The main reason mission critical emergency back up power consumers select active diesel particulate filter technology is reliability.
In mission critical settings, knowing that the filter maintains itself in a clean state so that the engine can accept the full rated demand load without restriction from the after treatment system provides significant peace of mind.
Active systems are typically electronically controlled with a dedicated programmable logic computer(PLC) that analyzes and controls the operation and performance of the after-treatment device.
An active system will typically monitor the system exhaust back pressure and modify its self cleaning strategy to ensure that the full load capability of the engine is always maintained. Directly heating the soot is the most efficient manner of accomplishing this, but indirect heating solutions that heat the entire exhaust flow of the engine are also available on the market today.