Steam to electric energy query. Help me out

[ieezitin]

Ok. Here goes. I don’t make models but I have a full compliment machine/ welding shop. I live on a farm here in Maryland. USA. Wood is in abundance on my land, and a lot of my interests are in renewable energy and related equipment, solar, wind and such I was thinking about making a steam engine to produce power for a generator for my 12VT system I have around the farm.

What I want to achieve is an steam engine that will run for about two hours a day to re-charge the battery bank, but if need be must be asked upon to run 3 times longer for a back up for the 12 Volt System.

I want an engine that is simple to build and produce yet reliable, what would be the conditions of the fire box and stokeing requirements?, how much water would be needed?, these are questions I am asking you people who build these machines.

What I have in my mind is an engine that would take about 30 mins to prime and then over a course of 2-3 hours maintain a constant power out put of power of lets say 1/3 HP.

This is just a thought but I would like to explore it!. I know you model makers love scale and if its possible if there are plans please share them with me. Other than that if you think my idea is far to the left let me know.  Many thanks  Anthony

[John Hill]

Stirling engines were once popular on farms and go especially well if you have cold running water available.

A Stirling engine requires a fire so you would still use your wood supply but you would avoid the complexities and safety issues of a home built steam system.  Just my thoughts on it.

[tinkerer]

Another option is a wood gasafier. I think mother earth news magazine has blue prints for one. You can run a small engine driving a generator to charge the batteries. The TV show, the colony made a crude version of one and it worked.

[Weston Bye]

Anthony,

Do the math.  1/3hp running for 3 hrs equals 1hp per hour and amounts to 746 watt hours of available for charging the batteries, presuming that this accounts for all the losses in the system.  If that's equal to your system consumption, you're good to go.  Otherwise, you may want to calculate your system needs and work from there.

A simple boiler/engine, especially wood fired, will require some of your attention during firing.  You won't want to fire it up and go do something else.  PT Sideshow can weigh in with more of the technical side of steam engineering.

Weston