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Posted by Tom in Oregon [128.193.15.52] on Thursday, February 04, 2010 at 20:21:21 :
In Reply to: Aplidynes posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Thursday, February 04, 2010 at 19:59:39 :
The wood burners are called gasifiers. Quite popular in England during the war, too, or anywhere gas was rationed or just not available. I saw some stuff on the net about yahoos with big trucks converted to gasifiers recently. Lots of wood, about a pound per mile, and lots of smoke. Really doesn't solve any problems. Probably pretty rough on an engine if not filtered properly first, if that is even possible. A friend of mine ran a VW beetle on wood for awhile back in the 70s. It was exciting, but way unpractical.
I like your figuring for the hybrid PW.
I don't need any alternators, but I will get a photo of the Amplidynes here in a few days. I built a windmill plan alternator that I use with a chopped up bicycle to augment the solar panels (120W) on my '58 Airstream Bubble (16'). The alternator is a 5-phase with diodes turning the wave around for DC output. Very impressive design with the powerful modern magnets (24 of them, each can lift 82 lb., and they are only 1x2x1/2" in size). I get about 200 W at as many revs, and it is like riding about 10mph on a flat road, so I can charge up my two Trojan-105 6-Volters (in series) without getting winded. It just takes awhile. I usually watch a movie on my laptop whilst pedaling away. There is plenty of juice for the batteries and the laptop. The alternator could crank out 1000 W if I could get it going faster, but I don't have that kind of legs!
I think the hybrid PW idea could be a big thread here one of these days.