Hi Everyone,

Some developments to share with you:

Here is a youtube video of a guy running a FEMA type gasifier to power a Briggs and Stratton 3HP ICE. In the summary he mentions he is using a 10cm fire tube. This is important because it tells us that 4” schedule pipe will do the job of running a small motor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOIy-3WHa1I

With the ICE powered wood chippers being generally around 5 – 6 HP then a 4” fire tube will probably run them fine, which means you have the capability to produce as much wood chip fuel as you want, with zero fuel cost. Effectively you will have your own fuel processing plant in your back yard.

Now let's talk about the 4” NPS requirement. The problem that we have currently with the Everyman Gasifier is that 4” Barrel Nipples are not very long, this means you have to build a fire tube using multiple Barrel Nipples and Parallel Sockets. This can get costly and so a much better solution would be to have a single Barrel Nipple custom made to the length you require, if you can find a plumbing place that will make it for you at a reasonable price.

There is another alternative and that is to cut your own:

http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/1224-Threading-Machine

This is the industry standard pipe threading machine for up to 4” pipe. It also can cut 4” stainless steel pipe with the correct die fitted. It also can be easily adapted to cut either BSPT or BSPP threads of varying length.

Here is a youtube tutorial on how to use it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGsEzTcLREY

These machines can be very expensive to buy new, approximately £7000 GBP, however they are very cheap to rent, prices vary so shop around for the best deal:

http://www.speedyservices.com/product/13860/pipe-threader-ridgid1224/productoverview

http://www.tglynes.co.uk/plant-hire/

If you were then to buy 6 metres of pipe for example:

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=5069

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=5067

As you can see the welded S40S 4” pipe is cheaper than the seamless, but the seamless does not have the potential problem of the weld cracking and leaking from the high temperatures of the gasifier. I would always prefer seamless if I could afford it.

Now you have 6 metres of pipe and a pipe threading machine for a day that will cut, deburr and thread the pipe for you. If you were to cut each pipe into ½ metre lengths then you would have 12off fire tubes with custom threads on either end, either BSPP or BSPT.

You could then either sell the fire tubes individually via ebay for a small profit, or to members of this community. You could also easily fabricate a complete gasifier unit to run a wood chipper or small generator using 150lb class fittings. If you have the money to do this then it may help everyone out hugely, if I had the money I would definitely do it. Something for you to ponder.

The thing about screwed fittings such as Tee's and Crosses etc is that they are cast, so no seams. Parallel Running Nipples and Parallel Sockets are also threaded from S40S seamless pipe, so no welded seams. If you were to use only seamless pipe for the fire tube you would have an exceptionally high quality 316 stainless steel, fully seamless, thick walled gasifier unit, that would most probably be of the highest quality around... for less money than the 304 welded versions currently available to buy:

http://www.youtube.com/user/VictoryGasworks#p/u

(The website is down today www.victorygasifier.com but it was up last night)

So I think if you got the money for an initial startup then you could have your own gasifier business and fuel business from your backyard with very little labour time. This would also be a decentralised industry with zero patent restrictions and so it would be impossible to shut down.

RM

Hi Everyone,

Up to now the focus of gasifier technology has been for use in ICE engines. This is understandable but I believe there are other options.

Currently an ICE requires that a gasifier system filters the gas to purify it before injection into the engine. This prevents the engine clogging up from unwanted deposits.

An ICE also requires a gas that is at the correct temperature before injection and this requires a cooling system.

I believe we can get around both of these problems if we were to utilise the gas in a different system.

If we were to use a gasifier to create gas and then burn that gas without it being filtered it would generate heat. The Kelly Kettle demonstrates the principle of a stainless steel double walled boiler that creates steam. This is the same principle as a steam engine boiler.

This gas also would not need cooling eliminating the need for a cooling system.

The steam pressure that is generated is a fluid in a separate isolated system and so will be pure. The only interaction between the two fluids is in thermal heat exchange.

Steam as the pure working fluid can run a turbine, and a turbine is perfect for running an electric motor. So it will be possible to run an electric car from a gasifier with a far more simplified architecture.

We will definitely be able to eliminate the cooling system in this manner, however, I am sure none of us want to pollute the environment anymore than is absolutely necessary in this transitional period.

So, a filterless burn will need to be assessed for pollutants, and then if necessary some kind of filtration system can be added.

Gasifier Turbine Electric Vehicle anyone ?

RM

Hi Everyone,

Here is a guy called Steve Bedair that built his own wood chipper:

http://bedair.org/Projects/chipper7.html

Pretty impressive stuff... However it may be a lot simpler and cheaper to buy one like this:

http://www.titan-pro.co.uk/Titan-14-HP---Garden-Shredder---Chipper---Woodchipper/66/28/Product.aspx

Here is a youtube video of the Titan in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_ZeK4E4uVo

That looks a very impressive machine to me and buying straight from the manufacturer means the spare parts will be easy and cheap to source. 14HP should also give you more than enough power to handle substantial branches. The chip output in the video is very impressive and the final chip size looks small enough that very little, if any, processing will be required. This could save you the trouble and expense of buying a dedicated wood pellet making machine which costs thousands of £!

RM

Hi Chet,

If you liked the other stuff then I think your going to love this! 

I cannot afford an EGU and I don't want all the kiddies playing without me so I went back to the drawing board and came up with the Poor Man's Exhaust Gasifier.

This is made from common automobile exhaust parts and all clamps together, no welding!

As you can see exactly the same principles apply as used in the Everyman Gasifier but this is a much cheaper option.

Here is a major UK exhaust manufacturer that has every part you need available via ebay. Call them or email them to specify the exact dimensions you need for each component:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Exhaust-Adapter-Connector-Sleeve-Joiner-Clamp-Clamps-/220783509427?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3367b8ffb3

I have put pictures below of every component listed on the Gasifier drawing.

All of the joints are made by tightly fitting sleeve components and clamps. Use fire sealant on assembly for an airtight seal. This will dry hard and form the custom gasket.

The Gasifier is supported by a frame made from stainless steel box tubing:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STAINLESS-STEEL-SQUARE-TUBE-BOX-25mm-x-25mm-x-900mm-/160586705037?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Welding_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item2563b6a88d

This can be bolted together so you do not need to buy a welder, but of course you can weld it if you want to.

Avoid these hose clamps if you can as they have a mild steel bolt that will rust out quickly:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Norma-Mikalor-Exhaust-Clamp-55-59-mm-Stainless-Steel-/150602242162?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item231097d872

Use these instead they are fully stainless and heavy duty:

http://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/HoseClip_Mikalor_Supra-W4.html

Here is an interesting thread on clamps:

http://101club.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4750

Also do not use galvanised clamps as they will react with the particular sealant mentioned in this thread and create hydrogen which is bad in an environment with an operating temperature above that of hydrogens auto ignition temperature.

The bottom of the Gasifier is sealed by simply pushing it down into a square block of modelling clay and then bolting it to the frame with U bolts. To empty the ash simply unbolt the gasifier and lift it up, kick the clay out of the way and put down a new piece, then bolt it back to the frame:

http://www.tomps.com/shop/buff-stoneware-modelling-clay-p-173.html

Obviously the EGU's are better quality with thread locking and sealing but beggars cannot be choosers. You can add a stainless steel threaded rod down through the fire tube to shake the basket as with the EGU Mk1 if you want too for static application.

Exhausts are normally in the range 1.75” to 3” so this is why we have a 3” fuel hopper. Interestingly MIJ Exhausts advertise up to 6” diameter tube for making custom flues for wood burners, it's just a pity they do not make a 3” to 6” adaptor sleeve clamp Maybe they will make them if there is enough demand... and it sure will be handy to have a 6” wide fuel hopper!)

So what do you all think ? Simple and cheap enough ??

RM

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note here to let you know that you can mix and match between the EGU and the PMEG parts.

If you have gone the route of threaded pipe fittings then you have probably chosen a 2" NPS Fire Tube. Barrel Nipples of 2" NPS are cut from S40S Seamless Pipe and therefore the OD of the pipe is 2.375" or 60.33mm as we can see here:

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=5053

You could then use a Custom Made Exhaust Pipe Adapter Connector Sleeve Joiner:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Exhaust-Adapter-Connector-Sleeve-Joiner-Clamp-Clamps-/220783509427?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3367b8ffb3

Just tell them that you want to join two pipes with OD of 60mm and 76mm and it should fit really nice.

This will allow you to use an exhaust back box silencer as a fuel hopper, once modded as I have described, and this will greatly increase the fuel capacity of your EGU for relatively little money. You could also visit some scrap yards looking for cars and trucks that have stainless exhaust systems and just cut the pipe and take the silencer home. Lorries for example often have massive stainless silencers because they last for the life of the vehicle and do not need replacing every few years as the mild steel ones do. Its about the $ remember

The 76mm dimension is because the back box I linked too has a 3" inlet tube for connection, if you use a different exhaust then the inlet OD might be different so check before you order the sleeve.

This will give you a very high quality unit 

RM

Hello Everyone,

First off I want to issue a safety warning. The fan website I linked to previously predominantly sells inline fans, this means that the motor is inside the fan housing and is cooled by the air that passes over the motor as it is pumped.

The problem we have with inline fans in this application is that they are not pumping air they are pumping hydrogen and carbon monoxide which are both highly explosive gasses. Any kind of short circuit or sparking or overheating in the motor is going to explode the gasses and blow that plastic inline fan housing to pieces. So do not use them!

A much better option would be a centrifugal blower such as is used to pump up bouncy castles. As you can see in the link below they have the motor mounting at 90 degrees to the impeller and are shaft sealed to gain an IP rating. They also pump a large CFM of air and are cheap as chips and second hand ones are all over ebay

http://www.airinflatables.co.uk/gibbons_fans_090hp_660w_compact_bouncy_castle_fan.shtml

I have also been looking at another option...

I want an all metal vacuum pump that bolts to my EGU and can be powered by a variety of prime movers to offer flexibility. I could not find one off the shelf so I designed one. I really wanted to prototype this first but I did the math and my finances will not cover it so I have drawn it up for you to pursue if you want to. I am determined one day to actually design something I can afford to build!

Ok so lets talk about the Everyman Gasifier Unit Tesla Vacuum Pump...

This unit uses Aluminum Platters from 3.5” Hard Disk Drives as the turbine discs. These can be found everywhere and are very common. Try computer shops who normally chuck them away, the local paper, the local landfill where if you get friendly with the guys who work there and slip them a few quid they might let you have the drives out of the dumped PC's, maybe ebay if you keep your eyes open as sometimes there are job lots of old drives working or faulty and going for about a £ each. Lot's of options here.

Some of the newer drives being sold now use glass platters so avoid these, it's the aluminum you want. Here are some links to read up:

http://www.phys.washington.edu/users/sbtroy/Tesla_Turbine/Tesla_Turbine.html

http://wn.com/tinkerman01

http://hackedgadgets.com/2009/02/27/hard-drive-tesla-turbine/

http://www.ecoenrg.com/2011/06/02/tesla-turbine-from-old-hard-drives-and-minimal-too/

I put the last link up there as an example of what not to do. This person obviously thought it was fun to disrespect a Tesla turbine to such an extent that they spun it up to 22,000 RPM and then held it in their hands. He must have had some serious faith in that yellow tape holding the housing together, either that, or the thought of losing his fingers if something went wrong did not bother him. So let's not go for any Darwin awards while developing this technology

The EGUTVP is based around the same fittings technology as the EGU and so is compatible for airtight sealing and mounting. It only needs a pump shut off valve and a gas flow control valve mounting inline between the EGU and the TVP for a full system.

I have chosen a 2” - 1.25” reducing bush:

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=2395

Because the 1.25” thread will accept a 1.25” parallel nipple. The 1.25” parallel nipple is cut from S40S 1.25” SMLS PIPE and therefore has an ID of 35.05mm as we can see in the link below:

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=5045

This means that the ID is perfect to accept a 35mm OD bearing housing:

http://www.fish4parts.co.uk/Mechanical.80/Bearings.1093/Pop-Metric-Bearings.1/6003_ZZ.C3.99071.html

I have chosen this bearing as it has metal seals and also has a 17mm bore. Two of these bearings mounted in each nipple will provide a very nice unit for mounting the shaft.

The shaft is 0.375” S80S SMLS 316L PIPE with a wall thickness of 3.2mm

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=5089

I have marked on the diagram that the shaft needs to be drilled where the discs are mounted, this is to allow the gas being sucked under vacuum to escape between the discs. Normally I would never suggest using a hollow shaft and then drilling it in a Tesla turbine but in this case the torque loading on the shaft is going to be very low as we are only pumping a very thin gas fluid. Also you can keep the speeds relatively low say 2 – 3000 RPM.

Be sensible about where you drill the holes and distribute them around the shaft in a spiral pattern leaving the maximum amount of material possible between each hole. The holes do not have to be that big, they only have to have a combined area that equals the intake hole which in this case is going to be about 10.74mm.

The disc stack is mounted to the hub via a coupling hub:

http://www.fish4parts.co.uk/Mechanical.80/Flexible-Couplings.18/Jaw-%28RFC-%25252F-HRC%29.1851/Hubs-%25252F-Flanges.185101/HRC-90H-%25252F-RFC09-H-Coupling-Hub-%281108%29.73055.html

http://shop.marksman-ind.com/hrc90-drive-hub-taper-lock-style-3495-p.asp

The last link explains the two different types and determines the direction the taperlock bush is inserted to the coupling which is why you want this on the outside of the disc stack for easy access with an allen key to the grub screws.

http://www.fish4parts.co.uk/Mechanical.80/Taper-Lock-Bushes.17/Metric.1701/1108-Taper-Bush-%2817mm-Bore%29.69765.html

The coupling needs to be drilled where the “feet” protrude every 120 degrees to accept the threaded rod that will mount the disc stack in compression. The platter discs must also be drilled on the correct PCD to match the coupling. So three disc mounting bolts in total should be sufficient.

Be careful about what material you choose for the spacers as dissimilar metal corrosion may prove a problem between the aluminum and steels. Heat Resistant RTV Silicone may allow you to make your spacers by casting and you can use a simple washer of the correct dimensions to make a mold, and brass sleeving tubes to make a master mould for a silicone threaded rod sleeve.

The outer housing is a 4” BSPT Barrel Nipple:

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=2191

The barrel nipple is simply drilled in a line to make the exhaust ports for the pump, if you want to get fancy about it then you can drill it then file a rectangular slot.

We can see that the 4” barrel nipple has an ID of 102.26mm:

http://www.zx55.com/shopexd.asp?id=5067

And the 3.5” HDD platter has a diameter of 3.74” or 95mm:

http://www.storagereview.com/guide/mediaSize.html

This will give a disc tip to housing clearance of approx 3.5mm. If you want to reduce the clearance to increase efficiency then you can use a length of 4” stainless steel exhaust tubing:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-100mm-T304-Stainless-Steel-Exhaust-Tube-Pipe-1m-/280599509759?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item415508baff

This is because 4” = 101.6mm and the tubing they use for exhausts is 1.5mm wall thickness. This means that you can sleeve inside the 4” barrel nipple very snugly and fill the gap with RTV Heat Resistant Silicone which will set and exert equal pressure therefore centering the tube sleeve and stopping it moving, especially if you score the outside first before inserting to give the silicone something to grip:

http://www.tomps.com/shop/heat-resistant-rtv-05-kg-p-203.html?osCsid=tus7nbsjahsdkmuluunuj9chg4

This will give you an internal housing bore of 101.6 – 3 = 98.6

98.6 – 95 = 3.6mm

3.6 / 2 = 1.8mm

So the new disc tip to housing clearance is 1.8mm with the sleeving tube which is more efficient than the 3.63mm we get from just the barrel nipple alone.

Make sure you check with the retailer that you are getting 4” tube unless you actually want 100mm tube which will give a 1mm disc tip to housing clearance. The silicone should sort out the gap ok.

The collar converts the 17mm shaft OD to a 28mm OD which will fit the taper lock bush on the pulley:

http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/CABU17Z_-__17mm_Shaft_Collar_-40277-p

http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/1210-28_Taperlock_Bush-2250-p

http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/SPA080_1_V_Pulley-4223-p

Everything that needs locking into place like the parallel nipples, bearings, taper bushes and collars etc needs to be loctited with the high temperature stronger than superman cannot remove it even with napalm stuff! 

That pretty much covers everything I think, hopefully someone will build it and see if works like I think it will. The pulley is going to allow you to use pretty much any prime mover you want, maybe a water wheel for example, or alternatively one of my favourite ideas...

Build a pulley drive train that magnifies the rotary moment by going from big to small with the pulleys and then you might be able to hand crank the EGU into life!

Have fun all

RM

Hi Everyone,

I forgot to mention that if you strip the Sprags out of a Sprag Clutch and replace the centre hub with a vented Sprocket Carrier Hub and then got yourself some custom discs laser cut, you would only need to mod the casing to accept a fluid injection port 

Add some custom laser cut side plates and some High Temperature Cork Gasket and you have a very high quality turbine unit 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/High-Temperature-Gasket-Material-/230623741858?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item35b23f07a2

Just be mindfull that the Sprocket Carrier Hubs are aluminum and so if you plan on running a Hot Rotor you might need to have them made in Steel instead

RM