General-Purpose Inverters Mentioning inverters in Japan, most people think of the energy saving devices fitted in air conditioners. These simple, basic devices for use in the home do not, however, fall within the scope of this article, which is instead concerned with full-fledged inverters for industrial use.
Inverters are devices that convert direct current into alternating current.
In contrast with a rectifier, which is a converter that converts alternating current to direct current, an inverter is a type of power converter that does the reverse, and it plays a central role in power electronics technology. Used as variable speed drives to meet industry's energy conservation and rationalization needs, demand for general-purpose inverters has expanded massively since the start of the 1980s due to continuous product development fully incorporating advances in power device and control technology. In 1999, demand is forecast to reach 1,950,000 units. The reason why there has been relatively little growth in terms of value in comparison with unit demand is because prices have fallen. Expansion of usage is one of the main causes of the growth in demand for general-purpose inverters.