I'm working on an idea and thought that maybe if I think aloud I might nip some potential errors in the butt before they get the better of me
Ok so I want to heat oil as a kind of preconditioning for the filters in my WMO system
I've got a number of filter mediums all of which would benefit from higher viscosity oil ( warm oil ) say ~ 130 to maybe 200 deg.
There are a number of ways I could go about it. One might be to shunt coolant off the radiator to an inline heater for the oil, that one is dependent on engine temp and it would take a while to come up to temp. So I'd need to be on a road trip to filter out for the 8 to 10 hours it would take to work through 200 gallons/2. seems like its not very practical. Might disrupt optimal operating temp as well
I could take heat off the exhaust pipe either wrapping a coil of oil line around a section of pipe or by using some form of transfer medium that does the same. the transfer medium plan would require an additional pump
I could also use engine oil off a bypass from the filter but then again I'm playing with optimal operating temp.
To my one of the most intriguing methods is to use a solar system to passively heat the oil even when the truck isn't running. Going on the data it takes about 0.5 BTU to heat 1 pound of oil 1 degree F. If 200g or 1500lbs of oil starts out at a temp of 70°F and I want to get it up to say 130°F minimum for filtering then I will need 750 BTU's pr degree or 45,000 total.
I"ve got a converter on the way that generates a fair bit of heat but how many exact BTU's is a little of a mystery. In 1/2 hour of operation the Orion 12/24/10 increases over ambient temp 85°F and weighs about a pound. Hardly worth trying to take advantage of but just for fun its about 40 or so BTU's pr half hour. I'll bolt it to the tank somewhere but its not making much progress on that 45,000 I need to see.
much of the following data is from these links
and thanks Gary for the info ( other forum )
In Colorado on a sunny day I might roughly be able to expect 2000BTU's/sqft of solar collector at 100% efficiency. If my system comprised 3 sq/ft and was 50% efficient it would take about a day and a half to heat the oil to 130°F from 70°F. In my book that is totally acceptable cause this truck is pretty much living outdoors and is in the sun constantly. If I insulate the shaded portion of the tank and assume losses and inefficiencies of an additional say 25% I would be looking at about three days before I could begin filtering fluid at its optimal temp.
( OOPS I forgot a zero or something, gotta go to work but I'll go back through it later and correct it soonest )
So the next question is how fast can I heat fluid through the passive heating element and is it sufficient to feed the filters directly. The centrifuge is rated at 55G/hr or 1/4 of the tank capacity so no way a 3sq/ft passive heating element is going to do the trick. I could filter through the physical elements and bypass the centrifuge on the first pass while running the filter speed at a slower rate, say whatever the 3sq/ft could provide at minimum optimal temperature.
Ok so 3000 BTU's a day or ( calculating for 8 hrs full sun a day ) 375 BTU's/hr less losses cause I'm not storing the heat, but instead sending it through the filters immediately. 375 at 0.5 BTU's pr lb is 750 lbs of oil raised 1°F or raising 12.5 lbs of oil/hr (1.6 gallons/hr ) 60°F which is not enough. I'd need more sq/ft of collector to be able to heat oil fast enough to filter fast enough to run the truck continuously. but it does work fine for the majority of my needs, and it doesn't require that the truck be running which is great.
so works great unless I"m on a road trip in which case I'm pretty much going to have to use an inline heater of some kind and steal heat off the engine.
what all that means is that I'm going to take a radiator off a junker paint it black and convection loop it into the system for a few days before I begin filtering. I'll mount it on the ex steel cage going over the filter stuff. Should look kinda cool.
Oh almost forgot
in line heat exchanger would go just under the DC motor and pump head suspended on a couple of bolts through the motor base or it would also fit just between the two lower filter units.
Ok so I want to heat oil as a kind of preconditioning for the filters in my WMO system
I've got a number of filter mediums all of which would benefit from higher viscosity oil ( warm oil ) say ~ 130 to maybe 200 deg.
There are a number of ways I could go about it. One might be to shunt coolant off the radiator to an inline heater for the oil, that one is dependent on engine temp and it would take a while to come up to temp. So I'd need to be on a road trip to filter out for the 8 to 10 hours it would take to work through 200 gallons/2. seems like its not very practical. Might disrupt optimal operating temp as well
I could take heat off the exhaust pipe either wrapping a coil of oil line around a section of pipe or by using some form of transfer medium that does the same. the transfer medium plan would require an additional pump
I could also use engine oil off a bypass from the filter but then again I'm playing with optimal operating temp.
To my one of the most intriguing methods is to use a solar system to passively heat the oil even when the truck isn't running. Going on the data it takes about 0.5 BTU to heat 1 pound of oil 1 degree F. If 200g or 1500lbs of oil starts out at a temp of 70°F and I want to get it up to say 130°F minimum for filtering then I will need 750 BTU's pr degree or 45,000 total.
I"ve got a converter on the way that generates a fair bit of heat but how many exact BTU's is a little of a mystery. In 1/2 hour of operation the Orion 12/24/10 increases over ambient temp 85°F and weighs about a pound. Hardly worth trying to take advantage of but just for fun its about 40 or so BTU's pr half hour. I'll bolt it to the tank somewhere but its not making much progress on that 45,000 I need to see.
much of the following data is from these links
and thanks Gary for the info ( other forum )
In Colorado on a sunny day I might roughly be able to expect 2000BTU's/sqft of solar collector at 100% efficiency. If my system comprised 3 sq/ft and was 50% efficient it would take about a day and a half to heat the oil to 130°F from 70°F. In my book that is totally acceptable cause this truck is pretty much living outdoors and is in the sun constantly. If I insulate the shaded portion of the tank and assume losses and inefficiencies of an additional say 25% I would be looking at about three days before I could begin filtering fluid at its optimal temp.
( OOPS I forgot a zero or something, gotta go to work but I'll go back through it later and correct it soonest )
So the next question is how fast can I heat fluid through the passive heating element and is it sufficient to feed the filters directly. The centrifuge is rated at 55G/hr or 1/4 of the tank capacity so no way a 3sq/ft passive heating element is going to do the trick. I could filter through the physical elements and bypass the centrifuge on the first pass while running the filter speed at a slower rate, say whatever the 3sq/ft could provide at minimum optimal temperature.
Ok so 3000 BTU's a day or ( calculating for 8 hrs full sun a day ) 375 BTU's/hr less losses cause I'm not storing the heat, but instead sending it through the filters immediately. 375 at 0.5 BTU's pr lb is 750 lbs of oil raised 1°F or raising 12.5 lbs of oil/hr (1.6 gallons/hr ) 60°F which is not enough. I'd need more sq/ft of collector to be able to heat oil fast enough to filter fast enough to run the truck continuously. but it does work fine for the majority of my needs, and it doesn't require that the truck be running which is great.
so works great unless I"m on a road trip in which case I'm pretty much going to have to use an inline heater of some kind and steal heat off the engine.
what all that means is that I'm going to take a radiator off a junker paint it black and convection loop it into the system for a few days before I begin filtering. I'll mount it on the ex steel cage going over the filter stuff. Should look kinda cool.
Oh almost forgot
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in line heat exchanger would go just under the DC motor and pump head suspended on a couple of bolts through the motor base or it would also fit just between the two lower filter units.
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