Depending on your application, you will need additional equipment and materials to provide electricity at the required voltage and current. This equipment is referred to as the Balance of System (BOS). The major BOS components are batteries, the inverter and, if you are using one, a fossil fuel generator.
Other BOS equipment and materials include cables, switches, circuit breakers, meters and other apparatus not necessarily supplied by the manufacturer. You should have easy access to the BOS equipment to do battery maintenance, repairs and to collect data such as number of kilowatt hours generated. You may want to dedicate an area in a workshop, shed or home to house all the BOS equipment.
The following components may be used with a wind energy system to fulfill requirements for safety and specialized functions:
Battery charger. Certain generator can be used to charge lead acid batteries. If the generator does not have a battery charging output, a special battery charger is required. Some inverters can act as battery chargers.
Rectifier. A rectifier converts AC power to DC power. Rectifiers are often used for battery back ups in wind energy systems which have AC generators. The AC the generator produces has to be converted to DC power to charge the back up batteries in times of strong winds.
Disconnect switch. Disconnect switches, circuit breakers, fuses and other protective equipment as recommended by manufacturer and required by electrical code are important for the safe operation of the system. They electrically isolate the wind turbine from the batteries and the batteries from the inverter and load. They can also protect the system from damage caused by any number of things. A disconnect switch allows maintenance or system modifications to be made safely.
Monitoring equipment. Even the most basic BOS should include a method for monitoring the equipment's operation. Standard monitoring equipment usually includes a voltmeter for measuring battery voltage and depth of discharge, and an ammeter to monitor energy production or use. More sophisticated monitoring equipment includes alarm for system problems such as low or high voltage conditions.
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