Portable, Industrial and Commercial Diesel Generators
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine which differs from a gasoline engine in its choice of fuel and the way it works. Whereas a gasoline engine relies on a spark plug to ignite the fuel-air mixture in its combustion chamber, a diesel engine relies on high compression for the same effect. Diesel engines are more efficient, more robust, more reliable, and cheaper to operate than gasoline engines but at the cost of being heavier, dirtier, noisier, and limited to operating within a narrower power band.
Uses of Diesel Generators
These drawbacks are important in applications such as vehicle power where lightness and power ratios are important, but they are not as critical when the engine is used to power an electric generator, so the diesel generator has become a popular purchase for those looking for efficient power sources and independence from the utility electric grid. They come in all shapes and sizes, for use in environments as diverse as the home, in construction sites, mining sites, outdoor recreation facilities, archaeological digs, remote communications and surveillance facilities, farms, logging camps, shopping malls, office buildings, ships, oil platforms, airports, hospitals, and factories.
A diesel generator can be used as an independent generator in remote areas where there is no available electricity, a standby generator to furnish power when the mains go out, or to provide supplemental power in case the main supply becomes inadequate or unstable due to increased loads or equipment failure. There are commercial generators which also contribute to the electrical power supply used in power stations. For example, the UK can call on a reserve of around 2 gigawatts from reserve diesel generators to add to its electric grid when the need arises. While this is expensive, running the diesel generators in this manner is actually cheaper than cycling a large power plant and putting it into action for the limited time a peak load lasts.
Specifications of Diesel Generators
Diesel generator sets can supply anywhere from 30 watts to over 2 million watts. They can put out either single-phase or three-phase AC electrical power at 50 or 60 Hz. They can come in air-cooled or water-cooled varieties and function as portable generators, industrial generators or commercial generators. They can function using a wide variety of fuels, all of which are more energy-dense than gasoline but have trouble staying liquid at low temperatures without the use of additives. They represent a choice of generator sets with distinct characteristics like natural gas generators, gasoline generators and propane generators.
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