WELCOME

Revised 6/20/2013

Note:  If you are looking for the companion to this - the Stand-along Alternator Regualtor, I have started placing those files in a separate Blog: ArduinoAlternatorRegulator.blogspot.com/


After using our Kubota EA300 based DC generator / water-maker for about a year (mvVikingStar.blogspot.com/search/label/Kubota DC Generator.)  I wanted to make an improvment.

The goal was very simple:  Shorten the amount of time I needed to listen to the Generator running.   See, being away from the dock for 8-9mo a year we are very dependent on our generator.  And I just did not look forward to the 'suffering' hours of the daily generator run.  I wanted a regulator which would maximize the amount of energy produced for every minute the Diesel was spinning.   I also wished to be able to generate some energy while running the Water maker and provide remote operation of the generator. 

As the project grew, it gained two additional values:  ability to fully recharge the batteries, along with remote automated start/stop.

Limitations of most 'smart' regulators prevents all of these goals - primarily because they manage only the Volts, relying on the self-limiting nature of alternators to manage the Amps. (Though some do a crude attempt to manage Amps produced.). A major design point of this project is the active monitoring of BOTH Voltage and Amperage. By doing so I will be able to meet the charging needs of the batteries while also maintaining a constant load on the Kubota EA300.


BTW:  If you are looking for a simpler design, one that keeps the key values of shortening Generator run-time and/or the able to fully recharge batteries, see the stand alone regulator on the link above.

This design is done in such a way to be applicable to other small engine control deployments.  With or Without an Alternator and/or Water maker.  Key features include:


Overall Features:

• Local Controller and operating switches with optional remote display / switches.
• Supports system voltages (Starter, throttle control, etc) of 12 or 24v.
• Support of Alternator field and battery voltages up to 48v systems.
• Alternator voltage support is independent of System Voltage - as 12v system can manage a 48v alternator.
• Driver to enable external pump, ala HP pump for watermaker, or circulation pump for co-generation deployments.
• Open Source Firmware and hardware for ultimate customization
• Easy attachment of diagnostics console for easy firmware updates as well as detailed monitoring and logging of system operation.
• Wide range of configuration available, modes of operations, checks preformed, features included.

Engine Management:

• Selectable Auto Generator Start-up (based on battery voltage)
• Auto stop after charging is completed
• Warm-up and cool-down periods w/o alternator load.
• Active throttle speed control, adjusting engine speed to match current loading.

Alternator Management:

• Fully configurable 3-stage Alternator regulation with soft ramp of initial power on.
• 'Over Charge' (or 4th stage) support for AGM batteries.
• Battery Temperature Compensation and adjustment for all charging voltages.
• Reduced total charge time by capturing wasted engine capacity during early portions of charge cycle.
• Precise measurement of battery voltage,  including  negative lead to accommodation any common ground line voltage drops.
• Alternator charging actively managed by measured battery voltage, charging current, and total load placed on driving engine.
• Adaptive alternator reduced power mode to support simultaneous driving of other loads, ala water pumps, hydraulic pumps.
• Charging rate reduced under excessive EGT, engine and/or alternator temperature conditions. 
• By actively managing Voltage and Amps, larger framed alternators turning at lower RPMS can be utilized resulting in upwards of 10% greater alternator efficiency.

Fault Detection:

• System fault monitoring:  Over temperatures (Engine, EGT, alternator, battery), voltage, amps.
• Broken sender / wire check for Oil pressure and Cooling Water Flow Senders.
• Fail safe protection:  Watchdog timer, hardware crow-bar for over-voltage
• Software self-checks for incorrect configurations, and internal operating errors.

And some likely future enhancements will include:

• Auto Start quite period holds off (with optional RTC added)
• Lifetime recording of total amps /  watts produced by alternator, hours of operation, etc.

The project is base around the Amtel ATmega328 CPU configured using the Arduino development environment.  All parameters and features are fully configurable  with a wide array of options.  Features may be disabled if not needed.   

All works are being released under the Creative Commons licensing agreement, with the only restrictions around commercial use.  I have selected the Open Source KiCAD tool for Schematic capture and PCB layout and posted those CAD files.   Links at the top of this Blog provide details of each portion of this project.  Click on the Link-to-Files area to download the schematic and well as PCB layout and parts list.

The Design Elements section goes into more details of each sub-segment.

And for an ongoing list of status / issues click here:  >>> STATUS <<<

Comments and advice are always welcome!   It is my hope this project can be the basis for others works in intelligently controlling small engine deployments and generating systems.

1st artical of revised controller finished proofing!

It has been a while for any BLOG updates, but during that time progress has been happening.  Today I finished hardware verification of the revised PCB design, including the migration to the STM32F07 CPU.  Software porting has been going smoothly, once I did the homework around the development environment  (STM CubeMX + Keil uVision). 

This coming week I am going to be revising the PCB layout ready for another round of FAB, and will post up the schematic at that time.  Firmware is still under development, but largely ported.  Mostly I need to finish the throttle control, augment thee ASCII status strings and commands to allow for configuration options around the engine, as well as work to place the controller into a low-power state when the DC generator is not operating.

One challenge will be how to have them assembled (I will NOT be hand-soldering them up for folks, though could make the PCB available for anyone who wishes to do so themselves!)  At min, really need 10x to make a viable assembly run.  There are a few folks ready interested in this, if you have an interest drop me a line and I can add you to a mailing thread we have going.

Remote:  I do have a 1st articular of the remote assembled, but have not done any work with it.  I am focusing on the controller 1st, will look at the remote later.  (Will require use of local on/off switches for now).

Design Refresh!

It has been 3 years sense I last looked at the DC Generator controller board design.  In that time we have accumulated over 1,000 hrs of run-time on our system, and 20x other systems boards have been ‘sent out’  (though I am not sure how many are actually running to be honest).  Over the years I have had a few folks inquire about the design, and if there were any more PCBs left – which I had to say no.  But this winter I want to do a design refresh – bring in the learning from the Alternator Regulator project, and specifically add a CAN connection capability.  CAN (following the OSEnergy open standard) will allow for coordination and cooperation between charging sources, simpler remote panel integration, as well as integration with more modern standards such as SignalK.  Much of the ground work has been put into place, and is being proofed out with the Gen 3 design of the Alternator Regulator.  It is time to refresh the controller its self.

So, here is a 3D rendering of the design I have drafted up:

As before it is a fully integrated engine and alternator controller, with the addition of some additional sensing ports to allow for monitoring of an optional water-maker  (Monitoring for alarm, not active control / automation of the water-maker).  It also includes the aforementioned CAN communications capability.  It does feature a different CPU, the STM32F072, a bit lower cost – but also more programming pace, so the IDE will be a little different (A future project is to see about creating a board-type to support this new CPU under the Arduino IDE).  I have the initial design completed, want to sit on it a while to do desk-reviews, but am looking to make up a prototype this fall, with perhaps a small professionally assembled run later this winter.

Will also be looking at refreshing the optional remote.

A major effort will be bring the firmware up to date.  A major change I want to make is move from include file / compile options for configuring to using the ASCII command approach as on the Alternator Regulator.

OK, this is just kind of a heads up – letting anyone who stumbled across this blog know there is still life in the DC generator project!  If any questions, and if you are perhaps interested in a controller this winter – drop me an Email and/or leave a comment below.

Hair-Pin!!!

Last year I changed out the alternator on our DC generator for a larger frame Leeve Neville alternator - and at the same time reduced the drive ratio to 1:1, which resulted in a noticeable gain in overall efficiency (See prior post).

Well, today I received a new alternator that I am interested in testing to see if additional gains can be made:

Nice and Clean!

Note the square wires, and how close the are.

 

 

It is a 220A, 138.5 (larger frame) Desno Hairpin alternator.   Configured for installation on Cummins 5.9L diesels as an option on some Dodge light trucks.

I am unable to locate RPM/output curves for this unit, though data from one of the people using my Alternator Regulator shows they have a very fast cut-in.  And I need to think about the drive belt - to keep it at the 1:1 ratio, increase it, change it to a rubbed belt..  Some more thinking to do.  But I am looking forward to a winter project and see how this baby works out!

 

Another look at DC Generator Efficiency

Or:  Why you want a variable speed generator

This fall I spent a few weeks ‘back on the farm’ helping to bring in the crops.   Along the way I had a chance to find a series of tractor tests conducted by the University of Nebraska documenting many performance measurements.  Bar pull, speed / RPM, gear ratios, etc.   Why is this interesting?   Well, one of the things they documented is actual measured fuel consumption at different engine loads and RPMs.

A common rule of thumb for diesel engines is they will produce around 15-17HP for one hour while consuming about a gallon of diesel fuel.  What is interesting from the Nebraska reports is this only holds true under full load at a given RPM.   Example, take a look at this test data:

Source:  http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tractormuseumlit/1860?utm_source=digitalcommons.unl.edu%2Ftractormuseumlit%2F1860&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages


What is interesting is at 100% load / max RPMS (115HP / 2100 RPM) the engine produced 17.4 HP*hr using 1 gallon of diesel.   However, run that same engine under 25% load and the engine is around ½ as efficient – only able to produce a bit under 9 HP*hr from that same gallon of fuel.

What does this mean?   Well, if you have a traditional fixed speed AC generator it is true it will consume less fuel under light loads – but it will be no were as efficient while doing so.  Running that 7.5Kw generator at say a 2Kw load (charging up the house batteries)  might be doing only ¼ the work, but its fuel consumption will only be reduced by ½ (not the ¼ we might hope for).

But there is an answer.   Again from the Tractor World there is a concept of GUTD, or Gear Up Throttle Down.   Meaning – if the load is light use a higher gear and pull back on the RPMs.   Just like overdrive in a car, this can help recover most of the lost efficiency vs. running those loads at the higher (fixed) RPM.   Again, here is an example from the Tractor world – this one from Virginia Tech:

Source: https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/442/442-450/442-450_pdf.pdf

This takes a little explanation:  Start by looking at the blue star in the upper right hand corner.  That point represents full RPMs and full engine load – and we see that the relative fuel ‘efficiency’ is 100%.   However if we keep the same ‘throttle’ position but only apply say 45% of the load we drop down that red line on the right hand side to where it crosses the 45% load point (Red Star).  Here we can see the 75% efficiency dashed line has been intercepted.  This means if the engine produced 17HP*hr / gal @ 100% load, it will now only be 75% as efficient, and will now only produce  12.75HP*hr/gal.  Bring the load down to the 30% point and we are again at ½ the efficiency as when under full load.

However what if the engine speed could be slowed down while under the light 45% load?  Shift into Overdrive if you will.   OK.   See the Green Star?   This is the same 45% loading (meaning we are producing the exact same Horse Power as when at the Red Star point)  – but look; we have now intercepted the 106% efficiency curve!  Meaning our engine will now produce 18HP*hr for each gallon of fuel consumed.   Doing some math and coming up with a hypothetical example an engine using the representative graph might look like this:

 Deliver 7.5Kw at full throttle burns 0.75 GPH
 Deliver 3.3Kw at full throttle burns 0.45 GPH
 Deliver 3.3Kw at half throttle burns 0.30 GPH

If we could reduce the engine speed to ½ we would save 0.15GPH in fuel. 

Take this example to say a 2Kw load and the ‘savings’ will be even greater.

So what does this all mean?   In short:  run that fixed speed AC generator under a light load if just wasteful.   Problem is most all AC generators run at a fixed speed, no matter how much of a load you put on them.  It is the nature of needing to produce a stable 50 or 60Hz AC frequency.   DC generators do not have that restriction and can be used at any RPM (just like the alternator in your car – and also some AC ‘inverter’ generators  ala the small Honda’s).    Being able to adjust an engines speed to match its load can pay off. 

And here is where a DC generator with engine speed control can help.   Just like this integrated engine speed controller does.   In my quest to improve the efficiency of our DC generator looks like this is one significant factor that is already accomplished.


BTW:  Here is another paper from Virginia Tech that goes into more detail, and even has some formulas for predicting engine performance at many different RPM and load points:
  https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/442/442-073/442-073_pdf.pdf

Improving efficiency of DC generator - alternator configuration

This post is not directly related to the DC Generator controller, but I figure it is related and relevant.

This year I have altered the alternator being used on our Kubota EA-300 based DC generator, switching out a large framed 130A alternator for an even larger framed 200A one.  Though the more interesting part is I also adjusted the drive ratio from 2.5:1 to 1:1  (More detailed here:
http://mvvikingstar.blogspot.com/2015/05/improving-dc-generator-efficiency.html  )

My reason for doing this is alternators loose efficiency as RPMs are increased.  By using a larger alternator, and turning it slower, I have picked up perhaps 7% in overall system efficiency.   A very nice gain.

But it occurred to me there is even better news here: The controller's active throttle control matches engine speed to the load it is being asked to drive, slowing the engine down during the last potion of the Acceptance phase of battery charging.  Guess what: This slowing down just pushes us into a more and more efficient operation range for the alternator!  Though I have not measured it, it does occur to me that during those final 'packing it in' phases which lead-acid batteries oh so like and need for proper health - we get an additional benefit of even higher overall system efficiency.