Direct Drive VS Serpentine Belt Drive in Small Power Applications

Posted on August 29, 2010 by George B.
pmg-hingeplate-mount

Example of the simplest serpentine drive system, one pulley required!

Here’s a question I was recently asked:  “George if a engine is directly coupled to a generator head is it easier on the motor power wise.
Darryl”

I do scratch my head when I see the use of the term ‘motor’ VS engine, but when I see the use of engine and motor in the same sentence, I almost want to ask for clarity.  There is reason to frame the question further, but let’s march on.   

 Direct drive forces you to operate the >engine< at synchronous speed. (generator speed). This means you are forced to do the work with a fixed number of power strokes per minute regardless of your average loads IF you are interested in running near target frequency.

With direct drive you have no opportunity to tune your machine for the best Fuel/Kwh conversion. We also know that some of these prime movers will live twice as long if we move the RPMs from 3600 to 3000 for instance. I remember a study of one popular British Leyland Auto engine years ago.  Lowering the shift points to 300 RPM below the factory red-line doubled the miles driven between rebuilds VS using red-line as the shift point on the race course. 

People look at any drive system outside of direct drive as a loss, but seldom do you see them investigate how little loss there is in some drive systems.  You will  see a lot of interest in 900 rpm generators that might be direct driven off a slow speed prime mover, and you wonder how much effort has been put into evaluating the advantage?  At the end of the day… the Engineer realizes he is now either buying or building a very specialized generator head that will be very costly to produce an/or repair because of the limited market. 

Using a low loss drive and making RPM adjustments to the prime mover can make all the difference in fuel economy, and it allows you to operate with more common and less expensive equipment, this is at the heart of KISS design.

At the end of the day; the cost of making a KWH of electrical energy is the measure and the comparison you should make.  A lightly loaded diesel generator does not produce the better fuel/KWH figures, if you change the ratio and load each power stroke a little more, there is a case for producing a better Fuel/KWH ratio for >your< average daily loads.  In addition, a low loss drive gives you options in the field, you can quickly remove the drive and look for the source of noise, replace the engine or generator head with a spare and be back working in short order. You can also perform much more of the work operation with gloves on, which can be nice if you are in cold country.   

It’s not so easy with quill shaft (single bearing generators) which are the majority in small generator power.  As for other direct drive units, we need be careful to note how alignment was attained and note any shims unless we will perform a new alignment.  These things get overlooked in the bush when getting back on line quickly is the focus.  An example is a small hospital in Africa, or a family living off gird anywhere with temperatures well below zero F.  Another thing to note, when we drive generator heads like the ST 4 pole at our North American speeds, we are at the rotational limits for this design. Since the rotor has a lot of mass and diameter, we need be careful how we couple it.

I have noted a few backyard engineers post that they designed a direct drive coupling that wouldn’t break. With such a coupler, if you were to parallel grid power and your generator power (in error) close to 180 degrees out of phase, it would look like a train wreck.  IT >could< literally strip the bobbins off your generator’s rotor or break the crankshaft in the engine.  A lot of the better direct drive couplers have a rubber  spider or similiar to absorb some of this hammer like blow from the power stroke, and others have a roll pin or link that will fail when that ‘train wreck’ happens.  A properly designed coupler should act as the fusible link, it is far easier to replace the coupler than a rotor or crank shaft. 

There may be another thing to consider, diesels are more efficient than most other prime movers, BUT they produce a lot of torque during their power stroke and it looks less friendly to some loads than gasoline engines produce. The Serp drive can mitigate the train wreck, and may help some what with the peak power stroke.  Let me give you an example.. there are some really nice diesel powered aircraft, picture a V8 four valve turbo charged diesel stuffed in a Cessna. Ron Pointer (a pilot serving mission work) has flown such an aircraft and was really impressed with performance, especially the ability to take a good load off a short jungle run way in the Congo for instance.  Of course the higher your climb rate, the less likely you are to be shot at.  Ron tells me of all the problems they have keeping quality petrol fuel in stock. The diesel power in Africa would be wonderful asset BUT it requires the use of a composite prop.  The metal props are best suited for Africa and it’s many primitive dirt and sand run ways eat composites quickly! Furthermore, they are not certified to be compatible with these violent diesel power strokes.  The fear is that the metal prop will work harden prematurely and cause a violent failure in the air, (According to Ron’s research). 

Some people are able to quantify the pros and cons of direct drive VS a low loss belt drive while out for a walk.  I might take a stab at it after a long walk… maybe all the way around Australia? At this time, I see advantages to the low loss belt drives for the third world and serious “off grid >SMALL< power plants”.  One of the first lessons to learn is the serious error we make in buying or building a power plant too big,  you lock yourself into a poor fuel/KWH figure IF you can’t load the generator to 80% or better. 

Other studies worth your time is the continued use of motorcycle chains over shaft driven bikes in performance motorcycles. The chain is a far more efficient drive, an no one wants the extra losses of  shaft and ring a pinion in a all out performance bike.  It’s more expensive and heavier.  The Serp drive is right in there with the chain as per efficiency without all the problems.  Of course those big ole power strokes might help stretch a chain, and there are plenty of maintenance issues with chains.

Opinions vary, but at the end of my walk, I think the Serpentine drive has a lot to offer us off griders and serious back up power folks. Direct drive does not offer the flexibility or ease of replacement or repair.  Opinions will vary…  some will want to deploy a more expensive, hard to find,  less flexible drive, we who beleive in KISS would ask why?

All the best,

George B.

Posted in Generator Realities | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

New Videos on the way, Here’s the Pumphouse in HD

Posted on August 27, 2010 by George B.

Finally, I figgured out how to make a higher resoultion video with my camera and editing software.. expect better videos from us.

This is in 720 HD, and it’s a short video of the Easton Pump house, the generator’s principle job is to charge the water tank or run the deep well pump in irrigation mode, the water line to the cabin is nearly 600 feet long, there are also buried power runs that allow this generator to feed the Power House, Cabin, combination storage, and shower house. There’s a second Lister/PMG set that can power these sites as well through interlocks.

OH.. the whistling…I will learn not to do that!

Look forward to daily additions, and think about using that RSS link.

George B.

Posted in Off Grid Power | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Total Power, why you need consider your independence today.

Posted on August 26, 2010 by George B.

Is it time to sell that property down South and move to a more temperate climate BEFORE it’s too late?

Many of us live in areas and in dwellings that take a lot of energy to live with any comfort, and in some cases the structure itself depends on energy to stay healthy. Without energy, some structures will literally decay.  Some of us use $55 or more a month to power active septic systems where soils left us no choice but an expensive and ‘active system’.  Who will be able to afford to run such a home if CAP and Trade passes? If less people can afford your real estate property, then the value will fall. If we study human nature, we might anticipate that renters and homeowners alike might ‘power down’ these active septic systems in order to make their house payments. This could cause the ground water to be contaminated and cause a SERIOUS health epedemic. If you live in such an area, and your home value has dropped in the last few years, imagine what might happen when there’s articles in the paper that the aquifer you rely on for drinkign water has been contaminated, and the sources too numerous to trace.  Sell now while you still can, and move to a more temperate climate with better soils? A place where  you need less energy to live with reasonable comfort? Maybe you should read on and revisit the energy plan for America?

We live in a time when people no longer read more than a paragraph, even the Senate has no time to read the bills they pass! If you’ve read this far, you are the minority, but what you are about to read is true and frightening. It’s about people who have no clue as per cause and effect, but yet they think they have the answers to all of man’s problems. How niave they are…    

Ten years from now, we’ll all understand that this conversation was all about the fork in the road.  We need to allow proven economic benifit to guide us in green investments but many of these investments I study don’t hold up under the scrutiny of basic physics yet alone an economic benefit.  Too inept to do the basic math, but still they endorse insane ideas.  Some even give them awards!  See my article on the Indian air powered car, and the hydrovolt.  I believe these articles that promote irrational and unworkable ideas  blur the line between reality and the impossible and makes it more likely that an 18 year old, or totally inept or lazy person (like many of our Congressmen) who won’t or can’t do the simple math would vote for such a thing.  

Following is wisdom from one man who has risen to the top of his game in the field of energy.  His company has wisely navigated through a mine field of false promises, a field of uncertainty  a nightmare of regulatory insanity.  

The motives behind the legislation?  CEO Gary Smith of Powersouth shares his wisdom on the  Cap and Trade issue, his words follow.

Those of you that follow my columns know that I have offered my opinions on global warming, climate change and green jobs a number of times on these pages. This month, I offer statements and opinions of others on the subject.

Most of you would expect me to quote Dr. John Christie, Dr. Richard Lindzen or other deniers to the warming of the earth or the harm of any climate change brought on by the anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide.

This month, I offer you something different — the statements, opinions and predictions of those who strongly support of the concept of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

“I believe we must pass Cap and Trade because we see it as a source of revenue.” U.S. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 2009)

“Cap and Trade is the significant revenue generating proposal of our time.” Maryland Democratic U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (Washington Post, April 3, 2009) “Nobody in this country realizes that Cap and Trade is a tax, and it is a great big one.”

Michigan Democratic U.S. Congressman John Dingel (Politico Magazine, April 27, 2009) “Whether you call it a tax or not, everyone agrees that Cap and Trade is going to increase the cost to the consumer.”

New York Democratic U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel (Roll Call, May 2009) “The greatest political task of our time is not raising the living standards of the poorest, but rather narrowing the rich-poor gap.”

Rupert Read, Head of United Kingdom’s Green Party (Rupert Read’s Thoughts of the Day, October 15, 2009) “The prosperous lifestyles of the people in the West simply must be curtailed. Radical taxes must be imposed and automobile use must be curbed by the state or some other authority.”

Rajendra Pachauri, President of U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (The Observer, November 29, 2009). “We must get to a system where an electric company will be able to hold back some of the power so that maybe your air conditioner won’t operate at its peak. You’ll still be able to cool your house, but it will be a savings to the consumer.”

U.S. Energy and Climate Czar, Carol Browner (US News & World Report, March 9, 2009) “We have to figure out how to boost the cost of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu (Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2008) (At the time of this quote, the price of gasoline in Europe was an average equivalent of $8 per gallon and in places an equivalent of $11 per gallon.) “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes at 72 degrees at all times…and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

President Barack Obama (AFP, May 16, 2008) “Under my plan for a Cap and Trade System, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, so if somebody wants to build a coal plant they can — it is just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. Regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I am capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas plants, you name it, whatever the plant is, whatever the industry is, they would have to retrofit their operations. This will raise billions of dollars.” President Barack Obama (San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2008)

Of course, the predictions of a collapse of the U. S. economy by some economists are sobering, as are the predictions by climate scientists that reduction in anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions will have no effect on global temperatures or the climate. However, the plans and predictions of those that I have quoted above — and others I have not — on what the world will look like after they get through with their climate change Cap and Trade programs is more sobering.

These leaders don’t predict a good future for you if you like to drive SUVs or trucks, keep your house comfortable, use electricity when you like, afford gasoline, eat as much as you want or just enjoy your present lifestyle. I told Gus Mayer — my dog who appeared in an earlier article about climate change — about these predictions and he was still worried about eating all the red meat he can get. He is still concerned red meat will be outlawed and he will go hungry. Maybe we should all be as concerned about our next meal and our future as Gus Mayer.

Beginning January 1, 2011, as part of the health care reform bill, over-the counter (OTC) medicine will no longer be an eligible item for reimbursement as part of a Health care Flexible Spending Account, Health Reimbursement Arrangement and Health Savings Account unless otherwise prescribed by a provider. Therefore, any OTC drug expenses incurred on or after January 1, 2011, will require a doctor’s prescription in order to be reimbursed. Items such as cough, cold and flu medicines, pain relievers and acid relief medication will now require a doctor’s prescription to be submitted along with the reimbursement request. The debit card will reject these types of items at the time of purchase. Other OTC items, such as diabetic supplies, elastic bandages and wraps, band-aids and reading glasses will continue to be eligible without a prescription and can be purchased with validation through an inventory point of sale approval system (IIAS) using the debit card. This change is effective for all groups on January 1, 2011, regardless of the plan year. Expenses incurred prior to that date are still eligible for reimbursement without a prescription. OTC medicine

———————–

Heres’ what I suggest you do…. Bank on the fact that your living standard will plunge like a anvil tossed off a bridge IF Cap and Trade passes in >any< form.  The plan will be to pass it without detail and fill in the plan as they need to silence the opposition. . Pelosi and her friends will do whatever necessary to stay in power, legalize the sale of dope in California so it can be easier for our  our grand children to get it? Pass a law allowing the 14 year old vote?  No problem, they know all they need do is promise a shorter school day and a free ipod to our voting children, and unfortunately a lot of adults too.

There’s two classes growing numbers, those who will sell any plan in order to stay in power, and those who would buy any plan if there’s a promise of a free lunch in it for them.  We were told this day would come…. well it’s here. Be prepared, you might want to move to higher ground. The extreme left will not rest until energy is so expensive you can’t afford it. They have no clue as to how it will impact all of us as they have no time to study the details, the focus is on being re-elected, not on building a better and stronger America.   

George B.

Posted in The New Green Movement | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Your New Small Diesel Won’t Start?

Posted on August 24, 2010 by George B.

There are few things more simple that a diesel engine, but if you start out on the wrong foot you may quickly grow intimidated by diesel power.

Nothing is simpler, and few things are more efficient, reliable, or live longer.  You need clean dry fuel, decent compression, and the engine should run.  There are a few simple things people trip over all the time and it shakes their confidence.  The following is not a complete guide by any means, but these are typical things people new to diesels trip over.

What generally happens is they lose focus of the simplicity and they widen their search for the cause and become even more frustrated, this is exactly the wrong approach. Stay focused on the basics, that’s all there is on a diesel.

First things first. I have seen a lot of engines come right out of the box with a frozen fuel rack. On some engines, this is easy to spot because the linkage is external, and you can disconnect the linkage and then grab hold of the rack itself and prove it is free or frozen.  An example of this type engine would be the Lister 6/1 and clones.  A typical example of other engines where it is not so obvious there’s a problem is the Yanmar air cooled clones, most Chinese horizontals, in fact the majority of small diesels often have the connections between the governor and fuel rack inside the engine case out of the elements. If you look carefully, there’s often a little door you can remove and watch the linkage. In other cases, you might need to remove the injection pump, but you will know there is often a slot and a ball that need be aligned when the pump is reassembled. In a number of the Chinese horizontals, there’s a bolt in the side cover that can be removed and you can push on the linkage to prove it’s free.  

 Removing all the tension from the governor adjustment is typically the thing to do before you remove the pump.

Once you decide the rack is frozen, understand that applying a lot of pressure to the rack itself could break something. It is best that you understand how the basic helix plunger works, and how a frozen plunger will prevent the fuel rack from moving. It is not wise to try and free the rack, it is your goal to free the plunger which is keeping the rack from moving. 

I don’t know all the reasons plungers stick in brand new engines, but I do know that the fuel can not be left in the engine when it is shipped, and fuel displaces air which might allow minute amounts of oxidation and cause the plunger to stick.  This is a high percision part…. simple yes, but highly precision and close tolerances just the same.  The trick is to understand which way the plunger travels, try and get some of your favorite penetrate like WD40 into the plunger and barrel. then with the delivery valve removed, and loose parts off.. look for a piece of hard wood to lay on top of an anvil or other dead surface. bring down the pump body hard on this surface and let the kinetic energy free the plunger.  In the most stubborn cases, drop the pump in a small can of diesel fuel overnight. Heating the pump up to about 150F might help too, but usually two or three serious smacks onto the hardwood will free the plunger. once you get the rack to move even .001″, you work it back and forth and keep applying  penetrate.  Once free, you’ll likely never see this problem again as long as you keep clean and dry fuel in the pump. 

Again.. frozen pumps are over looked by people new to small diesels and it can cause a LOT of frustration. I know one person who literally burned out a starter trying to start a small diesel that had a frozen plunger in the injection pump.   Once you understand just how basic the system is and what to look for first, and how similar all small diesels are, your confidence will grow.  Spend your time understanding how something  works instead of trying different things to make it work.                   

If you have a manual start engine you can hear the very distinct ‘clink’ as the injector pops off and sprays fuel into the combustion chamber. If you don’t hear this, there is room to suspect a fuel problem.

Fuel problems in brand new engines with brand new owners are often traced to the improper bleeding of air from the fuel system.  This is a frustration for the beginner , but easily understood if you put a little effort into studying the system. you start by assuring that the air vent to your fuel tank is open, next you go to the outlet side of the fuel filter, or on the top of same you’ll finds a vent, open it and let the air escape from the lines and filter, next, move onto the injection pump and remove the high pressure line that goes to the injector. Under this fitting is another nut that holds the fuel delivery valve, remove it and watch for a spring on top. make sure the decompressor is on, turn the engine flywheel slowly until fuel gushes from the top, put the fuel delivery valve back in place. Yes rags are nice to place and making sure all parts are clean before you disassemble anything it important.

Now it’s onto the high pressure side, replace the high pressure line on the injection pump, making sure you understand that you need not use two hands! Many HP lines are ruined by over tightening, it need be tight enough not to leak, too tight cracks the metal, and the line leaks until replaced.

With the injector end loose, and the throttle open, check that that the decompressor is still on, and turn the engine over until you see fuel  coming out the injector end of the high pressure line. Now keep turning over the engine, and slowly tighten the HP line at the injector. You should hear a very distinct ‘clink’ sound.      

Another problem for the new owner and some not so new owner is to try and fire the engine and not get any ignition at all. After studying the problem, you determine it’s cranking a little too easy. Take off the air intake and the exhaust of you can, put an ear to either side and listen for the “hiss” as the piston comes up. A common problem is a piece of carbon lodged between the valve and valve seat. This is a common problem see in the Lister 6/1, and of course it can be seen more often in engines running a percentage of waste or poorer quality fuels. Simply put the engine on top dead center and tapp on top of the rocker arm directly over the valve stem. Every time I’ve been faced with is problem, I’ve had the engine running with a few taps.  I try and find a piece of clean wood, but on one occasion it was a clean field rock that fit in my hand nicely.

I have a CD that has a PDF file on it that shows the typical pumps and how to take them apart and put them back together again. there are small parts in here, and a wise person will lay out an old sheet or similiar to work on. Remember, when you take a pump apart, you need work as if you were in a clean room. 

All the best,

George B.

Posted in Small Diesels, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

PMG Frame Building Secrets

Posted on August 22, 2010 by George B.

Building frames is something that evolves, it’s a combination of looking at other people’s designs and making changes to suit your needs. For the DIYer with limited tools, it’s always wise to look at early equipment as they spent a lot of time to KISS it.  A lot of this stuff was developed to be made simple, with fewest parts and common tools and materials.

I was talking to friend SW Lee in Malaysia, he’s a Businessman for a multinational company, but he worked at his Father’s side first to learn a lot about stationary power plants big and small. He also worked in a store that sold stationary engines and engine parts when he was attending College.  One day we were discussing a trick his Father had taught him about setting up a direct drive generator.  His Father constructed the frame where the generator mount was wedged in and could be knocked around with a large hammer until all was perfectly in alignment.  The shoulder bolts that held the generator to the mount were designed to fit snugly in the mounting holes.

Once all was in perfect alignment Lee’s Father would weld in the mount.  What he created was a generator where the gen head or engine side could be removed and then replaced without the worry of losing shims or the need to do a realignment.  All that one needed to do is use a shoulder bolt and a proper sized hole for both the engine mount and the generator mount to keep all in alignment.  This is an example of what you learn by doing, and you learn quickly to consult the man who has touched the work versus those who have never got closer than a CAD drawing. If you look back at my earliest pages, you will see my efforts to shim in aligments on direct drives.  I had to pay special attention to the shims, and put a straight edge across the coupler to verify all was ready to run if I took things apart.

SW Lee and his Father

SW Lee left, A Master of KISS right, "Lee's Father"

In our case, we are designing for the Do it Yourself-er who may not have an abundance of tools or building materials, in this example, we make use of a welder as they are everywhere, and most people have a friend who owns one.  If that’s not the case, it’s fairly easy to bolt a frame together, so just change your design a little.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked for all the measurements of generators and engines because some one wants to build the frame in advance of receiving the major pieces. This is usually a big mistake as it is so easy to miss something.  To ’fab up’ the frame when you have all the parts is easy and quick, It’s a lot more fun too, because you are sure it all fits. Prebuilding the frame almost always leads to disappointment, something is taller or sticks out further than expected, or the measurements you were given was for an earlier model.  

Following is another KISS fabrication trick Lee’s Father uses.  Simply add the detail to the cross members so they nest between the rails ‘unwelded’.

a keep it simple fabrication trick

"Keep It Simple" applies to fabrication methods as well.

 Install the engine and use a bar and hammer to position the cross members and engine where you want it before you weld it in.  You will be able to date my frames as either pre or post knowledge of KISS assembly. Pictured here is a loved and reliable Yanmar with a single flywheel about the same diameter of a Lister type. It runs at 1000 RPM and is known for it’s long life and reliability.   

basic-pmg-frame

We start with a very basic frame.

Basic PMG frame

The three cross members are made of heavy Angle, I used a $59 harbor freight cut off saw with composite blade to cut the square tube on each side, and the angle iron. The angle iron cross pieces are 17 inches long, a notch was cut to allow one side of the angle to drop down between the side rails, while the top of the angle lays all the way across the square tube. I used the harbor freight saw to do this as well. In my case, I used a wire feed welder, and fully welded the pieces in place. The two angles to the left are spaced to assure that my engine mounting holes will fall in the middle of the angle iron tops, about 10.5 inches for the CF186 horizontal shaft diesel I will use here. We will be mounting our generator head to the right on this frame.  A mistake the beginner makes is placing a hole too close to the angle iron corner, and then finding it’s too tight to get the nut on the bolt on the underside. You’ll see nuts ground down on one side for clearance on some DIYer frames, it’s easy to avoid this problem when you do your layout and measure properly. 

angle-iron-gen-mounts

Angle iron generator mounts, note they form slots for tension adjustment.

Angle Iron Gen Mounts, easily and quickly fabbed up with basic tools.

Simple to fabricate generator mounts made from two pieces of angle.

Making slotted holes is a problem if you don’t have a mill, in this step we make generator mounts the easy way by adding a wrap of masking tape around the bolts and then placing them in between as spacers. We clamp it together and add a small scrap of metal to each end and weld it to keep the proper width in the slot.

add-gen-mounts

Adding the Generator mounts to the frame.

Here’s why you wait until you have the components BEFORE you fab. We place the generator in position and make sure it slides smoothly back and forth before we weld. There’s no guess work with this method. If the generator manufacturer changed the hole location on the mountingtabs and didn’t update the online drawings, you won’t be inconvenienced.  

After you have mocked up you engine and PMG, you will bolt the engine into the frame, then place your PMG on the frame and move it one way or another till it is perfectly in line with the engine pulley. Of course small adjustments can be made by moving the pulley in or out on the shaft, but running fairly close to the inside is always preferable. Only after you get your alignment sorted will you weld in these mounts. As you can see, you have a lot of latitude to move the PMG one way or the other, and since this angle is a lot smaller than the larger angles in the frame, you have room for the bolt head and washer on the bottom.

welding-in-gen-mount

With alignment proven, we weld in the mounts top and bottom.

Generator Head test fit done, we weld in the brackets on top and bottom.

 

PMG generator mount, note, the cement floor does not give good contrast here, but the pairs of angles that will support the generator head are evenly spaced and were checked by temporarily fitting the generator head and assuring that the pulley on the engine and on the PMG were aligned. Once done, I tack welded in the angles, and now that we have verified all, we fully weld in the mounts.

basic-frame-complete

Basic frame completed, engine and generator mounted.

Basic frame complete, careful attention paid to pulley alignment. A steel straight edge comes in handy.

It’s hard to see just how much movement is allowed in PMG adjustment, but close to three inches! Using some sheet metal channel, we can quickly build a a shield around our belt drive.

This is the heart of a frame, there’s all kinds of things you can add, but remember, it is best to mount gauges and all the items you can reasonably mount elsewhere off the frame, or if it is a portable generator set, then use rubber isolators for panel that gauges will be mounted on. Remember, if you are going to use this as a portable unit, and you have electric start, make room for a battery box.

If you look at a completed generator, it can look like an overwhelming job to make it, fact is, it’s fun and a great hobby. Now if you look closely, you’ll note that the following video clip shows the above generator with some easily constructed square tube frame added. Note on one side there’s a removable horizontal piece of the frame. This allows use to remove the engine and replace it. Note that we need NOT use the same engine, we can readily use a variety of horizontal shaft engines to power our DIYer PMG, all we need is the PMG and Utterpower pulleys, used or new engine and we’re ready to build.

Don’t want to go to all the trouble? Go to your local shop that handles chain saws, lawn mowers and small generator repair. Out back there’s generally a pile of Generators that can not be economically repaired, simply offer the operator a few dollars for the whole thing or part. This is how I found the power panel for this build, but it’s easy to make your own, and that’s another story. Sometimes you can remove the Generator and reuse the engine and frame to power the PMG.  Construction generators are often wonderful sources of donor parts. 

Here’s the YouTube video of the above generator with a few pieces added.  I cut the square tube with a $59 composite cut off saw, but it’s quick enough with a new blade in a hand hack saw. My wire feed welder is a favorite toy, and once you own one and play with it, you’ll realize there’s little you can’t make or repair.  With a wire feed you can even join sheet metal by backing it with with a big piece of steel, you owe it to yourself to have a wire feed welder.

But what about that hinge plate setup you may have heard about? Well, it sure did work well here on our test engine.  One of the advantages is you can set it up where you just pull the rod out of the hinge and you can quickly remove the mount and the generator head for access to the engine, or to move it to another prime mover very quickly.  Following is an example of the hinge plate, some will design using the weight of the PMG for the tension, if you study the direction of rotation, adding load can actually help apply a little more tension.  If you engineer it right, you should be very happy with the results.  There are now several PMG owners who have used the hinge plate design and they are totally happy, you can add a spring for tension if it suits your needs.

pmg-hingeplate-mount

Pull the rod out of the hinge and remove mount and generator in 30 sec.

Shown here fitted to a Lister type, generator and mount can be removed in seconds. Engine flywheel is CCW rotation from this view.

This ought to get you started thinking about how you will build yours, it’s the beginning of ideas, not the end.  KISS is a philosophy, it really does take time to evolve simplicity.  Anyone can make the process or the machine more complex. Many thanks to Lee and His Father for the valuable DIYer tips.

Look here for small engines, you might be surprised what you can buy for the money..

https://www.surpluscenter.com/Item.asp?catname=engines&item=28-1768

Visit the utterpower PMG pages.

All the best,

George B.

Posted in PMG | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We are in Transition to a new and more useful format

Posted on August 18, 2010 by George B.

Thanks for your patience. Web searches prefixed with utterpower should bring up all the articles and pages at the old utterpower.com

Using the search bar here should bring up the same pages.

Expect to see new posts here daily once we get things tweaked in, ‘we have a lot to cover’. 

All the best,

George B.

Posted in Announcements | 2 Comments

The Amazing “Kill A Watt Meter”

Posted on August 11, 2010 by George B.

It’s a tool designed around one of the principle philosophies of utterpower, do your own math!

The Amazing Killawatt Meter

>>> Buy a Kill A Watt Here

I’ve mentioned this handy and inexpensive device many times, it gives the DIYer a very inexpensive method to monitor Voltage, Current, Frequency, Kilowatt hours, and Power Factor, Few of us need much more, and at a cost of twenty five dollars or less, it is very difficult to pass up as your power monitoring display(s). Sure thing; a beginner starts off wanting those cool looking analog meters for each display, but at some point you learn the downsides whether it be cost, breakage, ease of replacement, lack of features, flexibility or more.

A Current Transformer is easy to find, some at surplus prices

Your hands on experience will build an appreciation for the killawatt, inexpensive enough to have spares on hand. Plug one in where ever you want to monitor your power, the kitchen, the shop, add ONE external component, and get total load information at your generator head, or at the first distribution box.

Thanks to DIYer and PE ‘Bill Rogers’, the killawatt has been tested with a Current Transformer than can extend it’s range in reading current and tracking total kilowatt hours. There will be very few serious off grid power producers that will find a need for more monitoring information, accuracy, or data collection than what the kill a watt provides.

If you watch the forums, you’ll soon see things like a person posting that he’s carrying 10KW of load with his modified DIYer 12 horsepower engine and gen head. All he did was change the compression ratio and add some of those new trick racing valves, and he’s now offering to sell you the modification and knowledge. The odds are high that he has deceived himself, he hasn’t yet learned to measure AC power with any accuracy. KVAs and KWHs are very different things. The formula for figuring AC power is not E times I as the poster likely calculated. Lucky for you, the killawatt is smarter, and it will produce running totals and even show you that all important power factor. Reality is an important thing for the true DIY Power Producer.

Let me give you a real world example of the value of the killawatt. Consider a Xantrex Inverter with a built in Charger. You read the manual and become impressed with the efficiency rating of these chargers (as you should). But you may walk away with the thought that this high efficiency is across the board. If we look at that big transformer core in the older and reliable Xantex, just what do we expect for efficiency if we are using the grid or another source of AC power to keep our batteries in float? Let’s get some hands on experience with the killawatt right now and give it the task of answering our question. With the batteries in float, we’ll ‘lockout’ all AC loads or turn the inverter section off. This will assure we don’t pull more current through our unmodified killawatt than it was designed for, and since we are studying what it takes to float the battery, we’ll be looking at power well within the range.

First we find the AC input to the charger, this may go over to a wall style plug where we see commercial power when it’s available. for off girders, it’s likely your generator output. if you are already wired this way, the study is easy, just pull the plug out, plug the killawatt in, and then plug the charger back into the front of the killawatt. With the batteries in float, push the button on the front of the killiwatt for power factor. Do you see a dot six or similar, not all that pretty huh? Now let us look at the power and compare it to the current into our batteries and then calculate the power in and the power out to the batteries. What you may find is that you are using about five times the energy to float your battery bank as a purpose built charger might use. We might see this set up in on grid installs where the inverter system is back up, if you are paying 8 cents a KWH, you may not care, if you are paying 40 cents, you may be motivated to make changes. If we look at the cost over a year, it all adds up. Locating that purpose built charger on sale or at surplus prices might be an easy thing to do. Of course, this is only an example and you will find lots of studies and experiments to conduct, especially inductive loads of all sorts. A refrigerator is full of surprises, and the mods you can make for greater efficiency and to reduce the burden on your power plant are numerous and fun. This might be an excellent topic to cover in the near future.

>>buy Kill A Watt here

All the best,

George B, Utterpower.com

Posted in Recommended Gadgets & Tools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is Every Green Idea A Good Idea?

Posted on August 10, 2010 by George B.

Did you follow Dilbert in the early days? I used to look at that cartoon strip every day and wondered how Scott Adams had gained access to our work-group? Did he have an informant, was it Mel, maybe Stan? What I found out later is he worked in a technical environment in the Phone Company just like I was doing at the time.  He witnessed the same irrational stuff my work group experienced. Why make it up when you are surrounded by real life examples of insanity?

government dilbert

A joke?

The following may be another example of Dilbert ideas;  you can’t make up stuff like this.  Unlike the Author of Dilbert, you may be able to use the Freedom of Information Act  and actually name the real characters in the story.  Scott Adams had to do his best to keep his job or he’d have no new material to write about I’m sure his Boss enjoyed the comic strip less than we did. 

Looking for an Idea that might generate a lot of traffic to your WEBsite? How about a  collection of ideas like the following with a hand picked example added everyday?  You would inform the public about what our Tax dollars are being used for and as far as I know this idea could qualify you for   an educational grant too!

So sit back watch this video and then read on, there’s two ways for YOU to make some serious money.

Have you ever studied the efforts and research done to develop a paint that would stay on the road for any length of time? They spend millions to study and develop a better paint and then place test strips to see if it is both visible after dark and durable enough to last a few years, just keeping the centerline painted (where people seldom drive) is a huge expense.  Ever study the damage studded tires do to a road in one season? Ever see the windshield damage people get every year driving over mountain passes and on snow covered roads where salt and sand are applied? They are lucky to go two seasons on the same windshield. Now imagine a glass roadway and its ability to hold up to the elements, cleats, chains, aggressive treads that trap all kinds of material that are considered hard on the Rockwell scale… they act as a serious and aggressive grinding compound to any roadway, and would turn glass into wind blown sand overnight.

But that’s just the beginning of concerns many transportation engineers would raise.  I think the key to limiting grants to the more rational studies is to make the public aware  of who approved the funding.  This information needs to be available via the web and citizens should know exactly who was involved in approving their tax dollars be spent in such a way.

Of course I am a little envious; I could have created Dilbert, (or at least I had the same material to work with). I could have applied for this grant and turned out the same work, but many of us could and that’s what makes the story.  Think how much fun it would be to have spent all that money playing around. Think of the expenses you might charge, maybe even a trip to Spain with your friends to study an acient Roman built roadway.  You know that Dogbert would have done exactly that. 

In exchange for lifting one of Scott Adam’s gems, perhaps I should suggest you visit his blog? Do remember to hit the back arrow and return.  

http://www.dilbert.com/blog/

All the best,

George B.

Posted in your wasted tax dollars. | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What's New Down Under?

Posted on August 8, 2010 by George B.
A new Supplier For Australia

A new Supplier For Australia

Stephen Hutson in Australia has decided to invest his time and money into providing the parts and pieces necessary to fabricate Slow Speed Power Plants and other ‘off the mains’ solutions.  Just like here in North America there are people in Australia who live or want to live ‘outback’. Of course backup power is part of the market as well.

There is so much misinformation on the WEB, nearly everyone has an opinion and not all of them are based on hands on knowledge nor do they all support what we know about basic physics. It is very difficult for those who have less mechanical background to understand the Merits of KISS Engineering and Flywheels. My suggestion is to study basic physics and develop your critical thinking skills.

Your path to understanding the value of high Mass Flywheels might be luminated by understanding the higher efficiency of a compression ignition engine and the incredible amount of energy packed into fuel oil measured by weight or volume.  Diesel fuel and kerosene are close cousins, if you own an engine like the Legendary Lister CS or clone, Kerosene is one of many fuels you can use ,adding just a little biodiesel, or some two stroke oil to increase the lubricity for the fuel pump is all you need.  Straight Vegetable Oil and transesterified biofuels are on the menu as well, you need study up a bit on how to run them best, but the wide variety of fuels you can use in good times and hard times is a comfort to many of us.

But what about these big bulky flywheels, what’s the value?  I might answer that all too many make the mistake of building too big of power plant, and then discovering just how thirsty they are, when you are using a generator for daily power, the efficiency of the conversion of fuel/kwh ( amount of work done for a given amount of fuel) becomes very important. The flywheel stores energy, this allows us to start and run things like deep well submersible pumps when larger and higher rated output generators fail to start them.  An example might be the combination of the 6/1 CS clone and the utterpower PMG. The combination can produce huge amounts of starting power to get the pump motor up to speed, (Energy stored in flywheel) and then the pump runs at a fraction of the power that was necessary to start it. There are many generators that have a higher continuous output ratings in KW that fail to start a pump like the typical one horse power submersible we have all over North America.  It is important to have a clean start, marginal generators can damage deep well pumps and lead to a VERY expensive pump pull and replacement.
But the final key to understanding the basics is in understanding the relationship between efficiency and percent load in diesels.  Let’s look at some testing Electrical Engineer and Biofuel Enthusiast Jeff Maier did with the little 175 horizontal diesel.
 
Load = 2500W Fuel = .125 Gal / KW-Hr.  10.46 KW-Hr in 4h 6m; 1.313 gal of fuel used.
Load = 1469W Fuel = .146 Gal / KW-Hr.  5.25 KW-Hr in 3h 33m; 0.766 gal of fuel used.
Load = 1100W Fuel = .169 Gal / KW-Hr.  4.96 KW-Hr in 4h 26m; 0.836 gal of fuel used.
Load = 291W Fuel = .436 Gal / KW-Hr.  1.72 KW-Hr in 5h 54m; 0.750 gal of fuel used.

If you will take a moment to let these numbers sink in, this is typical of diesel power plants. The biggest mistake you might make is buying a large generator and then running it lightly loaded. Look how expensive it is to produce a Kilowatt Hour at low loading.
There are significant dividends paid to those who will take the time to develop a load management scheme, when the generator runs, load it to 80% or better if possible. If you are charging batteries, wash clothes, and add other daily loads at the same time to assure your fuel/kwh conversion is highest, it can make a huge difference over the course of a year. Buying a 15KW power plant when you will typically load it at 2800 watts is a huge and costly mistake, and there are many who invest in these larger power plants with no research at all. At the end of the day, the total cost of producing your own KWH of power over time is the key measure. Once you become addicted to Slow Speed, going from the musical notes this power plant produces back to the drone of higher speed power plants will drive you insane… fair warning….  

All the best and good luck down under, what’s not to love about Australia and the many good people down there?  

George B.

Posted in Associates, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Revolutionary New Free Power Source!

Posted on August 7, 2010 by George B.

 

 Introduction:
DIYers “Do it Yourselfers” are a small percentage of the population. As I have mentioned before, if you get us together in a room face to face, you find we have more in common that you know. A lot of us were attracted to the technical fields, some migrated from things like Human Resources to Mechanical Engineering because their passions were like a torch in the night that lighted the pathway to that more rewarding job.

 
I have mentioned before how curious I was about the higher than expected number of Medical Doctors in our DIYer-Off Grid-Alternative Energy group. Why is that? A few MDs responded to that question to say that the human body is another machine, and we should expect MDs to have a lot of the same traits found in the DIYer group.
I think about a younger person attempting to make it through medical school, sometimes they have a  family and no money. What happens when a home repair or an auto repair is necessary? The typical DIYer quickly recalls all the recent hired repairs that have been both expensive and done wrong. It’s nearly impossible for our breed to just ‘call the repairman’, we can always think of better places to spend the money. Whether it’s to pay down school tuition, an Orthodontist’s bill for a child, or buying more and better tools. Maybe we are born with this mentality and it forces us to pry off the top and look inside at the broken gear works and see if we can repair it ourselves?
I believe I have a wonderful example of how differently DIYers respond to articles in the news in comparison to the rest of the population.  As profoundly disturbing as it may be to me, about five percent of the people who found this page will even read this sentence. If I insert a picture of Paris Hilton on this page, a good percentage would click it and never return.
Here’s the example….. I’d like you to test yourself, write down a few bullet items regarding your observations after you watch the video clips above, Consider opening another window in your browser and visiting hydrovolts.com. Study their claims, their endorsements, their awards.  

Make sure you watch King 5 News coverage…. now note all the awards,  there’s even a Professor from the University of Washington in the video clip to demonstrate there’s interest from the professional community.
Few people outside our community will ask themselves the following questions. Critical thinking skills are quite common in our group, and becoming a rarity outside our group.

The following questions we generally  ask ourselves guide us. 
Question: What are the objectives of the entities that either endorse or recognize the efforts of Seattle based Hydrovolts?
Question:  What is the principle goal of King 5 News OR any other Broadcasting Organization?
Seasoned DIYers are normally critical thinkers, they will have asked themselves questions like the following:

Question:  This is such a basic idea, why hasn’t anyone in the last hundred years or more done this?
Question:  I don’t see any factual information regarding energy potential, why is that?
For me, I recall a book put out by Reader’s Digest called “Back to Basics”, it is a book put out about traditional American skills, and it is well illustrated and like most good books, it is written to convey information and not an attempt to impress readers with colorful vocabulary or math far more elegant than necessary to cover the topic and share the facts and information

Back to Basics Book Cover

 

Within  this book are the basics for accessing water power potential. We find the data we need on page 97.  Here’s the simple formula that has not failed man for hundreds of years in accessing whether they would receive a return on their investment in time and money to construct a water works at any given location.

Even Basic knowledge is power

The formula: KW= Head in feet x velocity in feet a second/23 x area in square feet.

Their example 10 x 1.4/23 x 4.8 = 2.92 KW 

As you note, this is math anyone who actually graduated from eight grade should be able to follow. But we are busy people, and those who employ critical thinking will make quick note of that decimal point, and the fact that the first part of  this simple formula is ‘Head’ in feet. We quickly reflect on the focus of Hydrovolt and note their mission is to extract energy from free flowing streams and canals. We also note we can attempt to calculate some type of head figure to plug in, but at the end of our study, we will find it most appropriate to enter a ZERO. With this understanding we simply move the decimal one place to the left and realizing we can drop that part of the equation all together.  Wow! in this case we have the potential energy to light the typical light and fan combo we find near the shower in a bathroom. But for the DIYer, we understand that this is only potential and there are a few losses we need consider first.

We note again the design, and after some consideration we see the only potential we can work with is the volume of water that actually comes in contact with the paddle minus the losses. Losses?… what losses? Again DIYers can’t help themselves, they usually understand quite a bit about both aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, they learn these things because that little DIYer gene makes these things so impossible to ignore, we need undertand at least the basics. We look again at the frame that houses the hydrovolt turbine, those surfaces generate eddies that can impede the flow of water at the ‘all important’ top of the paddle and less important along the sides. The folding paddle is not without its losses, there will be measureable losses as we drag these forward and set them up against the current to capture more energy.

Perhaps the best way to visualize this in the mind’s eye is understanding there is something like a duty cycle or a ratio of time where the paddle does no work VS it’s exposure to the current flow when it can harness and transfer the power to the rotating shaft.  But here again, we DIYers quickly notice that the paddle is only at a right angle to the water flow for an instant. We of course know what it’s like to try and run with a piece  of ply wood, and from this we can start factoring the sharp power curve downward as any paddle on the turbine advances forward at an ever greater angle until it’s contribution ends, and it becomes part of the overall losses and inefficiency of the design.

So we add up these losses and subtract them from the miniscule potential. Now we add distribution losses and more. But let’s look at irrigation canals in general, there is mention on the hydrovolt website that one of the many potential uses for the hydrovolt technology is to use their hydrovolt generator to pump water.

Most irrigation projects were funded based on their ability to provide a return on investment, this was normally measured using real economic benefit criteria, and the projects needed to pay for themselves over a realistic time period. This often caused the irrigation canals to be connstructed well above crop land where gravity flow could be used to bring the water to the point of use.  If we were to use a pipe, we not only control soil erosion problems, but what happens to our energy potential as the head pressure builds? After only 10 feet of fall, we have ten times the energy potential, after 100 feet of fall, we have 100 times the energy potential.
But what we need to question is the wisdom of generating the power at a point where there is no significant energy to capture and then use that miniscule amount of energy to pump water to places it would gravity flow to in the first place. Of course, you already see the wisdom of using the more traditional turbine wheel and the head available to generate power IF you will place them closer to the point of use and make use of the powerful multiplyer “head” No wonder it’s been done differently than hydrovolt suggests for a thousands years. 

Now for the important part. Why all the endorsements? How did they find a TV station to give them coverage? What about the University Professor, and all those accolades? for me it is a reminder of why our group is so different from those who visit large websites who cover the escapades of Movie Stars, Singers and Al Gore. It’s my opinion that there is a real danger here. These unworkable Alternative Energy ideas influence people in a big way, it causes them to think there is energy to be had under every rock, that it is free for the harvesting if only we can get big oil and big energy out of the way to allow it to happen. We live in dangerous times, as reality becomes far less important to the average American every day. Now we have mainstream coverage of products like the bloom box and the Chevy Volt which has already been hyped to do the impossible and no one in the Media is interested in the facts. For them viewership is most important, the survival of our nation or our way of life has no weighting on the quarterly balance sheet, and the bonuses that are dependent on meeting those quarterly objectives. The question we need ask ourselves… has our media always been so neglectful of the facts, or have we just grown older and wiser and become aware of  how little interest the public, media or elected officials have in the truth?

You have a very important responsibility, it’s to think and challenge irrational ideas, if you read this far, you are one of us for certain. How rare you are!

All the best,

George

Posted in Articles, Buyer Beware, Strange Stuff, The New Green Movement | Leave a comment