New Crossfire gasifiers are being shipped with an outer jacket air pre-heater / gas cooler… This modification was done to cool the gas, but we were very cognizant that the heated air might increase (or make more efficient) the water gas shift, by reducing condensation prior to the nozzle, and (perhaps) even help carry the atomized vapor across more incandescent carbon surface area…
Will keep you all posted on our findings…
We’re excited to be partnering with a seasoned electronics expert that will be building out our automation package. We’ll also (finally) have the resources, tools, and talent to capture more information and test various data points.
We’ll be building the automation package on Raspberry Pi (Linux)…
Gone quiet again.
I have been watching you for a while now.
Since the open source days.
Very inspiring work.
You made mention of retarding timing.
I don’t think you want to do that.
If this was a normal gasoline engine I would play with the heat ranges and start looking at the the ground strap and shell electrode to tell me what sort of combustion chamber temperatures you are dealing with. The ground electrode in particular can tell you a lot about how much timing your running and if you need more or less.
You want to see some heat and discolouration in the elbow of the bend on the ground strap.
This would indicate to me you have about the right amount of timing.( for a gas engine this is uncharted territory but I would follow convention as a starting point )
Exhaust gas will tell you a lot about timing too.
If before you hear a ping you will start to see exhaust temperature drop
This is because the heat of the combustion is in contact with the inside of the engine longer than needed and the heat is starting to transfer to the cooling system
The ideal time is to have complete combustion ending just after TDC before 90 after TDC.
The place in crank angle is complicated, but you want most of your combustion done before 90 so you have maximum cylinder pressure at the best crank angle.
After 90 the pressure drops off fast and little power will be extracted from the expanding gas
My suggestion is get a timing light and some keys cut in 2 deg increments and run the test again watching you power output AND exhaust temperatures.
I think you are running a GX390 there too.
Options for that are a big bore Clone kit 440 with the stock head for more power and compression to get back to the name plate rating.
Usual speed shop tricks, improve the exhaust and do a mild port and polish.
Carefully consider your air inlet and gas mixer for the best flow
Swirl might help too, what you loose in a restriction might make for a more efficient engine at lower power levels.
If you are running a generator at less than the name plate rating you are wasting energy.
You want to be at rated power for maximum efficiency.
