Generator

The Faraday disk was the first electric generator. The horseshoe-shaped magnet created a magnetic field through the disk. When the disk was turned, this induced an electric current radially outward from the center toward the rim. The current flowed out through the sliding spring contact, through the external circuit, and back into the center of the disk through the axle.

Generators are devices that create or convert one type of energy into another. For instance, an electric generator transforms mechanical energy into electric power for use in an external circuit.

Electric generator

The main consideration before building an electric generator is determining the characteristics of the device to be powered. Loads can be classified as inductive or resistive, requiring alternating or direct current, how many volts, amps and frequency are required, the number of phases, and the load sensitivity to voltage fluctuations or electrical noise.

The second consideration is what energy source will be powering the generator. Thermodynamic laws state that the energy invested by spinning the generator will always be higher than the generator electrical output, so realistic expectations must be set regarding the size of the loads that could be powered. For example, a crank driven generator (10 watts) will usually be only enough to power a small FM radio or charge a cellphone during a time span directly limited by the physical endurance of the human cranking the generator. Powering bigger loads like a computer or refrigerator (100-1000 watts) would require an internal combustion engine.

Materials needed for an Electric Generator

On a survival / civilization rebuilding context, constructing the generator from scratch is unrealistic due the need of machine shop tools. More viable approaches are repairing an existing generator, or repurposing en electric motor to work as a generator.

Generator repair

The main parts of a generator include an internal combustion engine, the generator itself, and control circuitry. In order to produce power these three components need to be working as a whole.

Internal combustion engines do require fuel,oil, air, and ignition by an electrical spark. Old gasoline will corrode and clog the internal parts of the generator. Air filter may have dirty caused by durst and vegetation. Clean as required. Spark plug may be dirty or disconnected preventing the spark

The generator and its control circuitry does not usually contain user serviceable parts during a survival scenario.

See Gasoline Engine

See Full Wave Rectification

Repurposing an electric motor as a generator

The principle of electromagnetic induction allows an electric motor to convert electrical power into rotational movement. This principle also works backwards, some electric motors will produce an electrical current on their terminals when the shaft is spun by an external force. The amount of power generated by the motor will be correlated to the rotational speed, and increasing the load will subsequently make the electric motor harder to turn.

Rectification and voltage regulation

The electric current produced by the repurposed motor may not be adequate for immediate use. The first consideration is getting a way to measure the generator power output, to prevent the destruction of the equipment connected to the generator. On this regard adding a method to regulate the speed of the generator, which in turn will govern the voltage and frequency of the generated power.

Dependencies

• Electricity
• Generator
• Energy
• Fuel

See also

• Combined cycle plant
• Fuel
• Heat

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Generator, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Electric_generator, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).

External links

• Can You Magnetize Iron Just By Tapping It? - The Action Lab, 30 January 2022, YouTube
• Dr. STONE Generator - Sammzor, 7 January 2021, YouTube