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Post date: Aug 26, 2013 1:53:40 AM
It has been a busy summer and I'm getting behind on posting updates on the gasifier. For the most part the gasifier has been ignored but a few things have been done.
Back in May I bought a grain cleaner along with Pete Stanaitis from the Baldwin area. I have been fixing it up and experimenting with sorting wood chips. Pete made the video below of sorting 23 five gallon buckets of chips.
It doesn't do as good a job as sorting by hand with screens and fingers but it is much faster. I think the trick for making chips that work in a small gasifier is to chip up only material that is free of branches and twigs. A minimum diameter of 2 or 3 inches would be best.
Our experiments and repairs included replacing the outside screens with 1/2" by 1/2" screen on the upper outer drum and 1" by 1" on the lower half. The inner drum was replaced with 1" by 1- 1/2" mesh. The motor, wire and switch were all replaced. A missing wheel was replaced. I also added a chain and S-hook to the bottom of the lower end support so a hand trailer mover could be used to wheel the cleaner back into the garage after use.
On the to do list is to find an auger to feed the chips into the machine, build separators for the under side to keep the four sizes of chips separated. Pete is working on fixing up a snowmobile trailer so he can easily get the cleaner back to Baldwin.
I still need to write up the following;
My methods for drying chips
The pneumatic ejector for starting the gasifier. Two versions
New woodgas mixer/carburetor connections. Two versions
The improved connection for the O2 sensor.
Future projects include adding an alternator to the small engine to create a load and charge 12 volt batteries.
Getting the Case 446 lawn tractor running on woodgas. (This has been done with the newer charcoal gasifier but not documented)
Fixing up the Arduino code so the servo can properly mix the air and woodgas and fix the problems with the remote control.
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