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Producer-gas Plant with Automatic Control of Air Supply

25th November 1938
Page 40
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Page 40, 25th November 1938 — Producer-gas Plant with Automatic Control of Air Supply
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THAT the interest in producer-gas vehicles is definitely on the increase is shown by the recent activities of at least two British companies, whilst the inauguration of the Association of Transport Gas-producer Manufacturers, which, presumably, has been formed with a view to studying the interests of present and future concerns entering this new field, is not without significance.

Gazogene, Ltd., Staples Corner, North Circular Road, London, N.W.2, has for some time past had a vehicle under test, equipped with a Dupuy producer-gas plant. Whilst the Dupuy is new to this country, it is being used successfully in France on vehicles employed on short journeys necessitating frequent stops of some duration.

This point is mentioned because, normally, such outfits are considered to be more directly applicable to machines on long hauls, where the " fire " is maintained in an equable state for long, continuous periods. _ Whilst the accompanying drawing shows the general construction of the Dupuy plant, the feature of greatest interest undoubtedly lies in the automatic control of the air passing through the tuvere. This is achieved by means of a slide which is arranged to open, or partially close, the tuyere " port."

As this slide is coupled up to the accelerator pedal, the velocity of the air passing into the generator is in direct relation to the movement of the throttle. Hence gas production is speeded up at the critical period of acceleration, as air velocity over the fuel is, as nearly as possible, constant.

Anthracite is the fuel used and, on again referring to the drawing, it will be seen that a platform is arranged in the generator. When filling up, this platform is at its highest point and, as fuel is consumed, the platform is lowered by turning a control wheel, and so fresh fuel is brought in front of the air intake.

Whilst there is no direct cooling of the tuyere, there is a water jacket extending around the generator for about a third of its diameter, and this cOvers the 'region in the neighbourhood of the greatest heat. This jacket is piped up to the cooling system of the engine. The vehicle used for demonstration purposes is a Thornycroft Beauty, made in 1933, and, apart from the addition of a mixing valve and water leads to the generator, the only other alterations have been the introduction of a new set of pistons, bringing the compression ratio up to 8.4 to I. and increasing the range of advance and retard. Incidentally, the work of fitting the pistons was carried out by the maker of the vehicle, through one of its service depots.

As will be noticed from the photographs reproduced, both the generator, on the off side, and the dust-box and filter on the near side, are arranged between the back of the cab and the front of the body, and, as the components are not of large diameter, the capacity of the body is but little reduced.

Gas from the generator is led across the machine to a square dust-box, provided with cooling fins. Although the lead is comparatively short, the gas leaves the box at a moderate temperature. From the dust-box a short lead connects to the filter, the element of which consists of a column of foundry coke. The filtered gas then passes to the induction system, in which a flame trap of simple design is incorporated.

Starting up is by means of a normal carburetter, which gets its supply of petrol by gravity from a small tank on the dashboard. With the engine running, a light is held to the air intake to ignite the anthracite, the change-over to gas taking about 10 minutes. When the petrol is shut off, which is done from the cab, the carburetter throttle is employed to function as a control for the supply of extra air.

It is a decidedly interesting conversion, and whilst the technique of handling a vehicle running on producer-gas is somewhat different from that of the normal petrol or oil-driven machine, there is really no feature which an intelligent driver should not be able to master after but a short acquaintance with the type


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