Hi Senne, Very interesting experimenting you are doing here.
Follows some of my own personal experiences.
A small engine least powerful lets you follow changes for more-or-less.
You do need to load verify your changed to not be fooled by “the subjective”.
An electrical generator would seem to be ideal for this. So I’d thought. Just measure the produced wattage lading capability.
Ha! And that is where for DIY fuel-gasses it falls down.
As Mr Til said well there are always many factors into play.
Electrical generation IS affected by changes in ambient temperatures, local humidity greatly on the small systems. Small electric generators by their nature are portable. Sea level to mountains pass level; or Inland Empire out here far- west is 4000-5000 feet for changing. Makes a difference!
So the tendency is to Standardized Conditions; Lab-Rat.
Good numbers then.
Numbered performances; unrepeatable in 90% of real world conditions usages.
So all-in-all your 12hp mobile riding mower is REAL conditions testing.
Just set up somewhere a power needing up-slope timed test for your before/after changing comparisons.
DOers always have my Best Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
I have been thinking about ways to do some real world testing today.
Maybe climbing a hill with the mower while bypassing the governor would be a good way I think? Then I can keep throttle position steady and see if the power is coming from the gas instead of extra throttle by the governor.
The fly-in-the-soup as you read in many of the vehicles guys experiences show that a sooting-up; water trapping/flows blocking slosh; filter media wetting, a-n-y-w-h-e-r-e will change your engine power too.
As important as gas power is discovering the set-up causing the least problems build-ups; and least maintenance’s needed.
Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
[quote=“senne_dp, post:60, topic:3762”]
For those who are interested, I made an excel file with some chemical calculations on gas composition when injecting combustibles.
[/quot
very interesting Senne
“A benefit of cracking the methanol is that you don’t have to deal with the corrosive properties of methanol inside the engine.”
the condensed smoke of our charcoal horn is rich in alcohol and contaninants. this mixture can not be directly injected into an engine
pyrolytic oils are economical and environmentally friendly carbon neutral
but can probably advantageously feed a coal gasifier
the condensed smoke of our charcoal horn is rich in alcohol and contaninants. this mixture can not be directly injected into an engine
pyrolytic oils are economical and environmentally friendly carbon neutral
but can probably advantageously feed a coal gasifier
Interesting insight,
If you would make the condensed smoke beforehand and inject it, you are kind of doing a separated downdraft wood gasifier, injecting the pyrolitic products into the reaction zone.
This could make sense for pellets because woodpellets are a pain to use in a downdraft gasifier whereas charcoal has no problem with condensation and turning in to a mush when left at cooldown.
It could also make sense if the injected alcohols would (not saying it will) give greater power than woodgas at precise amount of injection. This would make the engine have good power when in need of it and just running on charcoal gas when driving steadily. (and also quicker start-ups)
This is a lot of speculation and it seems like I have some testing to do
Next time more thorough measurements! I’m hooking up an RPM sensor soon. I will try steam injection and better methanol injection. Also A/F ratio was probably not ideal aswell.
One conclusion is definitely that methanol gives richer gas which was to be expected.
There was an experiment where the heat from the engine exhaust plus a catalyst was used to crack methanol into it’s gases. This raised the fuel efficiency of the car that the device was installed on. It had to do with the negative heats of combustion. Just a side note.
Watching all that new builds and enjoying the results they achieve…
Nice build Senne, looking forward to see you “building around”
Maybe a consideration; a T connection between the original carburetor and the engine, to connect the gas. Then you will run without governor but no restrictions to prevent the gasflow. ( more power output )
Senne,
Here is a steam making system using a pressurized garden sprayer, a coil, a small nozzle, and a valve. The steam acts as an ejector bringing even more air into the inlet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVD_x4pPSHw
Senne, you are doing some great work there! Keep it up!
I like the fact you went back to basics when improveing the gasification. Chemistry is where it all starts and understanding it makes ones life so much easyer.
My thods; if only a short boost of power is neaded, l salute metanol injection. Methanol is likely the best candidate, you allready showed why butyfully. Perhaps just a sidenote, methanol will not cool the reaction zone! If anything, it might even heat it some. So a mix of methanol and water sounds promissing too.
Ok, thats short boost. But boosting gas quality on a long run efficiantly requires a different aproach. The only way l see this possible is by heat recovery. We shuld invest more of our efforts to this. Every calorie forced in the gasifier will alow a bit more steam to be cracked, thus displacing the air making gas richer (less nitrogen). If enough heat culd be recovered in the steam, NO air wuld be neaded to run a gasifier resaulting in a mix of 50% H2 and 50% CO in the gas. Thats hard to achive but its a goal we need to be headed to.
