Welcome back after a quiet late summer sans Geknews posts. Sadly, quiet on this end didn’t relate to the long planned trip down Baja. Rather, we’ve been face down in the details of scaling our 10kw and 20kw Power Pallet production, as well as sprinting towards the finish of our first 100kw shipping container based system.
This of course is not a problem, and we thank all of you for making this adventure more interesting with each passing month. The challenge now is just keeping up with the growth in interest and all of your notes. We’re now 15 people full time at APL, and it still is not enough.
Here below is some new news from the shop and beyond in GEK land.
New GEK v4.2 Fabrication Instructions (in process, feedback needed)
If you’ve looked, you know- the “current” GEK DIY fabrication instructions are a bit of a mess. They’ve been in terrible need of a version update, and they’re not very easy to follow anyway. This summer the locals undertook on a big project to redo the instructions from scratch, and do so over the most current GEK sheetmetal set- the v4.2. The first draft of these are now assembled, and we’d love to get some feedback on them before final polishing. Thank you Ariel, Ike, Abram, Nick and Jess for putting these on the road to fabulous!
The new instructions are offered in two forms- a printable text / graphic document, and YouTube posted videos. The print instructions and video documentation parallel each other, so you can watch the easy summary in the video, or dive into the details in the printed text and graphics.
Both start with an inventory of “What’s in your GEK Barrels” (which is actually rather useful just to see what’s in the kits) and then continue with vessel by vessel build instructions. We think the vessel by vessel build organization will be useful, as many people end up just wanting to build one part or another, then set out on their own scheme on other fronts.
Here’s a sample of the text and graphic instructions for building the cyclone. Download the .pdf file here: http://wiki.gekgasifier.com/w/file/45500701/Cyclone%20Fabrication%20Instructions.pdf
GEK v4.2 – Level III – Fabrication: CYCLONE
The rest of the videos are available on the ALL Power Labs YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/allpowerlabs or via the direct links below.
General links to the v4.2 CAD files, as well as the rest of the instructions as we post them, can be found here:
Tell us what you think. These video and text instructions are still very much in process. Suggestions for how to make them more useful for all builders will be gladly received. We’ve started a thread in the forum for comments here: http://gekgasifier.com/forums/index.php/topic/565-new-gek-v42-fabrication-instructions/
Workshops in Europe this fall
Duisburg, Germany
The workshops are one day in length, and cater to business owners and project developers who want to start working with small scale biomass power generators. The gatherings are small (under 8 people), and cost 250Euro per person.
Holger is our main partner to date in Europe. He has done wonderful work learning the GEK Power Pallet machine, and planning for CHP elaborations and European regulatory approvals of it. If you explore Holger’s site you’ll see he has deep experience in CHP systems, and has toured all the options in small scale biomass powered machinery. Holger seems to like the APL machine, and is currently investing lots of his time laying the ground work for its future in Europe.
Here’s the contact info for Holger and the German workshops.
Tel.2 ++ 49 5223 180 2681
Mobil ++ 49 171 1988 926
Twitter: nrgconsultant
www.bhkw-anlagen.com
www.bhkw-beratung.com
www.eea-eu.com
www.effcontrol.deEnglish:
www.nrg-consultants.com
www.germanpowergenerators.com
Ghent, Belgium
There will be a turbo charged version of the 20kw Power Pallet on hand. Rumors suggest we might even have a grid tie together by then to light up Ghent, but no promises yet. Maybe we can get some of the European wood gas vehicle owners to show up too? Belgium is not terribly far from many of the usual European suspects, so hopefully you will consider joining us.
More details will be forthcoming on this workshop shortly. In the interim, you can write “gek@allpowerlabs.org” or Tom Vandeputte <t.vandeputte@greenpowersolutions.be> with your interest.
100kw Powertainer progress
This summer we’ve also been working on a upscale of the GEK TOTTI and Power Pallet architecture for a 100kw gasifier-genset integrated into a 20 foot shipping container. This is for a project in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Morris, Cummins Power Generation, and the Diesel Research Lab at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, under the NETL program of the US Dept of Energy. The unit will be sited at UMM in the fall of 2011 and run on corn cobs.
Pictures of the project are here in the wiki: http://wiki.gekgasifier.com/w/page/44329522/100kw%20GEK%20Powertainer
This is not yet a commercial product, but we intend for it to be by next summer. The goal is a similar type of “drop it off the truck and go” fully integrated and automated system like we’ve built with the Power Pallet, just now around the shipping container standard.
Watch the wiki and forum for the first fire up later this month.
That’s it for now. Hope you find it interesting. You can follow the ongoing details via the GEK forum at http://gekgasifier.com/forums/.
Yes, the forum is up and working once again. We’re in the process of rebuilding it for much greater usability and relevance. You’ll see many changes over the next month or two. Right now it is still a bit rough, but at least the innards are now switched and we have the foundation on which to build a much better community collaboration space.
Thank you again,
I am strongly interested in your 100 Kw power generator. Please inform me when you have a commercial product ready to deliver and the price.
Thank you
100kw power genarator When you have product ready and the price please
Dear Sirs, we would like to know if there is a workshop here in Europe in which we can see the assembly proceeding of GEK TOTTI 20 LEVEL IV.
Thanking you in advance, best regards
IM-EL OSASIO
Thank you for contacting us. There will be a demonstration in Italy at the end of the month. Please contact our Director of Sales for details. dusty@allpowerlabs.org