http://www.gekgasifier.com/forums/showthread.php?t=496
here's bear's report on some experiments with a reverse flow purge cycle to recover from a packed bell condition. this means running the downdraft gasifier temporarily as an updraft. many here have done this. many have also done it historically. nothing terribly new here other than noting that most of us suffer packed bells at times, and burning the problem out rather than digging it out is much easier and much less messy. we're working on this because our goal is to create an automated system to do this. somewhat like an auto clean cycle in your oven after you cook too much pork in it. press and button and the machine erases your sins and makes ready for a new round. it can also be used to make your first charge of charcoal from raw biomass, without having to prefill with charcoal. also in this report you will see a hot element lighter. we've been using some very interesting silicone nitride elements of late. these are a newer generation of hot elements since the common silicone carbide ones. the new ones self-regulate without electronics, and will survive full combustion temps. you just turn them on and leave em. you can't do this with the other typical options. we like them very much. they cost about 30-40 each. ouch. but they eliminate the need for a torch on your flare. flare always lights and relights by itself, whenever there is combustible gas. and . . . you can get them in 12vdc. so they work in vehicle and genset applications. now of course this might prevent the usual giant cloud of pyrolysis gas and carbon monoxide collecting around your start up area, along with the usual nausea that comes with it. this may be a feature or a bug, depending on your perspective. j -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jim Mason Website: http://www.whatiamupto.com Current Projects: - Gasifier Experimenters Kit (the GEK): http://www.gekgasifier.com - Escape from Berkeley alt fuels vehicle race: www.escapefromberkeley.com - ALL Power Labs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/allpowerlabs - Shipyard Announce list: http://lists.spaceship.com/listinfo.cgi/icp-spaceship.com _______________________________________________ Gasification mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site: http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/
