The building is done so I thought I would start a new thread on my testing the double flute charcoal gasifer.
The biggest goal for this gasifer was to make charcoal the easiest way and with the littlest effort put it into the gasifer and run a vehicle down the road.
My last test before winter settle in was running my 5.2 L V-8 engine. I did that but not down the road.
The unit got quite hot this is good but not for the touching of it.
I left it setting all winter after the test. I had a lot of other things to do as usual. But today I decided to clean it out and see the results of the heat that this unit was running at.
I was impressed by what I found. Hand dug to just above the nozzles. Just below the flute nozzles I found a little slag that It? Wow I was expecting more. The white ash did a great job of filling in on the sides and making a charcoal ash cone. Protect my stainless steel heat shields that were in place.
I used my shop vaccum cleaner to carefully work down through all the layers. As I worked my way down I could see how everything transpired going down, in my mind I was that the 2000 °f to 3000 °f seeing what was taking place. I thought all the charcoal was going to be reduced to fines and ashes, but no it was different. When I loaded up with fuel it was hand sifted fuel. Like I was talking about. Some larger pieces 1" to 1 3/4" mixed with smaller pieces. I figure after a few minutes in running time it would be all reduced down going though the restriction opening. Boy was I wrong lots of ash yes, but many passage ways for the gases to follow.
The part that amazed me the most was at the stainless steel grate. There was a big void below it. A very small amount of ash and small charcoal that was it. I do not have clean out at the bottom. But a 2" piping threaded and cap is all that I will be having to be adding for clean out.
Okay you are probably tired of all my writing, here are some pictures.
The last two pictures are the screening I used 1/4" 3/8" and 1/8" and the slyclone filter. There was very little in the slyclone and I know it works on low and high velocities of gas movements. So I am convinced a drop box is all I will be using in the future on this unit.
The charcoal is in the three buckets and the ashes in the other bucket that was vaccum out and sorted.
On a garbage can lid you can see the larger size pieces of charcoal that went into the hopper.
This is great I feel it was a very great success, using fire pit charcoal soaking in water dried some. Still damp 10% to 15% moisture content put into a double flute charcoal gasifer and it ran making good gases.
Will it be good enough to drive a vehicle down the road? Stay tuned for the rest of this DOW adventure.
Bob
Yeah day and night difference screened and non screened fuel. If you screen your fuel you will hardly have to service anything. I can get 10 to 20 hours on a machine before Id need to clean it out and I have not had a machine long enough to even know how long it would take the coarse filter to need servicing. Probably never from what Ive seen so far. But yeah put un screened fuel and that filter will fill up in a heart beat.
I noticed the same issue with big fuel in my double flute attempt. It got way too hot as well. I think if you grind it down to a size below 1.25" you’ll be golden.
I think with a drop box the filter will not be a problem and the drop box has great cooling for the gases. The ashes and small fine charcoal below the grate just needs to put in the 2" pipe clean out and the cleaning out of the whole gasifer from the nozzles down can be minimized just by tapping on the gasifer so the fines will keep working down to below the grate. Use a vaccum to clean it out. Building it with these mass steel flutes was a good idea and with your idea of the water injection intake that you designed will make it possible to run this gasifer with damp or dry charcoal. This is another big plus. @KristijanL with his new flute charcoal gasifer a barrel in a barrel with the simple nozzles piping is going to be my next build but use the mass steel nozzles. Making it light weight and hold a lot of charcoal is my next goal. I have given up on the no weld up flute gasifer. What a Lol. Just not possible for what I want to do. But I really like some of your off the shelf parts that you are using that bolt on. I see you in the close future making the next big step in mass production with your units.
Bob
That is exactly how mine are built. But my grate also comes out. So for cleaning you should try and burn out the gasifier as much as possible. Then when cool you fish out the grate and then vac it all out thru the clean out port.
Next versions may have a door here and the grate will be accessed and removed from here as well. If there are any changes in the future this will be one of them. It would reduce cost as well.
Like I said I did not do that just put some hand sifted charcoal in and it worked making good gases.
The heat in the hopper at the end of the fuel yikes. Your idea of the bigger barrel is going to work well. Because charcoal has a great heat insulation factor. This is why not until the hot lobe is glowing into the hopper that the temperature will not spike. Radiant heat waves in the hopper temperature raises fast. Covered with charcoal no heat spikes.
Bob
I have that already built in to my gasifer. I can access my grate from the top out through the flute nozzles or out the side hatch below the nozzles. But the 2" clean out below the grate is definitely going to be handy.
Just read you will not be making it to Argos like me. Well like I said things are about to change for you. I pray that the Great Almight God YEHOVAH will Bless you this year and the years after in His Words Name Yeshua.
You might need to find some good works to help you.
Bob
Yeah I have two employees coming back to work. Ive already instructed them to build me a wheel chair. Because I am going to need one once I put away nearly 2 ton of steel into the steel rack.
Any way you buy one of the Harbor freight gantry crane. They are a one ton lifting capacity and adjustable height, they roll on a concrete floor nice. My is on black asphalt an it works okay.
Save your back it is the only one you have.
Bob
I have one, we have to stand the steel up in a rack so the CNC tech can handle it. There is no room or any way I can even get the 60X60 sheets into the shop. The steel rack is right next the front overhead door. There will 48 sheets that I have to stand up and place into the rack.
Size does matter with any charcoal gasifier it seems. You dont want voids of any kind for it to contain heat well. Big peaces are not a problem as long as you have enaugh finer ones that fill the voids between large peaces.
Okay that makes sense. So my hunch was right. When looking down into the gasifer below the nozzles it was a mix of every size of charcoal, ashes mixed in tiny passage ways mixed in between it all. It was quite different then my WK Gasifier big 12" firetube. Maybe it was the close parallel flute nozzles vs. the ring nozzles lay out. Or maybe the WK Gasifier does all the prossing it self from raw wood chunks to charcoal into the firetube and on through. Where the flute charcoal gasifer is starting with charcoal in different sizes in the hopper.
Well in the future it will be every size of charcoal going into the hopper down to 3/8" screening. If I can run it with smaller charcoal mixed in then I will.
Thanks Kristijan for the input.
Bob
AS long as the grate dont tighten up too much, you can make more use of the smaller charcoal. Useing smaller grate passage size,? A grate shaker would be nice at times, though the motor vacuum usually keeps fines out too the catch boxes.
My build started from the old exhaust box that Wayne built around the two mufflers that became the preheater for the cold incoming air on my Dakota. The mufflers finally rusted out. So I cut the box a part and reused the box. Believe me this is a one of kind build. LOL. The box was not built square so to fit under the truck and clear the drive line and fit next to the frame of the truck.
It would have been simpler to build with new metals but thats not me.
Bob
Looks mean nothing, long as the metal is still solid useable plate. i still dont see what the toltal shape is and whare all the componets line up locations.
