My On-Board Centrifuge Setup

[TestDriver]

I finally finished the hard parts of my install. All I've left now is to run a switch for the clutch via a relay and plumb my in-bed tank and that should be it. I ran an experimental setup with lines going to a container. Here is a video of the initial run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVRB953PeI4

This was actually a lot of work. The major parts were as expected. The difficulty was in constantly trying to find room to do this. Ford trucks are just way cluttered under the hood! I ended up relocating the left battery, left hood lift spring and starter relay. I still have to put in a bigger, more permanent coolant catch bottle. It's running with a small one quart metal drink bottle now.

 

[Full Monte]

OK...I'm not sure what I'm looking at here. I built a centrifuge that doesn't mount in the truck. I'm trying to figure out how yours works and what you are using to separate particulates from the oil. Thanks for the help!

 

[TestDriver]

OK...I'm not sure what I'm looking at here. I built a centrifuge that doesn't mount in the truck. I'm trying to figure out how yours works and what you are using to separate particulates from the oil. Thanks for the help!

It's just that, a centrifuge to filter the oil. The pressure comes from a power steering pump that can be engaged via an AC clutch. It runs off the alternator pulley. The oil is sent to the other side where it goes through the adjustable pressure regulator, then through a engine coolant heat exchanger, then into the Spinner II centrifuge right next to it.

Since this centrifuge is designed to be used below the return level, it also uses air pressure to lift the oil to a higher level than the top of the housing and maintain air in the chamber where the rotor spins eliminating parasitic drag. I just hooked up the air line to the turbo waste gate feed. The line is small and only needs to feed air if the oil level goes up in the centrifuge housing.

Hope this helped.

 

[Full Monte]

OK...once I looked up Spinner 2, it helped understand how this thing works. Seems like a good setup. I can see how it was a lot of work to install. The real advantage seems to be that you can pour unfiltered/untreated oil into the tank instead of pre-processing it.

 

[TestDriver]

OK...once I looked up Spinner 2, it helped understand how this thing works. Seems like a good setup. I can see how it was a lot of work to install. The real advantage seems to be that you can pour unfiltered/untreated oil into the tank instead of pre-processing it.

Yup, that was part of the plan. I have a pump setup, again, using a power steering pump attached to a 115V AC motor that I use to transfer the oil that I gather into the in-bed tank. Eventually, I'd like the AC pump to become a DC powered pump but that is not a priority. It will be mounted in a tool box in the truck bed with filter housings that pre-screen down to about 20 microns. It'll be as close to gassing up and driving as you can get while burning waste oil.

 

[jim x 3]

Yup, that was part of the plan. I have a pump setup, again, using a power steering pump attached to a 115V AC motor that I use to transfer the oil that I gather into the in-bed tank. Eventually, I'd like the AC pump to become a DC powered pump but that is not a priority. It will be mounted in a tool box in the truck bed with filter housings that pre-screen down to about 20 microns. It'll be as close to gassing up and driving as you can get while burning waste oil.

TD: By waste oil I am assuming you mean used and drained motor oil. If so, how does this square against ICAN's admonition that only ashless oil should be added to fuel mix (to prevent ash buildup on injector tips and in combustion chamber). See thread "KEROSENE ???" #2 and #4.

Regards,

 

[TestDriver]

Ash

TD: By waste oil I am assuming you mean used and drained motor oil. If so, how does this square against ICAN's admonition that only ashless oil should be added to fuel mix (to prevent ash buildup on injector tips and in combustion chamber). See thread "KEROSENE ???" #2 and #4.

Regards,

Jim,

I think he meant that if you run kerosene, the lack of lubricity can be a problem and you should add 2 stroke oil. But, to only use ash less 2 stroke oil.

I've run my truck on straight WMO and mixes of it. Temperature was never an issue with the right heat exchange setups. Getting it clean enough has been.

 

[TestDriver]

Photo Update

Update.

I think I've finally figured this thing out. I've been running it recently with no issues and pulled a lot of very fine contamination from the centrifuge rotor. Here are some pictures that will describe the system better than my video.


This is a picture of the hard aluminum line I used to run the oil up to the front of the truck. I shaped and bent it to fit inside the "C" of the frame putting it as far from the exhaust as possible.

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This is how the line snakes up the cab. Yes, it's an oily ****** but I've been obsessed with getting my system going and have not replaced the leaky valve cover gaskets.

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This is the line that comes off the centrifuge on it's way back to the tank.

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And this is the line as it snakes around the bend on the frame. From there, I had to use rubber fuel hose.

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This is the propane tank I turned into a reservoir for the compressed air part of the centrifuge system. I had originally thought bleed air from the turbo would be enough to keep an air bubble within the centrifuge rotor chamber. However, that would have required a different air inlet valve on the centrifuge so I just made this up. On top of the tank is a regulator I adjusted to cut in at 40 and out at 110psi. The centrifuge valve will work with anything from 35 to 125psi. I still need to add a dryer.

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This is the centrifuge, heat exchanger and pressure regulator. I had to move the left side battery back and remove the coolant reservoir. I'm currently running with a small aluminum bottle for a reservoir but I'm looking to replace it with something larger. I just need to find something that will fit in the space.

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This is the power steering pump I use to power it. I built a little bracket to hold it next to the alternator and put an AC clutch off a York compressor to the front to drive it off the alternator. You can barely see the pump part behind the bracket. It's off a late nineties ford V8. Cost to me was nothing except my efforts since I had both of these things laying around. A similar commercial setup would run about $700.

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This is the heat exchanger I will use for the fuel during cold weather. In warm weather, my in-tank heater is enough.

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I guess that's it for now.

 

[seawalkersee]

So with the air, it pushes the fluid through. Has to have between 40-100psi to push the oil which you run through, clean, and push back to the tank right? What is the heater/dryer for? Does that keep the compressed air dry to reduce the contamination and water out of the mix? Or is it for the actual oil?

What does the oil look like that comes out of the system?

SWS

 

[MUDKICKR]

what if you ran the exhaust pipe through wmo tank? use the heat from the exhaust to warm the tank?

 

[TestDriver]

So with the air, it pushes the fluid through. Has to have between 40-100psi to push the oil which you run through, clean, and push back to the tank right? What is the heater/dryer for? Does that keep the compressed air dry to reduce the contamination and water out of the mix? Or is it for the actual oil?

What does the oil look like that comes out of the system?

SWS

The air maintains an air pocket for the rotor to spin. The constant splashing aerates the oil to a degree. Consequently, some of the air is taken away and needs to be replenished. The pressure inside the chamber only needs to be slightly higher than what the returned oil column creates. If the centrifuge were located higher than the return vessel, and if the return line is large enough, no air source would be needed. But, with my system, the oil has to go back through a point even higher than the top of the in-bed tank.

The heat exchanger is to thin out the oil so it can be cleaned more efficiently. Particles get flung through thin oil quicker than thick oil.

The dryer is for the compressed air going into the centrifuge. The first few times I ran it, there was some condensation on top of the rotor and rust spots had started developing.

The oil still has the same color coming out as going in. I've taken some of it directly out of the centrifuge and the color does not change appreciably. Maybe the story will be different after several passes. This system, at the pressure I'm running, pumps about 1.3 gallons per minute. With about 100 gallons in the tank, it takes a little over one and a quarter hours to go through it all. But that is provided the oil is isolated once returned and mine is not. So, I'll have to wait after many hours of running it to determine if the color is going to change. I have just not had the need to do that much driving with it yet and I also had some transmission issues that just got sorted out.

 

[TestDriver]

what if you ran the exhaust pipe through wmo tank? use the heat from the exhaust to warm the tank?

I don't need that much heat to the tank. Has anyone ever figured the exhaust heat thing? It would take sophisticated controls to regulate it I'm sure.

 

[MUDKICKR]

i dont think the exhaust gets that hot, when you add the length of your trunk in it. next time you get out of your truck just measure how hot the exhaust is. i bet it would surprise you.

 

[TestDriver]

i dont think the exhaust gets that hot, when you add the length of your trunk in it. next time you get out of your truck just measure how hot the exhaust is. i bet it would surprise you.

The heat varies greatly by ambient temperature and use. Have you ever seen melted mudflaps? Most of the time, the exhaust tip at the back of a truck can be touched but sometimes, it must get pretty hot. Plus, I don't need any heat added to that tank.