Printing isn’t limited to paper. Circuit boards are not printed as well and the move to digital is ever faster. In Power generation, Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR’s) the march to digital is continuing. Mecc Alte, the leading independent supplier of alternators are launching two new digital AVR’s to go with their C-type range. Used in various diesel generators, these devices help to keep the voltage stable.
Digital is a buzzword for better – people sell things on the back of them being digital. Digital cameras have largely eliminated the need for analogue versions as the technology has improve and the costs reduced.
With AVR’s the next leap is here – this one promises to be far superior to previous reincarnations and should deliver tangible benefits to end users, dealers and manufacturers. Diesel generators are used around the world and the AVR’s fitted to them have been around for a long time. The scale of the numbers in use has led to a flood of counterfeit products on the market. Counterfeit AVR’s, like other counterfeit goods fund crime and damage profits for the big multinationals that produce them. They can also damage your goods and cause death or fire.
Digital AVR’s then are to be praised, while this first generation will not be quite as integrated as the next, they will be much harder to copy and its unlikely this will happen in the short term. This will deliver benefits for the manufacturers. For consumers they promise to be more reactive and adjust the voltage faster, therefore giving a more stable stream even under heavy load.
For dealers this development will allow additional monitoring and logging – consumers are often notorious for the abuse of their equipment and this leads to unnecessary costs for dealers. These new AVR’s with their digital circuits will have better logging allowing for analysis of use cases. It will also lead to better system integration and this will bring additional benefits and results. Interfaces have been slow to be taken up in this utility market and new technologies are required to drive efficiency and gains.
Its certain that the march to digital in this field will continue – but it’s clearly for the benefit of all concerned, apart from the counterfeiters who will no doubt fight back in the future.
