Gasification Workshop Weekend: March 30 – April 1, 2012 Berkeley, CA

Gasification PowerExchange Workshop #11: March 30 – April 1 2012
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

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

                

T’he 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 the 10kw and 20kw 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=plcpIf you want to buy a kit for welding at the workshop, please write us at “sales@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
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.

We look forward to seeing you here soon.

jim

5 Responses

  1. Hi,

    I’m interested to attend the March 30-April 1 workshop. I tried to sign up on Pay Pal, but the date shown is for last year. Should I just sign up with my credit card anyway?

    I’m an architect and I’m considering the 10kW or 20kW systems for a 12 dwelling unit farmworker housing project, located in the Sacramento area. The workshop seems like a fun opportunity to meet you guys and understand better what system design assistance you can offer. I’m interested to know whether there’s the possibility of an O&M contract (i.e., on-site support) for a relatively local for a 100kW or multiple 20kW units.

    As far as the workshop goes, I’d like to get hands-on with session 4 because it seems like a great way to fully understand the system. However, I’m not yet ready to purchase.

    Thanks,
    George Hubert

  2. تحياتي
    فضلا أرجو بعض التفاصيل عن الاسعار وعن المنتج
    لقد أثار اعجابي
    شكرا

  3. Hello, I had signed up for the workshop next november, I have some experience welding, but not sure if I can successfully complete the all GEK, im looking forward to your advice since I want to get the most out the weekend, really looking forward!!!!!!

    I also received the paypal confirmation but not sure if I should expect one from APL as well.

    thanks and great work!!!

    Sebastian

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