Diesel Generator Alarms and Trips have been discussed in this article, which are common among all the generators. We will take some of the major alarms and trips. Also we will give reasons for such alarms occurring and troubleshooting to be done.
Following alarms we will mention
- HT Water Temperature High High
- Low Lube Oil Pressure
- Fuel Oil Pressure Low
- Low Lube oil level in Sump
- Over speed Alarm
- Exhaust Temperature Deviation Or High
- Pre Lubrication Pressure Less
- Oil Mist Detector High
Diesel Generator Alarms and Trips
HT Water Temperature High
Reasons:
- Cooling Water Coming Is of High temperature
- Engine is suddenly overloaded
- Air in the system
- sensor is incorrect
Actions
Check if LT temperature is all right
Exhaust temperature of individual unit to be checked
Vent the system
Check sensor
Low Lube Oil Pressure
Reasons:
Pump Failure
- Wrong Sensor Value or Gauge Malfunction
- Oil pressure control valve of engine.
- Oil Filters
- Oil Cooler Dirty
Actions: Check above for the problem and rectify the same.
Fuel Oil Pressure Low
Reasons:
- Fuel Oil Filter Dirty
- fuel oil supply pump malfunction
- Fuel oil inlet valve throttled or not fully open
Sensor Malfunction.
Actions: Rectify the above reasons. Also when you changeover to other fuel oil grade line DO, the filters tends to get dirty very fast. So, a low fuel oil pressure alarm comes in.
Low Lube oil level in Sump
Reasons:
Sump Level Low
Too much consumption of lube oil
Oil Cooler Leakage
Actions: If the alarms comes frequently that means, engine is consuming too much of lube oil. This means that the piston rings are leaking and lube oil is getting burned away.
Over speed Trip
Reasons:
- Governor failure or faulty
- Fuel rack for a unit is stuck
- Sudden change in the load
Actions: Sudden change of load occurs like when the engine is loaded with high load suddenly.
Exhaust temperature deviation Alarm
Reasons:
- Fuel rack position for unit is wrongly calibrated
- Fuel Pump Defective
- Fuel injector Defective
- Engine is not balanced
- Sensor is touching the engine body.
- Engine is overloaded
Actions: Do the performance check of the engine. And check the PV diagrams. If something is wrong than, either the injector or fuel pump is faulty.
Balancing of power from all units to be done at the load instructed by the engine maker and fuel racks to be adjusted as per that.
Pre Lubrication Pressure Low
Reasons:
Pre Lubrication Pump is not working properly
Clogged Strainer for pump
Faulty pressure sensor or gauge
Air in the system
Actions: Check the system for air and release it by slightly opening the fitting to the sensor and let it release.
Oil Mist High Alarm
Reasons:
1) Lubrication failure inside the rotating machinery, leading to the activation of oil mist detector alarm
2) Purifier oil inlet temperature kept too high, leading to accumulation of mist inside the crankcase as oil is heated too much.
3) Dirty Sensor for the oil mist detector.
Action: If you get oil mist level high level, the engine will slow down and shut down. Open the crankcase doors to check the signs of hotspots.
Keep the purifier inlet temperature as per the manufacturer.
Regularly clean the oil mist detector head for avoiding the false alarms.
Generator Alarms and Trips- Trips
Note: Most of the alarms won’t trip the generator, but there are some major alarms which will cause the generator to trip and they are as follows:
Low Lube Oil Pressure
When this alarm is activated, generator will shut down immediately.
High HT Cooling Water Temperature
This alarm too leads to shutdown of the generator immediately.
Over speed Trip
If the generator senses the over speed, it will suddenly reduce the speed and shutdown.
This was all from the article on generator alarms and trips.
