The Foundation of Load Testing for Diesel Generators

The main purpose of Dingbo Electric to introduce this article is to introduce load testing to non-technical readers. So, let's start from the basics and not delve too much into technical terminology. However, readers should have studied some courses in their middle or high school to familiarize them with some basic terminology in electrical science, or gained some knowledge through practice or professional experience.

In short, load testing of diesel generators is a sequential program that reveals the performance of diesel generators under low, medium, and high rated power percentage loads. To test this, in the testing facility, the distributed generator set gradually bears various loads from the load group, so that its response to its full capacity can be studied.

Due to obvious reasons, the key part of the response graph is within the range of 50% to 90% of the rated capacity. Due to the majority of usage being within this range, it is necessary to pay close attention to this range. If the performance of the generator is good, it can be reasonably determined that it will also perform well in a lower range. You must remember a fact that for generators that have never been exposed to at least 30% of their rated capacity, it is recommended to make load testing a mandatory procedure to follow.

For laypeople, the load is nothing more than resistance in the form of equipment, cables, and depleted batteries, which draw electricity from power sources such as diesel generators. In modern load testing facilities, variable loads covering the entire range are deployed to simulate real situations, but the loads are gradually transitioning rather than suddenly changing.

Various parameters, such as conversion response, engine torque, vibration, temperature, pressure, fuel usage, remaining fuel, time for the generator to successfully operate at peak, and most importantly, the transmitted power is recorded and monitored by various sensors.

The computer program automatically generates curves between several standardized variables and compares the response with the ideal response curve to determine the deviation between the used diesel generator curve and the ideal curve. Through this approach, the testing engineer checks the actual performance of the generator and strives to minimize technical errors during maintenance before reselling the diesel generator.

Normally, load test reports are provided to customers who purchase diesel generators, along with certificates. The standard includes the following key points in the report: kilowatt load, AC voltage, Hertz, oil pressure, rated current, test voltage, additional notes and annotations.

Dingbo Power has advanced testing equipment, modern production technology, professional manufacturing technology, perfect quality management system, and strong technical research and development capabilities. It can provide 3KW～2500KW various specifications of ordinary, automatic, four protection, automatic switching, low noise and mobile generator sets, high quality and low energy consumption to meet the diverse power needs of customers, and can also meet users with different voltages and different frequencies. It is required to create a parallel power supply system for multiple units. If you are interested in our product or any question on generator, welcome to send email to sales@dieselgeneratortech.com.