I was a 52E (prime power production specialist) in the US Army and I operated and repaired very large gen sets. When I retired I worked for Detroit Diesel as a field service technician. Was hired after that to work with the Corps of Engineers to work on the turbines inside the dam across the western US. I do love the smell of diesel and the sound of turbos and turbine generators. Miss it. 🤙
Yes that is awesome. What a career? I have been buying engines for a long time and am going to start buying diesels. Gonna start with a Lister then a refer unit then probably step up to a 453t. You ever think about doing some stationary engines just as a hobby?
That’s a cool life story. Imagine starting the same path right now. And all of the cool stuff you get to play with in the future. Diesel will never disappear
@@michaelsorrentino9279 yeah…never thought I would be as in the Navy (I was in two branches), I was a sonartech in the advanced electronics field. When I switched I knew the Army didn’t have sonar, duh…lol, so I said I want something dealing with a lot of power. I guess power plants fit that criteria. Was offered a job continuing with the Corps of Engineers to work on all the dams out west here, servicing all of the water turbines and turbine generators the generate the power out here. Thought about it but, was offered a $hit ton of money by Detroit Diesel. Was great work and saw some of the most intense yachts around the world. Never got to see anyone but the engineers and engine space mechanics. But, yeah diesel just gets you…when you hear four massive turbos and look at the dyno…yeah. 😉😀
Wow that's an awesome sound. It kinda reminds me of a big piece of heavy equipment idling, which I guess makes sense as they might use the same or similar engine.
It is used in the largest CAT dump trucks; it’s ove 300 cubic inches per cylinder X 16, makes up to 4,000 hp and weighs over 10 tons… in short, a fin’g monster.
5MW ? Natgas ? What's with the plywood on the orange "mounts" and the fan system mounted on a pallet ? Is this is test rig ? Are the orange mounts air vibration isolators ? Very cool !
I would guess they are adjustable mounts so that the level-ness of the base frame can be adjusted to maintain proper alignment of the engine and generator on what could be an uneven floor in this temporary location. The basefame doesn’t look all that stiff.
The unit sat for 5 years before this. It was unprotected and not properly stored. Inside was rusty, we were flushing the unit multiple times. This was its first start in 5 years. We eventually loadbanked the unit but I was in the field the day that happened haha.
They are a lot Louder than in this video when under load , mainly with the 7foot fan blade running !!! We have a 1000kw and 3 1750kw’s at our hospital where I work.
I work at a rock quarry and our smaller generators for smaller units (Perkins and Cummins generators) idle high right away. Our big cat generator has a high/ low idle switch so when it’s warming up you can let it low idle(1k rpms) but they’re really only revving to 1800 max anyway. They do that to be ready for electrical load immediately since the voltage is based on engine rpms and you cant start a 480v motor at 300 volts. I like our cat generator when it’s at low idle but when you kick it to high idle and the fan goes on high speed it is unbelievable how loud it is.
Blackstone engines were once common in British Commonwealth countries, but have long ceased as a business - fir the usual reasons - rotten English quality, poor reliability, too much vibration.
@@GrantJohnston-dr9rt i have very limitted exposure to Rolls Royce, as Rolls Royce were pretty rare. In that experience Rolls Royce did not vibrate like Blackstone, but their reliability was not as good as the US manufacturers. In emergency generator service (eg backup power for hospitals) it is usual to employ electric lube oil heaters so that the engine will start and accept full load very quickly. The heaters that Rolls Royce supply (probably made by Lucas) quietly go open circuit. The engine starts ok, but when the control system switches over the load, the engine struggles, firing erratically and as the oil is cold, damage to big end bearings occurs.
@@zeusapollo8688 ; Presumably you meant L Gardner. They had a good name but were in a completely different market. Gardner had mass produced small engines for truck and small boat service, up to about 300 HP. Blackstone made large engines against individual order in much larger service for electric power generation. Rolls Royce covered both markets, as did and still do, Caterpillar, up to thousands of horsepower. Thus it is not valid to compare Gardner against these other makers. Gardner had its heyday back when naturally aspirated engines were common, typically making about 12 HP per litre. Modern small diesels are all turbocharged, have precision fuel injection and make more than twice that. Getting durability and reliability is easy when your engines make only half the power and have higher specific fuel consumption. To compete now engines designers need a lot more expertise and test equipment. That's why Gardner is also no longer around.
That's a 16 cylinder cat, I used to operate 8 cylinder cats (3508). They ran 1,100 hp and 750mw with sr-4 generators back in the 90's. They're probably pushing 2,200+ HP.
@@vincewilliams5219 The 3508 has smaller cylinders, 4300cc (262cu.in) per cyl. The C175 - 16 has 5289cc (323cu.in.) per cyl. Motor volume: 84,624cc (5164cu.in). Power around 4000 hp, Weight: 10+ tons.
This one is from a data center but they can be standby for really any major building or company from data centers, government offices/building to hospitals.
Battery is fine. That’s a lot of engine/compression to spin. Normally with electric starters there are two starters installed. I’ve engineered a lot of these generators. This one sounds pretty normal. Notice that the radiator fan is driven by an electric motor.
It could hardly power a small town, except through the power of magic. These gensets come in a range of 3000-4000 kVA, sound like a large number doesn't it? However, the local transformer in my block comes in at 630kVA and we have natural gas for heating purposes. My local neighborhood houses about 10000 and there are roughly 30-40 of those installed. So basically, no you couldn't even power my non-american energy efficient neighborhood with one of these, let alone a small town. These gensets are typically used for large festivals (and you usually need multiple), last festival I was involved in used about 8 gensets of various sizes ranging from 500 kVA to 2000 kVA. The only reason we used smaller ones is the cost of transport. It's basically cheaper to rent multiple smaller units. Yes it looks big, it sounds big and 4000 kVA is a looooot of power, but it is nowhere near enough for a town.
