Generating Insights: Best practices for re-lubricating alternator bearings
Grease is a form of lubrication that is fundamental to the operation and longevity of rolling element bearings. This form of lubrication reduces direct metallic contact between the bearing’s raceways, rolling elements and cage. It also helps to…
Generating Insights: Alternator Life - Codes & Standards
Cummins Generator Technologies products have an expectation from their customers that they are both reliable and durable: they expect it to deliver a lifetime of performance without any failure. However, it is rare for the customers to specify its…
Generating Insights: Bearing Life
One of the most important components of the alternator, is the shaft bearings Cummins Generator Technologies has a proven track record of manufacturing and supplying superior alternators for numerous applications in a variety of environments. The…
Generating Insights: UL Certification
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is an independent organisation that certifies, tests, inspects and audits for product compliance. UL is chiefly concerned with the safety aspects of products. Manufacturers submit products to UL for testing and safety…
Generating Insights: Overview of Rating Definitions for Alternators and Generator Sets
The kVA rating placed on an alternator is governed primarily by the thermal capabilities of the winding insulation system The rating on an alternator defines its capability to deliver electrical power to a connected load. This is recognised in terms…
Generating Insights: Environmental Impact
Globalisation and the advancements in transportation and logistics has enabled us to address the growing demand by setting up ad-hoc power plants using reciprocating engine driven gensets; this has also meant that gensets are being used in harsher…
Generating Insights: Insulation Classes and Life Expectancy
This article explains the meaning of thermal classes and temperature rises and provides an overview of the half-life expectancy of an insulation system. Thermal/Insulation Classes The definition of thermal classes as specified by the IEC 60085-2008…
Generating Insights: Principles of Shaft Alternators in Marine Applications
Application overview In marine applications, Shaft Electrical Machines (SEM’s) are connected to the vessels propulsion engine and are often required to operate in a multi-function role. They operate as an alternator providing the vessels primary…
Generating Insights: Bar-wound Versus Wire-wound Generators
While it is dangerous to make general characterizations about anything as complex as generator design, we describe the difference in design between bar-wound (also called form-wound) and wire-wound (also called random-wound) generators, and provide…
Generating Insights: Genuine Versus Counterfeit Alternators
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” These famous words quoted by Benjamin Franklin all those years ago were, I suspect, aimed at different things, or with different connotations. However, in…