On-Site Efficiency Analysis of a Generator in the Millisecond Range

Power supply systems, such as a diesel generator, are often designed based on the apparent power and the peak demands of non-linear loads. Because of this the generators run on a lower percentage of the rated load for most of their operation hours and are thus overdimensioned. The efficiency of generators is very poor when these are not running on full power. So, optimizing the power system such that it runs on a higher percentage of the rated load makes the system more efficient. In this paper measurement techniques used to determine the efficiency are researched. A system that uses a diesel generator is measured on-site, and analyzed using conventional power quality measurements and time-domain measurements in the millisecond range. The aim is to get more detailed insight in the behavior of the system and optimize the power supply system accordingly.