Load balancing in Parallel generators

[raja723578]

Hi guys,

Can someone plz tell me how to do load balancing using parallel generators with an avr micro-controller?

What should be the approach for load balancing?
What would be the basic idea to achieve load balancing?

Thankyou.

[skeptic2]

What is driving your generators?

[Jobrag]

By avr micro-controller do you mean a type of Automatic Voltage Regulator?

[raja723578]

skeptic 2,
sir the generators would be driven by petrol..

[skeptic2]

Are these DC generators?

[RonL]

Are these DC generators?

No disrespect intended,

I need to find out if I'm messed up about what I understand, I see so many questions and comments about "DC Generators". As I understand DC is a product of, chemical or AC rectification only. Can anyone confirm or explain, thanks.

Ron

[skeptic2]

Assuming both generators are putting out about the same voltage then the load can be determined by the current drawn from each generator. I would find a way to monitor the current from each generator and adjust the throttles of the engines driving the generators until the currents are about equal.

[raja723578]

Are these DC generators?

No they would be AC generators.

By avr micro-controller do you mean a type of Automatic Voltage Regulator?

No, not a automatic voltage regulator.

[raja723578]

But the real question is whats the criteria for selecting only
sufficient generators to carry the load demand at any given time???

[Jobrag]

Can you explain what you have a bit more, for instance do these generators run in parallel already? Do they run in island mode or are they against a grid? What kind of governor do they have? What inputs and outputs does your avr micro-controller have?

[skeptic2]

No they would be AC generators.

You might consider monitoring the current by use of current transformers with a resistor and a peak detector in the secondary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_transformer

[raja723578]

okay basically what i want to know about is that suppose:-

I have more than one generator and similarly more than load.
Now,I want my generators to switch on or off dependng upon the load.I do not want more than the required number of generators running when they are not needed naturally for economical purposes.

How should I go about to achieve that?

P.S:
I am a bachelors engineering student so excuse my not so professional approach to tackling the problem.:smile:

[skeptic2]

There are far too many details missing in order for one of us to suggest a method. For instance,

* Why do you want to switch your generators on or off depending on load? (If the load drops, each generator will supply less current. With less of a load on the generators there will be less load on the motors driving them so the motors will burn less fuel. Switching a generator off will save very little if any fuel and will cause problems matching voltage, current, frequency and phase when you turn it on.)
* How many generators are there total?
* How are you going to match the frequencies and phases of all the generators?
* What is the maximum current any one generator can supply?
* Are the generators located close together or far apart?
* How will your micro-controller communicate with all the generators?
* How will you adjust the voltages of the generators so that if one generator has a higher voltage output it doesn't overload or feed current back into the other generators?

[Jobrag]

How automated is the system that you have already? For instance do your machines auto-synch or is it done manually? Do you have any type of auto load sharing? To help we need a lot more information then you are giving.