Thrive Off Grid

You can run those blue shop towels through the washing machine at least once and reuse them.
Don’t ask how I know this

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Glad if that was any help. One of those commercial towel rolls would have a lot of filtration capacity.

I like the approach of not reinventing the wheel unless necessary. A towel dispenser is a fairly well built machine, but for practical purposes as long as the towel rolls are contained in an airtight housing with the system, and there’s a drag on the clean roll, and a way to advance the uptake roll, that’s all that’s needed.

Yup I think it would work well. The filter will work better as it dirties and once it gets to a desired point it can then be maintained via presure switches. Thanks for the idea I will try and source a roll of this stuff here soon. Cheers

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Been busy modeling this new filter. I designed this so that it will adapt to the FlexR1/Utility machines with a specific designed collection tank. The cooler will also need redesign for it all to fit and I will most likely design the cooler into this filter on the side. It will most likely get liquid cooling and share the shell of the filter.

From what I learned from the proto, I think this filter will be limited to the single and twin cylinder engines. Going bigger is going to require this to be larger or another one added as this type of filter is very restrictive. However, playing with different media filters may change this. If this works this changes a lot of things and will open up some new possibilities. Im probably going to add the cooler before I build so it is already built and can be added on to next development gasifier systems.

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Well I got a new product coming out, its a rocket stove mass heater. It runs on pellets but could run on other fuels. All gravity fed no electric needed and runs stable at 360* just a tiny little thing. Hopper is 4" round and stands just 10" tall. Im going to build an add on expansion hopper for it soon. I had a customer ask me to modify the rocket cook stove and this happened :fire:

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Too funny tonight of all nights to post this. I have been thinking about a rocket stove with a coil for a water heater. It seems like it might be a good match as they make quick heat for a short burn. I need to do something here I am thinking solar would be good but I want a backup for days when the sun isn’t out. Besides in the winter it would be helpful to have a stove in the basement to help keep the pipes from freezing on cold nights.

Your stove look cool I am sure you will quickly get requests for longer burn times that seems to be one of the claims to fame of any pellet system.

Yup Im going to try and build the expansion hopper to hold a full 40 lb bag. It should get around 10 hours burn time. You do need to shake the grate periodically though to keep temps up above 300* other than that its quite stable and for those that would want a pellet stove but with out the need for electric this little guy is it. Yeah you could easily adapt a coil to it.

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Here is the final revision / production model. This one is mine, so far as tested this little machine produces 27,358.5 BTU/hrs. Pretty impressive for such a tiny little thing. I have to figure out the efficiency yet, not sure how you figure that out. Right now the machine is just getting up to temp, not fully there yet. Flew temp going out the chimney is 123* ( I can hold on to it with my hand with out issue) and the intake manifold around the fire pot is around 520* Im sure the fire pot is hotter than this. but if I use that its roughly 80% efficiency?

In one of the pics is a close up of the secondary burn chamber and other close up is the burn pot. There is a third stage burn system built into the heat exchanger stack, this is however designed for a blower input for a venturi draft. Need to test this yet but this stove could easily get to 500* at the heat exchanger.

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The machine is fully up to temp and the highest readings I get around the burn chamber are 850* and the chimney flew temps going out are 150*. So thats around 82…2% efficient if Im figuring that out correctly.

The top of the heat exchanger fluxuates from around 360 to around 410. I can get it hotter if I artificially draft it.

Here is the CAD model with the expanded hopper. Im out of steel so it will have to wait until I order more.

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You could probably get hotter temps by insulating the burn chamber but the steel wouldn’t like it. Looks like a good design.
Fred

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Well I slacked off today and managed to find enough scrap to build that expansion hopper. It looks huge on that little machine. Still blows me away that this little stove produces as much BTU as my full size pellet stove with out forced air and is probably more efficient.

I think I will need to offer an updated stand if the expansion hopper is desired. Its a little tipsy so Ill just build a wider stand for it.

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Well almost nearly caught up for the first time in five years!!! Now we have some big orders on the way and new development that is now finally in the works.

So yeah today, I got this shiny new Kohler liquid cooled twin along with the generator head. This guy is going to run on belt system giving us the advantage of ramping up RPM’s without needing to go all the way up to 3600 rpms. This will run somewhere in the 2500 / 2600 rpm range and should be a good comfortable speed for the engine to run at. This wil also bump up the combined heat portion as the pump will run at higher output. This is all going on the Evolution Series II unit that will feature the stackable Schneider Electric charger inverter. Ive had a lot of communication with them over this inverter and the coolest feature is its pass through capability. It beyond the means of this generator and if batteries are not desired you can bypass them in pass through mode. However, the inverter does need at least a single bank. No big deal the machine needs batteries anyways, so two onboard 24 volt batteries will give the machine plenty of start up power and some standby power when the machine is down for servicing. So its a win win with this inverter. Looking forward to building this one, it will also get full automation, this is something Ive been wanting to get out of development for a while. So this thing will be very easy to run, simply push one button and it will autostart on its own. No lighting the machine, no turning valves, no turning on the blower, no engine starting will be required by the user. The usability of this machine will surpass your typical gasoline generator.

I like Predators but I like my Kohlers better haha :fire:

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Very cool.
Do you suppose we can get a video from start up?

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Oh you bet Ill be doing video of this one. I will most likely be doing a lot of videos on it. We have until September for delivery and its already mostly complete. This was a sold machine that we resold but are now upgrading it to the Series II package. So it should come together very fast and Ill will run the shop with it when we have fuel to run. I think this machine will be the most advanced machine of its kind anywhere, at least until we get the next version complete with the dual reactors set up and micron regen filter system.

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So I got the drive gear, yeah I aint playing around with v belts anymore, gear belts = no slippy.

If my math is right; the engine pulley is a 48 tooth and on the gen side its a 30 tooth. So if Im calculating correctly @ 3600 RPMs on the gen, the engine should be running around 2250 rpms. So thats a bit more modest but should give us a boost in performance and added stability.

The first 2017 Utility Series 4 the successor of the Flex R1 / Micro S4 units. They are bit more refined this year, with a heavier duty chassis, higher output blower, slimmer hearth design and a better sealing system on all doors and lids. We got these machines down to just two weeks manufacturing time. this is down from nearly 12 weeks or even longer before.

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Hi matt thats the unit i like lots of extra stability and reserve power, I wont be buying generators on songs, but i have a 24v leese niville military 5600 continous that i hope too get working some time sooner or later, i was thinking of makeing a mig welder out of it since its in the proper voltage range prox.?

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Hi Matt,
Yes the tooth belts are the way to go, in 2 directions;
if running a 1500 Rpm genset for 50 hz or 1800 RPM for 60 hz, then i use the toothbelt to bring the engine to its best performing RPM / highest torque point or whatever reason i might have…
The engine runs more efficient ( my observation ) depending the origin of course…

second, having a “gearing” means that controlling the RPM is different then a straight shaft connection. In your case is more sensitive since a slight fluctuation in engine rpm does make a bigger Hz jump.

More about your pellet thinking: supporting you with some “silly” argument :grin:
using all waste from forrest debris, cause of major wildfires, turning that into pellets on the run thru the forrest or any other occasion, using those pellets as gasifier fuel…
That makes it the most economic fuel ever…

picture yourself a tractor/lawn mower, cleaning all that material out of the way during a drive thru, turning that material into pellets at the same time…

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Yup thats one of things we are looking for, making this more renewable, while using other waste.

On the frequency changes on this particular machine it shouldn’t be too big an issue as this only directs power to the inverter charger and they can handle a considerable fluctuation. If it gets beyond the parameters the inverter will just switch off the input power. They are really pretty cool how they work, if for instance the gasifier is having trouble and the engine can not produce power. The inverter will drop the load and let the engine rev back up and stable and then apply load again. This is the way go for stationary power, at least in my opinion.

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I agree on the inverter use. Why the schneider Matt? I’m a fan of the magnums myself. Outback’s would have been my second choice. Just curious. I have not followed the schneiders since they absorbed xantrex. We dont see them much these days. The sw was a solid machine in its day.
Best regards, David Baillie

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I love the idea from the inverter charger. I am using something not as keen, but it works for the “solar” set.
first i rectify the output from a generator, then i use the solar inverter to drive a pump… on 3 phase.
If the output load is to much, it just slows down the frequency output for the pump or shuts down if i want to.
This made it possible to use a larger genset, at lower rpm, to do the work. and if the sun shines, no need to start the genset, the solar panels provide…
This will become a next generation system for those who are feeding into the grid… even at night you can feed in, for example if you are making heat for the house ? So all the "waste energy, will be fed into the grid, the rest will be own consumption…

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