High Wattage Gas Generater?

I have been doing quite a bit of research and have yet to find out how a gas generater outputs 10kWatts-15KWatts @ 220VAC and 120VAC. Ive found numerous schematics on building a 12VDC to 120VAC or 220VAC inverters but they all range from 300Watts to 1000Watts. Its stated many times that the 12V battery will explode if the wattage is increased any further.

My goal was to mount a 10hp-11hp horizontal shaft motor to a base structure and install a pulley to run a 65Amp internally regulated alternater. The alternater would then connect to a battery, and the inverter to supply 120VAC and 220VAC to the face where I planned on mounting the controls(Switches) and recepticles(Plugs).

If someone could explain how such a high wattage can be acheived without sacrificing the required voltages and amps to run delecate equipment I would be in your debt. This is a project Im researching as a possible senior project and was hoping to build it big enough to run a welder/plasma cutter that runs on 220VAC @ 23Amps.

You can make gas/petrol generators as large as you like, the bigger the alternator the higher the output, and the bigger the engine required to run it - plus running costs increase accordingly.

You don't want a 12V alternator and an inverter, you want it to generate the mains AC directly - they are freely available at pretty reasonable prices.

Certainly running an engine, low-voltage alternator, and an inverter would strike me as a VERY poor senior project. Your proposed engine also sounds much too small for the job.

Petrol driven welders normally create the welding voltage directly, they don't generate mains first.

I woudn't call a 15kW generator high powered. It's quite a small generator.

As per my other post over on Electronics Lab, use a higher voltage DC bus, 48V represents a good compromise between safety and low current, if you want to use batteries.

I have to agree with you that it is a rather poor senior project. I have been pondering what to do for some time now because I am trying to come up with something electronical that I will use often enough to build and something that will not break the bank. Im working with a budget around $500.

How would I go about generating the AC directly? I forget what they called it but a site I was looking at sold AC generaters that you can hook up directly to the motor shaft. Is that what your talking about.

And about the wattage, I can also agree that its not that powerful compared to whats on the market.

Thanks for the opinions, guess its back to the drawing board.

Monster_Magnet said:

I have to agree with you that it is a rather poor senior project. I have been pondering what to do for some time now because I am trying to come up with something electronical that I will use often enough to build and something that will not break the bank. Im working with a budget around $500.

How would I go about generating the AC directly? I forget what they called it but a site I was looking at sold AC generaters that you can hook up directly to the motor shaft. Is that what your talking about.

Click to expand...

Yes, they are called alternators - specifically designed for this use, you spin them at a fixed specific speed and the voltage and frequency are correct. The motor needs to be speed governed - this is usually crude and mechanical - you could always build a superior electronic version?.