DEF for Generators Top 10 Questions
What is DEF? Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) is a mixture of Urea in Deionized water in a 32.5 % concentration. It is used as a consumable fluid in diesel engine emissions control using Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). How Much DEF do I Need? A good rule of thumb for generators is that DEF consumption will be about 10% of diesel consumption.
End-of-Life PLC Upgrades for Allen Bradley and Siemens
End of Life for Micrologix 1000/1500:
There are several million Micrologix 1000 PLCs in service around the world, including thousands in critical service in data center equipment. Hundreds of Dot‐Com Era (1998 – 2002) data centers are still in service throughout the US and world.
Many of these facilities are very valuable because they occupy locations close to large cities and fiber optic infrastructure. Earthsafe built fuel systems for many of these facilities, and our systems have operated reliably over that time with very little maintenance.
Clean Diesel Rules for Generators: NFPA 110 Drilldown
Clean Fuel for Generators: Drilldown of NFPA 110 Rules
For those of you who just don’t like to read, or have only a moderate tolerance for reading codes and regulations, we have the done the dirty work for you.
NFPA 110 “Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems” is the standard for people who own and operate buildings with emergency generators. It’s the starting point of what a building owner should consider as good practice, and may go further toward a legal requirement since it is referenced in building codes.
Testing Diesel Fuel for Generators - Drilldown of NFPA 110 Rules
Testing Fuel for Generators: Drilldown of NFPA 110 / ASTM 975 Rules
For those of you who just don’t like to read, or have only a moderate tolerance for reading codes and regulations, we have the done the dirty work for you.
NFPA 110 “Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems” is the standard for people who own and operate buildings with emergency generators. It’s the starting point of what a building owner should consider as good practice, and may go further toward a legal requirement since it is referenced in building codes.
Why You Should Worry about your Generators Old Diesel Fuel
Diesel Fuel Gets Old Fast – 3 Months
Not like your car, fuel sits in a generator tank for a long time, because it is stored for when you need it. Say you have a 300 KW generator and you want 8 hours of run time. At full load you need 20 gallons per hour so you need a 160 gallon tank. If you test your generator once a month for 15 minutes unloaded, you will use 7 gallons per hour 3 hours per year for a total of 21 gallons per year. That means, without a big power outage, you would use all your fuel in about 8 years.
End-of-Life for Dot-Com Data Center Controls
End-of-Life for Dot-Com Data Center Controls
Hundreds of Dot-Com Era (1998 – 2002) data centers are still in service throughout the US and world. Many of these facilities are very valuable because they occupy locations close to large cities and fiber optic infrastructure. Earthsafe built fuel systems for many of these facilities, and our systems have operated reliably over that time with very little maintenance.
DEF System Design for Caterpillar Generators
DEF System Design for Caterpillar Generators
Earthsafe has developed a Flow Control Unit specifically for Caterpillar SCR Emissions System. The CAT System has a DEF Urea Dosing Unit with buffer tank that requires a 5 – 10 PSI inlet feed of DEF with overpressure protection at 10 PSI. This can be a tough requirement if the DEF storage tank is remote or there are multiple generators being fed DEF from a single bulk tank.
Think 10% for Generator DEF Tank Sizing
Think 10% for DEF Tank Sizing
A good rule of thumb is that DEF consumption is about 10% of fuel consumption. So size DEF day tanks and bulk tanks at about 10% of fuel storage tanks.
Our new DEF Tanks are cubic stainless steel tanks 25 – 2500 Gallons. They are designed for use in the harsh operating environment of diesel power generators to provide reliable supply to emissions SCR units. They are available as single wall, double wall, with optional insulation. .
10 Second Start for Life Safety Gensets
Earthsafe fuel systems are modular and network ready. So they lend themselves to applications in tall buildings where even life safety generators have some complexity. Fill stations may be at grade, small bulk tanks in lower levels, and generators on the building roof.
“Reliable Generator Start and Run” is the basis for our fuel system designs. We recently came across a Cummins Power publication that explains the 10 Second Start and other important aspects of NFPA 110 Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Generators.
Tall Building Fuel Systems: Potential for Catastrophic Exposure
Electrical loads in critical building systems have grown tremendously, sometimes by as much as 400% versus comparable older buildings. With larger power loads comes the need for larger volumes of fuel storage for emergency generators.
Earthsafe fuel systems are modular and network ready. So they lend themselves to applications in tall buildings where even life safety generators have some complexity. Fill stations may be at grade, small bulk tanks in lower levels, and generators on the building roof.
Google Puts the FUN in Data Centers
Google has created a great video about their mural projects which you can see at:
Dar es Salaam Data Center
Earthsafe recently completed another significant project in Africa. The data center fuel system supports micro-lending efforts in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, a country of 51 million people.
Getting Juno to Jupiter with Earthsafe
“What do you do Here” is a question we always ask, being naturally curious engineers. Sometimes we get interesting answers. We recently completed a new fuel system for a data center upgrade in Colorado. The answer we got was that amongst other things “We are sending a spacecraft to Jupiter – it just arrived”
Here is a link to the local news story:
New Urban Multi-Use Development Projects
Earthsafe recently completed Urban Multi-Use Development Fuel System projects. The challenge of these projects are the number of dispersed and independent fuel systems for generator service. A hotel in the development will have separate needs from a commercial office tower. A residential tower and Retail Area / Malls) will have different needs as well. All of the fuel systems need to fit in within a complex building environment that includes extensive parking and pedestrian areas.
New Urban Hi-Rise Fuel Systems
Earthsafe recently completed Urban Hi-Rise Fuel System projects which included most of the significant challenges to designing and constructing these systems. Details of our design recommendations are in our whitepaper: M450.T01 High Rise Building Fuel Systems.
Critical Ethernet Networks for Fuel System Control
As industrial Ethernet networks improve in performance and reliability, formerly hard-wired signals are replaced by data transfer over the network. Network reliability and security are critical.
New UPS for Fuel System Control Power
The new C6-UPS01 Control Power UPS is designed to provide a battery backup Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for fuel system controllers and tank monitors such as Veeder Root, Pneumercator, and Franklin-Incon.
The C6-UPS01 provides a 120-230 VAC power source for 500VA to operate a small controller for 2 – 8 hours with expandable battery packs.
Fuel System Master Dual Power Source
The new C6-ATS(PDU) provides dual source power for the full fuel system including all pumps and controls. The Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) monitors incoming power source quality and automatically switches to the secondary source, upon failure of the primary.
The C6 panel is also a Power Distribution Unit (PDU) providing branch circuit breakers with monitoring contacts for each individual pump and controller in the system.
New M30: Low Cost Fuel Polishing with Controller Connectivity
The New M30 Fuel Polisher is a low cost solution for BMS connected or stand-alone fuel polishing. The controllers has pre-set timing cycles for 2-4-8-16-24 hours for simple setup and operation, with BMS connectivity built-in.
Data Center Fuel System Design Guide
Complex, Expensive, and Difficult to Commission might describe your experience with Data Center Fuel Systems. But a clean efficient design can help you minimize the pain.
Designs for Tier 1 thru Tier 4 reliability are examined. Also designs with large generator sub-base tanks are broken down.
Earthsafe fuel transfer modules and controls fit together into a broad range of smart connected systems for data centers. Day Tanks, Filter-Polishers, Duplex Fuel Pumps, Fill Stations, and Master Fuel Controllers work together seamlessly.