Diesel Generator for Construction Sites

The site runs on the set

A construction site is a prime power application. The set supplies the tools, the pumps, the mixers, the cranes, the lighting and the site offices for the whole shift and often through the night. It is therefore rated for continuous running, the fuel and the oil intervals are counted in hours, and the machine is chosen to be looked after on site rather than by a service contract.

What is on the load

The tower crane and the hoists draw in bursts, the concrete mixers and the pumps have their own starting current, and the compressors can be a large part of the load on their own. The office and welfare cabins add lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration and a water pump. The connected load of the whole site, plus the starting current of the largest motor, plus a margin for the tools that arrive later, is the number the set has to carry.

Moving the set with the site

The set has to follow the work. The trailer mounted set is the usual answer: the frame, the towing eye, the road lights and the hand brake are part of the package, and the set is towed to the next phase with the plant it serves. Where the set stays in one place but the site moves around it, a skid mounted set with a lifting frame or a canopy set on a chassis is easier to handle with a crane.

Dust, rain and the site canopy

A site is a dusty and wet place. The canopy set, or the open frame set under a simple site canopy, keeps the rain and the direct sun off the machine and keeps the operator safe while refuelling. On the electrical side the protection is decided with the client’s own electrician: the breakers, the earth leakage protection and the RCD on the accommodation units, and the earthing arrangement of the site.

The fuel on site

Fuel is stored in a bunded tank on site, with the daily supply drawn from it through the transfer pump, and the level watched so that the order is placed in time. The autonomy is quoted from the tank level, as ISO 8528 requires. Where the site is far from a fuel station, a bulk tank of 5000 litres or more with a level alarm is the normal arrangement.

The site office on the same set

The automatic transfer switch lets the offices and the welfare units run on the grid when it is there and on the generator when it is not. On sites where the grid is unreliable it is the cheapest way to keep the site working, and it is quoted with the set instead of as an extra.

What we deliver

Trailer, skid or canopy sets, 50 Hz or 60 Hz, prime or standby rated, with the ATS, the fuel system, the heaters, the battery charger and the site distribution written into the same quotation. Every set is run at full load in the factory before it is loaded, and the test record travels with the machine.