Emergency generators

In today's society, all activities, whether professional or private, consume electrical energy. Any interruption or disturbance in the distribution of this energy leads to disturbances that can become unbearable for the user. The importance of power supply continuity and quality depends on the activity concerned. Some applications require a virtually permanent power supply, as any absence jeopardizes the safety of people or property. At the top of the list are hospitals, public buildings and fire protection installations. Legislators have taken this problem on board, and all such sites must be equipped with emergency power supplies. Other consumers, for whom the reliability of the power supply is not measured in terms of human risk, cannot accept a power cut, as this could have extremely damaging economic consequences. Activities involving computer systems are an obvious example of this type of requirement, since they cannot tolerate the slightest interruption of any duration.

The choice of replacement source depends on several criteria:

• the maximum permissible interruption time,

• the nature of the load to be recharged,

• the power of the load to be rescued.

Several sources of replacement can be mentioned.

• DC batteries are rarely sufficient on their own, as most applications require AC power. It is, however, used for emergency lighting, for example.

• The inverter enables you to obtain an AC power supply from a DC source. This solution is used when autonomy and power requirements are relatively limited (a few kVA for a few minutes). This replacement source is usually combined with another backup source (a generator) to extend the duration of autonomy.

• The generator allows you to achieve high power levels and long operating times.

  In addition to its use as a replacement power source, the genset offers a wide range of applications.

• Base units are designed to supply all the electrical power in an area not supplied by a distributor. This application is particularly popular in developing countries, as it avoids the need for heavy investment and can be implemented very quickly.

• Peak shaving units are designed to supply all or part of the power consumed on a site in order to limit the amount of the fixed premium or to benefit from tariff conditions linked to this function; this application is generally coupled with the standby unit application, which...