Yes the air comes in like a circle on the inside it is open. One big circle nozzle. I still say if you would put a restriction opening 6" below it and size the opening to the size of your engine it would work great. High velocity in the Charcoal as gases passes through equals good gas even if the Charcoal has wood chips or brands in it.
At the restriction open is where the big magic of what we call cracking takes place with very high heat velocities that are stripping the oxygen away.
Bob
5 Likes
Its basically a closed top drizzler. But i think adding a restriction is overkill. I think most our down drafts can run chips at around a 30% mixture. My last run the filter had no tar, none it was only slightly discolored and just wet from moisture. .
4 Likes
From what I understand, this is probably the best for charcoal that has been built in Sweden.
http://runeberg.org/tektid/1942am/0006.html
2 Likes
Yes, Jan, the KĂ€lle gasifier was very innovative, and became popular fast.
Only drawbackâs was a sensitive nozzle construction, but that seemed to be ok, at the time, easy replacement part, easy to get spares.
It also was sensitive for fuel size, there was special KĂ€lle-fuel sold at the time, more expensive, but the benefits payed up for it, easy driving, instant start.
6 Likes
Hereâs something for you Cody, havenât found the âMakoâ book yet.
But here are some interesting, early, charcoal gasifiers, i just let the picâs talk for themselves, feel free to ask i help with translation.
System Graham, side business to Gragas.
Vertical/horizontal grate.
H.S.G Grener (high-speed-gas) British construction, made under license in Sweden.
Side-draft, water-cooled nozzle, water drip, controlled from drivers place.
System SkÀrlund, side-draft, double nozzles.
System Volvo, side-draft, water-cooled nozzle, side mounted grate, mounted in ash-cleanout door.
Many of this constructions disapeared from the market, wich i believe i mostly due to bad charcoal, sold by unscrupulous wood sellers.
Also the designs got to be more foul-proof.
9 Likes
Another thing worth thinking about, charcoal vs wood, in some old books they highly recomend charcoal for vehicles, driving mostly city-traffic, i dont know if this applies today, just thought itâs worth mentioning.
7 Likes
Were they using water drip systems back then? If not that may have changed the game making it more viable for all around usage.
4 Likes
Looks like the British designed one used water drip. Svedlund gasifiers had steam addition packages.
5 Likes
I wonder if making the injection rate adjustable to to varying loads of driving could benefit the system. Back then they didnt have automation. We can do that today.
5 Likes
The British one was controlled from the cabin if the picture leads me to believe that. I think a voltage insensitive water pump powering a mister head would be interesting.
Maybe temp probe that talks to a PWM to power up or down the pump driving mist into the nozzle.
5 Likes
PWM controlled fuel injector. All you need is one of the small boat / RV water pumps. They have built in presure switches and you would not need a whole lot of presure. 3 psi is common on those pumps. My atomizer system would work fine as well; Id just need to control the flow valve. I could use a simple hobby servo or use small stepper motor.
7 Likes
Yes they used water drip in some of the systems, and Svedlunds used steam as Cody says, this Svedlunds steam generator was somewhat self-regulating, more and hotter gas from the gasifier, drawn throught the steam generator/boiler=more steam.
In Svedlund âhandbookâ it says to not use the water/steam supply during seasons with high air humidity.
I think they adapted the idea of steam, and water drip from old stationary, coke-gasifiers, they where used early 1900s, for stationary gas-engines.
6 Likes
Another thing: Svedlunds used an ordinary carb-float bowl, connected to the steam boiler, this was adjustable in height, instruction manual tells: if there are condensation droplets inside the fuel hopper/lid, the water level in boiler should be lowered a little. Old-time automation 
7 Likes
So do you mean a simple knob PWM, or sensor driven PWM?
2 Likes
Sensor / logic controlled. Probably use a MAP sensor to detects engine load. Controller then deciphers and outputs a position angle or I can make it run an algorithm to adapt to certain conditions.
1 Like
Or I use two sensors I need something to tell the control when and when not to make adjustments and then maybe use a temp probe on the gasifier. There will be a happy place where things will work and like my O2 Sensor control once this is true it will not adjustment.
So the code would look something like this.
If MAP Senser = or greater than threshold Value
Set mode to 1
Else:
Set mode to 0
If Mode = 1 and Temp probe is bellow Happy place
Water Drip Servo, (open one position)
If Mode = 1 and Temp Probe is above happy place
Water Drip Servo (Close one position)
If the temp probe is within the operating temp parameter it will just do nothing until it gets out of range. On my O2 Sensor I have a delay timer and that adjust to how far out the sensor reading is compared to the proper mixture parameter window. The closer the reading is the slower the servo responds and farther out the faster it responds.
4 Likes
Hey I am new here. This has been a great read and I am learning a lot.
11 Likes
Hello Jimmy and welcome to the DOW
You mention NW Arkansas. Beautiful country !! A few years back I drove my wood burner through your neck of the woods to visit a friend near St Paul AK and then on through Fayetteville and up through Joplin MO. Ended up near Pittsburgh KS where we had a little wood gas get together .
10 Likes
Yes, I am 20 mins from Fayetteville. I wish I could of known about your trip unfortunately I just recently found out about your group. I have a 98 dodge 1 ton with the v10 I am wanting to build a system like yours to put on the truck.
6 Likes
One problem with water injection, freezing temperatures up here in the northern parts of the world.
Bob
7 Likes