What is power inverter ? How does an inverter work ?

What is power inverter ?

A power inverter is an electrical device that converts/changes direct current(DC) usually from batteries into alternating current (AC) to drive AC appliances such as electric lights, microwaves, power tools, TVs, kitchen appliances, radios, computers etc .
The input DC voltage, output AC voltage and frequency, and overall power handling depend on the design of the power inverter. The inverter does not create any power; the power is from the DC source.
You just connect the power inverter to a battery, and plug in your AC devices and you’ve got AC power .
There are two main categories of power inverters : pure sine wave power inverter; modified sine wave power inverter.
Power inverters are of different sizes and designs, some must be permanently mounted while some smaller ones can be portable.
The inverter draws its power from batteries (preferably 12V deep cycle ones). And some power inverters are designed with builtin battery charger to recharge the batteries . Such a power inverter may also come with a transfer switch to AC.

How does an inverter work ?

Nowadays the mainstream inverters on market is electronic inverter. They can be used to produce smoothly varying AC output just like your shore power from a DC input. They use electronic components called MOSFET, IGBT, inductors and capacitors to make the output current rise and fall more gradually.
The power modules/switching devices keep switching the DC current of the input, so they produces AC output voltage. The AC voltage is then changed to nomial voltages such as 120Vac or 230Vac by a transformer.