STATUS: The emission free Green Revolution Energy Converter LAB-Model Ver.2

Tip: Click on the underlined links in the text to get more info!

27/8 2021 Releasing a technical presentation of the GREC Lab Model 2.0
Using a Lab-Model version 2 scematic Carnot diagram like the one you find on wikipedia, we explain the GREC Lab Model 2.0 in a setup between a hot and a cool storage. The GREC is a closed system with a moving boundary that converts a temperature difference to mechanical work and kinetic energy.
An electric motor revolves a disk containing a pizza sliced "Work Generating Volume" of gas.
The revolving gas generates pressure pulses by repetingly
- heating up, turning red, and
- cooling down, turning blue.
In future optimised application prototypes these pressure variations will produce significantly more power than the electric motor consumes.
The aim of the GREC Lab Model design is to study the impact of variations of the variables the concept. Figuring out why simulations and reality differs. The GREC would, of course, have looked totally different if we would have built a power production prototype, but there are still many variables to study before starting building adapted application prototypes.

NEXT STEP
Putting it all together, next steps will include:
1 - Continue running tests verifying sensors, mechanical and logical set-up of the Lab Model ver. 2.
(pressure and three out of four location sensors still missing).
2 - Getting the Green Revolution Eneergy Converter totally tight and start with "sharp" test series with logging of all parameters. Followed by analysis and documentation.

Still issues to deal with, but no show stoppers:

The DynamicLink with its software is still under development:
A - Thanks to the "ramp up" function the stepper motor and driver are able to move the Revolving Shutter at tight stepping. Friction is reduced, but still too heavy for HALF or FULL stepping. Still friction between the fins and the Revolving Shutter. (The goal is no friction at all).
B - We still need a function to measure pressure (and we seem to have lost our pressure sensors)
C - Hall sensor for position is verified. Ready to install three more.

HISTORY
The list below contains some links to explaining texts and images. Just click on the link to get more information.
On top of each explaining link there is a small navigator that allows you to jump in the list between the explaining texts and images. By clicking on the Home icon (the house symbol) you will come back to this page.

8/6 2021 A turning Revolving Shutter Contolled by the Revolution Dynamic Link Soft Ware.
The DynamicLink software with stepper motor is now able to move the Revolving Shutter again. There are still zones with friction that we have to find and grind down, but now it is at least revolving in slow speeds with tight steps and high torque.
We loaded our car with the full set-up and travelled north on a tour to present and also to continue our development. We will show:
A.) The physical GREC Lab-Model version 2 with its Dynamic Link SW, how it is built and why it is built the way it is.
B.) The computer 3D model geometry (available in different file formats) that facilitates future computer aided simulations like Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and others.

22/3 2021 New Revolving Shutter
Optimism with new polyuretane(?) Revolving Shutter in place. The measures along the shaft are still not right so we still have friction. Fitted with plastic reinforcement at both ends that keeps the two disks together with 4 bolts.

6/9 2020 Two Tests
Test 1: Verifying thermistor chain and conducting hot fin heat transport.
Using candles at heat source in an open Green Revolution Energy Converter with a locked Revolving Shutter we confirmed our heat transfer expectations. Click this link to dive into the set up and conclusions of this experiment.
The two disk Revolving Shutter is parked in a position with the Work Generating Volume opening standing still in a "Nil-position".
Test 2: Verifying thermistor chain logging dynamic heat transfer.
Still using candles as a heat source and now turning the Revolving Shutter with an electric screwdriver we confirmed our heat transfer expectations.

10/8 2020 Testing the complete GREC LAB-Model v.2 system in an experimental solar setup just outside FabLab. Solar vacuum tubes as heat source and a fresh running stream as cold sink. Unfortunately the collected data logs did not make any sense at all. We later found out that this was due to humidity leaking into the work generating volume upsetting the thermistor slings.
There will be more sunny days...

8/8 2020 Successful mounting of the thermist Sensors in the mid-layer fins.

11/6 2020 Cutting counterweight holes at FabLab.

26/5 2020 Recalculation of the whole model. Higher accuracy needed?

30/4 2020 Recalculation dead volume percentage of the actual LabModel

30/3 2020 Trimming of the Revolving Shutters with all layers assembled. Counterwheights needed.

10/3 2020 Debugging DynamicLink in Sweden and rushed back to Brassac just in time before the Corona closing of borders..

21/2 2020 Salisbury, England, programming and soldering the DynamicLink card to replace some of the spaghetti in th "Briefcase" setup

15/2 2020 Adjusting the distance between the middle fins and the Revolving Shutter. Quite a lot of friction as indicated by the sketch and the photos.

5/2 2020 Adjusting the distance between the upper endplate and the Revolving Shutter. Revolving Shutter distance is quite OK to the upper end plate side. Minor adjustments are needed

1/2 2020 Adjusting the distance between the lower end-plate and the Revolving Shutter. Revolving Shutter is in friction with the conducting fins of the lower end plate at their peripheral surfaces

16/11 2019 High precision glueing of the shell layers on to the end plates to prevent gas leakage. This was not easy. We had to try several times with soft silicon for the nil-parts and a home made thermal paste with graphite for the conducting alu parts

28/10 2019 Glueing of the second Revolving Shutter disk. The GREC end plate on the granite table guaranties higher precision.

19/10 2019 Pairing of the mid layer fins that will hold the electronic sensors . Each of the two separate pairs consists of one conducting and one insulating nil fin bridged together with glue.

9/10 2019 "BriefcaseSetup15" containing the complete DynamicLink HardWare and SoftWare is updated. As the name indicates, it's all contained in a briefcase

26/9 2019 Badly glued parts successfully separated including guiding pins

29/8 2019 A precision totally flat polished granite plates"glue-table" is ready
First 2 attempts were failures due to wrong choice of glue and bad distance. Learning experience. But the two plate high precision glue table is a hit!

3/8 2019 First Revolving Shutter is glued. The balsa "Revolving Shutter" mid layer was sanded down to 1,7mm thickness .
Maybe we will need to add thickness when gluing the boundary shells to allow for a frictionless Revolving Shutter spin while turning its "Work Generating Volume".
No balancing of the Revolving Shutter was done. We were not able to slim down the counter weights in Motala. By that we are, unfortunately, limited to do low temperature slow speed testing with these type of Revolving Shutters.
The glueing seem successful, but the screw-tightening of the "sandwich" Revolving Shutter has to be done later hoping that the assembled layers Alu-Balsa-Alu will form a Revolving Shutter less than 6mm thick.

27/7 2019 Second integrated endplate is successfully glued. Started to grind the Revolving Shutter mid layer.

3/7 2019 First integrated endplate is successfully glued. The program "thermist_Pt500" is updated to v.15 with higher accuracy and double MCP3208 A/D over SPI that will report 10 planned thermistors.

21/6 2019 All mechanical parts are built (31/5 2019) and transported to Motala together with the DynamicLink electronics in its briefcase.

1/8 2017 Planned presentation tour in Sweden is canceled. The Lab Model version 1 is totally stuck. Impossible to turn. Do we need to build a new one?

11/5 2017 The Lab Model version 1 is tight and revolving. The DynamicLink electronics controls the stepper motor. Still hear some friction but it turns.
First experiments are very promising.

Click this link to see parts and to download CAD files in .dxf format.

Click this link to go to the nilsinside PROJECT page.