Vulcan Gasifier

Hey Mike, I’m 10 miles from Holland State Park. We can chase seagulls right next to Lake Michigan with the AMC Eagle. The tires are getting bald enough to make good dune climbers.

Sounds like the wine…

Jeff

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I first run into these a couple of years back and recognized they would be a good match for wood gas.

Would you believe they are intended to be bolt into the truck of an electric car ha ha…

In a nutshell its a PM alternator so you control the voltage and power output by changing the engine rpm.

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Where did you find that?

Hello Wallace; I’m with Avid. Where do you get these? I start my wg truck using a Kirby vacuum cleaner. I have a long cord mounted in the truck so I can just drive out of the garage and still plug into an out let in the garage. I am looking for a generator that is below 1 KW to use to run the Kirby when away from a electric plug. I missed one on Craigs list last week and oldy but for $100 it would have worked fine. Those neat little Honda suit case like ones are upwards of $500. TomC

Kinda’ pricey with shipping…

How about a HF 2-cycle suitcase??

http://www.harborfreight.com/900-peak800-running-watts-2-hp-63cc-generator-epacarb-69381.html

I have one of the little 800 watt 2 cycle Carl mention above . I use it for running electric tools when out in the field . Handy as a shirt pocket !!

Great. I use to pick up the 5kw and put it in the pick up for those jobs, I was young once . . .

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THANK YOU!!! That is exactly what I had in mind and the price is respectable or should I say great. And it is good that you two have used it and know that they work. I’ve bought a lot of bargain in my life that didn’t turn out to be such great bargainsTomC

Really a “shirt pocket”??? love it!!

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Hey MattR
Nice systems. Nice evolution. Nice KISS it!
Not promoted is your adding in of the long cranking duty capable Hitachi motor/generator as the system starter.
Yep. I noticed right off.

Wallace you are correct. Permanent magnet direct current chargers DO have to be RPM controlled for both output voltage range and amperages. As DC into batteries not as voltage/rpm picky as AC cycles for precis RPM Nazi-lock. Still real easy to voltage cook things with over-system RPM with a PM charger. Danger Will Robinson. A few watts into a wound magnetic field magnet is what gives you the finite RPM-broad-range, control capability.
Regards
Steve Unruh

Thanks Steve, yeah this is going to be test bed for a while. Is the generator portion of this worth trying, Ive wondered if this generator could potentially just replace the Alt if it is as efficient. Any thoughts on that?

Well here is our new exheat heat to fuel dryer system we’ve fully developed, This comes as you see it; bricks not included :smile:

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Matt,

Be careful. If you are doing what I think you are, relative humidity will make the fuel WETTER until you hit 160F throughout the mass.

Stephen

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I think you are right on that.

I just took some temp readings and it is just above 160 at the top and cools as the exhaust stream goes down. When I take fuel out of it, the fuel at the bottom is soaking wet as you stated. I just take whats on top and keep replenishing. But is something that could be made better. Simple shell with insulation with a removable bin.

Not going to help. Put a heat exchanger between the engine and the fuel hopper. Heat the outdoor air and blow that through the chips. Then everything will only get drier.

Hey MattR
The generator portion on one of these golfcart Hitatchi’s and the US Delco Remy equivalent are very low output. Say 10-20 amps for a 12 volt system. As enclosed, non-air flow cooled they have to be.
As stationary wound field, segmented commutator with all output amps out through the brushes, DC generators these need a min two unit regulator control. One control portion to cut-in and cut-out the armature from barttry connection to prevent battery reverse current draining at zero RPM. The second control unit portion as the actual system voltage detecting magnetic field supply control.
And if the unit was ever hooked up to try and charge a big battery, or oversized bank, these types of non-smart generators will just keep cranking out the amps, overheat, and melt out their commutators solder, or, heat cook their armature winding’s insulation. Why the good generator unit regulators back-in-the-day used an added in a third control section to limit allowable amperage output.
Just all old generator experience/knowledge, now obsolete.
One of my more frustrating experiences was a couple of years ago trying to walk a fellow on another DIY power forum to get his to work right to safely long term generate.
It starts with understanding “A” circuit (old GM, Chrysler, R.Bosch some Japanese) versus “B” circuit (Ford, Lucas and other Japanese) field controls and goes on from there.

So . . . possible for your on-board starting battery. But cost you an added-in $$ control regulator. Wiring in at least three more reg/control to generator circuits. Then in-field with system aging troubles writing a diag./repair manual.
Lot of work/sweat /risks for those few watts.
Anymore; on an in-some-way will be AC power system anyway, I say just get a plug-in battery charger and go see-do simple. Then, if/when that charger dies - replace that. Then that charger availble for other systems battery charging. ATV’s. Motorcycles. Boats. RV’s. Tractors.

Regards
Steve Unruh

Tom and Arvid:

There are several companies that make these PM generator.
I did not keep any information on them because I wanted something for RV use ( as a product to resell and there was no option for 24 or 12 volt ).
But its a PM unit slow it down and the voltage drops ( Could manage 24vdc but 12 is a stretch ).
I could rewind one but that is a lot of effort for something I can not sell.

There was a parts seller On Alibaba that sold theses, maybe you could just buy the head less the engine.
BUT shipping is a killer unless you ca fill a large order.
You also have to haggle with the Chinese for a price.
The shipping is just like Ebay now and the main point they try to screw you on.

I buy most of my heavy things from a fellow In Thailand because he gets me better deals.

A Honda Inverter generator would probably be a good place to start if you want to make something like this.
The electronics fry but you can salvage the generator parts.

SteveUnruh:

I agree with you about the fine voltage and current regulation of a Powered field.
But you can get the same thing with a charge controller that limits engine RPM.

A generator is a funny creature,
It does not know when to stop, thats why they added the current limiting section ( to protect it from itself trying to supply more amps than the windings can handle in an overload condition ).
An alternator is somewhat self limiting in current, but this comes at the price or a wider range in field current VS load requirements ( to overcome the synchronous reactance of the stator coils ).
There is also the rectifier section of the alternator that replaces the low voltage cut out on the generator regulator.
This is why Generator regulators are larger with 3 sections and Alternators have only 1 ( voltage control excluding the rectifier bridge )

In booth cases you need to put power into a field.
In both cases you have a narrow window where the magnetic core density and RPM are right for the most efficient conversion of mechanical power to electricity.
Once you are outside these windows small alternators and DC machines see their efficiency drop bellow 50%

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Ok I just threw another iron in the fire! The little generator with the M-1 we built is going to be our test bed for a lot of new development I have been planning for this summer.

One of the items on the list is turboing the system. However, not a traditional setup or even to create any boost at all. The plan here is to eliminate vacuum pressure in the gasifier system. This will be Arduino controlled. There is a number of reasons for this, one is to make condensing moisture more efficient and the other is simply alleviating the engine from pulling a vacuum. This will also be for more advanced stuff, Ive really been interested in the fischer / tropsch process and also the Sabatier reaction. So hope to get to tinker with this too.

Here is the little turbo I have on order;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171240615758?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

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So are you going to use the boost side to pull the vacuum on the gasifier and “push” syngas to the engine?

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