The info you gave me on the hearth dont really explain much. Like our VFX-14 it is designed to run between 1 ltr and 2.5 ltr engines with the small core installed. It has a 8" diamter hearth liner with a 3 inch restriction choke that is 8 inches deep. It features a 3 inch thick wall of ceramic insulation. Jets are adjustable but that is where my technology differs from Ben's plans as our Hearth technology features a two stage eccentric oxidation process. But this bascially features just three jets that are 5/8 teirs. The machine can process either chunks or chips about the size you are using. But I prefer slightly larger fuel more like 1 1/2 to 2 inch chunks or large meety hard wood chips. But I should note this is the set up for 1800 rpm applications. If I were to run this on my 2.5 in the S-10 then it would get the 10 inch liner with the 4 inch restriction throat and a 2 inch insulation wall to achieve higher RPM and shift the turndown ratio up higher. We can eliminate the liner completely on V8 engine applications.
Stainless Steel is not a good choice for the hearth or cooler. It will eventually stress harden due to constant heat expension and retraction and at 2000* f will oxidize just the same as mild steel. Mild steel is more maluable and in a gasifier the oxygen is consumed imediatly so you really cant oxidize the steel anyways. I have an old unit here we built in 2014 and the hearth looks the same as it did when we built it 10 years ago. For the gas cooler you want to use Aluminized tubing. This is litterally what is designed and developed for. "cooling corosive gases" Stainless will retain heat and that is the oposite of what we are trying to do. But if its working its working so dont mind me but Ive been here and done extensive development in this area and have a back ground in blast furnaces.
However the Hopper and Media filters are prone to corrosion and yes indeed SS will shine here. But this is expensive and is why we use the drums now as they are easy to come by and easy to simply replace. The filters we recommend an undustrial coating to line the inside that stuff is bullet proof.
Thank you! This also helps build the community and get others on board. There is a lot of people that have joined but lurking instead of creating post and doing.
Honestly I dont think there is a solution to dry fuel on the fly as you are driving. Engine exhaust will actually put more moisture into the fuel than it will dry if fed directly to the fuel. If used to heat a vessel its just not enough energy to really do anything. This is one of the cons of wood fuels verses charcoal. You have to realize wood fuel process is not as easy as just chipping up fuel in a chipper. Chunked fuels will work best but drying either fuel takes time. Too fast of drying can case harden the chunks or chips. Yes this is a thing, where only the outside layers will dry and then lock in core moisture. This is common in the wood furniture industry and why they use high temperature steam drying processes.
You will need to have all your fuel for the planned trip pre dried.
A dryer I plan to build this coming spring is to use a simple 55 gal drum with lid; bougth off craigs list. Use a hole saw and cut 1 to 1 1/2 inch holes around the bottom and top ends and paint the drum black. This will allow a draft inside the drum as the sun heats it and then the lid will keep the rain out in case you forget. I plan to build a bunch of them so I never run out of fuel.
I can pre dry the wood and have several times. I drive about 300 miles round trip and sometimes it is ok and others (normally on humid days) it is not. I can flip back and forth from gas to wood so it is not a problem but did not know if anyone has had the same issue or have come up with a solution.
On humid days you can mix in charcoal to cut down on that moisture plus the charcoal will help bring hearth temps up. You should learn to bulk produce charcoal if you have not already done so.
Chuck Whitlox method is really briliant method and its simple and actually quite efficient. https://youtu.be/bNOiVCpRWXw
The info you gave me on the hearth dont really explain much. Like our VFX-14 it is designed to run between 1 ltr and 2.5 ltr engines with the small core installed. It has a 8" diamter hearth liner with a 3 inch restriction choke that is 8 inches deep. It features a 3 inch thick wall of ceramic insulation. Jets are adjustable but that is where my technology differs from Ben's plans as our Hearth technology features a two stage eccentric oxidation process. But this bascially features just three jets that are 5/8 teirs. The machine can process either chunks or chips about the size you are using. But I prefer slightly larger fuel more like 1 1/2 to 2 inch chunks or large meety hard wood chips. But I should note this is the set up for 1800 rpm applications. If I were to run this on my 2.5 in the S-10 then it would get the 10 inch liner with the 4 inch restriction throat and a 2 inch insulation wall to achieve higher RPM and shift the turndown ratio up higher. We can eliminate the liner completely on V8 engine applications.
Stainless Steel is not a good choice for the hearth or cooler. It will eventually stress harden due to constant heat expension and retraction and at 2000* f will oxidize just the same as mild steel. Mild steel is more maluable and in a gasifier the oxygen is consumed imediatly so you really cant oxidize the steel anyways. I have an old unit here we built in 2014 and the hearth looks the same as it did when we built it 10 years ago. For the gas cooler you want to use Aluminized tubing. This is litterally what is designed and developed for. "cooling corosive gases" Stainless will retain heat and that is the oposite of what we are trying to do. But if its working its working so dont mind me but Ive been here and done extensive development in this area and have a back ground in blast furnaces.
However the Hopper and Media filters are prone to corrosion and yes indeed SS will shine here. But this is expensive and is why we use the drums now as they are easy to come by and easy to simply replace. The filters we recommend an undustrial coating to line the inside that stuff is bullet proof.
Thank you! This also helps build the community and get others on board. There is a lot of people that have joined but lurking instead of creating post and doing.
Honestly I dont think there is a solution to dry fuel on the fly as you are driving. Engine exhaust will actually put more moisture into the fuel than it will dry if fed directly to the fuel. If used to heat a vessel its just not enough energy to really do anything. This is one of the cons of wood fuels verses charcoal. You have to realize wood fuel process is not as easy as just chipping up fuel in a chipper. Chunked fuels will work best but drying either fuel takes time. Too fast of drying can case harden the chunks or chips. Yes this is a thing, where only the outside layers will dry and then lock in core moisture. This is common in the wood furniture industry and why they use high temperature steam drying processes.
You will need to have all your fuel for the planned trip pre dried.
A dryer I plan to build this coming spring is to use a simple 55 gal drum with lid; bougth off craigs list. Use a hole saw and cut 1 to 1 1/2 inch holes around the bottom and top ends and paint the drum black. This will allow a draft inside the drum as the sun heats it and then the lid will keep the rain out in case you forget. I plan to build a bunch of them so I never run out of fuel.