Well l sort of have a deadline, a old timer motorbike mountain race next sunday about 150km from where l live and l wuld realy like to DOW there. We will see…
The fiberglass cloth was a no go. Didnt work. Now l just use fiberglass house insulation. Works nice. The temps on the filter are in 100-150c range so no problem there.
Today l drove without air preheat. I will put a thin metal shell around the hot part in wich air wil get heated.
I blinded the secondairy nozzles for a test. I am thinking to put a valve before them to be able to have more control. Open on low gas demand close on high demand.
I realized today the inportance of that non return flap l had on previous sistem. When l shut down the alubox was filled with smoke from the air intske in seconds. A spark and it culd go boom. Luckly l opened the lid to vent the gas in time. This will have to be changed.
Just came back from a 90km drive on wood. This was the first real test on mainroads at higher speeds.
The resaults:
-The cooler seems to be big enough, althugh it gets warm on steep hills.
-the hybrid mode swich has not yet been installed, it is a must.
Same is with the air intake non return flap. Swiched to gasoline on a long idle, forgeting about the smoke, and a woman in the car behind nearly poped her eys out. I wuld like to know what she was thinking
-max speed is at about 85kmh. The acceleration to that speed is good, but thenit stops. I think the reason is my experimental filter suffocating the engine. But eaven if it stays like thet l am more thain pleased.
fuel consumption seems to be good, l wuld estimate it at about 15kg/100km.
There is allso a problem l wuld like to hear your opinion on. It seems when l drive for some time and have to stop for a traficlight, the gasifier makes more gas that the engine uses. The rest goes out of the air intake. This means there is no air pulled in the gasifier, thus cooling the charbed. I have great gas when l start driveing, but after a few seconds the engine looses power. Thain after it sucks in enough air it pulls again.
Eventualy at a long idle the wood cools and stops produceing so much gas, the gasifier starts to pull air in again. It nearly dies untill the charbed heats again. The question is what csn l do about it. The non return flap will prevent gas emiting to the alubox, but thain the engine has to suck it all.
I realy hope someone has an idea on this, it was most annoying trying to keep the engine alive at the middle of the crossroads today
Haha! Me too. You’re lucky she didn’t call the fire departement
That’s about what I experience. 80 km/h is easy. 1/4 throttle and about 10" pull on the gasifier.
90-100 km/h is a challange. Even if I shift down and pull 35" I get very little extra power. Might just be the limit of our 8" firetubes or the limit of gas our small 4 cyl engines can inhale.
That’s new to me. As long as the engine is running, even if it’s only 600 rpm, I’m sucking air in.
You have a small volume system and you can feel in seconds the gas made in the gasifier. I have a big hay filter volume that evens out the differences in gas quality. I can feel that power loss after 200 m if I shut down completely for 10-15 min.
I see only two solutions: High idle or big volume gas reserve.
Someone more experienced might have other suggestions.
Over all it seems you got it going
Congratulations on you longer drives. I have to study up on my mph to km/h to understand how fast you fellows are driving. That idling and dying after crossing and intersection I think is a common thing with most of these units. Thus, many of the guys are attaching a string/ wire/ or something to the accelerator pedal so they can “crank” the string up and increase the idle speed. For a long time I drove with the right foot on the accelerator, and the left foot had to do brake and clutch ( slip it out of gear to brake). Then I fixed my idle air control, and the computer is keeping the rpm’s up TomC
Starting from the motor feed: I stubbornly think your (car’s) left side end of the intake manifold has plenty of room in front of the braking vacuum diaphragm!!! Only the braking diafragm is connected to the end plate of the manifold with a hose!
Attatching an elegant 90* bow, diameter 2–2.5", bent forward horizontally and a double-throat identical twin carburettor body with twin flaps at its front end, will give you idle and low power control over the 50/50 mix, independent if the gasflow comes pushing or sucking! At low throttle, the motor vacuum rules. All throat innards have to be removed.
If no double-throatbody is available, mount two identical single-throats in parallell and connect them with a connectionbar, equally long as the distans between the throttle shafts. Like driving wheels on a locomotive.
The crank radii and angles have to be the same.
The identical throttles then all the time keep equal angles.
The connection piece between the twinthroats and the 90* bow should “promote” a spiralling and mixing gas flow!
Further forward there is place for a diaphragm balancing the arriving pressures of the “gases” to the twins.
Read, look and listen to Chris’ videos!
…
Your vacuum levels are on the high side! Are they silo or ashbunker ones?
I know this might be a dumb question, but your electric blower is off when you are driving so what is pushing gas out the air intake? where is the pressure coming from? Maybe from steaming wood moisture? Or maybe from pressure waves as I think Max G has mentioned in the past?
When the gas demand after a heavy loading goes significantly down, the steaming in the lower silo does not end, it continues and excludes (supplants) primary air to enter.
This makes nitrogen-free, rich gas. At the same time the “selfsupplying” rich gas overhelms the succing of secondary air at the T-type mixer.
This will be more pronounced when the gasifier gets its backflap.
With a twinflap twinthroat dispensing system, the dominant high vacuum in the motor’s intake manifold at part load and idle,
~0.5—0.7 atmosphere, isalmost immune to the gasifier’s “farts”.
The air flap has also 0.5—0.7 atmosphere pressure drop!
…
A traditional T-system is the opposite = totally overrun by the change in gasifier delivery pressure!
Because the gasifier delivery pressure and flow has free access all the way to the common throttle, it can, with its overpressure (relative to ambient air) easily exclude any secondary air from entering before the common throttle.
JO l think you are right. The idle l have already changed from 700 to 1000rpm but looks like it is not enough. That larger gas container is a chalange thugh… an imposible one…
Max the double tgroat assembly and automixer project isnt forgoten, it waits for a rainy week for me to get to it. Althugh l agree, lt will have to be installed.
I havent measured the vacuum in either yet. Havent yet got the guages and temp probes.
Mike there isnt a fan on the sistem. Your guess on steaming is likely to be right, like Max sayd.
Good explanation on the gasifier continuing to out-gas produce MaxG.
Good you do understand now MikeR that all on-going thermal-chemical processes KEEP producing until a slow thermal energy bleeding down until reactions are no longer supported.
But please . . . no “steaming” wording. Out-gasses producing.
Steaming will have novices thinking very wrong. Making wrong assumptions. Dangerous assumptions. Steaming water vapor can only burn and suffocate you. Carbon monoxide will bind up your blood hemoglobin and you will still die even if given pure oxygen.
Gas Plant “Rescue Gas” was a blend of oxygen and carbon dioxide. And would only save sometimes.
