Generators

Generator – Electricity generator (EG) is a device that generates (produces) electric current. EG consists of two parts:
- driving engine,
- driving generator.

Engine

The engines are two stroke or four stroke, but now four-stroke engines are mainly used. Different fuels are used at EG engines:
- Gasoline (petrol,
- diesel (diesel)
- Propane-butane (LPG),
- Natural gas (CNG).
Engines are started either manually or with the help of electro-starter.

Generator

Generators are divided into single-phase and three-phase. Single-phaseare used for small household appliances (lights, kettle, fridge, stove,etc.). Three-phase are used mostly for electromotors (agriculturalmachinery, etc.). The most important is the power and load to phases atgenerators. EG power should be 20% bigger than planned load (e.g. if 5kW are necessary, we buy 5.5 kW, but preferably 6kW).

In case that we have a three-phase generator, at which there is a 230Vsocket and the EG power is 6 kW, the actual power on this 230V socketis only 2kW (6kW/3phase = 2kW). If you connect a device that requires3kW it will not work, even if the overall power is 6kW. It is importantto keep a uniform load of phases to prevent damage of a generator if they are not asymmetrical.

Safety of power generators

In order the EG were safe equipment it is necessary to protect a personnel and users against electric shock. This is done in two ways:
-  by grounding
-  by residual current device (RCD).

If the safety is done by grounding there should be a point (place) onthe generator where you can put ground wire. If it is not grounded theprotection by circuit breaker might not work. If the EC is protected byRCD the generator can be operated in places where it is not possible to ground the generator (soil, etc.).