Picked up half a megawatt worth of Caterpillar power, think I'll make a PTO generator

[strantor]

I think the easiest way to get this thing up and running is the way cat intended. See if the engine end of this is available surplus for a good price as well. I think cobbling a rig together would work for sure at some point, but how much effort and money will be into it at that point. More of a sure thing with support built in rebuilding the engine end than putting something together that might work.
Chris

That's a good, reasonable point. But the smallest caterpillar engine that is compatible with this head is about the size of an 18-wheeler engine and I don't have resources to put it where it needs to go or to service it. I wanted to have a propane powered generator anyway, and I already have a propane engine, so I'm inclined to work toward the marriage of those two things I already have.

 

[herm0016]

chain is a great idea I think.

should be able to get a plate with the shaft, and a large pillow block sized for the shaft. then you just have to weld up a frame for it. may even be worth running a pillow block on both sides of your sprocket.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

That generator is almost certainly three-phase, and may even be 277/480 volts. It's big enough to power 15 to 20 average homes, if the voltage is correct.

 

[strantor]

chain is a great idea I think.

should be able to get a plate with the shaft, and a large pillow block sized for the shaft. then you just have to weld up a frame for it. may even be worth running a pillow block on both sides of your sprocket.

Yep, that's the plan.

That generator is almost certainly three-phase, and may even be 277/480 volts. It's big enough to power 15 to 20 average homes, if the voltage is correct.

Correct, it's 3 phase, and if I had an appropriately sized prime mover I could call it a "whole-city-block" generator instead of a "whole-home" generator.
But it's a 12-lead generator which means I can easily rearrange the taps to get 120V/240V single phase from it. Check out this link if interested in seeing how. This is a benefit because I may also need to use the generator for my small business, powering up 480V 3ph industrial machinery which might put more load on my residential service than even my monster Rotary Phase Converter would be able to supply.

 

[radios1]

1 hp = 745 watts

210 kw = 283 hp

your ls has 32 pto hp??

these heads may be 460 volt 3 phase? seems like a large problem to get this to work on your tractor....

you may not even have enough HP to excite the winding.

looks like the sr4b is usually paired with a ~500 hp 3456 ....

yeah, he'd probably have to run nitro methane, nitrous oxide, and a supercharger to run that on his tractor..

 

[radios1]

maybe you can find a trashed block for scrap prices.. and cut out the needed adapter from the block?..

 

[strantor]

yeah, he'd probably have to run nitro methane, nitrous oxide, and a supercharger to run that on his tractor..

Not sure why you think that. The generator itself isn't a load. It's a converter, turning mechanical power into electrical power. What you connect to the electrical output of the generator, that is the load. This particular generator (converter) is capable of converting anything up to and including 300+ mechanical horsepower into 280+ electrical horsepower. My house shouldn't consume more than 25 electrical horsepower, which the tractor should handle no problem.

 

[radios1]

Not sure why you think that. The generator itself isn't a load. It's a converter, turning mechanical power into electrical power. What you connect to the electrical output of the generator, that is the load. This particular generator (converter) is capable of converting anything up to and including 300+ mechanical horsepower into 280+ electrical horsepower. My house shouldn't consume more than 25 electrical horsepower, which the tractor should handle no problem.

for just a normal(restricted) house load, ok, for full capability of the generator, not good..

 

[crazyal]

Years ago I was the foreman on a lead abatement crew. We would strip lead paint off of truss bridges before painting them. To do it we used a steel grit and then had a giant vacuum that would separate the steel with magnets. The vac had a 6 cylinder 200hp diesel with the PTO pictured in a previous post. The output shaft was connected to a large blower with belts. If I remember correctly it was three belts. I would go with a belt system over a chain as they require less maintenance and are more forgiving if slightly out of alignment.

 

[4570Man]

Years ago I was the foreman on a lead abatement crew. We would strip lead paint off of truss bridges before painting them. To do it we used a steel grit and then had a giant vacuum that would separate the steel with magnets. The vac had a 6 cylinder 200hp diesel with the PTO pictured in a previous post. The output shaft was connected to a large blower with belts. If I remember correctly it was three belts. I would go with a belt system over a chain as they require less maintenance and are more forgiving if slightly out of alignment.

A lot less efficient though. I don’t know about the lower maintenance parts either. Some truck transfer cases use chains and they’re practically zero maintenance. Some skid steers link the wheels together with chain and they don’t usually cause problems. Timing chains are less maintenance then timing belts. This piece will probably never get used enough to wear out chains. Belts will deteriorate faster.