Diesel Generator for Mining Sites

The mine runs on prime power

A mine or a quarry is not a standby site. The sets normally run every day and often around the clock, and there is no grid behind them. That changes the specification: the fuel system, the cooling and the service plan are designed for thousands of hours a year instead of for a few test runs a month, and the set is bought with the spare parts for that horizon in mind.

The load

The crusher, the conveyor, the ventilation fans, the pumps, the compressors, the workshops and the camp are all fed from the site power system. The load is not steady: the crusher draws a heavy peak when it starts, and the fans run with a high starting current. The set is therefore sized on the connected load with the starting current of the largest motor added, and the distribution is usually split so that the large motors are started in a controlled sequence.

The fuel is the real constraint

On a remote site the fuel is a long way away and the weather can close the road. The autonomy is quoted from the fuel tank level, as ISO 8528 requires, and 8 to 24 hours at full load is the normal minimum; remote sites plan further. A bulk tank of 5000 to 20000 litres next to the set, a transfer pump, a bund and a level alarm are the usual arrangement, with the daily tank holding enough to run a shift.

Dust, altitude and heat

Dust clogs the air filter and wears the bearings, so we fit a larger air cleaner with a cyclone pre-cleaner and shorten the filter service interval well below the manual. At altitude the air is thinner: at 3000 m a typical set has to be derated by about 25 to 30 percent, and that has to be designed into the model rather than discovered on site. The same applies to the desert sites, where the ambient temperature of 50 °C takes power off the rating. Send the altitude and the highest temperature and we confirm the rating in writing.

The enclosure and the installation

The set on a mine site is either an open frame with a canopy over it, a silent canopy set, or a containerised set with a lifting frame so it can be moved with a crane. The enclosure has to survive the dust, the rain and the sun, so the paint system and the anti-corrosion coating are chosen for the site: a coastal mine wants a heavier coating than an inland one.

Protection and safety

The electrical protection is matched to the site: the circuit breakers, the earth fault arrangement and the neutral treatment are decided with the client’s own electrical engineer, and we supply the set with the protection written into the quotation. Where the fuel and the electrical equipment share a room, the ventilation and the fire separation are part of the layout.

What we deliver

Prime or standby rated sets, 50 Hz or 60 Hz, open frame, silent canopy or containerised, with the fuel system, the air filtration, the heaters, the battery charger and the monitoring 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.