moshe_levy @ Aug 15 2007, 05:55 PM) [snapback]496452[/snapback]</div>
    Now if your company can make an inverter to run off the Prius Hybrid battery and put out 1.5-2KW of pure sine wave for emergency use, I'm in line.

    Wayne
     
    #6 FireEngineer, Aug 15, 2007
  7. moshe_levy

    moshe_levy Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Aug 15 2007, 09:14 PM) [snapback]496618[/snapback]</div>
    Wayne-

    Pardon my ignornace as a Prius newbie (only started resraching the car itself a few days ago) but what is the nominal DC voltage of the Prius' hybrid battery?

    -MKL
     
    #7 moshe_levy, Aug 16, 2007
  8. FireEngineer

    FireEngineer Active Member

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    For the '04-'08 it's 201 volts nominal.

    Wayne
     
    #8 FireEngineer, Aug 16, 2007
  9. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(moshe_levy @ Aug 16 2007, 09:21 AM) [snapback]496826[/snapback]</div>
    Moshe,

    You also need to limit the battery current to below 100 amps. Blowing the internal Prius fuse is not a good thing. You can read about one owners approach here:

    http://www.priups.com/

    Jeffd
     
    #9 jdenenberg, Aug 16, 2007
  10. moshe_levy

    moshe_levy Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jdenenberg @ Aug 16 2007, 09:35 AM) [snapback]496854[/snapback]</div>
    Very interesting. We make inverters in this range, but they are heavy industrial (120 VDC nominal for utility companies and 240 VDC nominal for steel mills, either of which can be modified for 200 VDC nominal) and likely too expensive to consider for consumer use. Here's an example of what the inverters look like http://www.novaelectric.com/dc_ac_inverter...a_invert120.php They are low frequency transformer isolated topology, so they are quite heavy and large (unlike the lower voltage high frequency inverters consumers use for say, 12 VDC or 24 VDC nominal applications). A typical 2-3 KW unit will likely hover around $5,500 for a small quantity order.

    I would imagine the average Prius owner is definitely not interested in such a thing, but it's so interesting as a Prius newbie to see all the technological adaptation that Prius owners out there are up to!

    -MKL
     
    #10 moshe_levy, Aug 16, 2007
  11. Danny Hamilton

    Danny Hamilton Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jdenenberg @ Aug 16 2007, 09:35 AM) [snapback]496854[/snapback]</div>
    I thought that fuse was between the HV battery and the 12v system. If you are drawing your power directly from the HV battery, I didn't think that fuse came into play.

    On the other hand, you probably don't want to draw as much as 100 amps continuously from the HV battery anyhow. The battery would likely heat up and it's lifespan would end up considerably shortened.
     
    #11 Danny Hamilton, Aug 16, 2007
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