I hope you’ve been enjoying my posts lately. I thought I might do something different today and rustle up a few bits of info from around the WWW. These are some of the news items and blog posts that have been popular over the last few weeks. Leave me your thoughts.
GLOBE@TAMK: Corky the Kinetic Mouse – no batteries required
Corky the Kinetic Mouse – no batteries required. Now the last product that I blogged about could actually be brought there and then. But this you can’t. Not right now anyway. But I really, really hope I can get one soon! …
i have question…when i want to charge my batteries do i need to charge them one by one …..?? i have 1 yellow top 34/78 up front and 3 deaks in back….can i hook up.
Stanford develops safer lithium-sulfur batteries with four times …
Longer battery life is high atop our list of gadget prayers , and the brainiacs at Stanford are one step closer to making our dreams come true with a new lithium-sulfur technology. Half of this trick lies in the silicon nanowire anode …
Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.
Have a great day!
Banks, hospitals, data centers, commercial buildings and even grocery stores all depend on reliable power for their operation. When utility power fails, commercial standby power generators provide backup power to many types of essential enterprises. The interface to the brain of the emergency generator is the generator control panel which provides options for the mode of the generator. Electronics inside the generator control automatically start the genset whenever power fails. Once the generator has reached operating RPM and the generator control unit deems the genset is “ready to load,” the automatic transfer switch disconnects the building’s load from the utility power grid and connects generator power to the building. Most generator installations include a remote annunciator panel that displays the status of the generator and generator switch. In some cases, such as hospitals and other public facilities the NFPA and fire code mandate the use of a remote annunciator panel visible to a staffed location inside the building. Because power is critical to many operations, generator maintenance and continuous real-time status and alarm information from the generator is a necessity. Facilities managers directly benefit from remote monitoring of standby generators with improved reliability, reduced generator maintenance costs and fewer issues with backup power.
Commercial standby generators vary in size, but generally, large enterprise backup power generators range from 100 kW to 2MW, with 200 kW to 500 kW being the most common. Larger backup power requirements are met by generator paralleling. With a paralleled power generation system, multiple generators are synchronized at the generator control. They and wired together (in parallel) so their power output can be multiplied. It only takes two generators to create a paralleled system, but systems with up to eight generators are common for large data centers. The genset controls are tied together with a generator network control. These systems are complex and continuous status monitoring by facility maintenance personnel is essential to reliable operation.
Although most of these larger gesnets are Diesel generators, natural gas is used at some installations. Natural gas does not provide as much energy from combustion as Diesel, therefore the same size engine operating on natural gas will not be able to provide as much power output as the Diesel variant.
Preventative maintenance for gensets is another important reliability and longevity boosting practice for generators. Most local generator service companies offer preventative maintenance agreements, or PMAs for generator maintenance. These agreements are tailored to each generator application and involve scheduling oil changes based on generator run time and the time between oil and filter changes. Other maintenance, such as Diesel fuel treatment, emissions testing, load testing and scheduled engine maintenance are often included. Centralized monitoring of service intervals with automatic reminders, based on both run time and calendar date, are important components of a good generator monitoring system. Savvy generator owners often request that their generator service company incorporate generator monitoring service into their preventative maintenance agreements.
Due to the size of the engines used in typical commercial backup gensets, a large generator battery is required. In fact, most of the larger gensets require multiple banks of generator batteries to start the genset. If the batteries are not in top form, the generator will fail to start. This happens more frequently than some facility managers would like to admit. Continuous monitoring of the generator batteries is essential for reliable starting of the genset when it is needed. This degree of monitoring goes beyond simple voltage monitoring. Ideally the monitoring of the batteries should be done continuously, but specifically while the generator is starting, so a determination can be made by an intelligent remote monitoring unit of battery strength. Generator maintenance personnel should be notified at the first sign of weakness during engine cranking so the batteries can be replaced if needed. It’s amazing that typical backup generator systems costing hundreds of thousands of dollars fail to meet the needs of their owners simply because batteries are not properly maintained, but this is common failure point in emergency power systems. Monitoring battery status 24×7 is essential to reliable standby power availability that is ready for utilization at any given moment.
Maintaining warm engine coolant and oil temperature on standby generators, while the engine is off, is also essential for their reliable fast loading in emergency situations. Most standby generators have a block heater, powered from utility line power. This block heater keeps the entire engine block, including coolant and oil, at an elevated temperature so the engine can be utilized at full rated load within seconds after starting. If the block heater fails, the engine will endure much greater mechanical wear during startup, causing more costly overhauls, and even worse, there is an increased chance the generator won’t start fast enough to meet the needs of the emergency power load. A generator monitoring system immediately notifies generator operators about these overvrank or “fail to start” conditions. In most generator installations a low coolant temperature alarm is displayed on the annunciator panel and notifies generator operators when the block heater has failed and no longer maintains the engine block at elevated temperature. This is another important status signal that a real time, continuous generator monitoring system keeps tabs on, and immediately notifies generator maintenance personnel of the issue.
The use of standby generator monitoring adds more life to power generation equipment and reduces maintenance costs. A complete standby generator installation is a complex system, both in terms of mechanical and electrical components. Common preventable, or easily corrected, problems include low fuel level, dead or weak batteries, block heater failure, leaving the generator in manual start or “not in auto” mode. All of these conditions can be continuously monitored. If any of them occur, alarm generator maintenance personnel immediately are alerted so problems can be addressed before the generator needs to provide backup power.
With so many preventable and easily resolved issues that impact standby generator reliability, it makes sense for genset owners to use a good generator monitoring system. FleetZOOM provides a complete generator monitoring solution that offers continuous real time monitoring and instant notifications at the first hint of a problem with your genset. For more information about the generator monitoring system you can visit http://www.FleetZOOM.com/Generator.aspx and learn the features provided to meet the needs of remote generator monitoring.
About The Author
Frank Smith is author of this article on Standby Generator Monitoring.
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