Paul
Generators
Michael Faraday's electrical generator.
Drawing of Faraday disk, the first
electromagnetic generator, invented by British
scientist Michael Faraday in 1831.
Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine.
The first generator built for public use was the
dynamo, invented by Frenchman Hippolyte
Pixii in 1833, based on Faraday’s concepts
of electromagnetic currents. The dynamo
cranked electricity by hand, creating alternating
currents by using a magnet with revolving
coils. Because many early uses of electricity
required direct current, Pixii included a
commutator to convert the alternating currents
into direct currents.
The dynamo was the first electrical generator
capable of delivering power for industry. The
modern dynamo was invented independently
by Sir Charles Wheatstone, Werner von
Siemens, and Samuel Alfred Varley in the late
1860s and used self-powering electromagnetic
field coils to create the stator field instead of
permanent magnets.
A genset, or engine generator, is a
combination electric motor-generator used
where a continuous flow of electricity is
needed. Generators have had a huge impact on
the construction industry in particular, allowing
work on projects to continue at night and with
little worry regarding electricity supply.
Engine-generators
An engine-generator — also known as an
engine-generator set, generating set, or gen-
set — combines an electric generator with an
engine to form a single piece of equipment.
While these can run on a variety of fuels,
including petrol, diesel, natural gas, propane,
water, and hydrogen, most larger ones make
use of diesel, natural gas, or propane. In the
industrial context, these are often used on
remote sites where power is unavailable or
inconsistent, or for standy power in the case of
power outages.
The diesel generator as we know it today
exists thanks to the combined efforts of
Faraday and German inventor and mechanical
engineer Rudolf Diesel.
In 1885, Diesel set up his first shop-
laboratory in Paris, where he would begin the
13-year task of creating his engine. Diesel