You can see the output existing from each kind of generator in the chart on the right. Air Conditioning Alternators Picture: A generator is a generator that produces AC (alternating current) rather of DC (direct current). Here we can see a mechanic removing the alternator from an outboard motor boat engine.
What if you want to generate alternating present (AC) rather of direct current? Then you need an alternator, which is simply an a/c generator. diy electric generator of generator is like a DC generator without a commutator. As the coil or magnets spin past one another, the present naturally rises, falls, and reverses, providing an AC output.
Generators are mainly utilized for producing electrical energy from automobile engines. Cars and trucks use alternators, driven by their fuel engines, which charge up their batteries as they drive along (the air conditioner current is transformed to DC by diodes or rectifier circuits). Generators in the real life Picture: The generator on a wind turbine sits just behind the rotor blades.
Picture by Joe Smith courtesy of NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory). Generating electrical power sounds simpleand it is. The tough thing is that you need to put in a huge amount of physical effort to create even small quantities of power. You'll know this if you have a bike with dynamo lights powered from the wheels: you have to pedal rather harder to make the lights glowand that's just to produce the tiny quantity of electrical energy you need to power a number of torch bulbs.
At the opposite extreme, in real power plants, massive electricity generators are powered by steam turbines. These are a bit like spinning props or windmills driven using steam. The steam is made by boiling water using energy launched from burning coal, oil, or some other fuel. (Note how the conservation of energy applies here too.
The energy that powers the turbine comes from the fuel. And the fuelif it's coal or oiloriginally came from plants powered by the Sun's energy. The point is easy: energy always has to come from somewhere.) How much power does a generator make? Generators are ranked in watts (a measurement of power that suggests how much energy is made each second).