Most people think their battery is powering all things electrical in their vehicle, be it their headlights or radio. The car alternator produces most of your vehicle’s electricity — the battery is used to start the vehicle and provide power when the engine is not running. The alternator is a crucial component of a car’s charging system, so it is useful to understand how it operates in case you must deal with your vehicle not starting.

What is a 48v alternator?

A 48V alternator is a generator with a fixed output of 48volts DC aiming to power 48-volt devices, not battery charging directly. All vehicles with a standard interior combustion engine will have an alternator outside some hybrid models. The alternator is set up in front of the engine and has a belt.

Parts of a 48v alternator

The parts of a 48v alternator are geared toward providing the right type and volume of power to the vehicle. The car’s charging system carries many parts, but these are the main parts and their functions:

• Voltage regulator

This part oversees the power the alternator makes. It monitors the voltage output to the battery and transfers power to the rest of the vehicle.

• Rotor and stator

The rotor and stator are the electricity-producing parts of an alternator. The rotor, a cylindrical piece surrounded by magnets, spins inside the stator, holding a fixed array of conductive copper wiring. The motion of the magnets over the wiring is what creates electricity.

• Diode rectifier

This part converts the voltage from the alternator into a shape that the battery can use to recharge.

• Cooling fan

Alternators give off much heat and require to be cooled to operate efficiently. While they are built with aluminum and vents casing to better release heat, they are also equipped with rotating fans for added cooling. New alternator models have interior cooling fans, whereas older versions tend to have exterior fan blades.

How does a 48v alternator operate?

As we know, the alternator provides the car or device with plenty of electricity that helps recharge the battery. But to do that, the alternator must first convert mechanical energy into electricity.

How does the alternator produce electricity

The process of producing electricity starts with the engine. In most recent vehicles, alternators are operated by the engine’s crankshaft through a serpentine belt. However, old-fashioned vehicles may have a different pulley going from the crankshaft to the alternator. The belt’s mechanical energy movement spins the alternator’s rotor at high speed within the stator.

Electricity is produced as the rotor spins. The magnets surrounding the rotor are deliberately fixed so that a magnetic field is created as they progress over the copper wiring in the stator. This magnetic field, in turn, produces a voltage captured by the stator. This power then gets to the voltage regulator, which distributes electricity to the vehicle and handles the amount of voltage the battery receives.

Innotec’s DC Generators are designed according to the battery bank size for battery charging applications. One of the most popular battery bank sizes for mobile equipment is the 48V DC bank. This size DC battery bank doesn’t require a constant 48 Volt Charging voltage but involves a range of charging voltage based on the features of the battery bank.