[Vwdiesel] Fw: Power Generation --- ( electrical )

gary gbangs at cfl.rr.com
Wed Apr 14 20:54:25 EDT 2004


Are we talking about a lightly loaded windmill with a strong breeze?

Windmills attempt to maintain 60hz (well, here in the US) by either
changing the generator field strength, and/or blade angle. The smaller
gensets will only adjust the field, the monstrous ones will do both.

Your 63hz windmill doesn't have enough load to maintain frequency.
But that doesn't mean that it cannot be connected though.

Synchronize it with and connect to the grid. Boom! Rock steady 60 hz.
Why, because the generating capacity of the grid dictates the frequency.
Your puny (no disrespect intended) windmill does not have enough umph to
change system frequency.

Your genset controller, either manually or automatically, will attempt
to adjust its voltage and frequency. Ideally, as a small generator, you
want the 'set' voltage slightly higher than grid voltage. Reason is that
as a generator, you want amps to flow out, not in. This also reduces
"recirculating" current... VA power which does nothing, compared to
Watts, real power.

What really makes your windmill make power is the freq setting. By
setting the 'set' freq higher than grid, though freq will stay steady at
60hz, the phase angle of your generated power will lead the grid phase
angle. This makes power flow out. On the other hand, you can make your
windmill a big "fan" by setting the set freq lower than grid.

Note, when doing all of this, you need to know the Kw and amp limits of
your machine and adjust your settings accordingly.

You can run your house on DC! Of course! Why not?

You would of course need to replace ALL of your appliances with a DC
powered equivalent. Replace ALL of your outlets with the appropriate DC
version. In this day and age, I would suspect that it would be cost
prohibitive to do.  


On Wed, 2004-04-14 at 10:44, Val Christian wrote:
> Gary,
> So what happens if you generate power at 63 Hz, so that it can't
> be put on the grid.  How's about running your house on DC?

More information about the Vwdiesel mailing list