Automatic Voltage Regulator – What Is It For?

As seen in the picture above, it is an alternator which is coupled to the engine which forms a generator. It is a piece of electronic circuit board that is usually located within the alternator itself. The main fuction of an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) is to ensure that the voltage which is churned out by the generator is always 240V single phase and/or 415V 3-phase in Malaysian standards. Check out our backup generator if you need one.

This component is important to reduce the risk of electronics burning out due to spike of voltages which the generator can create once in awhile. You may wonder, the generator spins or tries to spin at 1500 RPM to generate 50Hz. However, what if the user tend to turn on 5 air conditioners at the same time? That’s where there would be a voltage drop and spike because the generator’s engines will try to compensate the load by working harder. As a result of the engines revving up and down, the voltage would naturally turn up and down too. Therefore the AVR’s job is to ensure that the voltage remains at 240V single phase and 415V 3-phase. This is usually the case for generator rental during events.

You may then ask, is it that the voltage will stay at 230V and 415V for FREE despite the change in engine RPM (Revolution Per Minute)? Of course there is a price to pay for the voltage to maintain at such levels. Remember Power equals Current multiplied by Voltage. For the voltage to remain constant, power or current will have to drop. That’s why you see lights flickering when the load is suddenly increased simply because of the power drop and current drop. At least your equipments will not be permanently damaged by voltage spikes.

If you happen to need a generator, contact us so we can give you advice or email us at genset@gensetmalaysia.com

Call : +6016 2123833