Possible Gernerator Project

[PHIL850]

I recently acquired a used 1800 RPM 10 kilowatt Generator (no motor) for doing a friend a favor. The Generator looks in ruff shape, but is in working order. I am looking at a few ways I might power this unit for use as a backup power supply. Ideally I would mount it on a trailer and power it with a 15 HP diesel motor, however this can be a bit costly. A less costly use would be to power it off my Tractor PTO, however this would then limit my use of the generator to our 2nd home in Vermont. Since Cost is a major factor at this time, I am leaning towards PTO power. I am looking at two options as far as PTO powering. One would use a Gearbox and lovejoy type coupling with a cost of about $400 not including drive shaft and Frame fabrication which I will be doing. The other is to go with a couple of pillow blocks, shaft, and proper sized belt driven sheaves. I am just throwing this out for ideas from the rest of you. As I know this forum is full of some great minds. See attached pictures. Oh yes, and I am not really worried about sizing as my tractor will handle the load, and 10 KW is plenty for what I would need for the house. The last picture is what I am leaning towards as the solution. It is someone elses efforts at the same task.

 

[KRB]

I have seen a lot of people use tractor supply carryalls for there frame there around 109$ in my area

 

[hr3]

Keep us posted on the build,, I have an 8k head I was thinking to do somthing like this too !!

 

[BrianinMichigan]

Well from what I have read in the past it takes about 1HP to create 500 watts of power. So it appears you will need 20hp to run the generator. Now as far as the PTO, most run at 550 RPM when the engine is around 2500 RPM give or take depending on the tractor.

 

[jmanatee2]

I have a 10kw diesel generator it is powered by a Perkins 403d-11 that is about 26HP

If you power it off the PTO keep in mind that the gear box will be about a 3 to 1 ratio. And because you are over-driving the PTO,.... To get your 20HP to the gen head wouldn't that mean you would need about 60HP at the PTO?

 

[Fi-Q]

ST genset head are very common, there is many manufacturer of these genset type in China. Lot of people are using them coupled to a old slow speed liser engine. For 10$ you can buy a CD from Utterpower.com wich have a lot of usefull info about ST head ( I think it does anyway, bought the cd and haven't look a much of its content). Anyway, just a tought !

 

[Johnp33]

There should be a band on the back section and it might be a good idea to remove that and clean the crud from the armature, and look at the brushes.
Just a thought!

 

[BertZegers]

I have a 10kw diesel generator it is powered by a Perkins 403d-11 that is about 26HP

If you power it off the PTO keep in mind that the gear box will be about a 3 to 1 ratio. And because you are over-driving the PTO,.... To get your 20HP to the gen head wouldn't that mean you would need about 60HP at the PTO?

The plate on the generator should indicate the "losses" converting mechanical to electrical power. On this one the manufacturer choose not to display the loss, so it is probably not so good.

1 HP giving 500 wats is a 70% rate. This is for a small generator.
The bigger the generator, the smaller the (magnetic losses)
I would gess that this 10HP generator has a rating about 90%

The energy needed is 100/90 times 10HP + losses in belt and bearings.

My gess is you need an input of 12 HP from the PTO ( for house and cottage use)

Please correct me if I am wrong,
Bert

 

[Redneck in training]

You can run it in example with 10HP engine but you can't loaded it too full load. 5kW from 10HP is about right. To get full power you need about 20HP.

 

[Redneck in training]

I have a 10kw diesel generator it is powered by a Perkins 403d-11 that is about 26HP

If you power it off the PTO keep in mind that the gear box will be about a 3 to 1 ratio. And because you are over-driving the PTO,.... To get your 20HP to the gen head wouldn't that mean you would need about 60HP at the PTO?

Wrong. Gear doesn't change power. It changes speed and torque. There will be 20HP minus several percent losses available at high speed shaft.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Wrong. Gear doesn't change power. It changes speed and torque. There will be 20HP minus several percent losses available at high speed shaft.

What Redneck said. It's easy to get horsepower and torque mixed up. Whether you lift ten bricks twice an hour or two bricks ten times in an hour in the end you still lifted 20 bricks. That's horsepower.

An overdriven gen head will require more torque out of the pto than out of a higher speed engine, but the horsepower will be the same.

 

[PHIL850]

I am flip flopping between using Pulleys and Belts or just buying the Gear box for $299 along with the LoveJoy style coupling ($99). If I can find the correct size pulleys at a reasonable cost I would go that way, however pricing these things out brand new, they are not cheap! I found this Website Central Georgia Generator that deals in this particular Gen and they carry all sorts of spare parts for these.

 

[zzvyb6]

If you had a lawn mower (specifically a front deck mower) you could hook up the alternator directly. All my JD front mowers (and my mid-pto on my 1070) use a 2100 rpm pto drive shaft. In fact, I run my 540 rpm pto alternator off of my JD F-935 front pto with a 3:1 reducer. With your alternator, no reduction would be necessary. The 935 is about 22 hp. The Winpower is 50 kw. Never had a problem because my house and barn don't suck more than 10 kw at a time. I use a Kill-O-Watt device to monitor frequency because the mower doesn't have a tachometer. All I need to do is unbolt the clamp on the mower gearbox input shaft and hook it to the reducer box's input.

Plenty of power for lights, water, cooking, computers, TV and washing. TV, internet and phones are over underground U-Verse system lines, so they are just about always up.

 

[Ductape]

Any progress on this ? I was looking at these gen heads on the web site. Seem very affordable, but by the time you purchase the gearbox, etc. would it be any cheaper than just buying a PTO generator?

 

[Ultara]

I did this several years ago and drove the 10k gen off the front pto on my simplicity Legacy. Just sold the tractor so I will be redesigning for the rear pto on my new gc2410. I had no problems running my 25 hp Legacy @ 2100 rpm. It took a couple try's with the pulley arrangement to get the 3600 rpm at the generator. I will do the same with the rear pto. I'm going to set it up to run @ 2k. I'll have to run a double step up pulley system. I'll post up pics of my other setup tomorrow.

 

[Ductape]

I look forward to seeing the pics of your new project too. :thumbsup:

 

[PHIL850]

The project is on hold for a bit. As I moved the Genset the other day, and my Back has not forgiven me since.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The project is on hold for a bit. As I moved the Genset the other day, and my Back has not forgiven me since.

OH, no!!

I feel for you. I hope you recover quickly.

 

[Ultara]

Took me a while to get out to the barn. This work thing keeps getting in the way.

 

[Ductape]

Would it be any simpler to front mount it on the GC and run off the mid PTO ? RPMs would be close to the simplicity, no?