SMA intros new generation of Windy Boy inverters

GERMANY: SMA Solar Technology AG presents a new generation of inverters for small wind energy systems.

The Windy Boy 3600TL and 5000TL inverters are equipped with a number of tried technologies and are perfectly suited for the rapidly growing market of small wind energy systems. The transformerless inverters have a wide input voltage range, a peak efficiency of 97 percent. Additionally, they are easy to configure due to an integrated Bluetooth interface.

Tried and tested technologies
The transformerless inverters Windy Boy 3600TL and 5000TL benefit from almost 30 years of SMA development work and many sophisticated technologies on the solar market.

"We wanted the devices to be suitable for as many applications as possible along with an easy installation and the well-known high efficiency," Volker Wachenfeld, Vice President in charge of Off-Grid systems, comments the target of this new product development. The wide input voltage range from 80 to 550 Volts makes the Windy Boy 3600TL and 5000TL suitable for nearly all turbine types. Additionally, with only 25 kilograms, the transformerless inverters have a considerably low weight and are thus easy to install.

Maximum energy yield
The peak efficiency of over 97 percent and the intelligent temperature management OptiCool are features with a very favorable impact on the yield. As a result, the inverter keeps feeding full nominal power to the grid even when the ambient temperatures are not ideal.

Additional advantage: every Windy Boy can be individually configured for optimal performance according to the power characteristics of the corresponding wind turbine. "This is basically comparable with the MPP tracking of the Sunny Boy inverters which keeps the solar generator at the power maximum," Wachenfeld explains.

"In the Windy Boy inverter, the maximum power characteristics have to be adapted to the specific turbine type." The system operator thus receives the optimum yields, the polynomial characteristic curve of the Windy Boy inverter can be modified for the operation with nearly any characteristic curve of the according generator.

The mechanical stress of the turbine is additionally reduced - the load shifts smoothly even when the speed changes drastically. This has positive impact on the system life of the turbine.