What is High-Starting?
In trying to understand Why High-Starting Occurs In Electric power Generator Engines, there is a need to actually understand what high-starting is all about.
The term ‘High-starting’ is used in mechanical engineering to refer to the inability of an engine to ignite and resume combustion immediately as expected when trying to start the engine.
Various engines experience high-starting, this implies both turbine engines, internal combustion engines, and even rocket engines, etc.
The Cause of High-Starting in Engines
The root cause of high-starting in an engine may vary according to the type of engine, size, conditions, and other factors. Since the term ‘Engine’ is a very versatile topic that covers many categories of engines.
In this post, we are concentrating only on Why High-Starting Occurs In Electric power Generator Engines.
What is Electric Power Generator Engines?
The term ‘Electric Power Generator Engines’ refers to an engine specifically designed to generate electricity through the alternating current coil attached to its rotor.
The engines generate electricity by using the rotating kinetic energy from its shaft to turn the AC coil causing it to generate electricity known as electric power.
The level of electric power produced is determined by the power of the generator engine as well as the size of the AC coil attached to it.
The connection between the generator engine and the AC coil can either be a direct joint enabled by gearing arrangements or an indirect joint enabled through chain or belt arrangements.
It has become necessary to know the above facts before we proceed further to Why High-Starting Occurs In Electric power Generator Engines.
Does Electric Power Generator Engine Experience High-starting?
The answer to the above question is “YES”. Electric power generators usually experience high starting. The severity of the high-starting depends on the root cause of it. As a matter of fact, your newly purchased electric power generator may have its engine giving you high-starting occasionally.
Based on the lately-mentioned fact, high-starting in any electric power generator engine is not going to serve as a judgment test regarding the engine quality since both old and new engines can have high-starting at any given time. And this is the main reason we want to discuss Why High-Starting Occurs In Electric power Generator Engines so that the proper understanding can guide your judgment.
At What Point Does Electric Power Generator Experience High-starting?
High-starting in electric power generator engines had been a serious problem for the users, some of the high-starting may be temporal while some are a permanent problem that will require the service of an experienced technician to ratify.
Electric Power Generator engines do not just start having the problem of high-starting without any root cause for it.
The point or stage in which the electric power generator engine starts giving high-starting problems is the point or stage where some of the vital operational procedures had been boycotted or bypassed by the user. In other words, when used properly according to operational instructions the engine would not give any high-starting problem.
Factors Responsible for High-starting in Electric Power Generator engines
THE CARBURETOR FACTOR
Petrol generators are mostly carburetor-based fuel-air inlet systems unlike some that use fuel injectors and air suction systems. The function of the carburetor is to allow air-fuel mixture at the required ratio into the inlet manifold of the combustion chamber. The principle of operation of carburetors is the same for both four-stroke engines and two-stroke engines.
When in good working condition, the carburetor can make the generator function effectively in terms of starting the generator and increasing or lowering its power output. It is the main controlling part of petrol generators such that their defect will also impact greatly on the engine performance.
Because the petrol generators use an internal combustion engine for power, the operation of the generator engine has similarities to that of car engines, although some car engines do use fuel injectors there are some that were made earlier with carburetors.
Carburetors seem to be seen more easily in two-stroke engines than in the four-stroke.
Though there are many factors as to Why High-Starting Occurs In Electric power Generator Engines, the temporary high-starting do experience after leaving the fuel tank unlocked for a long time.
This improper operational practice allows a higher inflow of fuel into the carburetor thereby, causing the carburetor to spend some time trying to absorb the equivalent air ratio needed to ignite the engine during the ignition period.
This leads to high-starting as the expelling of some of the trapped excess fuel to allow enough oxygen from the air into the manifold to make the right air-fuel mixture ratio will take the carburetor some time to achieve.
In other to understand the above explanation better on Why High-Starting occurs in Electric power Generator Engines, you need to know how the engine carburetor works.
HOW THE IC ENGINE CARBURETOR WORKS
To take the lead in knowing Why High-Starting occurs in electric power Generator Engines, then there is a need to study the engine carburetors and how they work.
A typical carburetor used in petrol generators has a throttling lever bearing a circular metallic plate that acts as a valve in the opening and closing of the air-inlet in the carburetor. The diameter of the circular plate is proportional to the diameter of the cylindrical hole that exists across the longitudinal axis of the carburetor.
At the base of the carburetor is a small detachable cup that carries a small quantity of petrol in it. The cup bears a unit that enables the fuel in it to go out in equal and steady flow regulation. It is the place where the fuel goes directly into the inner part of the engine.
During the engine operation, the carburetor lever will be at the position that allows for maximum airflow into it, at that position, the fuel outlet unit of the carburetor located above the small cup at its base will also be open to allow for maximum flow of the fuel from the cup.
In the process of the fuel coming out from the carburetor, the fuel will be atomized because the little volume of it will be pressured to pass through a nozzle.
When the atomized fuel is out it will meet the air sucked into the carburetor as a result of the engine piston’s reciprocating motion and both of them will go into the combustion chamber together.
While there is a suction force dragging the air-fuel combination, another cycle of similar action will be repeated with an equal mixture ratio. The above operations of the carburetor reveal to you why High-Starting occurs in Electric power Generator Engines.
What Happens When IC Engine Carburetor Becomes Faulty?
Whenever a carburetor becomes faulty the following may have happened to the working process;
The air-fuel mixture may have been altered leading to high-starting or lack of power output control.
The fuel outlet nozzle below the cup may have been clogged by dirt, which is a common problem if your generator fuel filter is not good or when you regularly allow the fuel in your generator to finish completely leading the generator to turn itself off regularly.
Another unnoticeable problem is when the fuel pressurizing round plastic tube inside the carburetor cup has become stiff and would be able to force enough volume of fuel out, which will decrease the fuel volume against the air volume, hence the engine wouldn’t be able to start.
Though there are other issues related to carburetor problems, these ones are common. From the above, you can now see that carburetor plays a vital role in why High-Starting occurs in Electric power Generator Engines.
THE EFFECT OF LEAVING THE FUEL TANK UNLOCKED
The effect of this action is Why High-Starting occurs in Electric power Generator Engines. The fuel tank of every petrol generator has a lock below it at the location where the fuel exits from the tank to pass through the rubber hose attached to the lock into the carburetor.
After using any type of electric power generator, the operator is expected to lock the fuel tank valve below the fuel tank to stop the flow of fuel when the generator is not in use, otherwise, the generator can develop high-starting problems in the next ignition period.
Conclusion
Besides the high-starting problem that an unlocked fuel tank valve can cause in the electric power generator engine which is one of the major reasons why High-Starting occurs in Electric power Generator Engines.
Some technicians believed that when the fuel flows into the carburetor while the engine is off, it will create undue pressure on the carburetor leading to gradual vaporizations of the fuel as it leaves the fuel tank into the carburetor and escapes into the air.
And when the engine is left unused for a long time, the fuel in the tank may be lost completely through the vaporization.
