Concentrated Photo Voltaic, a Primer for non-techie types that will get you up to speed fast!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by George B.

It’s May day, You have just hours before you go to Dinner with your Spouse and a leading expert in the Field of CPV, what will you read in order to at least act half way interested, and perhaps even engage him in a conversation about his technology and interests?  You know he has no interest in sports, or what hollywood does, it’s going to be a long and awkward evening less you take a few minutes to prepare.

I suggest you read along, it’s a short read, but it does require you look at a few webpages, but I promise it will be near painless.

If you are old enough, you’ll remember the round head lights we had in cars for so many years. The lights were called sealed beams and they concentrated the light from the element and focused it into a specified area. The sealed Beam head lights used in Autos are noteworthy because they worked so well AND they ‘concentrated’ light just like a CPV system does. 

I’m not sure when it was, but somewhere in the 80s, the Automotive Engineers had a better idea, maybe it was style driven, maybe some of the Engineers who were after superior aerodynamics liked them as well, but no matter how few or how many reasons, the newer units took over.  The glass enclosure now had an opening in the back, and there was a smaller light bulb that could be pulled out the back and replaced when it was bad.

It took only a bit of time for people to realize the downside of these new lighting units, a rock chip could and did break the seal of the enclosure, and when you pulled into your drive at night and turned off the key, the light would cool and often drew in moist air. The next morning when the air temp picked up a bit, the moisture inside the head light enclosure would condense and make a soup of sorts. This could lead to growing a culture of algae like green, red, and might even help remove that few microns thick of shiny stuff on the back called a reflector.

Soon, a lot of folks were driving down the road thinking they’re going blind, some checked in with their car mechanics and found that the lighting enclosure had been compromised and needed to be replaced because it no longer concentrated enough light for one to safely see at night  The Owner often said OK, replace them, call me when you’re done.

This lead to owners going into shock when they were presented with a $300 plus bill (in the 80s remember). The  new enclosures were $120 and up each, and that didn’t include installation, or the new light bulb. They were expensive for a reason, part of it was they were sealed from the elements that can and do destroy or rapidly degrade the reflective elements that concentrate the light.

This caused a lot of people to think about what they had lost with the old system, as it was just a few dollars for the entire unit, and they were quick and easy to replace.  The first aftermarket plastic covers came out to snap over the head lights to save you from rock chips that were VERY common. The plastic got dirty, the sand and grit wore the surface and cut the light transmission, they aged in the Sunlight and turned yellow too.  Soon, people couldn’t see again, and thought they were going blind.

There was another problem, after some years, the plastic holder for the light bulb wore, and so did the O ring, when it started to leak, you could bring in the moist air, and foul or lose your internal reflector coating by growing a culture inside. I personally know people who do not drive at night anymore than they have too, it scares them, and they think it’s their failing vision, hard to convince them their concentrating system has degraded to the point of being dangerous.   

All of this is a lesson that it takes a while for a concentrating light unit like I describe to show us both the advantages and disadvantages, and there is no doubt in my mind that this new system added to the cost of car ownership.

The discussion of concentrating light beams is about lenses, mirrors, and little more, it can work well WHEN the environment is sealed and moisture, dust and dirt have no chance to get in. Of course what one man calls sealed, another won’t and the discussion can get down to “sealed for how long?” then, we get into the lens material, there’s glass, and many types of plastic, some plastics are wonders, and they stay fairly clear for years, and the biggest problem comes when they aren’t cleaned with the utmost care. If they’re loaded up with sandy grit and you attempt to rub them clean with a dry rag, it can turn ugly. Not only have you scratched the surface, but you may have made it toothy to the point where bacteria can set up housekeeping and further impede light transmission. Glass sounds like a great choice, but what about 50 MPH winds and dust storms?

In concentrated PV, we have the same issues as we do with a common auto head light, only we multiply any problem with degradation of the light transmission path 10,000 times or more from a maintenance point of view.

In concentrated PV, we have the same issue with pointing  the CPV panel at our light source, it’s reverse of pointing our light source in the direction of travel, but very similar. In the car, we turn the steering wheel, in CPV, we have electronics that know where the sun is, and make use of gears, hydraulics, servos, or a number of other parts to make sure the sun is aligned accurately with the lens, and concentration elements, when this doesn’t happen, no electricity is made.

There’s other automotive data you might consider. People here in Washington State who commute daily over our mountain passes are normally forced to replace their windshields annually. This is because they can become so sandblasted that they are literally dangerous. What is it like in areas where CPV is deployed? Wind speeds, driven sand and dust?

This is all about light being able to get through a lens, or a clear cover, and how reflectors degrade, in autos, they degraded far more rapidly than some thought. How will the Concentrator elements in the CPV systems perform, and what problems might already be showing up in Hatch for instance Does anybody care to know?

Now it’s time for you to do a few web searches, it’s all so easy, and we’ll assume you use google since most do.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_photovoltaics

Now that you have a little back ground, just hold the analogy of a rifle scope, all is well when you have the scope on the cross hairs, all is in focus, lenses are clean, and the solar cell is working of course.

If you do a few more google searches, there’s little chance you won’t run across this site  http://amonix.com/content/solar-pioneers

Why not use the touted leader for our study? We form the questions you’ll entertain your expert with. We know we don’t have the answers, but decent questions will allow us to express some interest in the topic.   

Potential questions follow:

Hey, I ‘ve seen the Las Vegas Sun has been covering Amonix all along, and isn’t it great we have those huge deployments in Alamosa Colorado and Hatch New Mexico! What I’m curious about is why they all of a sudden dropped the Coverage of Amonix just when they have something to show off?

I hear the wind blows pretty hard in Hatch New Mexico, and the air is so full of sand, dirt, and grit, this ought to be a great place to prove how well the product is doing, how do we find out? Are these solar modules holding up well, how many have they had to replace?  Any wind damage? I’ll bet the whole CPV community is discussing this somewhere, where do we find the conversation?

Hey, when is the factory in Las Vegas going to roll out the next batch of product? I see the Los Vegas Sun hasn’t said a word about Amonix since they announced all the job layoffs there, what’s up with that?

Amonix, the leader in CPV, and with enough trackers in the field to prove just how good they are. This is a fact as far as I can access.

Let’s look over this claim:

http://amonix.com/content/no-water-operation

No water used for cooling, impressive savings? Do we really save a valuable resource?

More questions for our Professionals, and maybe we go right back to the Automotive World and look for analogies?  CPV is a power plant, so are air cooled engines and water cooled engines, have you ever seen an air cooled engine maker advertise that they are saving a valuable resource by avoiding the use of a water cooled engine?

I think the average man or woman notices there’s no garden hose hooked to the car, and perhaps there’s very little water in the cooling loop, and not so much of a loss, it does beg thinking people to ask, just what group of people was this page designed for? It’s not an answer, just another question for our professional.

Of course this leads to more questions, and that is, we know that near all of the automotive industry has adopted the water cooled engine, and now we see that the majority of motorcycles have gone that way. The whole point is to carry off waste heat, and allow the machine to operate at a more ideal temperature. We learn from the WIKI page that heat is a problem with efficiency, and by cooling the CPV modules we can increase efficiency.

This leads to another question we ask our professional. Isn’t the whole idea of a CPV system that it is more efficient? If this is true why is the problem in the CPV different than in the automotive engines, and why have the Automotive engineers who have been dealing with the problems of carrying off excess heat to assure both efficiency and longevity of their equipment finding water or liquid cooling the more ideal answer?

Isn’t the problem exactly the same? Shouldn’t the CPV engineers recognize the automotive Engineers have about 130 years of experience in optimizing their cooling systems, AND have given up on what Amonix has deployed in their current tracker?

I remember sitting in a 1976 Fiat, and I noticed they had used some optical fibers to actually report on whether the head lights were on, innovative I thought, a different approach, but who could argue the stake holder (the one behind the wheel) could tell both lights were working.

This creates more questions for us:

How automated is the leader in the field? How do you know if a module has over heated and burned out, or is not performing as we expect? Is there any remote way of telling if a cell is bad, and how much effort does it take to get to the cell and replace it?

Do we break any seals getting  in and out to replace it? Do we need wait till the blowing dust and dirt stops to do it?

Where is the group of people who care what the actual performance of these panels are? If the US Government has given any incentives at all to Amonix or those who bought and deployed the product, should we Citizens enjoy the privilege of learning how they are working in the field?

Why is it that EVERY Green Energy Site I can find looks more like a place to market Green Energy, and not to discuss the technical merits of the product?

I’m sure the DOE has the results of this deployment at Hatch for instance. do we have any right to know?

added 5/8/2012: I see the NREL has posted comments on Amonix, here’s an example:

Cost savings were factored in every step of the way — from foundry to grid — said Bob McConnell, who worked at NREL before he left the lab in 2007 to join Amonix and help bring the research to market.

The result is a generator manufactured at about a third to one half of generators using crystalline silicon or thin-film approaches.

Multi-junction cells can operate at higher ambient temperatures than traditional PV cells, making them ideal for sunny and dry climates in the southwestern United States, and ripe for future cost reductions.

The concentrator also is kinder to the environment than most large systems, using no water in its operation. Propped up two feet above the land, it doesn’t hinder the movement of wildlife.

“You simply can’t put enough solar systems on rooftops to achieve the scale and capacity necessary to generate electricity in the quantities required by utilities and by society,” said Amonix’s founder and chief technical officer, Vahan Garboushian. “This is a technology that can meet the terawatt (trillions of watts) needs of the world for clean electricity.”

As we attempt to digest what the NREL writes here, does it seem the relationship is a little like a marriage between first cousins? I mean the mention of the water savings again.. just how much water do you save in a closed loop glycol system? And don’t we know there would be a lot of consideration to using a lifetime waterless coolant as well. Some who read this will see it more as an advertisement. I think it might cause some of us to question the NREL’s mission.. but hey, I only have the questions here.. not the answers..    

G

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Buyer Beware, Critical Thinking, Earth & Energy, In The News, Questions & Answers, The New Green Movement | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Laidong 1115 The best choice right now?? Article by Butch, ’38C’

Posted on April 30, 2012 by George B.

 I’d like to thank Butch for his efforts in making acessments of the Laidong Product. Some of you might know that Lee and David have been working hard to access who is making the better products in China, and this brand was identified as one of the top units. We should assume that there are people who would quickly paint the name Liadong on an engine of another make if it lead to a sale, we should also know that there were some requests made by Lee and David as to how these were built.  So we need learn what the real McCoy is before we attempt to buy one like this.  I do reccognize pieces on this machine as being offers usually found on the higher grade engines, I have no personal experience with this brand, but I like what I see.  We now turn over this ‘Living page’ to Butch 38C.   

GB      

Laidong1115

“We are able to make the distinction between bad designs, and poorly made parts. We know how some of these defects are created.. often by people who are paid by piecework versus the hour, and who have no understanding of the parts they pour, hammer, and machine.”    George B 2012

That statement by George struck a chord with me as I have long held that certain engine designs exist in only two states, failure and rapidly heading that way. This goes back to a 1980 Chevy with a  350 CI diesel.  I am pretty sure that if Mercedes Benz built one of those engines and  it be as short lived as the GM.   One of my buddies would say, ” you can’t polish a turd”.  This is part one of George’s equation, a bad design. Side two of  the bad engine world,  engines of sound designs that  are not built to a high standard, or maybe more correctly a high  enough standard is a field that is harder to properly dissect.  I stress high enough as engine build quality is always a compromise, cost vs what market will bear for cost.  The horizontal diesels from China are the best example part 2 that I am aware of. I own quite the pile of them, I am like the neighborhood shelter operator.  Once tossed out and abused they end up at my shop.  I have also collected up some new old stock engines from here and there. For the most part the design has a pretty poor reputation with our big local users of such, the Amish community. Myself I am impressed with the design but to tell  the truth not one of the examples I had in my possession impressed me for build quality.

 Although simple and slow speed as compared to more modern designs the horizontal is not as “underbuilt”  friendly as say a CS Lister.  With the slow RPM and other over engineering in the CS design Lister created a low stress environment. They could almost be built  in a cave  and have some life expectancy. Build a 200o RPM horizontal with the same quality that our current crop of Indian Lister clones enjoy and you would have a grenade with a very short and fast burning fuse. More HP into a smaller package equates to more highly stressed parts and there is no way around the materials and tolerances needed to make it all work.   The engine the Chinese chose to clone needs a lot more attention to build quality than the one that India chose, that does not make it a bad design. It means it is ,much easier to build bad ones,,,big difference

Recently  I laid my eyes and fingers on a Laidong brand 1115 and was  impressed. How good is it? The difference between the Laidong and my other examples is about on par with comparing my 1938 Production 6/1 Lister to a Listeroid. While I am not about making claims that cannot be supported with operating hours this one has a chance to be the real deal in my opinion.  I crowed to George about it and thus received the job of starting this blog. All I know at the present is there has been an attempt here to import a high quality engine and I think they have met with success. Hope that the importer and his “man on the ground” chime in. Will make for an interesting read.  Meanwhile I will be adding some content here myself with pictures and material details soon and putting some hours on one.    

You can check out  the 1115 Laidong at Belleghuan Ltd http://www.woodnstuff.ca/

We have posted a short clip of ours on you tube.  Impressive for sitting on rubber-tired casters I think?  Will be motionless when bolted to it’s work platform driving a 15KW ST head.  Vibration is only one portion of build quality but it appears that Liadong has it down pat.

  

Thanks,

Butch 38C 

 

Posted in Engines, Slow Speed Engines, Small Diesels, Submitted Articles | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Donald Sadoway says, What AE Needs is a good battery.

Posted on April 29, 2012 by George B.

Sadoway mentions a number of things most of us know are important, one is the missing element that could make solar and wind practical larger scale. We need work from the price point, and he mentions no subsidies, that leads me to believe he knows that subsidies can cloud our vision. It’s not just a cost to us all, it can cause us to invest in the wrong things. What is the potential efficiency of his battery?  We need expend energy to make things warm, so what do we need to keep his battery warm? He’s right, it’s all so counter intuitive. 

Interesting short lecture. Food for thought.

 

Posted in Earth & Energy, Things I like | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Ford’s Allowance Certificate to Edsel Owners

Posted on April 25, 2012 by George B.

It was a lesson the Auto Industry never should have forgotten.  “It’s very expensive to build cars people don’t want to buy”.  But there’s a big distinction between this Ford failure and this present mess we see at GM, The Edsel was Ford’s mess, and they cleaned it up without the help of U.S. the tax payers.

There’s valuable lessons to be learned from the Edsel, we spawn a new generation of consumers every 20 years, and each generation sees itself born of a new age and discounts the critical lessons of the past. It’s as if the human mind has some initial programing you need find your way around to discover the realities that lie at your feet, if only you look!

 

What does a Company do when they’re buiding cars no one wants? well in the case of the Edsel, Ford managed it all internally, and part of their efforts were to give buyers and incentive to stay loyal to Ford. Following is an allowance certificate and letter dated March 17, 1960. I had just turned 12 years old.

Edsel-Allownace-Certificate

Edsel-Allownace-Certificate

  

This (Government subsidy free) Certificate above was issued through a small town dealer who was also a Oldsmobile Dealer at the time if I recall correctly.  The Olds of the day had a good following, and those who owned them >knew< they had purchased a car ‘a cut above’ the Chevrolet. In the day, it was a two-minute walk between dealers.

I can’t imagine what the Ford Dealer was thinking at the time. I’m sure he thought he had been loyal to Ford Motor Company and now they betray him by selling the Edsel Franchise to his competition just down the street allowing that Dealer to offer his customers a choice between a GM or a Ford made product.  There was so much hype over the Edsel Brand, a whole new exciting line of cars, and don’t miss the once in a lifetime opportunity to buy a Franchise.

There’s a lot on the net to research, including the songs about how wonderful it was to be the wife of an Edsel dealer, yes, Ford seemed to know even back then that women were part of important decision making in households, and normally any man that had more than two cents at the time was married. This does suggest Ford Execs were consulting their marketing arm for advice, and many blame the down turn in the economy for the failure..

Edsel-Letter
Edsel-Letter

The Certificate idea may not have had the intention of betraying the Edsel dealer but in this case and other cases it did.  Here Ford is offering Robert’s customer a rather significant amount of money at the time to buy their next car at the Scarff Ford Dealer just down the Street.  Having some sense of what Ford was up to,  he may have prudently mistaken who the sale of Edsels were made to. What would you have done?

Following are a collection of blunders, ending with the Edsel. 

But there’s the ultimate ugly contest, our Edsel did well, but there’s so much more competition that you may have EVER imagined on the scale of ugly, but not likely on the scale of cost per ugly car made indexed for inflation. Thanks to new generations of consumers who don’t yet understand the dangers of allowing people in politics to manage the car business, we will eventually replace the use of the term ‘Edsel’ as the colossal mistake of our time in the car business. I still believe GM has a top contender in the Volt, as this should still be an R&D project according to marketing data about people who want to buy a car hybrid car.  It may become known as the largest mistake in the car business, but those in Washinton DC will wear the blame.  So few will care till their cupboard is bare, or they own something they can’t have repaired.  

Poor Edsel, what did he do to deserve his name on such a car? There’s a wiki page that likley gives us a best ideal of reality, and the actual sales of the Edsel,  63,110 Edsels  sold the first year how does this compare to the Chev Volt?

I’m pretty sure my next car will be a Ford, I’ll post what happens when I attempt to turn this non expiring certificate into cash.

   GB 

 

Posted in Critical Thinking, Vehicle Design | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Golighty Tappet Jack

Posted on April 23, 2012 by George B.

Help! Remember Mr. Potato Head? Well, I’m Mr. CS head, and I have some sad news.

Manufacturer Discontinued!

Mr. CS Head
Mr. CS Head, unknown contributor
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There’s a lot of articles out of date at utterpower. They are left in place to let you know where we’ve been..  One article that is a little bit troublesome in the article called Listeroid Longevity on my CD, it’s the better part of a 100 pages long, and buried within are a few tools we made in the very early days. The Golighty Tappet Jack was one, and named after the gifted DIYer Ralph Golighty who made it for our community.
 
The tappet jack was a collar that was tightened around the top of a tappet guide, and it had two jacking screws that allowed a user to jack out a tight-fitting guide. Later we found out that the Indians don’t care about the diminisions that our jack worked off of, and soon we got several complaints that the jack was just too darned big to grab hold of the tappet guide! What to do? discontinue the tappet jack. Yes, the indians cut this diminsion based on how they feel that day..
 
But.. a decision was made to leave the information in the article, and a picture of it.. I felt that a person than came across a really tight fit (pounded in) could copy our jack if nothing else.
 
Fact is, most tappets are not as tight as what we saw years ago, but every engine is different, so who knows what you’ll see, we just know that our jack was a disappointment for the reason mentioned.
 
So it is my hope that people will read this, and know the history of the tappet jack and why we quit making it..
 
GB
 
       
Posted in Engines, Slow Speed Engines, Strange Stuff | Tagged , | 4 Comments

KARI NORGAARD, a product of her environment

Posted on April 23, 2012 by George B.

Another fine study, and food for thought? You be the judge.

Professor Kari Norgaard

The UK media sheds light on Norgaard, so I read some.

The wired Magazine article was good.  For those not familiar with the Norgaard story a few searches is all you need.  Google ‘Kari Norgaard’, no reason for me to share her deeds when they are so easy to find. I don’t accuse her of calling deniers stupid, or lame. She is a child by my measure, and apparently a child Professor at Whitman OK.. ..  

We older people know that the number one mission of Wired is to sell magazines! I sensed a big shift in that Magazine’s coverage and tone WHEN they were forced to confront reality.  ‘Their number one mission is selling magazines, it’s what Die Hard Capitalists do!’

In the Wired interview, Norgarrd says this:  “Another factor is that we no longer have a sense of permanence”.  Another psychologist, Robert Lifton, wrote about what the existence of atomic bombs did to our psyche. There was a sense that the world could end at any moment.”

Professor Norgaard is like a child who has not yet discovered that she can harbor her own thoughts. She is so focused on the sinister deeds of Man that she doesn’t seem to note that the planet and natural events in our solar system could >again< muster in the extinction of animals at the top of the food chain.  Thanks to gravity maps, we know the cause of the last major event, and it wasn’t man’s doing!

But even more alarming is her own denial of what and who she is.  By her age, most of us   understood that any sense of ‘permanence’ is usually held by the less mature mind.  We are here for but an instant according to mother nature’s time piece, so a sense of Permanence might be a major handicap? Time is ticking, and perhaps we need get busy and do something with our life before we find the end of it!   

Professor Norgaard at Whitman

At the top of the pile of Woman I respect are those well-educated Women in Afghanistan, Medical Doctors, Specialists, Woman who worked against all odds to excel in their areas of expertise.  And now… will they find that their Sisters in America will ‘stand down’ and simply watch the Taliban punish and even kill them for the kindness, compassion, and self-less sacrifices they have made?

I mention it because I wonder where young Kari Norgaard will stand on the issue? I suspect it all depends on the script given to her by the local community organizer, ‘and entity she references in her writings’.

As a last thought, I note her comments on Nuclear Energy, no doubt she’s mastered physics at some high level, and maybe even worked in an operating plant right? Oh yes.. we know… “she reads from the script given to her.”

All the best,

George B.

Notes:  Parents, here’s a reason you need be involved in your child’s Education.

Yes, there will always be room for one more book on the shelves, and I suggest you write about how so many people spend their precious and short lives in the persuit of “permanance”.  At some point, most of us wake to realize our days are numbered,….. all save those with minds molded by others to serve a dutyful purpose?

I’d be thrilled to write the forward for you..  and no doubt we’d both mention our inspiration came from Kari.  The name Kari is most memorable for me;  because it was the name I gave my first and most loyal dog.  Is it true that the name you give a child can influence what they become?  Perhaps, that’ll be the topic of your second book! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Critical Thinking, Fighting Propaganda, Strange Stuff, The New Green Movement, Things I Hate!, Your Wasted Tax Dollars | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Email of the Day, 04/21/12 Question about Producer gas.

Posted on April 21, 2012 by George B.

Name: Justus

 Email: justus@xxxxxxxx 

Subject: Listers and Gasifiers and Lister Prices

 Message: Dear George, I’ve been tinkering around with alternative energy ideas (and some implementation, although most in the thermal

realm) for some time. I am thoroughly in love with gasification and have wanted to add an engine to a system for years, but could never find one that would satisfy my criteria of simplicity and longevity.

That is, until I came across the Lister.

 Here is my question. Do you know anything about running listers on producer gas? AS I understand it can be done in two ways, one by starting the engine on diesel and then once its warm and running, switching to producer gas, or by converting the lister to a spark system and running on 100% producer gas. I would like to know your thoughts, since you keep coming up all over the place as a primary go to guy when it comes to all things Lister.

Secondly, what will a new Listeroid cost me? I always try to have 2 of whatever I depend on so affordability is an issue, although not at the expense of longevity.

Your comments and input would be very much appreciated.

Justus 

Hi Justus,

I’m sure it makes some of my visitors unhappy when I don’t endorse wood gas as a great thing, and I can only say we need do our home work before we get excited, and certainly before we pick an engine!

Wood gas has a VERY low BTU value, so first you need figure how much of it you can stuff into a cylinder, and how much power you can make. If you’re attempting to stuff without a compressor, you better have a lot of cubic inches, I’ll guess you’ll need about 7 PSI or so to get enough fuel/air in the combstion chamber to be happy with the power output of a Lister 6/1, and I’d be tempted to look at a small four-cylinder to get some work done with wood gas instead.

Wood gas is an interesting study, we’ve had really smart people looking at wood gas since Carnot’s time, and rather significant investments in wood gasification in days prior and after WWII, and interest by DIYers ever since.  Is there even one commercial Wood Gas power plant running at a furniture plant where we are likely to find the most ideal fuel for one.. why is that?

I’ve mentioned several times that I want to post the data results of a wood gas system.. show me a well done study where one is charged, and just how many KW of real power (like KWHs or electrical power) comes out of the thing, without your hands being busy every second with the controls and feeding.

I can buy a LOT of electricity for the same price as a minimum wage employee, and when I add in the cost of a wood gas plant,  it  looks pretty expensive to me.. If wood gas were easy and practical, we’d all have it.. Regardless of what Nuts like Kari Norgaard think, the oil companies can not suppress a good and workable idea.   

Feel free to challenge me, …. do bring me the story of a guy who lights a fire and goes off to play his banjo as the wood gas plant merily makes Kilowatt hours.

The way to sell all the Wood Gasifiers you can make is to install your plant at a furniture factory where they have ideal mill ends dry and fit for fuel, train a mill operator to stoke and operate the plant, and have it operate a prime mover that drives a generator connected to an inexpensive meter that will keep track of Killiwatt hours produced and for how long,  the time required to stoke and service the plant, and other important data.  This should include cleaning filters, and any time spent tending the gasifier. We also need hours on the engine and a study of engine wear. We’ll forget the cost of fuel all together, as this is only diverts our attention aways from the most likely problems with the gasifier.

Higher than anticipated amounts of labor to keep the plant fed, and operating in relationship to the real power produced.

Doesn’t this sound like a great project for University Students? And shouldn’t it lead us to the next question, why haven’t more of their creative Mentors applied for a grant to study same?

Maybe I should mention.. I did get an email from a Professor in Italy. He sent a picture of a masterful assembly they did, it looked as nicely made as an Itialian Sports Car!  .. his last sentence.. ‘if we do another one, it will be far different.  That was six or more  years ago.

All the best,

GB

 

 

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NUMMI, an important study.

Posted on April 21, 2012 by George B.

Listen to a great story, it’s worth your while..

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/403/nummi

This is an excellent read, and a good study..

The NUMMI grounds, you might not have noted this is where that slick little Toyota Corolla S was built, and the Toyota Tacoma that sold quite well here in the NW.

Obama-Lands-at-NUMMI

Obama-Lands-at-NUMMI

What better landing place could President Obama have found to land nearest Solyndra than a huge EMPTY parking lot designed for a factory of 5000 workers! This picture was taken by a DIYer who was also a Mechanical Engineer employed here at the time of the well publicized Solyndra photo opp.

Yes, you know lots of people who could care less about Solyndra, but just trying to process what happened at NUMMI is enough to boggle the mind.  You attempt to get your hands around GM, their gross mis-management that continues to this day, and a Government who interferes with bankruptcy laws that have been ironed out over hundreds of years to assure that investors and lenders alike have some chance of getting a portion of what is owed to them back through the courts.

This HUGE manufacturing plant was fully updated, a fortune spent to comply with EPA demands, and an ever-present force of Goons on site to write-up a non compliance matter in the most unfriendly and unhelpful way. Some say it was as if the EPA was working for a foreign entity that was attempting to force the closure of the plant.. so they could move the work out of California and add another 5000 people to the un-employment roles in the Bay Area?

If none of this means a thing to you, maybe a note that NUMMI spent 180 million in their paint shop alone, much of which was to comply with new EPA requirements, and then Tesla bought the entire property for $42 Million?

Toyota will hopefully have enough influence to build a car like the Prius here.. sure there’s plenty of people who say they want a Tesla, but there’s only so many people who can afford such a car.. especially the ones without jobs 🙂 It’s cars today, it may be bread tomorrow that they can’t afford. but that song plays on in California…..

California Dreaming 

Have a great weekend, and do give some thought as to where the jobs will be tomorrow.  My bet is those who promise you the most free stuff will have the least jobs, and the highest rents and property taxes. It isn’t what you make that counts, it’s what it cost you to live.

GM deserved to die, but what we need to remember, no matter how bad it was, it ran better AND lost less money than our Government does today!

NUMMI was a Gem, I think about President Obama setting down there in his Helicopter, in my mind, it was like landing on a field of gold, so you could walk a short distance to visit a failing Hog Farm (Solyndra). How sad it is…

last NUMMI Corolla 

Good Clip!  Good Clip2

 

George B.

more reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUMMI

 

 

 

 

Posted in Strange Stuff | Tagged , | 16 Comments

DIYer Champagne, A secret to making it.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by George B.

No doubt you’ll  be wondering why I took the time to post this, but as we watch our Government refuse to cut spending, we know we’ll be the ones doing it as our dollar grows more worthless, and do expect them to lie about the inflation rate! If you can’t see how much prices have risen on your own, you’re in serious trouble…  and don’t we all know you can’t make much interest on your money either, so what to do?  Maybe you start stock piling stuff that will cost more later? Ever thought of buying 50 gallons of honey, they say it keeps forever.

Beer , wine, and booze are reasonably expensive, they can become trading  commodities, and it ‘s not a bad idea to learn how to make your own even if you don’t drink. Maybe some day soon, you’ll trade a gallon of wine for a smoke cured ham?

There’s a lot of books out there, and there’s places like Larry’s Brewing Supply that will teach you all you need to know, and sell you all the ingredients and equipment too.

What I offer you is near a secret weapon, and many of you will have friends that toss this valuable tool, and all you need do is ask them to save them for you!

But first let me tell you about my trip to Easton this weekend.  I took along some champagne I made last fall, and I was delighted to find out just how good it was.  We were around the camp fire after our day turned dark,  we had friends over, and I opened a bottle or two and offered it to our guests and to my wife, “this is exactly the way I like it” my Wife said, and there’s not too much she does like.

There’s good Champagne and better Champagne,  but the naturally carbonated beverage can make some fairly high pressures, and you need make sure that the bottle you choose is sturdy enough to put up with the pressures… worry not, read on!

I stopped down at Larry’s brewing and bought  about 9 pounds of honey, and some champagne yeast.  I then dropped by Wall Mart and bought six gallons of Apple juice on sale. Do check the label and assure that the stuff you buy hasn’t been treated in some way to keep it from fermenting, (this is rare). And of course, if you make your own apple juice, this is an especially good plan for you!

I mixed 5 gallons of heated, but not too hot apple juice and the honey that was warmed in hot water together and stirred it well, when it cooled to about 105F, I pitched the yeast and stirred it in well, and then poured it into a sanitized six gallon carboy.  I allowed the mix to be poured lively into the carboy to assure that oxygen entered the juice and honey.. do not pour it quietly!

You’ll need a place to let it ferment, add an air lock, all so easy to find on the internet, or you can make your own air locks..

Expect the contents of the Carboy to ferment for about two weeks, and  try and find a place where it’s at 70F or a bit cooler, higher temps can rob some of the flavor,  but there’s good champagne and better, so even if you make it at a higher temp,  you’ll likely enjoy drinking it.

After it quits fermenting, let it set for another week, and then carefully and quietly siphon off the ferment to another carboy without disturbing all that dead yeast on the bottom! This is called raking, and some people do it more than once to get a clearer wine.

Now comes the trick, after you rack once or twice, add another gallon of good quality apple juice to what’s been racked off and mix it well, then  bottle it all in plastic pop bottles that have been sanitized. I use the 20 oz sizes, and the one litre and larger too, you can pick which one you’ll open based on the size of the crowd, or how thirsty you are.  There’s no reason not to try cranberry apple, or whatever you like best, and the color of cranberry juice is most pleasant when you pour it as well.

Plastic pop bottles are near magic, as they’ll hold 100 PSI of pressure, and all you need do is let them sit for about two weeks at 70F-75F to re-ferment and make all that wonderful carbonation, then move them to a cellar, pump house, in a basement corner and attempt to forget all about them till the holidays.

Your poor man’s  champagne can be chilled in the freezer if you watch it carefully, and then transferred to a Champagne bottle and corked if you want to open and pour in front of guests. The rest of the time, just pour in the kitchen and take the glass of champagne to your guests.

A word on sediment, you can read how they get rid of sediment in expensive  champagne, and you can also read about the difference between the bubbles in real champagne and the stuff that is artificially carbonated, and you may be surprised just how different the bubbles are in the real stuff.. like I suggest you make here.  But back to the sediment, if you have it in the bottle, the carbonation will lift it off the bottom.  It means that it will be less than clear if it happens, but in my mind it’s the taste that counts, and I found mine to be delightful!

There’s no reason you can’t experiment! Try mixing your fermented wine and apple juice 50/50, and then re-bottle, just how bad can sparkling apple juice be?

If you’re doing it for the kids, remember, that the pressure will soon build and force your fermentation to stop,  so if you mixed 5-10 percent fermented juice and 90% apple juice, the alcohol content would be VERY low and fit to serve as a sparkling cider for >your kids<. This is similar to how root beer was sometimes made in the old days.. the carbonation was natural, but there was little or no alcohol content, as the pressure built up  in the bottle inhibits further fermentation.

The plastic bottle is key in these experiments, and using bottles  like beer bottles is a sure way of making what amounts to hand grenades (dangerous)  You’ll learn to chill your champagne and sparking ciders to assure they don’t gush when you open them, and you’ll very carefully crack the cap a little, and let it fizz for a while before removing the cap.. otherwise, the entire contents will jump out of the bottle, and sometimes off the ceiling.

You’ll  have a lot of fun with this, and root beer and other things are fun to make! Larry has all the stuff, and you can find it online in other places as well.  Don;t pass up a chance to make root beer with your kids, and do remember, these plastic pop bottles make it all so easy and practical.

But let me tell you that root beer is amongst the hardest thing to make IF you follow the typical directions. The plastic pop bottle can change all of that because it’s really a high pressure vessel compared to some of the glass bottles you can get. The twist off cap bottles are said to be the weakest, and I never did mention the bottle caps and capper you don’t need with saved plastic bottles did I?

One of the reasons root beer is so hard is you typically use very little yeast, and you don’t want to over carbonate because of the potential of exploding glass bottles, and you can’t allow high pressure to stop the fermentation and prevent the production of alcohol.

With the plastic, the game changes, and you can use a more reliable and vigorous yeast to assure good carbonation. Yes, that higher pressure will assure your kids have plenty of fizz, and it’ll make some of the best root beer floats ever! They’ll learn to chill the bottles well before opening them, and open the cap ever so slowly.

This is all part of living the alternative life style,  drink some really good champagne for a reasonable price.. If you have your own apples, cherries, grapes, pears, plums, you can have a LOT of fun with this and it’s a great way to entertain. why drink a still wine, when you can drink sparkling stuff?

One bit of advice, using a sanitizing solution like iodine that you can get from Larry is a sure way to make good wine and beer, keeping things very clean or sanitized means your stuff will likely be as good or better than what you buy. you Mom always told you how important washing your hands was.. well it’s true in making home brew too, all that comes in contact with your brew need be clean. and you make it in a still room, not one full of blowing dust and stuff floating in the air.

Plastic pop bottles work well for beer and still wines too..  and when it comes to beer, if you get the priming sugar wrong, you can add  more, or open it slowly if you added too much, no waste!

Remember, Champagne yeasts can make alcohol in the range of 21 percent alcohol or more, so if you have a still, you can make some brandy too, Not legally of course, unless you get a permit, or pour the stuff in your car..

Here’s what turned up when I searched for others putting champagne in plastic.. big zero! My research and experiments suggest that Champagne is expected to make about 80 PSI, and a plastic pop bottle can take in excess of 100 psi. How do I know?  Don’t look for trouble, don’t put it in your trunk on a 100F day and drive like a mad man down a gravel road.  Keep your stuff in a cool place, and treat it nice, and things will go fine.

Here’s another post where I tell of the magic of Champagne bubbles, very interesting chemistry.

All the best,

George B.

 

 

 

Posted in DIYer Skills, How Tos, Things I like | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Email of the day, Ozzie Greg asks about stock fuel tanks on Lister Clones.

Posted on April 10, 2012 by George B.

Name  Greg F.

Subject: Fuel tank

Message: Hi George,

Thank you for your informative CD.

One thing I notice a common thread on is the poor quality of the Indian fuel tanks as supplied with their “CS Listeroids”

Who makes decent tanks or what do you suggest as a replacement for these leaking fracturing items. We bought a couple of “new” stored motors from a guy in Australia a couple of months ago and the first one we ran fractured the tank and broke off one mounting bracket. A subsequent fireworks display followed after contact with a rotating flywheel. Luckily we were standing nearby and shutdown the whole show.

Thank you again for your service.

Regards

Greg F.

 

Greg, good to hear from you!

As you likely read in the long article, (small book) “Listeroid Longevity”, I wrote that Lister clone tanks are from barely useful to junk. I did find the cheapest of tanks had fuel caps that were far worse than ‘one time use’ screw tops that the western world makes and tosses away, but over the last 12 years I have seen some pretty  fair tanks.  I’ve seen them on Lovsons, JKsons, and a number of others, fact is, the names being shared by various Cousins in Aus, are some of the better brands of clones.  The worst of the lot are made of very thin sheet metal, and normally find their way to markets where there is little money to buy better quality. I saw a few of them arrive on our North American shores where the caps were so cheaply made they could be crushed between your thumb and fore finger.

There’s a question to be asked right off.. are you attempting to build a replica of the Lister CS, or are you attempting to make a stationary reliable  power plant? If it is the later, you are best off mounting the fuel tank off the engine. I highly recommend you mount anything possible off the engine frame, whether it be a gauge, volt meter, even a light bulb will last longer away from vibration.

Here, I highly recommend plastic fuel tanks of about six gallons. I guess that’s near 24 litres for you. and most have a carry handle, and can easily be placed on a shelf above the engine for good gravity flow.. I use a quick connect, same as on an outboard motor, this allows one to move the tank out doors, or even take it to a petrol station to be filled directly. Once you try this, you’ll never have it any other way.

I don’t have a good picture of this tank right now, but you can see a red tank above on a shelf in this video.. easy to pull down, fill, and return to the shelf..

All the best,

George B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, DIYer Generator, DIYer Skills, Engines, Off Grid Power, Slow Speed Engines, Things I like | Tagged , , | 2 Comments