I know there are plenty of folks out there that will argue this point, but if they can come up with an efficient, home-scale turbine and sell it at a reasonable cost, Ill buy it. IN THEORY, HHO can replace coal, wood and natural. Copyright 2019 Self-Reliance Publications LLC. Our expert outlines processing used cooking oil in a small DIY plant. If you use a 5Kwatt gasoline portable generator to power the 2K LitersPerHour HHO generator, you would spend $84.00 every 24 hours (at unleaded gasoline price of $1.75) two gallons per hour approximate. When oxidized (burned), it releases energy, and if we make steam with that energy, we can use the steam to transmit that energy somewhere else to do useful work. Sometimes its difficult to decide just which is a bigger financial burden: the expense of operating a motor vehicle or that of providing a household with power and heat. gas generator gasifier wood diy fema stove gasification vergaser imbert fuel plans biomass energy test smoke build energiegewinnung camping woodgas If you must purchase everything new from a top line supplier, I doubt is this economical. Torrance, CA 90505

I would like to ask for your thoughts on three US Patents Pending I have involve large Steam Boilers. Using 47 lbs of steam per horsepower hour to be consumed by our engine, we take the 6.1 and multiply it by 47 and we get 286.7 or basically 287 pounds of steam/water is required. From our rough calculations, we concluded thatafter efficiency losses were taken into accountthe 10-KW alternator would require about 22 horsepower to operate effectively. As soon as were totally satisfied with the electricity-producing portion of our setup, were going to bolt an air compressor onto the accessory bracket at the front of the engine, strap a belt around it, and run a pneumatic line into a buried air storage tank next to the shop. Cloud, MN 56302 http://ng.cba.mit.edu/neil/06.08.fab/project_solar_collector_steam_turbine.jpg.html. We also had to consider the fact that a wood-gas-fueled engine delivers only 50 to 65% of its rated power, and that the slow-burning gas performs better with a long-strokerather than short-strokedesign. The water will enter the outside coil, pick up heat, go into the heat exchanger (desuperheater) and into the separator. Steam will exit the top of the separator and into the inner coil which acts as a superheater. So, were stuck with the piston (reciprocating) engine. There are countless plans available that are approved, certified, and well tested. Originally published as BACKYARD HOMESTEAD UTILITY in the July/August 1981 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. The better your scrounging skills the lower the cost.

As @servant74:disqus points out, this is a prototype and theyre working on the next version.

A given amount of fuel needs a given amount of air to burnno more and no less. This by far is the most efficient, lightest, and safest boiler. That depends. We have units to measure the properties of mass. Because changing load demands directly affect the rotational speed of the engine/alternator setup, and thereby influence power cycling, we had to rely on a speed control to maintain 60 cycles consistently.

Steam pistons drove factories. The ultimate education is to attend a steam club show. That's why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing through our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan. Furthermore, these circumstances allow us to utilize a cost-saving direct-drive coupling, rather than a more complicated and power-sapping step-down transmission system for the setup. We extract the work from steam by allowing it to expand in a controlled environment such as with a piston in a cylinder or a nozzle in a turbine. It is nothing but a unit of heat. As Marketing Lead for Autodesk's Making for Impact program, his work supports and amplifies the positive environmental and social impact of the global maker community. In addition to producing electricity for our maintenance shop, the system has also been designed to provide that structure with heat. If you can, be prepared for perpetual bliss.

He speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, English and reads Spanish. Do not put too much water in the tank to prevent dangerous pressure buildups. But rather than use the variable-width pulley arrangement that originally came with the generator, we utilized its speed sensor and servomotor only, then connected the latter component directly to the engine throttle. An example of this is a piston going down in a cylinder creating more space or volume (expansion). Using flexible pipe will allow the steam to be routed to something like a piston or a turbine. 1118 N. Raynor Ave. Your choice here will be recorded for all Make.co Websites. Antique steam generators and engines used coal or wood. Solar OSE recently ran a successfulKickstarter campaign, raising almost $9000 to build a solar concentrator thats four times bigger and capable of producing 5kW. Actually, were limited only by our imaginations when it comes to thinking up new tasks for our generator to perform. P.O. Oceanwater and riverwater are abundant all around us. I was looking around for calculations on Steam Power. The system ran lights and motors at 120 volts. It uses 20 NEMA 17(?) However, with little reserve capacity, they are sensitive to fluctuations in fuel and water supplies, not to mention loads. Steam is very hot. This article is an attempt to answer some of the many questions people have about steam. As steam goes from one volume to another, work is done. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); You have entered an incorrect email address! If you are making a larger steam generator, consider installing a pressure relief valve to lessen the danger of explosion. Our goal is to make science relevant and fun for everyone. The only challenge is keeping the orientation at 0.1 of precision. http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-OSE-Solar-concentrator-for-steam-generation/, Using carefully angled mirrors, this solar-powered steam generator can very hot. Sometimes earlier prototypes are not economical, so help in finding better solutions are always welcome. It can cause severe burns. I cant emphasize enough the importance of getting educated before you tinker. Engine displacement is another important factor. Whether young or old, lying in the grass and searching for four-leafed clovers is timeless fun. Water will actually turn into steam in a vacuum if its temperature maintains 40 degrees F. Conversely, at a pressure of 3200 lbs. P.O. Big ships and power plants use these designs as well. (All kinds of working modelssteam, gas engines, hot air, etc. It consumes about 250 pounds of water (that has been turned to steam) in one hour. (As an added benefit, this setup also allows us to clean or service one chamber while the other keeps the plant running.) As the engine stands now, it produces more than enough power at optimal generator speedwhich is 1,800 RPMto do its job effectively. Get hands-on with kits, books, and more from the Maker Shed, Skill builder, project tutorials, and more, Subscribe to the premier DIY magazine today, Community access, print, and digital Magazine, and more, Browse and Vote on Your Favorite Projects, Learn More About the Amazing Maker Awards, Graphics and More to Help Spread the Word, Michael Floyd is a creative director and sustainability consultant. Our shop unit has been in use for the last 18 years producing 4000 watts an hour. You may also use the Bill Me option and pay $19.95 for 6 issues. At any rate, we feel that weve made a number of noteworthy discoveries in the course of our small-scale research, not the least of which is the fact that a homes electrical needs can be supplied by wood gasification.

Generally speaking, a boiler gets 60-70% of energy transfer from radiant energy, rather than hot gases. wood burning dries out the air, and if you could make a small steam powered fan, that uses the exhaust of the kettle to spin a fan, which spreads heat and humidity without needing to be plugged in. Chances are you are less than an hours drive from one. Traverse City, MI 49685 And yes, there are approved designs out there for monotubes, and a professional can build them rather cheaply.

Do not, by any means, use this illustration to design your own boiler. (212 60 = 152) Now we add one more Btu and it all turns to steam at atmospheric pressure. This is the oldest, simplest, and the one that creates the steadiest production of steam. There are several magazines about steam engines. So, in an effort to ease the strain in both cases, the folks out at MOTHER EARTH NEWS research center have spent the past several months designing and testing various systems that use inexpensiveor sometimes even free wood scraps as a replacement for costly fossil fuels. You have to buy those expensive switches and breakers that are rated for D.C. If you have a need for large quantities of controllable heat, say to heat a large home, chicken house, or even a kiln, steam plants excel in that the waste heat (exhaust) of a steam engine will give you excessive amounts of BTUs to play with.

Consider steam engines akin to a fast acting hydraulic cylinder with an automatic valve. Good shopping and scrounging skills really change the economics of projects. (I aint metric yet, folks.). Thats bad because at temperatures over 1800 degrees, the nitrogen in air and some other chemicals start to oxidize. Other sources of Btus can be a hot spring or solar. The first phase to building your steam generator is the type of power to use for heat. http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-OSE-Solar-concentrator-for-steam-generation/, Get dozens of projects in every issue covering DIY electronics, 3D printing, craft, and more, Learn tips and skill-building tutorials from experts in the maker community. The system would certainly perform quite adequately with a box stock engine.) Although both of these will work well, an electric immersion heater may be a safer alternative as it isn't as much of a fire hazard. From the outset of this project, we not only wanted to build a working demonstration piece that would allow visitors to our Eco-Village to seeand, in some instances, later duplicatewhat we had done, but also wished to set up an honest-to-goodness functional AC power source that would fully supply our maintenance shop, thereby reducing our dependence on the local utilitys services. That also makes piston engines produce enormous torque at almost any rpm. Not only is that poisonous, but it is wasted energy.

This is a must have). I wont put it on the market until the system is foolproof, efficient, and affordable.

Lancaster, PA 17603 Hog butchering Using everything but the squeal, Protein The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet, Broody biddies make sense on the homestead, Couponing, refunding, and stockpiling will make your money stretch. This chilling chamber is nothing more than a series of tubes, enclosedall but their endsin a conduit jacket thats filled with water and plumbed into the cooling system of the engine. steppers to position the mirrors. I like the way you explain, I imagine you are, or used to be a professor, I am a bit of a catalog of more efficient ways of accomplishing things. Canadian Subscribers International Subscribers, Canadian subscriptions: 1 year (includes postage & GST). To put that in perspective, that is a hefty armload of wood. So, 287 pounds of steam/water x 1200 Btus = 344,400 Btus are required (287 x 1200). Joliet, IL 60435 Steam is a dry, clear, tasteless gas. To view the entire project, check it out on Instructables. The generating unit itself is a standard Kamag 14 self-exciting alternator with a 10-KW continuous rating. It also needs the right amount of space to burn. There seems to be enough surplus power in the engine to allow us to operate even an automotive air conditioning compressor, which should be capable of cooling a small house. Read more . Their DIY linear Fresnel reflector array collects and transforms solar energy into steam up to 250 Celcius. It would be a lot simpler to build and to point. And it doesnt take a very sharp pencil to figure out that a household or farmstead that eats up perhaps $1,500 annually in purchased energy (in many areas that would be considered a modest figure) would have to operate with a self-contained system for only four yearsprovided the fuel is scrapto pay off the investment. Now, if that steam isnt allowed to expand into those volumes because it is contained, we get an increase in pressure. Our websites use cookies to improve your browsing experience. Steam is then drawn off the top of the drum where it is routed to its intended use by a pipe. P.O.

Wood Gas Truck: Road Power From Wood Gasification. Remember, death is final (and painful). Basically, they consist of one continuous coil of tubing or pipe in various configurations. I can just just plug in the 120volt HHO generator to the closest wall socket IN THE POWER PLANT. To impart energy to a mass is one thing, and to transmit and use that energy is another. Once water is turned to steam, you can raise the temperature of the gas and store more energy/work in it. Stumbled on to your site when I was pondering a steam powered fan, that installs on the spout of a whistle kettle. Use your browsers BACK button to return to this page. BUT YOUR OUTPUT IS TEN MEGAWATTS OF ELECTRICITY !!!

It will burn wood gas from digesters which heat the wood to ignition temperature but starve it for oxygen.

And, in the interest of economy, we could see no point in using a grossly oversized engine to do the relatively small task of providing a single building with electricity and heat. If you mean, can that generator be built that cheaply? I am always looking for ways to make self sufficiency more comfortable. Any hobby shop should be able to tell you where one is in the area. The most common versions are portable steam cleaners.

By Charles Sanders Solder a small steel pipe through this hole. There are set formulas for all of these factors, and your boiler builder will know what to do once you tell him what your needs are. The answer is yes. If you plan to burn wood, you should know that it is a very established science to gasify wood and burn it in an internal combustion engine. Times that by 100 pounds pressure x 2.31 = 231 and divide that by 2, and you get 115.5 foot-pounds of torque. A number of steam powered projects are good for demonstrating physics principles and engineering principles. There are basically three types of boilers. Generally, pressure is measured in pounds per square inch, volume in cubic feet, and temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Tiny Power has 13 different models of engines plus accessories, and we cater mostly to hobbyists such as retired machinists and steamboaters worldwide. Steam engines and boilers are usually most efficient at full settings, all valves open, full fire, etc so that brings us to the next subject: In a home setting, electricity is the most common form of energy.

In addition, we use third-party cookies to help us analyze and understand usage. Technically, you are breaking the law by building a non-certified boiler.

The engine exhaust will travel into a coil which is inside the large tank and release its remaining heat into the water. Drill a hole for a small metal tube. Issue #130 July/August, 2011 A free program that lights childrens creative fires and allows them to explore projects in areas such as arts & crafts, science & engineering, design, and technology. Hence the name Monotube. If we can provide exacting control of our fuel/water supply, then we have the ideal home-power boiler. (These modifications were for experimental purposes. :). To start with, rather than using just one gasifier, we chose to utilize twoplumbed independently of each otherto permit the engine to operate without interruption. This is more efficient, safer, common, easy to build, etc. (For the steamboat connoisseur, all sizes, great reading! Put another way, for every horsepower the engine produced, we evaporated 47 pounds of water to steam and passed it through the engine. This is a 195-cubic-inch, long-stroke model, which isin effectthe right half of a General Motors V-8.

per square inch, and a temperature around 720 degrees, steam becomes supercritical and actually has a density the same as water. Paste this sticker on your brain: There is a stick of dynamite in a gallon of water. It takes energy to do work. Because the less wood you burn, the less you have to cut. The project is fully documented on Instructables and can be built for around $2100 in a week with a dedicated crew. This is usually measured in pounds of steam/water per horsepower hour. Water gone crazy with the heat is as good an answer as any. It takes a lot of energy to change the physical state of matter. P.O. . From the English-language comments: On the tracking system, indeed we plan on using 1 single motor to track all mirror facets. All that brings us back to the question of why steam vs. other forms of independent energy? Hogs are raised throughout our neighboring Amish community for By Charles Sanders For our summertime demonstrations, weve plumbed a small hot-water space heater into the primary loop from the engine. Its easy and straightforward because all mirrors rotate the same speed. It provides either one 240volt or two 120-volt 60-cycle circuits, and is designed to cut in at 210 volts so the plant can come up to operational speed without the burden of a load.

Therefore, a steam engine/generator proves to be the most practical application. A search through the local wrecking yard turned up (for $75) a 1961 Pontiac Tempest four-cylinder engine. Box 629 Curious about what cars get the best gas mileage? This may be a more practical application for you. The steam produced has many uses, some of which include: cooking, sterilization, pasteurization, distillation, chemical processes, heating, extraction of essential oils, water purification, wood treatment, and even hammams. Solar concentrators work by focusing the suns rays on a water pipe to generate steam. Learning how to build a shed step by step just got a lot easier!

Again, both the condenser and the filter were fabricated in duplicate so that there would be two separate and complete fuel-producing systems, each valved to a common feed pipe leading directly to the engine. Conversely, if a pound of water drops one degree, it releases one Btu. Box 328 A celebration of the Maker Movement, a family-friendly showcase of invention and creativity that gathers together tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators across the globe. If you would recall in high school chemistry, hydrogen and oxygen can be extracted from water (oceanwater is more efficient) by running electricity thru water and HHO bubbles out from zinc and copper terminals. To convert one pound of water from 212 degrees water to 212 degree steam (still one pound by weight) at atmospheric pressure takes another 970 Btus. However, our heart still yearns towards self-sufficiency. This project is ridiculously wasteful. (Old steam tractors and stationary engines, large classifieds), Engineers & Engines

Andalthough we havent yet had a chance to devote enough working hours to the unit to convince us that the design is as good as we can make itour initial testing seems to indicate that itll perform as well as any conventionally fueled standby generator of similar output in addition to providing a sufficient amount of hot water to actually heat a home! Round up to 4600. Hold a lit candle so the flame touches an ice cube and if you look real close, there is an invisible layer of gas insulating the flame from the surface. Building your own homemade tomato cages is easy. Our boiler is 70% efficient, so 344,400 Btus divided by 70% gives us the figure of 492,000 Btus actually required (344,400 / .70 = 492,000). In English, that means that for every horsepower produced for one hour, a certain amount of steam/water will pass through the engine. If you look in the yellow pages, you will find certified boilermakers who will do the job right.

Believe it or not, only about one-third of the energy in a given fuel does any useful work as its burned in an engine.

Take a look at these four terrific plans at least one will work perfectly for you and your garden!

Our experimentation wont end there, either. Of course, this cost could be reduced substantially if a used alternator and an unmodified engine were utilized. At MOTHER EARTH NEWS for 50 years and counting, we are dedicated to conserving our planet's natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources. St. Water, in the form of steam, is an excellent medium to transmit energy.

Too much air and youre heating air. Wrong! We call this superheated steam and though it is a desirable condition, it is seldom used in small-scale steam plants. You can figure this torque by taking the square inches of the piston, multiplying that by the average cylinder pressure, and multiplying that figure by the length of the stroke measured in feet divided by 2.

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