Making 700 Horsepower With a Block of Wood

Decided to rebuild the barrel into something that can stay together on its own. We may have somerhing here.
Stay tuned for the next step. Turbo chooch noises are just the beginning of the capabilities of these contraptions. I will continue to improve on this thing as time goes on.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

You can shroud your hot side with a couple of custom cut large coffee cans to keep the cold air close to the surface of the housing to keep the heat lower.

[@Boostiverse]

This is what a real renewable power source looks like

[@Player_2725]

This is basically a jet engine but on wood. Same high fuel consumption and low efficiency.

[@Boostiverse]

@@Player_2725 they’re not actually inefficient when run correctly

[@TauCu]

@@Boostiverse They are compared to piston engines. Especially diesel. Edit: Unless of course you just want a really convoluted space heater.

[@Boostiverse]

@@TauCu yeah it might be slightly less efficient no matter what but where would you be losing energy if you have it insulated and spinning multiple turbines connected to generators, also you could have the heat boil water so you can use that energy too

[@TauCu]

​@@Boostiverse Some peaker plants do that. (turbine + steam generator) and they reach an efficiency of 20-42% As the scale of the of turbines decrease so does efficiency. So even ideally it'd be just as efficient as a good diesel generator. That being said while the efficiency is lower, that might not matter. It depends what resources are abundant and obtainable. If you have a lot of wood sure. Perhaps adding a cold air bypass to the turbine would increase expansion and efficiency as well as reducing thermal stresses. you could even add a fresh water injector into the burner to flash it to stream. Many things you could do, although they wouldn't be as efficient as diesel.

[@ATR-_]

FINALLY A NEW VIDEO ON THE TURD

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

I'm still aiming this year to make an actually purpose built 'wood' [any solid OR liquid combustible] fueled turbine. I will suggest to you to put in a sealed pellet feeder somewhere so you can keep feeding it fuel for sustained runs.

[@Go4BrokeOffroad]

im trying to make this into an oil burner setup inside my shop somehow.

[@BoostHoundGP]

I dont know if id run this in a shop. Maybe wheel it in after a run... the tank gets over 800*..

[@richardmustakos9255]

​@@BoostHoundGPgreat in a northern winter, not so much in the summer!

Would coating that tank with some kind heat coating make a diff?

[@UniCrafter]

I really wish there was an easy way to turn this power into electricity, i suppose some kind of second turbine could run an alternator, issue is turbines like this spin 10x faster than an alternator and attaching a pulley or gear drives would require insane precision

[@BoostHoundGP]

Shhh thats the next step I mentioned. Bolt an alternator to a 2nd turbo and just run a wastegate to regulate the speed of said 2nd turbo.

[@RippinF250]

You could put a turbine on the alternator that catches the exhaust of the turbo kinda like a hydroelectric dam. It wouldnt be the most efficient but its somewhere to start.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

There is, you just have to have a slightly different layout so you can tap some of the power of the exhaust to a torque turbine. Some people have already done it on YT with wood power, and AgentJZ who does actual Orenda gas turbines explains so thoroughly how it is done that ANYBODY could do one from his instructions.

[@DriftJam]

you should pipe the exhaust into a furnace motor and wire it backwards

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

@@DriftJam Four things about a normal furnace motor: 1, They're a shaded pole induction motor, which means they are pretty near impossible, as built, to produce any electric current, 2, The heat output would destroy the motor, 3, The speed of rotation would destroy the cage, and 4, the thin, non alloy steel would virtually burn like a steel drum does when you burn trash in them. The SHAPE is FINE. I've seen it used that way, only made out of thick walled stainless steel, with some additional ribbing for the centrifugal forces, and set apart from an alternator at such a distance as to keep the heat from damaging the alternator. Because normal alternators can easily withstand 12,000 RPM [and such a device would easily reach such speeds if properly paced], they can handle that type of spin, and when under a load, they provide some of their own braking force to self limit. If you use stainless, especially aircraft stainless, or inconel, or monel, you can withstand that severe heat without the blades melting, eroding, or 'burning up', although, if you do not put additional ribs around them, they will still break off, because they are being forced to rotate and handle torque greater than they are specced to. Just be certain you balance it very well, and keep oil fed bearings, a decent distance away from the heat, preferably behind small heat shields, kinda like the bearings on a normal turbocharger]. I saw the one the guy made, many years ago on youtube, but now it has been so long that searching for it is gunna be insanely tedious. In principle, a cheap, off the shelf sguirrel cage fan would work....for a few seconds...because the technology has been long time proven, but since it would be blasted in a really corrosive jet of flame with abrasive grit like that, a minute is the most I would give it to not explode outright, or melt, or warp, etc. On the other hand, perhaps, if built right, maybe a Tesla turbine would work, since its 100% radially self supported, super easy to get the disks laser cut, super easy to balance, and naturally handles very high RPMs. That made out of a good heat resistant metal would work, just as long as there was not enough back pressure on it to cause the same stall issue he is already facing. It could be TESTED with cheaper mild steel, at least long enough to see IF it can work, before sinking a whole lot of money into expensive alloys and too much custom cutting. Just don't expect rolled homogeneous steel plate to last very long in those conditions, it was not made to do that.

[@brocksterification]

Plumb the wastegate dump into the turbine inlet and itll cool the exhaust gasses. Then just find the balance and it'll run without blowing hot end until wood runs out.

[@UniCrafter]

Exactly what I was thinking

[@BoostHoundGP]

For some reason I figured it would backfeed the wastegate that way. Then again the pressures should be equal if its on wastegate.

[@larsjrgensen5975]

He needs to dump air out of the system to slow down the turbine, bypassing the barrel may not be enough to control the turbo and keeping it from running away.

[@brocksterification]

@@BoostHoundGP there'll be losses throught the burn chamber and turns in plumbing that'll mean the wastegate flow will move to the turbine inlet. If it's not enough then just to the exhaust dump pipe will do.

[@fascistpedant758]

@@larsjrgensen5975 If he bypasses all the air, the turbo will stop, so it's certainly possible to regulate the turbo by bypassing, but the wastegate referencing boost pressure won't work well. He needs to reference turbo speed or air flow.

[@barthchris1]

Fueled by Snuffleupagus?

[@jasonnewbon1803]

cool but 700 hp is little bit of a overstatement

[@usefulemptiness2410]

Nice build. Maybe you could lead a fraction of the boosted air into the tank right before the turbo? The idea is a combination of burning any carbon monoxide that has formed (for safety and efficiency) and to trade some heat for volume driving the turbo more efficient and to save it from the all to common over heating that is so prevalent in this kind of builds.

[@BoostHoundGP]

Thanks boss. Thats basically an EGR system which could be a positive addition to this build. I personally think the heat falures are 100% from too much boost and obviously EGTs. My first time I blew two turbos in 40 seconds with no boost control. At its lowest setting it can run seems to be 4 psi which still makes 800* exhaust temps... I feel theres no point in running the system any higher than at an "idle" since your just pushing excess heat at that point. This setup seems to work well the way it is, Ive made about 12 full burns on this turbo which to me is way more than anybody elses currently out there.

[@usefulemptiness2410]

You have a point in that cautious running. I still see some benefits, from my solution but I also get that it may be a whole lot of work for some possible unproven return. To add yet another, currently pretty useless, point it would burn tiny bits of burning coal as well. Reducing the long-time wear from solid particles. Anyway... question time: You mentioned a likely second turbo. Would that be for the compounded boost you wouldn't use anyway, or do you have another use for it in mind? And why would you choose a sequential setup instead of having the turbos in a parallell setup from the barrel, in case you'd like to feed them differently perhaps using some valves for that in the future?

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

@@BoostHoundGP One way to throttle your turbo speed is to put a spindle on the inlet that runs a governor, which then tips a valve over the inlet. [like the governors on many of your older gasoline powered static generators and lawn mowers]

[@fascistpedant758]

I was going to suggest that he blend some cold side air with the hot gasses as they leave the combustion chamber, but it's just another way of doing it.

[@fascistpedant758]

@@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542 I was thinking of just a flap in the air stream like the really cheap old lawnmowers, though if he can couple to the turbo shaft and gear it down a little he could also couple it to a generator and produce useful power.

[@funone8716]

Very cool! You are making quite a bit of horsepower's worth of air and energy there. Maybe try injecting waste oil?

[@BoostHoundGP]

Id like to make it self sufficient before adding anymore electronics. If it can power an alternator without melting it maybe then you can add on stuff. The oil part Im not really a fan of if i want an oil burner I'll get a bullet heater. Id like to stick to wood power.

[@funone8716]

@@BoostHoundGP Ya but oil you can fuel it continously. Wood ya gotta stop, shut down, and re-load.

[@BoostHoundGP]

@@funone8716 I understand all that, I just want to avoid reliance on oil as a fuel source on this setup. It really isnt a big deal to re load and refire. Theres enough heat and coals left it lights right back up. I do have plans to build a smaller and larger one at some point maybe I can run the little one on oil. There probably wont be enough tank size to run it on wood.

[@hunnybunnysheavymetalmusic6542]

@@funone8716 Actually this is only true if you are only going to be using lumpy logs or if you do not build an air lock. I'm working on a system with a hydraulic ram to meter in pressed pulverized fuel so that I can run the system continuously with a very steady solid fuel feed rate, but my engine system is aimed to be a hybrid engine that burns solids, liquids and gases.

[@BoostedMike2]

waste gate should be on the exhaust side ffs

[@BoostHoundGP]

Lets see yours champ. Any break in the system after the chamber results in a spark show and no boost.

[@larsjrgensen5975]

It is better on the intake side, much more control to prevent the barrel from melting and much safer for the gate itself.

[@curtisriley624]

What's the real point building a heater for a shop that's a little bit extreme I think

[@SlowPythonV1]

He's looking to fix some kind of generator to it. There's a lot of untapped energy in something like this

[@richardmustakos9255]

​@@SlowPythonV1yup. Heat the shop to a sauna and still get power from it!

[@losma7t]

what is this

[@SlowPythonV1]

An insanely efficient turbo furnace basically

[@woobykal68]

Good idea, bad camera work.

[@mikelovin7]

🤣

[@wirewrks]

I'm surprised the turbo hasn't grenaded, from the over-speed of the rotating assembly.!!! It sounds like it's spooling up to 25,000-30,000 rpm, and that's because you've got the wastegate in the wrong location. It's supposed to be installed before the turbine inlet side (exhaust side), to bleed off exhaust gas pressure, enabling cotrol of the shaft speed. Currently, you have NO ABILITY to control that shaft speed, and that's not good. You need to add a piece of pipe between the burn chamber and the turbine exhaust gas inlet, and mount the wastegate (with a 5 lb. spring in it) to that pipe. The adjustable boost controller MIGHT function, but they're designed to have a vacuum reference line run to them, along with the boost pressure signal. Make sure to ALWAYS have a sufficient oil supply to the turbo, with a drain line at least 3x the diameter of the supply line. Good Luck...