[Gasification] Hot new blower tech goes to 11 !

jim mason jim at allpowerlabs.org
Tue Nov 30 23:30:20 CST 2010


more poking around this weekend about blowers surfaced a new type i
hadn't seen before.  these are a new gen of premix boiler blower that
commonly go to 11 or so inches vac.  they are also sized appropriately
for our gasifier flow rate needs, and with lots of other fabulous
things that might make this the grail we've rooting around for.  cheap
too.  cheaper than i can make them myself.  so woohoo!

i think we have a new winner.  i ordered some samples to test out.
the basic images and doc on the one we are getting to test is here:
http://www.gekgasifier.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1696#post1696
they can manufacture special 12vdc ones too.  hopefully they are as
good as the doc suggests.  we'll see.

the main company that developed these is ebm-pabst in germany.  see
here: http://www.ebmpapst.co.uk/pages/content.asp?s_17,ss_51,p_2
they have lots of them.  all ebm pabst does is make blowers.  look at
the 3d curved centrifugal blades they have going.  very fancy.
they've taken things a couple steps beyond where our musings left off.


the details:

it seems that older one or two speed boiler systems are being replaced
with infinite speed variation units for better load tracking and
efficiency.  these new boilers have also gone to premix systems where
the fuel/air is blown in already mixed, and don't rely on late in situ
mixing in the combustion chamber.  this makes a cleaner burn and
smaller combustion envelope, which makes the whole boiler unit
smaller.

the ability to premix fuel/air on a gasifier flare helps many things.
this is what we do with the ejector venturi and swirl burner on the
gek.  such is not usually possible with a fan as the flame backs up
into the housing and makes a very inefficient turbine (before melting
the motor).  seems these are designed to not back up flame into the
housing.  extremely helpful.  hope it works with woodgas too.

these new blowers are also usually done with brushless dc, with pwm
control built in.  the motors are very high efficiency and quiet.
they advertise power comsumption in the 1/3-1/2 of what previous gen
things do.  the performance to amp specs at the link above suggest
they are not blowing smoke either.


you can read all about this HOT NEW BOILER TECH in the boiler industry
white papers and news releases at links below.

http://hpac.com/heating/brushless-direct-current-blowers-0110/

http://www.appliancemagazine.com/editorial.php?article=1716&zone=1&first=1

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEAQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebmpapst.us%2Ftechdocs%2FPremix%2520Gas%2520Blowers.pdf&rct=j&q=premix%20blower%20boiler&ei=_n7zTOC7HYGcsQOFx-maAQ&usg=AFQjCNGl7WGbojNEoK22yh5yGeE2uUDrrQ&sig2=sOnNlBeuiYGHUxHemzmCMQ&cad=rja

who ever knew fans could be so interesting!

jim


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