Hi! this is my first ever chat on any form of any kind. If I am in error, I will be grateful for your guidance.

The generator I have was hacked and I have no manuals or circuit diagrams. I have started over from scratch. The DC power is generated from the flywheel instead of from the generator with rectifiers. The voltage regulator has 4 wires attached to it, one is black with a bolt eye which I presume is just a ground for the regulator in case it is not mounted to a grounded mount. Most regulators, have 3 wires, power in, regulated power out and I think a grounded circuit that has circuit hardware in it to control the voltage.

This is just an opening to a greater topic. I want to become well versed in electric power generation. I am quite weak in this area but I usually learn fast. As a demonstration project, I am moving onto 5 acres of land with no grid power. I find that I never get around to doing anything unless it is necessary - necessity is the mother of invention. One of the projects I am investigating is using pressurized hot water for energy storage. The critical pressure for water is about 3000 psi and the temperature is slightly more than 300C. We will not be near these conditions for obvious reasons but water takes almost twice as much energy above the boiling point for a given temperature rise as it does below it. External Combustion is so versatile compared to internal combustion and a large short burn is much more efficient than a long small one.

If it was possible to combust a fuel, biomass, hog fuel, for example once a week and store the energy to generate electricity, the fuel costs would be very low but the fixed costs would have to be controlled. What I am analyzing now is power generation by steam from the super heated water, which is being done now or hydraulically from water where the steam is generated inside the storage tank. Every time a change occurs in an energy system, there is always a loss to heat. The advantage here is that the heat can be utilized to heat the buildings.

I lived for two years off the grid. The costs were higher because we had to keep the generator at 1800 rpm even when there was practically no load. So I am looking at using a PLC and a Reeves variable speed drive, like a snowmobile drive or the newer variable auto transmissions between the diesel engine and the generator to maintain a constant generator speed while the engine rpm can be governed according to power demand.

I have a good background in combustion but everything I do has to generate electricity. For example, my friend is using heat and ammonia, a typical propane fridge system to get -18C - an excellent temperature differential for thermoelectrics which can be used in conjunction with other inputs to boost efficiency.

I hope I can be a worthy member of your form.

 

If your power consumption is fairly low for extended periods I would look into using a battery bank and a inverter system with multiple DC power sources for charging the batteries and maintaining the base load power.

The 3000 PSI 300 C water based thermal storage system I don't know much about other than thats potentially one massive steam bomb sitting there.

 

... Steam...

Steam is not used as a storage media because the rate of cooling is related to the temperature differential. Also, as pressure is relieved, the tank cools quickly. I don't know if you have ever used a CO2 cartridge but they get vey cold as they discharge their pressure. The same thing happens with refrigeration systems. The same thing happens with pressurized steam. Since each incremental step in temperature requires more energy, your last bit of input is significantly less efficient than the early input. These issues and safety issues, are the reasons that steam energy storage is not used anywhere except a steam engine, and that is a semicontinous process, not an on-demand process.

 

If you can post the make and model of your generator maybe someone can find a service manual online.

 

There is quite a lot of interest in using supercritical CO2 instead of steam. As I understand it, the fuel and oxidant can be brought together to "burn" in the supercritical fluid, which is recycled. This is fed to a turbine that is much smaller and cheaper than the traditional steam turbine. The combustion gas is cleaned up and the CO2, including the new CO2 from burning the fuel, returns for recompression and recycle. (Of course some must be bled off, ready for sequestration.)

Note that the heat exchanger is eliminated and thus the thermodynamic efficiency is improved.

Back to heat storage: I tend to agree that it will be impractical to store significant amounts of hot water at a temp and pressure suitable for making electricity. I can't recall anyone ever talk of using a "steam battery".

How about pumping water up into a reservoir and releasing it on demand through a water wheel?

 

If it was possible to combust a fuel, biomass, hog fuel, for example once a week and store the energy to generate electricity, the fuel costs would be very low but the fixed costs would have to be controlled.

Welcome to the forum. Here's an article that you might find interesting regarding energy storage and generation.