Generator Hunting 1

[eepup]

Does anyone have leads where I could find information on hunting issues with natural gas generators? In the process of gathering price quotations, I had a generator rep tell me that he would not quote a natural gas generator over 150kW due to hunting problems. I am looking to educate myself on said subject. Web links, book recommendations, or personal knowledge would be very much appreciated.

Much Thanks,
EE_Pup

 

[rmw]

Did he have a model over 150kw to offer, or was it just sour grapes because he couldn't meet your requirements with whatever he had available?

rmw

 

[rbulsara]

Try another manufacturer..

 

[ScottyUK]

Gas generators with ratings well over 1MW are in service all over the world without problems. Rbulsara has the answer and RMW has likely identified the reason. Never trust a salesman!


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One day my ship will come in.
But with my luck, I'll be at the airport!

 

[itsmoked]

Come on guys.. There is some aspect to this because the specific energy of natural gas doesn't hold a candle to petrochemicals. This means that a generator running on a gas usually doesn't respond quite as snappily as some diesel or gasoline unit. Most of this can be designed out. Hunting is not really the correct term, speed regulation would be a better description.

Our local university has a cogen system that is rated 1.5MW. They converted it to natural gas from oil they found that they could not keep the frequency constant with pure NG. They now run 10% diesel 90% NG and have no problems other than the reality of only 1MW now available.

That said, I still agree with rbulsara, ScottyUK, and rmw find another dealer.

 

[PowerfulStuff]

Hi,
My follow up question is one of terminology - when we talk about the response of generators, isn't the type of generator important? What I mean is, is it a piston engine, turbine or something else?

On the question itself, I recently visited a site with multiple Caterpillar Diesels converted to natural gas able to run any from 1 to 10 of the 1MW units with no problems.