I did a search and did not find anything specific to this topic.
So Im going to ask the question, are any of you that use a needle valve water drip having inconsistency issues?
I have tried a couple different valves and have had the same issue. I set it, generator runs great!! Then generator not running so great. Check water drip, ah ha!! bone dry, open it up some more. Generator runs great again and then not so great and reset the water drip again.
Im not sure what the physics is behind this, but Im thinking all that is needed is a slight amount of pressure in the tank or a pulsing pressure. A very simple way to do that is to use a pcv valve inline from the carburetor to the tank. I am going to try this first, if that dont work I have a small diaphragm fuel pump with bypass but using it pump air. Ill use the engine pulse to drive it and hopefully it will produce enough pressure in the tank to overcome this obstacle. If that dont work then Ill use it to drive the water out of the tank into the valve. The bypass will then just dump back to tank just the same as if it was set up to pump fuel.
Curious to know if others are encountering this and what was done to combat this issue.
Hi Matt
why not pressurize the water tank with the exhaust gases?
I have been thinking for some time about a way to pressurize the steam in a nozzle
Thierry
I think it would get too hot and complicate things as the hose would be expensive ss flex hose. Verses off the shelf rubber line. But we wont know unless we try right? So that is just my initial thoughts, that does not mean it would not work though.
But yes I think the key is forced steam injection with as much oxygen as you can get into the process to sustain the higher input of the steam. I think we can push this to much much higher limits, the technology is plenty capable.
Matt,
I think Bruce Southerland used some sort of misting pump to add water to his MGB. I tried water in a hair spray pump bottle once, pumping it and spraying into the air intake of the Simple fire using a pipe nipple for a nozzle. The engine really took off once the gas got to it. I have experienced then same thing as you with the slowing water drip. I wonder if as the depth of the water column above the valve decreases, the pressure decreases resulting in the slower drip.
hmm my system is set up just the opposite. My valve is mounted at the tank. So the column is after it. I was thinking maybe as the water leaves the valve and a new drop is formed there is some sort of surface tension that it can not overcome?
Try a small amount of dishwashing liquid detergent.
Know a fireman? What do they use for a surfactant?
Home fish tanks are terrible for this too. I gave up on the tubing and air bubbler water mineral scale built issues. No more home fish tanks.
Ha! Then the continuous problem in the auto shops with windshield washer scale, scum and minerals clogging. White vinegar to clean. Smell and paints wax stripping; so we could not add continuously.
You, maybe?
S.U.
I have a wonder now when you talk about water injection, on the Källe unit they took the exhaust gases from the engine to cool and get better gas, is it as efficient as water?
Charcoal guys! Don’t forget about Max’s idea about an old style float ball carb with adjustable nozzle on the air inlet. Did anyone ever end up trying that kind of setup? I like that idea because it would be pretty much self regulating.
I put a filter on the supply line, pump through a misting orifice to supply back pressure for the pump and control the mist rate from the driver’s seat with a pulse width modulator (PWM). The total cost is under $20.
For drip systems, Koen is right. The key to consistent drip is the head pressure. Most garden drip systems recommend at least a yard/meter of height.
Haven’t totally thought this through but if you are feeding drip water into a port in the air feed nozzle you are creating a vacuum with that sucked in air. would that be enough pressure to pull a small amount of water out of a container. I have high calcium content in my water. I’m sure that when I get more into this process I’ll have to add vinegar or some acid into the feed water to stop the needle valve from clogging. SteveU’s suggestion about the dish soap is good. It makes water slipperier. Use it all the time in garden sprayers.
Nice I have a very similar pump like that somewhere. Yeah somewhere lol. Yeah Im going to try the simpler possible solutions first. I think just pulsing the tank with engine maybe enough to keep things flowing. I wonder if the pulse at the hopper would sufficient. That would make life easier.
Right on thanks for the suggestion. I will for sure find that pump and that will what Ill use to pressurize the fuel pump injector.
I have not really used water drips much in my systems but have played with a number of ways to regulate the water drip , its a lot harder to get a accurate amount if the water drip pipe has any influence from the pulsing suction of the engine , so i have done it this way .
I have a regulated in line drip needle valve that i feed water into and set it for x amounts per second that gravity drips through the air and is collected by a funnel type collector that has a copper tube that then runs into the horizontal air feed tube/ nozzle so the suction of the nozzle has no effect on the water drip ,
I also have a EGR copper pipe that feeds into the bottom of my vertical nozzle gasifier just after the pipe comes from the silencer i made a angled 3/16 hole and slid a small copper pipe into the downstream of the exhaust gasses and used a funnel arrangement on the other end and again inline needle valved drip water into the pipe and that heated the water up to steam and up into the nozzle .
Dave
Very cool, I was thinking along the same lines like the guys doing the oil drip for the oil burners. Some sort of open sight arrangement sort like you are doing with the funnel.
Yeah next trick up my sleeve is I will be using the aluminum Amteck blower I have and setting it up to electrically super charge the generator this week. Just created the CAD parts to cut out on the CNC this week. It will be plugged into the generator with a speed control. So it wont spool up until the generator is running and producing power. This will be interesting
