That’s definitely the most mechanically sound idea, and most realistic. I could add some deployable legs for when it needs to be slid out.
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Crank up trailer tongue rollers.
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Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Either the crank up kind or the rotating kind.
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Ordered a 3’ long 2x2x0.25" steel tube to act as the spine of the cargo carrier. I have some 1.25x1.25x0.125" steel tube to be the rest of the mount. Not sure if I want to make all of the carrier that hefty but the outer rim of it I definitely will.
3 feet should be long enough to make the carrier and give plenty of length inside the receiver tube.
I think I’m going to forgo the deployable idea for now. I would rather have something sturdy as proof of concept. Every carrier I saw is bolted together and I just don’t like the idea of a permanent weight constantly testing the strength of some Chinese fasteners. Most loads put on a cargo carrier are spread across the entire surface like a toolbox or trunk.
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Right now my total core weighs 150lbs or 68kg. That’s before I add the exchanging jacket or monorator top. That hearth really added a lot to the weight. The reduction and current restriction adds 20lbs alone.
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Decided to weigh this oak wood. Bear in mind it’s been dead for over 2 years and I’m just now getting to processing it. I am removing the pithy punky exterior but that’s only really affected some of the limbs and the top of the trunk of the tree.
Using my grandma’s old mechanical bathroom scale, after taring the 5 gallon bucket I’m getting just shy of 15lbs.
Pieces are varied in shape and size which is to be expected when you’re just processing with a hatchet and chainsaw.
So I guess I have a density of 3lbs per gallon of wood. 3 miles a gallon, hey!
Edit: it’s honestly impressive that a gasifier can char and phase shift 1lb of wood per mile down the road. Assuming you’re going 60mph that’s a pound a minute.
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“Waddya’ burn in that thing?”
Armstrong Wood.
S.U.
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Looking good wood cody-thats nice and dry I think- and pine chunked wood dryed out that size and five gallon bucket probly only weigh 8.5 pounds ? I think i will like burning hard wood better than pine- since hardwood dont have the sticky tars like pine has,and it go farther miles per five gallon bucket worth of wood. I gess the wood chunked wood dries faster- i need to do a test to see how long hard wood takes to get that nice and dry- Then we must consider what type hardwood it is to know what the dry weight should be. OR DO YOU THINK-the wood moisture meters are easily accurate. I never tried out noisture meter VS weight of wood for accurate test. HARDWOOD that weight might be around 20% moisture?
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I think a moisture meter is good for ballpark but I like to go by the sound it makes. These sound like Jenga blocks when I tap them together.
I also think proper chunked wood dries faster and probably makes better gas because it’s fractured from the cutting, more spots for the woodgas to seep out. This tree is basically seasoned on the ends and limbs at least. I’m sure once I get more to the uncut center it’ll need drying.
I’m not giving up on my wood drying station. Got a free 300 gallon oil tank and I’m gonna put in a door and make a hot air box and solar powered fan.
Something like this to bring in hot air with a vent out maybe some holes in the bottom for any condensation to drain. In wintertime I could maybe hook up a small stove if I don’t have any dry wood but I’m hoping to dry my wood and store it.
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Thanks for posting that idea-it is only 51 f degrees outside and those solar heaters are blowing 140 f degrees roughly- that should dry out some wood chunks in week or so in a insulated tank.Maybe you can put a roller shelf to get wood drying baskets in and out for easy moving the chunks in and out when dry. THAT LOOKS WORTH A TRY.
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I would test it without the hot air box. Tanks get plenty hot by themselves in the sun. and convection currents will give it some air flow and a chimney would probably work better. it might take a week to dry because it is a surface area game.
If you want a fun design and more useful design. A large barrel bbq pit or smoker is a pretty similar design and airflow concepts. You could probably do both with it.
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Been busy, but now I have the grate suspended. I decided to lay one of the links down to give the grate some more sideways movement as well as rotational movement.
Now I just need to mock up the gas exit for the outer jacket and the Air In.
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Got the gas jacket burned in, I have about a 1.5" clearance all around between the hopper and gas jacket.
Almost forgot to add the barrel lid. This lid is a very tight fit for an open top, but it actually fits closed drums which is lucky for me because I have a multitude of those.
Gas exit will not be at the very top, but close to it.
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Got the air in and gas exit welded in. Now I just need to make the heat exchange jacket, a 55 gallon drum that will probably need to be extended.
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Looking great Cody on your project.
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Looking good cody- but this burn tube unit looks too long for a 4.3 chevy- or maybe its just the camera angles makeing it look longer than it is- it looks longer than the v8 dakota ones- if too long your grate may plug up- or your charco might not get hot enough to burn down close to the grate- Now that i paid a year worth of the premium side- i dont know if i am posting too much info of the WK design or if what i respond too is on non premium or premium side–?? YOU most likely have your build perfect- just double checking.
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It’s a fair bit shorter than a WK. What you’re seeing in the picture is basically the whole Imbert part of the gasifier without the monorator top hopper. The gas jacket wraps around the inner hopper for fuel preheat like a WW2 Imbert.
It’ll make more sense when it’s finished.
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I don’t know if this is true, but have read it in the library. Page 118 in Generator gas.
Insulation of the Wood Gas Generator
The foil owing may be added to the above views on the insulation of the wood gas generator.
A wood gas generator has a thermal efficiency of about 80%; i.e., a fifth of the heat
value of the fuel is lost, partly through radiation, partly with heat physically bound in the
generator gas. Efforts have been made to decrease these losses through various designs;
e.g., through insulation of the fuel storage to prevent heat radiation from the outside
walls of the generator, through leading the hot gas up around the fuel storage between
the outer and inner mantles, through preheating the primary air, etc. With the exception
of the last method, however, these measures do not appear to be useful. The reaction
ability of charcoal is impaired by very high charring temperature and long charring time
in the generator, which may be observed, for instance, in up-draft generators. As mentioned
in the preceding section, it may be more advantageous to promote condensation
and dehumidification through extreme cooling of the walls of the fuel storage. As shown
in Chapter 2, for instance in the tests by the Steam Heat Institute, it is the heatconsuming
reduction zone of the generator that, by insulation, should be prevented from
unnecessarily emitting its heat. In keeping the temperature there as high as the design
and the properties of the hearth material permit, the velocity of the reduction process is
increased as is the heat value of the gas at a given gas velocity. Experimental tests have
shown that the reduction process in normal generators may be considered completed at a
temperature of approximately 850°C to 900°C. To maintain the gas quality, the gas
should be cooled fairly rapidly; i.e., immediately after leaving the hearth the gas should
be conducted out of the generator via the shortest path, and cooled down (“frozen in
equilibrium”) to prevent the decomposition of CO to co2 and carbon.
Figure 75. Imbert Generator for Wood, Brown
Coal, and Peat, without Outer Charcoal Bed.
(The numbers are not explained in the Swedish
text; therefore no explanations are given
here.–Ed.)
Figure 75 is a picture of a generator intended for wood and brown coal; the figu
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Ironically I haven’t wrapped any insulation over the hearth or gas jacket.
This will have an external air jacket around the gas jacket, to cool the gas and preheat incoming air more.
My idea is, heat from the lower hopper will drive moisture up into the monorator sitting on top to extract more water. Think of the circulating currents in a Monorator, and in an Imbert the slightly chaotic but mostly upward current.
I could be entirely wrong but I think the way I’ve set it up I’ll have a sort of Mushroom Cloud of current in the hopper.
The heated portion of the hopper is roughly 16 gallons if I remember correctly. I should have more monorator hopper than heated hopper, so the cooler upward section will pull steam up to condense.
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I’ve been working on what I’d call a Testbed Gasifier. Something I can hook up to any vehicular engine to see how it runs on at least charcoal gas.
Decided on the most simple and proven I could think of, a Flute Updraft.
I’m putting this in the 2011 Sierra temporarily to see if I can run this late model OBD2 truck at all.
10 gallon tank is my Dropbox/condensate collector. 10 gallon bucket is my filter body, going to use a towel filter and keep it simple. Maybe some pine straw at the bottom, not sure. Bucket will be attached with 2" floor flanges silicone gasketed. In from bottom and out the lid. Gas outlet is a gentle curved 2" 90 degree conduit that I shortened one end of and welded nipple ends to. The threaded conduit is Straight and not Tapered. You’ll be chasing leaks for days mixing the two up.
Pretty light footprint if I rotated the drop box a little closer to the reactor body. I can pick up the whole assembly when empty, so I’d say it’s light enough for a cargo rear rack.
Not a permanent setup, but an easy one to move around for diagnosing, testing, or demonstrations. I’m going to weld in a bung at the gas outlet to put in a thermometer, so I’ll know when it’s running empty.
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