Leitinger wood gasifier

Very inkognito :smile: l have a Hinderburg blowup before my eyes as l look at that picture

1 Like

Yes that is true, I 'm running a small V-8 engine 318 cu. In. But the gasifier could easily run a 9.0 liter engine it has great turn down ratios. I’m not hot filtering like you are doing that makes a big difference.
You know a nice luggage rack on top of the car would be nice for hauling all the extra things for that holiday trip. Oh yes it is really a cooling rack system, the pipes could go down the back just clearing the trunk lid and look like supports for the luggage rack. Lots of cooling now.
Bob

2 Likes

I had to laugh reading the about the “litle” 320in3 engine. Not that its anything wrong with it, its just here in europe a 3l engine is considered very big. In fact, l cant remember if l ever eaven seen a engine with more thain about 3,5l here… talk about personal vehicles.
Lots of possibilitys yes. The on top luguage conpartment wuld be great for longer trips, to hold extra wood…
Ps what did you mean with a difference between hot filter and regular?

1 Like

From what I see hot filtering with cyclone filter cools the gas down better with less cooling tubes. My cooling tubes and pipes going the condensation tank gets full of soot carbon because the filter is done last. If I let them fill up with soot carbon they do not cool as good. I think hot gas filtering is the way to go for colder climates. My big filter does have gas storage in it. And it is a plastic barrow. @Chris, It is Chris’s design, but the water in the bottom all the time is going to be a problem when it freezes here, I hope it can handle it. Plastic is very light too.
Bob

2 Likes

kristijan I think people are getting confused maybe me it sounds like 2 problems when you shut down your hopper smokes or pushes smoke out your fresh air port . and 2nd you cant come to a stop without keeping high rpm my comments were aimed at the second problem .if I read it correct

Have you actually tried Al yourself? I’m using it for the hopper lid and cooling rails. So far so good, and both are easily replaced if they fail later on.:grinning:

Carl Who are you talking to “Al”. And what are you using for your hopper lid and cooling rails. TomC

Paul,
The problem is l have a non return valve in the air port, so all the steam has to go trugh the charbed.

Carl,
Yes l have aluminium cooling rails, but the acetic hopper condensate is what l am afrayd of. You say no problem,

Hi, Kristijan!

I suspect your twinflaps are not absolute tight when closed; on idle the motor vacuum is so strong, that the mixing is almost immune to a slight vacuum or pushing from the gasifier!

You never claimed the flaps are tight toward sunshine! Confess!

The idle should be kept <1000 RPM, with handgas you can increase it when you are heating up your gasifier.

The higher the motor vacuum, the more immune it is of what the gasifier attempts!

There are more tricks, but first the twinflaps and their geometry has to be correct…

Max,

From what I understand Kristijan can idle ok for a little while.
His problem is the gasifier cools down too fast during idle. Heat is consumed to make all that steam and when trying to accelerate again the gas is to weak.
Just out of curiosity:
How did the gas heated hopper WW2 gasifiers perform?

True Max. The twin flaps give me at full closed about 1400rpm. I culdnt get a original twin flap carcurator so this is about as good as l can make them my self.
You make sence. So you are saying go low or go high rpm, in between is bad?
But! There was absolutly no problem when l dissasembled the gasivier air inlet non return valve! Idled well for over 10min and no engine suffocating and starveing while driveing. I must try that now with the automixer.

JO you are spot on the situation.
Good question, l am ibterasted too!

Hi, Jan-Ola!
16.10.2016

Of course; from steam-pushing to nitrogen-dilution! That’s what brings the bed temperature down, initially, before recovering at increased draft.

The short silo cannot accumulate (absorb) the heat generated during drive without generating overly amounts of steam.

The real heat consumer, further down, is the cracking reaction.

But, the process does recover with applied draft!
The burnable components are there dispite the heavy swings.

Mine, on the Audi, works nicely, while the silo is 820 mm high inside,
diameter ~420 mm.

The heart has a “tight” nozzle-tip-circle diameter ~0,7m/s immaginary downdraft.

Hearth volume ~half of what the motor consumes net gas/second with WOT at 3300 RPM.

Yes, but it is sometimes hard for me to achive that draft. If the car has momentum l get by by pressing the gaspedal for about 5 seconds, at this time the lean gas gets sucked and rich gas can be produced. But if l idle on a traffic light a acceleration isnt possible.
When l drove without the air intake non return valve, and stoped from a drive to idle, the smoke/steam still came out the gasifier intake for a few seconds, despite the engine sucking gas! After that the gasifier started sucking air and idle was good agen.
This is why l am thinking to depresurize the hopper, this way all the steam will rather go out from the hopper vent thain the charbed. The tricky thing now is to hide that steam/smoke.

Max, you have a condensing hopper right?

What size fuel do you use?

Perhaps you could plumb the steam into the engine exhaust so it would come out in the usual exhaust location and not be noticed.

5 Likes

Hmm you might be on to something here Andy thank you for that idea! This l will try. Perhaps make a venturi effect smoke ejector, to always have a hopper under slight vacuum!
Hope there wuldnt be too much wood smell thugh…

…and a bucket hanging on the tail pipe for tar collecting :smile: :smile: :smile:

2 Likes

Hi, Kristijan!
16.10. 2016
to mess. 451

The twin-throat flaps have to be lathed, to get them oval, suitable for a closing angle of ~15 degrees. The throats, if not precision tubing, have also to be lathed, preferably before the flaps. The working order: Tubes first, then the flaps.

Fitting to the axis center line! With two screws, for final adjustment.

I was suggesting normal idle RPM and handgas “extra” — if motivated by some reason, ie: Heating up a gasifier before drive…

Yeah! : Barking under the right tree!

Don’t blame the gasifier, handle the offered gas right!

Hi, Kristijan!
16.10.2016
to mess. no: 453

The behaviouring of your gasifier is commonplace, even if a bit more severe, because of the small silo mass.
I use a very tight backflap, and have no “smoking the street” problem anymore.

Let’s go barking under “the mixer tree”!

From the gathered information, it seems to be clear that the throttle flaps, especially the gas-one, cannot handle the variation between succing and pushing!

With tight flaps the vacuum can be maintained high and the mixing ratio keeps 50/50 whatever the gasifier’s game (play) is !

This story will not change, if you don’t take the right steps.

I have a double manteled silo, Imbert style, and the gasifier pushes after every drive at every stand still, but not so severely…Idle is maintained.

Feuel: Ideal = egg size, but it handles also 1,5 cigarett pack sizes. (1 1/2)

2 Likes

And insulated silo! It gets so hot a peace of charcoal or wood forgoten on the top lid sometimes ignites after about 20km of driveing! You can imagine the amount of steam produced in such enviroment, althugh it is a great wood dryer. This is what l want to take advantige of.

1 Like

Hi, Kristijan!
16.10.2016
to mess. 459

Then push it up in the Bob’s ski-box, dry wood there and take down the condensate when nobody sees! Wood drying indirectly, of course.

1 Like