VW Diesel Engine Running on Free Fuel

vw diesel engine running on free fuel

First off, putting Semitics aside. Lets get one thing straight, nothing is free

Why sod about wih hydraulics? Use the alternator on the engine and use that to charge the batteries, just like in the vehicle the engine is suited for.

Excellent use of waste oil Sheldon, MB's suggestion regarding the generator is the best use of the power available.
You may consider exporting power to your utility company.

The only flaw I can see (other than the use of a hydraulic pump as PWSlack said), is the supply of "free" fuel. Biodeisel has become very popular around here (San Francisco Bay Area) with the hippie crowd, now there is actually a shortage of usable waste fats, oils and grease (collectively now referred to as FOG) used to make it! I worked on a project last year for a local wastewater treatment plant that is making electricity from their digester gasses. They need a small amount of FOG to activate it periodically, but what once came in "free" for disposal is now a commodity. So they now actually have to PAY the companies that empty restaurant grease traps to divert a tanker full to them once a month.

If you own a McDonald's franchise and are looking for a way to recoup energy from something you used to dispose of, fantastic. But it takes a steady supply to make it worth doing, and the hippie crowd is hot on the heals of FOG sources now.

By the way, what else is the engine doing? If it's just there to generate heat and power, just go out and buy an alternator, like those used on regular portable diesel generators, and figure a way to couple it up to the VW engine. then generate as much power as you can so that your engine is more loaded, selling the excess back to you utility as TonyS suggested.

And with shortages created by demand, this free energy source now has value

Either get an engine/alternator from craigs list that has a dead engine or go to Harbor freight. Get an alternator unit to power up your 115 electrical service and power an appropriate battery charger that is designed for you battery string - load. Woody

A big alternator like those found on Semi Trucks with all the lights!

There are a few factors you will need to work around/ experiment with. If you can bracket pulleys off the out put crank you may be able to add multiple altenaters to run a 12vdc circuit and charge 12 VDC batteries on that circuit. The charge - run cycles will have to be worked out to see how efficient it is.

Many auto yards or sympathetic mechanics may be able to provide the alt.s to you free or really cheap. The diesel torque should be able to turn the biggest 12-14vdc alts available.

what you use the batteries for will determine the charge run cycle. You would have to have a ton of LED run hours to run down a Battery. Start with the LED bank hourly usage rate to determine run charge cycles.

A scout is T L H F C K O C T B C R

Why not simply buy a smaller diesel gen set so you can run your house and not use so much fuel.

excess charges batteries or feeds to grid.

But I think you will find your free fuel may not be free much longer.

I gave up the idea of bio diesel because the Fish and chip shop got greedy and sold oil that was mostly batter waste, it ruined expensive filters and took for ever to get ready to make bio diesel.

Costs became higher than just buying fuel.

But playing around with a motor that is so big is really false economy.

smaller gensets have every thing built in, running a motor for a litre an hour is cheaper than feeding 60 hp. doing nothing.

What do you need to run the house, 5 kw or more, this should be what you base the genset on.

http://duropower.com/index.asp?FID=14&level=1

or you could run a couple of these

http://www.harborfreight.com/engines-generators/generator-accessories/10000-watts-max-7200-watts-rated-belt-driven-generator-head-45416.html

Lots of good advice on this thread, and this guest has some good points too.

Over all, I like what Bumble had to say. If the OP is an Electric Engineer he should understand even more than I did.

My advice, go with what you have already. Get a generator to fit to your engine and either run it at peak efficiency (to send excess to the grid or batteries) or set up a servo control system to adjust your output to your demand as Bumble said.

Good points.

However, it is worth considering that when diesel engines have been available for both car and commercial use (e.g. Daihatsu as Briggs and Stratton) the commercial rating is about half the automotive rating... so this engine might not be as underloaded as it would seem.

It's also worth noting that a large diesel loafing along will have very long life, low vibration and noise as compared to the single cylinder air-cooled diesels in a small (5 kW) generator. Further, in diesels, specific fuel consumption does not increase as dramatically under moderately low load as it does in a gasoline engine, so running this diesel at around 20 hp could still be pretty fuel efficient. And in this case the waste heat is not really wasted (provided that he can actually use it).

In use, he would be wise to pulse the load, rather than running continuously under a low load (and charge the batteries at a high rate during bulk charge, and/or sell the electricity to the power company).

One really needs to know the amount of heat required, and the amount of electrical energy required.

But in any case, the OP could put $299 into a generator head, and $250 into an AC input battery charger, and be in business. At the 8,000 W output (13hp input) continuous rating of the generator, the diesel would last forever. Small diesel gensets cannot be bought for $299. (The charger would be required either way.)

You may wish to search "Pancake Generators".

There are also wind turbine generators that are also mounted under the hoods of vehicles, belt driven, about 8kW. Just switch in the load as the fuel is available.

It would certainly be sun energy or wind energy.

The alternator idea is by far the simplest and most feasible. Who's worried about efficiecy when the BTUs are free? A standard 60-100 AMP automotive alternator with a functioning 14.4 volt regulator (also a nice junk-yard find) will charge a parallel bank of batteries very efficiently and at low cost to boot. All it takes is a bracket and belt and that little diesel should sing a happy tune.

I really am enthused about your water jacket usage. Fantastic idea. It sure beats cutting would and running a boiler.

A standard 60-100 AMP automotive alternator with a functioning 14.4 volt regulator (also a nice junk-yard find) will charge a parallel bank of batteries very efficiently and at low cost to boot.

However, it will not charge his battery bank, in which each sub-bank has 6 batteries in series. The regulator from a junk yard alternator would need to be replaced with an external regulator that can be set to his battery bank voltage. Given the size of his battery bank, you could assume he has significant electrical loads, and it would then make sense to have an alternator designed for higher loads rather than one that is just barely adequate to charge a small automotive battery.

Your "very efficiently" is probably a bit of a stretch. Automotive alternators are some of the least efficient electrical machines.

These things are not magic, and there is a reason that a small car alternator weighs five pounds and a generator better suited to stationary use (like the one garth referenced) weighs 93 -- almost 20 times as much.

all engine can have a generator run by a belt. a voltage regulator feeds power when the batteries need power. then stop when they are full. check for RPM,s and how much power you get to recharge your battiers. the less moving parts the less loss you get. most of the fuel you use is wasted in heat. by using the heat, you get more energy from the fuel you use. you might need a storage tank so the floor does not ever heat when it is hot or the sun is out. it is called a dump tank. most engines piut out water to hot for pex pipe. and 200 degrees F might be to hot. miximg vallve that takes some of the heat from the engtine and mix's it with the colder water returning will fix that problem. the dump tank is just a cold water tank to hold the extra heat. run all the heat from the engine true a coil in the dump tank. a second coil to your heating system. a mixing valve still might be needed. size, temp outside needs to be looked at.