[Gasification] Biomass Gasification Workshop Weekend: March 30 - April 1, ALL Power Labs, Berkeley, CA

Mon Mar 26 00:18:19 CDT 2012

Gasification PowerExchange Workshop #11: March 30 - April 1
Gasifier Power System Showcase: 10kw, 20kw & 100kw, GEK building and
running, More Lister spark conversion

Gasification Lecture and Demo: Friday, March 30, 7:30-9:30PM
Building, Running and  and Testing: Saturday and Sunday, March 30 and
April 1, 11am – 7pm
Location: ALL Power Labs, 1010 Murray Street. Berkeley, CA
Contact: sales ^at^ allpowerlabs.org
Cost: Free for GEK owners.  $100 otherwise
http://www.gekgasifier.com/about/workshop/sign-up/
RSVP to: http://gekgasifier.com/forums/index.php/topic/747-gasification-workshop-weekend-march-30-april-1-berkeley-ca/
More Info: http://gekgasifier.com/about/workshops/

Join us at ALL Power Labs in Berkeley CA, March 30 - April 1 for the
next in our long running series of Biomass Gasification workshop
weekends.  It has been way too long since our last gathering (nearly 9
months), so come and see all we've been up to in the interim.  Repeat
visitors might not even recognize the place . . . it's a factory now,
with a continuous production line!

The purpose of these workshops is to help bring more people to
successful operation of small scale gasifiers, to serve real world
distributed energy needs.  These workshops are open to GEK and Power
Pallet user/owners, as well as anyone with any other type of gasifier-
or just a budding interest in the general endeavor.  If you have a GEK
and want personal instruction in how to run it, or you want to build
one with oversight from the mothership, this workshop will be a great
opportunity to do either.  If you want to see one of the turnkey Power
Pallets running in person, or poke around our scrap pile to see from
where we've come, all will be on view for your consideration.

The workshop begins with an evening talk by APL Director, Jim Mason,
on the science of gasification and a survey of its engineering
history.  This is followed by two full days of hands-on projects,
demonstrations, and general wrench turning.   As usual, the weekend
will offer multiple projects running in parallel, all open for you to
wander between and enjoy.

We expect about 75 people for the weekend.  If you are camping
inclined, there is plenty of office space to spread out a sleeping bag
for free.  We also have many visitors coming from overseas.  If you
need help with visas or travel logistics, please inquire and we'll
help as we can.

The projects for this round are as follows:

1. Gasifier Power System Showcase: 10kw, 20kw and 100kw

The latest versions of both the 10kw and 20kw Power Pallets will be on
site and running throughout the weekend.  There is no formal endurance
run this round, as we've done this multiple times already.  Also, Bear
is tired and doesn't want to tend power pallets all night again . . .
This round we'll focus on operational instructions, fuel specification
and general inquiries on how to deploy these units in real world
scenarios.  We are getting many people looking to do large scale
commercial deployments with the Power Pallet, so this workshop we're
focussing on the issues and information relevant for such endeavors.

The new 100kw Powertainer will also be onsite and available for tire
kicking.  We will not, however, be running it as it is not quite ready
for its public debut.  The 100kw is not an experimental unit, so we've
decided to not demo it until it is completely finished and ready for
general delivery.  Therefore consider this somewhat like a static
unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show.  It will be visually complete and
done.  You can wander its innards completely, see everything, and ask
about anything.  Just no key turning or test driving quite yet.  But
soon . . .

2.  GEK Gasifier Building:

Want to build you own gasifier?  Here's your chance to do so, using
our tools and instruction from the local crew.

We have tables and welders for 4 people who want to weld together a
GEK kit over the weekend.  Given clear inhouse instruction, you should
be able to get through the building process by the end of Sunday.
Finished gasifiers can Russian doll back into the hopper and filter
for checking as oversize baggage on the plane.  Yes this does work.
We do this regularly.  Airline security surprisingly does not mind too
much.

Anyone who wants to do this will need to reserve a spot by purchasing
a Level III weld together GEK kit.  There is no additional cost for
instruction, using our tools, and burning our welding wire.  The
workshop is also free if you get a kit.   We're trying to make this
easy and accessible.

Again, there are ONLY 4 slots for gasifier building.  Welders are
limited.  Please reserve ahead of time if you want to build a kit.  If
you want to get a jump on what we'll be doing, here's the general
process shown in video form:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7ooKZFF6Q&list=UU4E_vZftsMPmFfzTTlHW5Ag&index=4&feature=plcp

If you want to buy a kit for welding at the workshop, please write us
at "sales at allpowerlabs.org".  You are also welcome to bring your own
scrap tanks, and we'll try to do something with those too.

3. Lister spark conversion:

After a 1.5 year pause, KenBoak and crew are back at it on the Lister
spark conversion project.  The goal continues to be a hybrid system
that can start up on diesel, then cross over to 100% woodgas via a
spark plug added into the compression release plug.  Listers are
everywhere and Ken really wants to get to a DIY spark conversion kit
to make this easier for all to do.  Ken is working on this project
throughout March and posting his progress.  You can follow along at
the links below.

Ken's original write up on the project is in the APL Wiki - here:
http://wiki.gekgasifier.com/w/page/30448258/Spark%20conversion%20for%20Lister%20slow%20speed%20diesel%20engines
More feedback and comment is in the Forum here:
http://gekgasifier.com/forums/index.php/topic/223-lister-spark-conversion/page__hl__lister__st__20

4. GEK kit assembly and startup:

If you have recently bought or built a GEK kit, here's a chance to
learn the details of its finish and running.  We'll be assembling a
current GEK v4.3 from scratch, as well as running various fuels
through the results.  Actually, we have quite a few gasifiers on site
at this point, so several versions of the GEK will be available for
running and learning.  You're also welcome to bring yours.  Free
upgrades tend to happen for those who get their machines here on site.
 Extra credit for bringing your own fuel for testing.

General Info and Signup

If you want to join us, you need to RSVP before the event.  Please do
so to the forum thread here:
http://gekgasifier.com/forums/index.php/topic/747-gasification-workshop-weekend-march-30-april-1-berkeley-ca/
If you need to pay the workshop fee, you can do so via credit card
here: http://www.gekgasifier.com/about/workshop/sign-up/
Information on local accommodation, maps and airports is here:
http://www.gekgasifier.com/about/workshop/travel-and-accomodation/
We look forward to seeing you here soon.

jim

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Mason
Website: http://www.whatiamupto.com
Current Projects:
   - Gasifier Experimenters Kit (the GEK): http://www.gekgasifier.com
   - Escape from Berkeley alt fuels vehicle race: www.escapefromberkeley.com
   - ALL Power Labs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/allpowerlabs
   - Shipyard Announce list:
http://lists.spaceship.com/listinfo.cgi/icp-spaceship.com