Wood Gasification

[evolvingape]

What frequency do you think is possible with drips of water?

In the tests I have run with a single fast dripping water stream (not a continuous unbroken stream as that transmits charge as in electrode boilers) I consume about 1 liter / minute maximum. The water can be used as long as it is falling and so multiple charge inducer rings are possible from the same single drip source. I am currently experimenting with multiple ring stacks wired in series and parallel to boost the current in the spark.

The particular video I linked to is the easiest and cheapest to replicate and works! So should be no problem generating a spark for no money.

If we take an example turbine that runs on 1 litre / second, then it should be possible to multiply out the Kelvin generators until the input they require equals the output from the turbine exhaust. So in this example, 60 Kelvin generators would equal our flow rate of 60 liters / minute from the turbine exhaust.

If we then convert liters to Gallons per minute by multiplying by 4.54 (UK gallon) or 3.79 (US Gallon), I am going to use the UK Gallon.

So 60 liters / minute = 13.2 imperial gallon / minute.

The smallest model of Pulsometer put out 10 GPM at a head suitable for running a Turgo turbine, therefore if we multiply out our Kelvin generators to match the fluid exhaust from the turbine:

4.54 Kelvin generators @ 1 liter per minute ea / Gallon

13.2 Gallons per minute x 4.54 = 60 Kelvin Generators.

So if your turbine has a through rate of fluid at 13.2 GPM you will be able to run approximately 60 Kelvin Generators, with the number of inducer rings a variable depending on height the water is allowed to drop in the gravitational field.

In this example it would probably be best to use a single Kelvin generator structure with positive and negative ring stacks, and just build it big. Control the flow rate by how many tiny holes you drill, so for this calculation you could run 60 individual drip streams for the generator (that is 30 per ring stack, as my 1 liter / min consumption rate was for both stacks of a complete generator). It would be an easy way to balance the system, keep drilling one hole at a time until the turbine output and Kelvin input balance. You will know this when your reservoir height remains constant.

The frequency of the sparks generated will depend on how long it takes your generator to recharge between discharges, I have observed a frequency of as little as 4 seconds between sparks, and also much longer durations between sparks with the same generator. Preventing electrostatic leakage is very important to your spark discharge energy and recharge time between sparks.

RM

[FuzzyTomCat]

Hi Glen,

I recently purchased a new countryside homestead where I plan to do some farming, and I also picked up a 1950 Ferguson tractor in great condition. I plan to set up the tractor to run on woodgas, and will use the tractor for several purposes. Right now I'm using it just to plow snow in my driveway , but will be plowing a garden plot this spring. I also want to use the tractor to mow the 2 acre field my house sits on, and to harvest wood from my 20 acre woodlot. With a woodchipper attachment operated from the tractor's power take-off, I figure that I could produce all the chips that I would ever need not only to fuel the tractor, but also to produce abundant heat and hot water, while at the same time allowing me to drive a generator. So, I'll definitely be doing some homework on woodgas technology. By the way, the new home is a passive solar heated one, and I'm amazed at how efficient it already is. On a day like yesterday, when the temperature outside never went over 10 degrees, I was able to shut off all supplemental heat by 9:30 in the morning, and by 10:00AM actually had to start cracking some windows open as the inside temperature had risen to over 75 degrees. Most of the heat comes from the solar attic, which warms up quickly on a clear day. By noon time the attic temperature was 120 degrees F, and at 2:00PM it reached a high for the day of 143 degrees. A fan comes on when the attic temperature reaches 85 degrees and circulates the attic air down and through a hollowed masonry wall which continues to radiate heat well after sundown, so I don't have to switch any supplemental heat back on until 2 to 3 hours later, when the attic temperature drops below 85 again. Currently the home uses electric baseboard heat in the evenings, and I thought that would be expensive, but my electric bill for the past 30 day was under $100, and everything in this house runs on electric. With just a few renewable energy enhancements I should be able to live entirely off grid next winter. I expect woodgas to play a major role in that.

Rick

Hi Rick,

I'm so glad to hear your working on a older gasoline farm tractor to utilize wood gasification for operation. The FEMA document RR-28 reprinted in July 1989 http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0...ma.woodgas.pdf was a comprehensive effort to give information on "Construction of a Simplified Gas Generator for Fueling a Internal Combustion in a Petroleum Emergency".

The problem being the State and Federal regulations imposed to farmers on the storage of Gasoline it being a hazardous location and costing lots of money for any storage tank installations and little to no regulations for Diesel. So the farmers went to Diesel for there fuel source and Wood gas wont work in a Diesel engine so there went the USA citizens and FEMA back up plan for a Gasoline substitute for our countries food and transportation supply.

As you may know most all food items are shipped in just like most all other consumables we import using large cargo ships. Those cargo ships from port to port ( small example China to the USA, Ecuador to the USA ) some 50,000 minimum running around the globe "DALEY" each using some 500,000 to 1,500,000 gallons of fuel oil ( do the math ) this is where we need to get a handle on the waste of Oil, which we also could make Gasoline with.

I understand each and everyone wanting to do there part in conserving energy and it's cost to you and me the consumer but the bottom line is private citizens spending hard earned money for a personal fuel economy vehicle is a grain of sand compared to the sand dune of waste from imports using "Cargo Ships" to bring anything into our country not to mention jobs we loose ..... and a food source we rely on that's on the store shelf stocked by supplies from other countries while our need or demand grows we become more vulnerable.

We cant ween our need for oil .... there's plastic, transportation from cars, planes, trains, buses and semi trucks but cargo ships we can and should, several a day would conserve "MILLIONS" of gallons of fuel a day.

Best Regards,
Fuzzy

[evolvingape]

Superheated Electrolysis and Adiabatic Compression

Those of you wondering what the purpose of everything I posted in this thread was, I was placing the background info for this:

Superheated Electrolysis and Adiabatic Compression

Have fun!

Rob

[evolvingape]

The diagram of the turbine accumulator heat pump in my article at SeaBirdAdventure is not the most efficient design but allowed me to combine the two major methods of joining hydraulic tees together for strength, showed the heat pump and turbine accumulator systems. I have included a picture at the bottom of what this looks like in real life, the pic is of the baby of the family in 1/8 BSP male and female tees, the detonation chamber is 1/2 BSP fixed female cross, there is a 1/4 NRV, and a 1/2 BSP shut off valve, and adaptors as necessary. Not the final design, I do not have all the bits needed yet, had enough to build it up for a picture for you though.

Fluke 179 is a good bit of kit if you can afford it and comes with a Type K port and temperature capability -40C / 400C which is very handy if you want to take water to its supercritical point of 374C

Multimeter | Fluke 170 Series Digital Multimeters - Fluke 179, 177, 175 multimeters

Type K thermocouples for pressure assemblies, essential for accurate temperature measurements inside a pressurised housing, such as a Superheated Electrolysis Cell. They plug into a multimeter with a port for Type K. See the HHO flame burning under water in post #46 that's what the guy is using to measure the temperature of the water.

http://media.conaxtechnologies.com/m...BulletinLR.pdf

Also in this pdf have a look at the High Performance Electrode Gland ( HEGPK ). This is also for pressure applications and will screw into your detonation chamber fixed female cross. They have a single piece PEEK insulator sleeve to ensure electrical isolation for the electrode. Two of these mounted opposing will give you your electrode gap.

I would love some of these but they are outside the budget so I made my own (see pics) from a 1/2 – 1/8 BSP Male – Male hydraulic adaptor, some 6 mm hydraulic hose with 4 mm bore, a piece of stainless threaded rod M4 and some nuts and nylon washers. The nuts stop the threaded rod from blowing out if the hydraulic hose loses it's grip. I had to really beat it in there with a big hammer, and you can see in the pic how I bent one of the electrodes a bit, oops, but no matter because it works. Only issue I have had with it is static builds up and it stops working after a while, going to look into grounding the body, see if that helps. Works with both piezo ignition from a bbq lighter and the Kelvin generator, but is very temperamental at present, sometimes it just doesn't wanna spark but when it does I get much bigger fatter blue sparks than when the electrodes are sitting on the bench with no housing.

I am looking at a single spark plug port, instead of a double opposed electrode assembly because I do not have a fixed female cross to use. The one in the pic is a 1/2 BSP F/F Tee and proved the concept, but only gives me one port to spark through if I want an inline detonation chamber, which I do, so:

AdvancedSpuds - No Spark Plug - Combustion Spud Guns - Your source for spudgun information!

This community is great and has been developing ignition systems for years, most of them have moved onto either stun guns or cheap disposable flash cameras for more reliable ignition, but I will be sticking with the piezo and Kelvin methods, because that is what I need for this system.

Burst disks for paintball air bottle regulators are 3/8 - 24 tpi thread so an adaptor will fit and come in 4 standard pressure ratings, 1.8k, 3k, 5k, 7.5k, so you have a good range to choose from. Water's supercritical pressure value at 373.946 C is 220.64 bar (3200 psi), no point in going higher pressure than this as it makes no difference to results, so choose your burst disc according to the pressure you are aiming for. Do not push 3000 psi class fittings past 6000 psi as that is the overpressure proof, 3200 psi should be easily attainable and safe. A 5k burst disk is my choice, 1000 psi below the hydrostatic test pressure. Multiple burst disks in parallel increase your flow rate and enhance safety so always a good idea.

Remember that if you keep the pressure value above the temperature value relationship any heat energy you add to the water in AC mode will be specific heat and raise the water temperature, not latent heat energy and cause phase change to steam. You cannot do this if your applied pressure comes from steam because the liquid and vapor must be in balance

And finally here is a great little calculator for relating temperature and pressure to analyse your results, you only get about 5 or 6 free goes without registering:

eFunda: Saturated Steam Tables

and another table for a quick comparison in degrees C:

Free Steam Tables - metric units

Have fun

Rob

[evolvingape]

Spark Plugs

Now let's examine the common internal combustion engine spark plug:

Spark plug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Let's learn some more about them from an alternative source, here is a particularly informative article from 1977:

How you can read spark plugs and select them - by Gordon Jennings.

Here we can see what NGK, the world leader, have to say about their spark plugs:

Cutaway View

NGK Spark Plugs USA

Now let's learn about what the letters mean on the spark plug specification:

Z1 Enterprises, Inc. NGK Spark Plug & Plug Cap Guide

and a double check from NGK, the main manufacturer of spark plugs in the world:

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinf...tnumberkey.pdf

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/docs/RacingSpecs2010.pdf

NGK Spark Plugs USA

So we now know that spark plugs use a metric thread as an international standard, with 14mm being common, so we double check with a spark plug tool manufacturer:

Snap-on Tools

So now what we need to do is find an adaptor that will allow us to fit a standard spark plug into our detonation chamber:

Products

This adaptor for example is 1/2 NPT to 14mm Metric, so if you are using an NPT cross it is a straight conversion.

Here is an interesting page:

Product Catalog

If you are using a BSP cross then a different adaptor is required, check that the metric female part of the adaptor is fixed, and not swivel, so that the spark plug will screw straight in without obstruction. I found this adaptor for 1/2 BSP to 14mm in brass, but hydraulic steel is always better for pressure applications:

Spark Plug Thread Adaptors Brass 1/2" Pipe down to 14mm

Spark Plug Thread Adaptors Brass 1/2" Pipe down to 14mm | eBay

If you wanted to stay with steel hydraulic adaptors then you could use the easily obtainable 1/2 NPT to 14mm spark plug adaptor bush, a 1/2 NPTF fixed female to 3/4 BSP male bush with cone seal adaptor:

Atlas Hiflo - Quality Hydraulic Adaptors - 5BN - BSP MALE X NPT FIXED FEMALE BUSH TO DIN 3852 FORM A

and then use a 1/2" BSPP male x 3/4" BSPP swivel female hydraulic adaptor to connect to your BSPP detonation chamber:

Cotswold Engineering Supplies Online Store – Hydraulic Adaptors – BSPP Male x BSPP Female

Shop around for the adaptor you need for your particular choice of system, places like this may have what you want:

MARYLAND METRICS PRODUCT GUIDE

The one issue you may encounter is BSPP male to BSPP female connections which are both parallel thread, and so could vibrate loose. To prevent this I suggest using head gasket sealant on the fittings and then wire locking the adaptor to the chamber which will keep a secure torque and prevent the fitting unscrewing from vibration. Modify the fitting by drilling a small hole through the hex on the adaptor and on a suitable point on the chamber. This is standard practice on aircraft, I have done it many times and it is safe if done correctly. No problem using parallel threads now

Jet Tech: Lockwire - YouTube

Now you have the ability to fit a highly engineered spark plug with specifications of your choice, at a cheap mass produced price. The added advantage is that if you use a fixed female hydraulic cross to mount your detonation chamber your spark plug will only occupy one port, there will be another port directly opposite that can be used to direct a jet of cold air from the vortex tube to spot cool the spark plug between detonation cycles, keeping the temperature below 500 C to prevent auto ignition of Hydrogen.

RM

[evolvingape]

Brass Spark Plug Adaptor Suitability

I was doing some checking around on the suitability of the brass spark plug adaptor for this application and came across this quote in a forum from an old boy:

1/2 NPT Spark Plugs - SmokStak

Phillip Hutchinson

"why don't you do what i do ,i make an adaptor out of a piece of brass hex,you cut a 1/2 " bsp thread on the out side and bore and thread the inside to 14 mm.Then all you need to do is to pick up a plug in any supermarket so to speak,i have a number of engines with this mod employed and they run with out a problem.
Regards Phillip"

Gotta love the old boys, fountains of knowledge they are!

So the brass adaptor for BSP detonation chambers should work fine, only one way to find out, and as my system is based around BSP that is the route I am going, gonna be a while until I have all the parts to test though so if you give this a try let me know how it works out for you. Thanks.

Rob

[Cherryman]

Gasifier with stirling

Hi all,

I follow this guy on youtube now for a while. He started with simple Stirling engines doing actual work!

And now he combined it with a simple gasifier.

So not as advanced as the e-ape designs, but always nice to see working products:

Gasifier cookstove with Stirling engine - YouTube

[evolvingape]

That's great Cherryman!

It shows perfectly how a gasifier can be related to power generation in something other than an ICE!

So the gasifier creates two outputs (the heat from the chamber and also combustible gas) which can be used to generate a steam pressure head in a boiler. The steam is used to run a Pulsometer to turn a turbine, which in turn drives an alternator.

If you want you can then use the electricity produced in a standard electrolysis cell or experiment with the hot off the press superheated electrolysis cell design.

The HHO can then be used in the detonation chamber providing turbine accumulator output, and or, an ambient air heat pump, and recycles the heat from the chamber for your boiler.

This is why all this information is in this thread

Thanks Cherryman, great find!

Rob

[Cherryman]

That's great Cherryman!

It shows perfectly how a gasifier can be related to power generation in something other than an ICE!

So the gasifier creates two outputs (the heat from the chamber and also combustible gas) which can be used to generate a steam pressure head in a boiler. The steam is used to run a Pulsometer to turn a turbine, which in turn drives an alternator.

If you want you can then use the electricity produced in a standard electrolysis cell or experiment with the hot off the press superheated electrolysis cell design.

The HHO can then be used in the detonation chamber providing turbine accumulator output, and or, an ambient air heat pump, and recycles the heat from the chamber for your boiler.

This is why all this information is in this thread

Thanks Cherryman, great find!

Rob

Tnx,

If you liked that one;
There are many out there already, the trick is to combine systems.
Look at this Stirling engine:

Tamera - SolarVillage Testfield 2011 - YouTube

Tamera - SolarVillage Testfield 2011 - YouTube

They have a large Stirling solar engine powering real stuff, a solar "village"

Operating temp as low as 100c to 200c !
Low RPM
1.5kW Electrical output
1.7 kW Mechanical output

It's a low RPM Stirling type engine, operating gas is normal unpressurized air and they use either water or oil as a heat transfer medium.

The beauty is the use of a transfer fluid, so your heat source can be at another place. (Let sun heat the oil when available, let your stove be the source, or your gasifier.. just choose by switching the valve to your best heatsource and your stirling will work away!

Keep up the good work!

[evolvingape]

the trick is to combine systems.

You got it spot on, and hopefully so do a lot of other people

Rob

[evolvingape]

Check this out:

A Process Model for the Production of Hydrogen Using High Temperature Electrolysis.

International Conference on Nuclear Engineering.

http://www.inl.gov/technicalpublicat...ts/3372467.pdf

I did not think I would be able to fit one of these in my garage, and it's a bit complicated, and has rubbish temperatures and pressures, so you got the superheated electrolysis cell instead...



Rob

[evolvingape]

Making your own adaptors

Here is a page that clearly lists the correct spark plug metric taps:

Metric taps fine 0.8mm 1x.25 tap 1.6x.35 mm taps 2x.45 taps 3x.35 3x.5 tap 4x.5 4x.75 taps 5x.5 5x.75 tap 6x.5 6x.75 taps 8x.75 8x1 taps 10x.75 10x1 10x1.25 tap11x.75 11x1.25 taps 12x1 12x1.25 12x1.5 taps 13x1.25 14x1 14x1.5 tap 15x1 15x2 16x1.5 18x1

Metric (mm) x Pitch (tpi)

10 x 1
12 x 1.25
14 x 1.25
18 x 1.5

Tapping drill size chart:

Tapping Drills for Taps-Drills for tapping

BSP Dies:

BSP dies BS Pipe dies BSPF die round split adjustable die British Standard Pipe die for pipe threading BSP die 1/8 BSP die 1/4 BSP dies 3/8BSP die 1/2 BSP dies 5/8 BSP dies 3/4 BSP die 1” BSP die 1.1/4 BSP dies 1.1/2 BSP die 1.3/4 BSP 2” BSP die

BSPT Dies:

BSPT dies BSPT Tapered die BSPT die round split adjustable British Standard Pipe Tapered form die 1/8 BSPT dies 1/4 BSPT dies 3/8 BSPT die 1/2 BSPT dies 3/4 BSPT die 1” BSPT dies 1.1/4 BSPT die 1.1/2 BSPT die 2” BSPT die

NPT Dies:

NPT dies NPTapered dies NPT taper form die round split adjustable NPT National American Pipe Tapered dies 1/8 NPT dies 1/4 NPT dies 3/8 NPT die 1/2 NPT dies 3/4 NPT die 1inch NPT dies 1.1/4 NPT dies 1.1/2 NPT die

Information you need:

International Thread Standards

ISO Metric Fine Thread DIN 13

ISO Metric Fine Thread DIN 13

BSPP

BSPP Whitworth Pipe Thread DIN ISO 228 (DIN 259)

BSPT

BSPT Whitworth Tapered Pipe Thread DIN 2999

NPT

NPT American Taper Pipe Thread ANSI B 1.20.1

NPTF

NPTF American Taper Pipe Thread ANSI B 1.20.3

Now you can take any hydraulic assembly and make the adaptor you need for whatever you want to fit, taps for cutting internal female threads, dies for cutting external male threads.



Then just choose the appropiate brass hexagon bar:

Smiths Metal Centres - Brass Stockholder - Brass Supplier

Smiths Metal Centres Product Catalogue

If you are unsure what size hex bar you need to start with measure a fitting (like a hex nipple) across the flats (spanner size) to find out. Bore (drill) and tap the female (spark plug port) and turn (on a lathe) and thread (with a die) the male. Now you can convert anything to anything

RM

[evolvingape]

How to electroplate

If you want to experiment with electroplating your anode and cathode in your superheated electrolysis cell then you can follow the videos and learn how to do it.

Copper is an excellent conductor and is a good undercoat for Nickel which is very hard wearing and forms a seal. There are reports that Nickel is almost as good as platinum for electrolysis and is much cheaper.

Nickel also forms a good strong layer on stainless steel, so if you are going the BSP pipe route for your electrodes like me, should work pretty well. Will be interesting to compare the results to a standard stainless steel system.

Any voltage DC can be used from 2V to 12V so automatic car chargers are popular, often with a 6V or 12V setting. From what I can gather anything between 4V and 8V is popular.

Some youtube instructables:

How to make Nickel Acetate solution for use in electroplating - YouTube

Nickel Plating, Fast and Easy Way !!! www.beckerindustries.com - YouTube

Easy Nickel And Copper Electroplating Method - YouTube

Copper Electroplating 01 - YouTube

Some information on the technology:

Electroplating

Shor International - General Plating Procedure Instructionsfor Nickel, Gold, Silver and Rhodium

Difference between Nickel plating and Electroless Nickel plating

and some really interesting stuff:

Electrochemistry Encyclopedia – Fuel cells

http://www.topsoe.com/sitecore/shell...006/Sunde.ashx

RM

Superheated Electrolysis and Adiabatic Compression

[kcarring]

@Rob

How is your project going? It's all a bit over my head to be honest.. very complicated, but interesting as heck.

Cheers

[evolvingape]

@Rob

How is your project going? It's all a bit over my head to be honest.. very complicated, but interesting as heck.

Cheers

Hey

Well it depends on how you look at it.

From a certain point of view the project is complete. When I started out all those years ago I had no idea where I was going, or if I would be successful. Because of my background and my interests I pursued turbines and hho cells, which eventually came together in the Hydro Electro Lytic Turbine. My attempt to prototype that was a step too far and I have never really recovered, so it got released 18 months ago now. Quiet isn't it ?

I also arrived at a better understanding of rotary moment and energy conversion principles and released all that too. It was all mixed in with the rotary engines and closed looping the energy stuff. While important, that was kinda a filler while I finished the Linear Firing Valve design. This was a major focus for many years and grew out of the HELT and HRT projects. It is a miniature plasma rocket engine basically.

Once that was finished I tied off a few loose ends and began work on the RotoMax engine, which was actually much simpler than I expected, because the hard work had been done on the LFV. The RotoMax basically takes the principles of fluid dynamics from the De Laval nozzle and turns that linear principle into a rotary principle.

I think this was about the time I got into gasification, which grew out of the Fast Freddy scam last year, because I met Mr Goose. This then allowed me to get familiar with a technology I was only vaguely aware of at that point, it was not really my field. So I did some work on gasifiers for a bit, which was not too difficult because I had developed the Everyman principle of using off the shelf commonly available pipe fittings to design it. The added bonus was that Mr Goose was pushing plasma real hard which was the catalyst to start talking about it, because I had laid the groundwork with HELIS already and just not told anyone. Then i set about finishing the PRotoMax system, which is the basis for a plasma rotary water engine.

Then I thought it was time to introduce the Pulsometer into the mainstream here, as it will be incredibly significant technology soon, once it has been remade with modern improvements. The same principle that the Pulsometer works on, expansion and contraction of a fluid piston due to evaporation and condensation of water (phase change), is the same principle as the HHO heat pump and turbine accumulator works on which brings me onto...

The one system that took the longest, and was the most difficult to design, the fuel processing system. You got this finally a week ago ? something like that. This would never have gotten finished if it was not for Chet's invite to come and have a look at the sonic boiler thread, because this is when I came across electrode boilers. This is why I got so excited about it, I needed it for the Superheated Electrolysis Cell, it was the missing part. When i thought it was as safe as I could make it, you got it. I also then realised that the HELT designed to be a closed system crossover hho pump, would now also work as a steam pump as well, a concept that I had missed, because I lacked AC electrode boiler knowledge. So two bonuses there, and all because the community contributed to that thread. Amazing!

So that's it really, all I had left to do was wrap things up which I did in this thread. I have given up drinking about a month ago, which is also probably why you got the SEC when you did lol, So, from a certain point of view I have finished what I set out to do, invent some usefull stuff and then give it to everyone. Would I do it all again ? Sure I would, no choice. Would I want to do it all again ? No way.

I have taken the last week off mostly, spending time with my much neglected family, which has been nice. Not really made much progress in the workshop, a few things are moving slowly but still waiting on so many parts. You cannot start a full build until you have all the dimensions of the components, made that mistake before! lol

So yeah, on the whole I am happy now it's all over. Just trying to figure out what to do with myself, I do not have the energy to start on electro gravitics, my flying saucer will have to wait a while longer!

Hopefully you will all have picked up lot's of new skills and knowledge that will help you to build things and really be creative. I think it will make a big difference when the people who have built my stuff release the info, like Cherryman says, always nice to see a working prototype!

So probably going to chill for a while, try and keep myself out of trouble, and figure out what I used to do before I did this. No idea.

Rob