Open Source Ecology Proposed Work for 2006-7 · 2010. 8. 10. · 6 hp, 1 cylinder, 350 kg diesel engine. Figure 3. Representation of the L23 icons, the Lister-like 23 hp diesel power

Open Source Ecology Proposed Work for 2006-7

by Marcin Jakubowski, Ph.D.http://sourceopen.org/osborn.html

816.675.2647

Abstract: This part shows the work do be done in the period from April 2006 toApril 2007. The majority of new developments revolves around thedevelopment of novel social technology and a flexible hardware technologywhich we are proposing herein. Technical developments include energy,vehicle, and farm equipment infrastructure. This is part of backgrounddevelopments of an integrated land-based enterprise community.

INDEX OF PART B

I. Novel Social TechnologyII. Infrastructure Development OverviewIII. Flexible Fabrication, Modular, Open Source

TechnologyIV. Infrastructure Developments

1. Water System2. Vegetable Oil and Suburban3. Compressed Earth Block Machine4. Heat and Power Generation Overview5. Lister 6 hp Oil Electrical System6. Waste Oil Furnace and Applications7. Windmill8. Modern Steam Electricity9. On-demand Water Heating10. Hydronic Floor Heating11. Tractor and Vehicle Infrastructure12. Food Processing Kitchen and Sprout House13. Aquaculture and Engineered Wetland System14. Glazing Technology and Solaroof

Greenhouses

Proposed Work for April 2006-April 2007

I. Novel Social Technology

Our latest development lies in refining andmodifying our organizational model for ourLand Stewardship Program. This modelinvolves the practical steps to the startup

and replication of land-based enterpriselearning communities.

The basic model has six components thatwe aim to implement after 18 months ofdevelopment. It is an integrated packagethat includes the combined effort of OSE,future Fellows, and subscriptioncustomers to our program of year-roundcommunity supported agriculture. Thesix components are: (1), invitation of 12initial Fellows for a 2 1/2 yearcommitment; (2), stewardship training ofFellows in the first 1 ½ years at ourlearning community; (3), finding 12customers for a year-round subscriptionfood program (community supportedagriculture, or CSA); (4), OSEcapitalization assistance for starting theCSA; (5), acquiring land with thesubscription fee from the customers; and(6), continuing a well-organized effort ofopen source technology development forsustainable living.

We emphasize a novel procedure for thecapitalization of replicable, land-based

stewardship enterprise learningcommunities, including land acquisition.This assumes ergonomic organization, andthe capitalization from three sources. Thesethree sources are explained further:

(1) New Fellows pay an admission fee of$1000, such that $12k is collected forprocuring the necessary building materialsand hardware for agriculture, transportation,and building machinery. The methodologyfor attaining such functionality at this lowcost follows principles of flexiblefabrication, modular, open sourcetechnology Described in Section II. It yieldsa life-size, erector set-like construction, andis described in the next section. The devicesthat are part of the Land StewardshipProgram will be produced via sweat equityof Fellows and open source technologyknowhow from OSE.

(2) OSE, through its land-based facility, willprovide the necessary genetic resources forCSA startup. Also, OSE will share anynatural products, such as compressed earthblocks or lumber. Present genetic resourcesinclude hatching 250 chicks per month at acost of $40, to be reduced to $0 within 6months once our present chicks beginlaying. Both figures assume voluntary labor.We have yet to build a fruit tree nursery andpropagation facility; seed saving of essentialcrops; goat and dairy cow breeding; fishhatchery. We need to develop our repositoryof microbial cultures for fermentation, foodprocessing (such as kefir cultures),biodynamic agriculture, and other usefulprocesses. We are expanding our redwormpopulation to generate organic leachatefertilizers for hydroponics.

(3) Subscription cost from CSA memberspays for the actual land acquisition. The keyhere is that Fellows are able to utilize thisincome for land acquisition as opposed tocapitalization and operational expenses.Capitalization was described in point (2),and operational costs are zero because allthe food, housing, energy, transportation,and machinery expenses have beeneliminated via integrated food self-sufficiency, self-built, natural housing, oil-based energy resources, and the flexible

equipment pool for agriculture andtransportation. Incidental other expenseswill be paid by income from passivedirect sales to customers within thesurrounding community, including self-pick crops, and a self-serve on-farmstore that provides nonperishable andfrozen goods. Local markets maylikewise be tapped. The location of theland acquisition acreage will be within1.5 hours from a major metropolitanarea, such that the clientèle of the CSA isprimarily elite urbanites. The acreagewill be on the edge of a small town, forimmediate, small scale marketing in thesurrounding area.

This program indicates stewardship-oriented land acquisition where Fellowsobtain all required experience and buildup the capital infrastructure as a result oftheir participation with OSE. Theagreement between the Fellows and OSEis to share a common vision of opensource technology development forsustainable living. The greatest challengemay be finding a suitable group ofindividuals that is willing to cooperate assuch. We ask, therefore, for a 2.5 yearcommitment. We aim to create anenvironment so rich for personal growthand expansion of horizons thatindividuals are indeed attracted to ourpackage. We focus on attracting thosewho are passionate about creating freeenterprise alternatives to the corporate,military-industrial control of theprovision of human needs.

II. Infrastructure Development Overview

Currently we are engaged in the firsthandlearning aimed at realizing the successfulCSA operation. To this end, we will beadding several major components to ourinfrastructure:

(1)hydraulic compressed earth block(CEB) machine development(prototype by May 1, '06)

(2)sprouting facilities (June 1, '06)(3)grain and legume field cropping (May

'06)(4)PTO module and shredder for

mulching/ building soil (May '06)(5)orchard tree irrigation system (May '06)(6)milk cow operations (begun July '06)(7)food processing kitchen (July '06)(8)year-round greenhouse (Sep. '06)(9)pottery kilns (Dec. '06)(10)earthen baking oven (Dec. '06)(11)aquaculture facilities (Dec. '06)(12)fruit tree nursery (March '07)(13) functional, hybrid personal transport

vehicle and basic agricultural tractor(Oct. '06)

Many of these development rely on thedevelopment of point technologies that arethe components of a robust, flexible,modular building system. This systemapplies to various structures and electro-mechanical devices. The methodology forthis design method is described in SectionIII.

III. Flexible Fabrication, 1 Modular Open Source Technology

We are proposing a technologyinfrastructure for the built and mechanicalenvironment that has the followingcharacteristics:

1. Open source design2. Design for disassembly (DfD)3. Maximum modularity and

interchangeability of parts4. Flexible fabrication/manufacturing

requiring least specialization and mostoperator skill

5. Maximal use of natural and localresources

6. Recycling and waste stream utilization

This system is made of generalized buildingblocks, where each building block may beused in various devices. The key todeveloping a multipurpose system with thehighest range of functionality and lowestcost is to maximize interchangeability of itscomponent building blocks. Structures andelectromechanical devices may be reducedto a set of building blocks from which theyare made. We have created icons torepresent these building blocks, and adoptedthe particular building blocks to the specificgoals of our appropriate technology

infrastructure. These building blocks areshown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Icons corresponding to the buildingblocks of structures and electromechanicaldevices.

These building blocks are: (1) powergenerator, (2) electrical generator, (3)heat generator, (4) fuel, (5) erector set-like structure, (6) battery storage, (7)pulse-width modulator-based electricmotor speed control, (8) electric motor,(9) steam engine, (10) hydraulic motor,(11) power transmission, (12) electrictraction motor, (13) wheels, (14) linearactuator, (15) generalized rotor, and (16)pulley. Dedicated components, notrepresented by an icon, may be added tothis core of modules.

This set of modules and their specificimplementation was chosen based onsimplicity of construction, easyavailability of parts, and easyinterconnectivity. Becauseinterchangeability, access to parts, andtransparent design are priorities, weightand compactness are not optimized.

It is important to note that with such asystem of technology, a new economicpattern emerges. Here we introduce theconcept of dedicated cost as distinct fromtotal cost. Total cost of some device isobtained by summing up the cost ofcomponents. The dedicated cost is thecost of the machine after subtracting thecost of interchangeable modules. Forexample, a compressed earth block(CEB) machine consists of thecompression chamber, hopper assembly,an engine, hydraulic pump, andaccessories. The total cost is the sum of

these components. The dedicated cost, onthe other hand, consists only of thecompression chamber and hopper assembly,as all of the other components may bedesigned as flexible modules that are alsoused in other devices. Since the number ofother devices in which these modules maybe used is unlimited, we discount their costin the dedicated cost of the CEB machine.Thus, we may state that the dedicated costof materials for a hydraulic CEB machine is$800 – steel for the hopper and compressionchamber, and two hydraulic cylinders -while the total cost may be $4100.

Regarding the modular building system, weare presently testing its feasibility. Beforedescribing each component, we should notethe essence of such a system is a structurallymodular building method like the erector settoy package. On top of this structural systemmay be superimposed a multi-kilowatthybrid electric system where the power unitis a 1 cylinder diesel engine linked to anelectrical generator. The electricity powerselectrical motors for rotating and linearmotion with mechanical advantage.

Practical examples of devices may be ahybrid electric vehicle, an agriculturaltractor, a pottery kiln, a sawmill, or manyothers.

The particular icons of Fig.1 are as follows.The L6 and L23 icons are 1-cylinder Lister-like diesel engines, either stationary 6horsepower (Figure 2) or mobile 23horsepower (Figure 3).

One cylinder design is chosen for thegreatest simplicity and longest lifetime.Diesel power is chosen because of itscapacity to use waste vegetable oil or otherliquid fats as fuel. There are also otheroptions for diesel fuel. Fischer-Tropf fluid isa diesel fuel substitute derived from wood,and may be a part of a decentralized energyeconomy.

Figure 2. Representation of the L6 icon, the Lister6 hp, 1 cylinder, 350 kg diesel engine.

Figure 3. Representation of the L23 icons, theLister-like 23 hp diesel power unit, a YanmarTS2302, 200kg engine.

The f icon stands for fuel. We intend tomaximize our use of waste vegetable oilfuels in the immediate future due to itsabundance. Here is a picture of us pre-filtering waste vegetable oil obtainedfrom restaurants:

Figure 4. Filtering of waste vegetable oil for fuel.

The e- icon corresponds to electricalgenerators. An example is a 140 amp, 24 Vgenerator head obtained fromSurpluscenter3:

Figure 5. An example of the e- icon, a 140 amp 24volt generator.

Three of the above generator heads matchthe power output of the L23 diesel engine.This yields a voltage from 24-72 V, andelectrical power of 10 kW. The importanceof the electrical generator is that electricityis the most versatile form of energy.Electrical energy may be turned into heat,light, motion, logic, and other processes.Electric motors are efficient and lightweight:85 lb for the 54 kW peak motor on ourhybrid VW Bug conversion.

The h icon stands for heat generator. Onceagain we focus on waste vegetable oil. Weare interested in self-powered burners withvarying outputs for applications in homeheating, cooking, bread baking, potterykilns, melting of glass and metal, andmodern steam engine electrical generation.One example of a burner is a forced-airtype4:

Figure 6. Example of a forced air oil burner.

A second example is a commercial wasteoil burner from INOV85:

Figure 7. Commercial waste oil burner that uses1.2 kW of electricity and produces 100 kW ofheat.

Another example is a passive 3-tiervaporizer burner used to fire a potterykiln:

Figure 8. Vaporizer oil burner.

The structure icon,

corresponds to a flexible structuralsystem where attachment of one memberto another is by means of readily-dismountable connectors. A goodexample is the x-y-z corner of woodenbeams connected with bolts, such asdescribed in the Box Beam Sourcebook6:

Figure 9. Bolting of three pre-drilled members for asolid connection.

This technique may be applied to metal,where ¼ inch structural box beam and 1inch metal plate suffices for the bodies ofvehicles, tractors, and heavy machinery.This is an example of a hydraulic motorassembly that utilizes grade 8 bolts, notwelding, as part of a modular design fordisassembly:

Figure 10. Example of an assembly of beams andplates that are bolted together.

The PWM icon corresponds to the PulseWidth Modulator (PWM) method ofcontrolling electrical power. This applies tothe smooth speed control of electric motorsand power control of any other electricaldevices, AC or DC. It works by turning thepower on and off rapidly through a power-handling transistor. The duty cycle of thisswitching corresponds to the power output.A picture of a device that handles 1 kW ofpower is shown in Figure 11:

Figure 11. PWM speed controller for a 1 kWelectric motor. A power-switching transistor ismounted on the heat sink.

The PWM controller is useful because itcontrols power smoothly and may beused with a control circuit that can run amotor in forward and reverse. Smoothcontrol of power may displace gearing ortransmission requirements in certaincases. For example, it becomes feasibleto use a geared-down motor on eachwheel of a tractor to obtain fullycontrollable 4-wheel drive with skidturning.

The +- icon corresponds to batterystorage. We are presently considering abattery bank for our larger windmillconsisting of 12 of these7:

Figure 12. Proposed batteries from Surpluscenter.

The wheel icon,

corresponds to the wheel without therotor hub. We aim to replace the hub

with ball bearings, shaft, and another way tofasten the wheel to the shaft, such that anywheel may be mounted on any shaft wechoose. This has applications to doublingwheels for added traction, modifying wheelsfor added traction, to using wheels as bladetracks on a band sawmill, and others.

Separation of the wheel from the wheel huballows for flexible fabrication of otherrotors. The rotor icon,

may correspond to a rotor such as awindmill, a rototiller, or blade tracks on aband sawmill.

The transmission icon,

corresponds to bearings, shafts, and geararrangements inside a structural lattice thatspeed up or slow down rotating motion.Presently, we are focusing on the chain andsprocket as an affordable, power-conservingroute to mechanical advantage. It allowseasy implementation of 50-fold gearing.Because this transmission is in a structuralframe, it may be connected readily to motorsand rotors. It may be used in low speed,high torque applications such as augers, welldiggers, and traction wheel motors.

The traction wheel motor icon,

is a highly geared-down electric motorinside a structural lattice. Because it has itsown structural frame or lattice, it may beattached readily to any structure. It may beconnected by a wire to a PWM controller,

and combined with a wheel, it may serveas the traction wheel of a utility tractor orany vehicle.

The pulley icon,

corresponds to a pulley with metal wire,which may be used as a device forobtaining mechanical advantage or forconverting rotary motion to linearmotion. For example, it may be used withan electric motor and transmissionmodule to lift a front end loader on atractor. We will explore whether pulleysystems, combined with linear actuators,can replace hydraulics in a cost-effectivefashion. Hydraulics require anotherwhole package of technology, withpumps, hoses, fluid tank, motors, valves,and cylinders to generate linear androtary motion.

The linear actuator icon, or

is a device that converts rotary motion tolinear motion. At the simplestimplementation, this could be the rackand pinion gear, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13. Rack and pinion gear.

The Me- icon is the electric motor. The Mhicon is a hydraulic motor or pump:

Figure 14. A hydraulic motor..

The Ms icon corresponds to a steam engine.One modern steam engine that appearspromising is the Green steam engine:8

Figure 15. Green steam engine with a flywheel andsmall generator.

This type of engine, without steamgenerator, weighs only 5 pounds, and canput out 1 horsepower. The engine is scalableto 40 horsepower. This kind of engine maybe a good candidate for a hybrid electricpropulsion system.

Using the set of 17 icons, it is possible touse them as an aid in designing variousdevices. For example, the symbolicrepresentation of our hybrid electric vehicleVW bug conversion is shown in Figure 16.The icon indicates that the vegetable oil-fueled hybrid has the 23 hp diesel engine,electric generator, battery storage, PWMcontroller for the electric motor, and astructural trailer upon which this ismounted. The body of the VW is not shownbecause it is a component dedicated only to

the VW Bug hybrid electric vehicle.

Figure 16. Symbolic representation for our VWBug hybrid.

This icon represents a hybrid tractor withfront end loader:

Figure 17. Icon for a tractor with front end loader.

This icon implies that the hybrid electricpower source and battery storage isidentical to the hybrid car. In the tractorcase, there may be 4 individual tractionwheels, in this case electric, eachcontrolled by a PWM controller for 4-wheel drive and skid steering. Thestructure icon refers to the body of thetractor and loading bucket. The pulleyindicates that it lifts the front bucket. It isnot clear how all the components fittogether, such as that another wheelmotor module is required for the pulley.This icon may be expanded to show moredetail, such as 4 wheel motors, 4 wheels,another wheel motor for the pulley, andanother structure module for the bucket.

Figure 18 shows an icon for a windmill.The rotor icon corresponds to thewindmill blades and the transmission to a50-fold gearing up ratio. There is anelectrical generator head and batterystorage, all put together in a design-for-

disassembly (DfD) structure.

Figure 18. Symbolic representation of a windmill.

These are some examples of how the designmethod may be used to assist in thecomprehension and design of variousdevices. We will invoke these icons infurther discussion as needed. They aresummarized in Figure 19.

Figure 19. Review of icons for flexible, modulartechnology design.

IV. Infrastructure Developments

1.Water: We currently have semi-runningwater. We are installing an electricsubmersible pump to accommodate thisissue, shown in Figure 20. We are alsoconsidering a manual well pumpmechanized via a linear motion converter.We will test the suitability of a 55 gallondrum as a pressurized water tank substitutethat costs less than six dollars.

After obtaining pressurized water, we will

develop on-demand electrical waterheating powered by the Lister engine. Todo this, we will use 3/8 inch innerdiameter copper tubing with heat tapemade from nichrome wire inside afiberglass sleeve insulator. The nichromewire and insulator are shown in Figure21.

Figure 20. Submersible pump.

Figure 21. Nichrome wire and insulator to beused in on-demand fluid heating applications.

We will recycle our water through wormbeds to obtain leachate for hydroponics.We will begin tilapia aquaculture asanother source of animal protein. We willinstall drip irrigation in our 200 fruit treeorchard. We will build a sauna after wemaster the compressed earth blockmachine for building. The entire watersystem will consist of the elementsshown in Figure 22.

Figure 22. Proposed water system.

2. Vegetable Oil and Suburban: We arecurrently installing a temperature gauger inour heated fuel line to assure propertemperatures for running our Suburban onvegetable oil. This temperature gauge isshown in Figure 23:

Figure 23. Temperature gauge for vegetable oilmonitoring.

Figure 24 shows the entire temperaturegauge setup as it will be installed on theSuburban fuel line.

The filtering system will be upgraded to 3settling tanks. Each tank is a 55 gallon drumwith robust outlets made from modified ¾inch bolts, shown in Figure 25. The filteredoil tank will be placed outside as a fuelingstation. The Suburban second fuel tank willbe upgraded to a 20 gallon tank from acamper. Off-market valves, such as shownin Figure 26, from drip irrigationcompanies9 will follow the outlets.

Figure 24. Temperature gauge setup taken fromanother copyrighted source.10

Figure 25. Modified bolt to serve as a settlingtank outlet.

Figure 26. ½ inch ID ball valve, $1.65.

The diagram of the complete filteringsystem is shown in Figure 27. The newvegetable oil propulsion system for theSuburban is shown in Figure 28.

Figure 27. Upgraded filtering system.

Figure 28. Diagram of Suburban vegetable oilconversion..

3. Compressed Earth Block Machine: Themain priority in terms of the builtenvironment is to upgrade existingemergency shelter construction to elegantdesign utilizing compressed earth block(CEB). The rationale is that this buildingmethod is capable of utilizing 100% onsitebuilding resources to produce buildingblocks. These blocks are classified inbuilding codes as structural masonry block,the same class of building material asstructural stone block11. Structural masonrycompressed earth blocks have highercompressive strength than rocks such asmarble, schist, or granite. This is becauseCEB is made from pulverized,homogeneous clayey soil, and no fault lines

are present. Also, no block curing isrequired.

Machines capable of producing 3-5blocks/person/minute of 6x12x4 inchdimensional blocks cost in the range of$25k.12 A machine which we think is oneof the most advanced is shown in Figure29.

Figure 29. Example of an automated CEBmachine from Advanced Earthen ConstructionTechnologies, Inc.13

This machines produces 5 bricks/minute.These bricks are ejected one after anotheronto a conveyor belt:

Figure 30. Finished compressed earth blocksdeposited on a conveyor.14

We are aiming to fabricate a similar,hydraulic machine with manual controls,powered by an electric motor, that willproduce 3 blocks per minute, at adedicated cost of $800.

The CEB machine of interest involves acompression chamber and a hopper. Thechamber and hopper each have a

hydraulic cylinder, such that the cylinder onthe hopper loads the compression chamberand pushes the completed block out of theway. This allows for rapid production rates,where the compression chamber is loadedautomatically. Manual loading and ejectingof blocks are the major time expenses incompressed earth block machines. Asimplified diagram of the principle, takenfrom a 1986 US patent,15 is shown in Figure30.

Figure 30. Diagram of an automated CEB machinetaken from a 1986 patent.

Our design likewise includes two hydrauliccylinders, one for the compression chamber,and one for the hopper. For the CEB body,we are using design-for-disassembly (DfD)construction. In this design, metal plate andtubing are tapped and connected with ½”grade 8 bolts. We will use an electric motorto drive the hydraulic pump and cylinders,and the power source will be storedelectricity from the Lister 6 hp oil engine.

The icon for our design is shown in Figure31. This icon, read from left to right,contains 3 main sections. These parts are theLister power unit, the utility tractor, andmain body of the CEB machine.

Figure 31. Proposed design for the OSEcompressed earth block machine.

The Lister 6 hp stationary engine as theprimary power source. The fuel isrecycled vegetable oil. The Lister willcharge a battery bank either with our 40amp dedicated 12v battery charger or a75 amp automotive alternator. Thebattery bank will consist of 12 6 voltbatteries for a system voltage of 72 volts.

The batteries are placed on a utilitytractor with hydraulic drive. This tractoris powered by the same electric motorthat we utilize in our hybrid VW electricvehicle conversion. The electric motordrives a hydraulic pump, shown in Figure32, through a 2-fold gear reduction ratioto the pump. This pump provides powerto two hydraulic motors, shown in Figure33, that provide 4-wheel drive to theutility tractor via skid steering. This samepump provides the hydraulic powertakeoff to the CEB. The utility tractorstructure is made from 2 inch squaretubing of ¼ inch thickness.

Figure 32. Hydraulic pump, 14 hp, for the CEBmachine.

Figure 33. Hydraulic wheel motor for the utilitytractor.

The main body of the CEB machine consistsof the compression chamber structure withits main, 5 inch diameter hydraulic cylinder(58,900 lb pressure), and the hopperstructure with its smaller cylinder. The mainand secondary cylinders are shown inFigures 34. The ½ and 1 inch steel slabs forthe compression chamber are shown inFigure 35.

Figure 34. Main (5x12”) and secondary (2x14”)cylinders for the CEB machine, $250 and $80.

Figure 35. Metal for the compression chamber of theCEB, $140 at 30 cents/lb.

The structure consists mainly of ½ and 1inch plate and ¼ inch thick steel tubing.It in interesting to note that a basicworkshop that includes a drill press and ametal cutoff saw is sufficient to producethe CEB machine, assuming pre-cut steelslabs are available. Our workshop isshown in Figure 36.

Figure 36. Workshop with metal cutoff saw ($79)and a floor drill press ($159).

Holes will be drilled and tapped using a½ inch tap, shown in Figure 37.

Figure 37. ½ inch tap used for making structuralbolt holes.

The heart of the OSE CEB machine is acompression chamber made of 1” steel,shown in Figure 38:

Figure 38. Compression chamber of the CEBmachine.

The big arrow shows the direction of motionof the main compression cylinder. Thecompression presses against the reinforced,one inch top plate. This plate is moveddirectly over the compression box by thesecondary cylinder, indicated by the smallerarrow. This top plate is held down after itslides under another piece of metal thatserves as a latch. The top plate is part of thehopper assembly, which loads soil into thecompression chamber after every ejectioncycle of the machine.

The rest of the CEB consists of the surfaceupon which the hopper slides and ontowhich finished block are deposited. There isalso a structural details of holding thecompression cylinder in place and thehopper cylinder in place.

The main challenges are: (1) properalignment of metal as it is bolted together,and (2), alignment of the main compressioncylinder and plate assembly duringcompression.

The CEB equipment infrastructure includesthe CEB machine, a rototiller, front endloader, and 5 gallon buckets. The rototillerand front end loader scrape the topsoil toexpose clayey subsoil. The rototiller thengrinds up the soil, and the loader deposits itin a pile for use. The pile is covered with atarp to let moisture equilibrate. Buckets areused to load the hopper of the CEB machine.

Once the CEB equipment infrastructure isdeveloped, the route will be opened for thesecond phase of the built environment. We

will focus on CEB and earthsheltered/underground construction. Agood example of an underground houseis shown in Figure 38b.

Figure 38b. Example of an aesthetic undergroundhouse16 integrated into the landscape.

4. Heat and Power Generation Overview:Our main priority in our energy system isto provide ample heat generation andpower generation to supply variousagricultural and light industrialprocesses. Our priorities for this yearare: (1), to deploy a robust oil burner forprocess heat, (2), a 20+ hp diesel powerunit for electricity generation for mobileapplications, (3), a multi-kilowattwindmill for base load power generation,(4), deploying a modern steam engine forelectrical generation, and (5), upgradingthe Lister engine electrical system.

Applications of the oil burner that wewould like to pursue include steamengine electric power generation, (6),radiant home and greenhouse heating, (7)cooking range, (8), bread ovens, (9), apottery kiln, and (10), a sauna. We willutilize the compressed earth blocks tobuild related structures in these projects.

Figure 39. Overview of the heat and powerprogram.

We will also utilize our electricity resourcesto produce on-demand electric water heatersfor household water needs. Other on-demand electric heating applications mayexist, such as melting of plastic resins forgreenhouse glazing applications.

Along with power generation developments,we will develop power electronics fortransmitting, modifying, and dispensingelectrical power. We will develop variousflexible, open source electrical controls.The main one is the pulse width modulation(PWM) combined with transistor switching.Applications that we are interested in are:(1) scalable DC and AC electric motor andpower controllers; (2) DC -DC converters;(3) DC-AC inverters; (4) battery chargeregulators; (5) grid intertie inverters. Ourgoal is to be able to link to the existingpower grid to feed excess power back into itas we evolve into our role as energy farmers.

5. Lister 6 hp Oil Electrical System : We willmake 5 upgrades to our Lister electricalgenerator. (1) We will install relays toautomate the linkage between the 3 kWelectricLister and the 2 kW inverter in our 120VAC home power grid. We will install a relaysystem that turns the inverter off and startsfeeding live power to the grid from theLister whenever the Lister is started. Whenthe Lister is turned off, the power grid willrevert to the inverter. (2) We will extend this120V grid to other locations at our facilityas needed, such as the sprout house, waterpump for the well, or remote batterycharging. (3) We will enclose the Listerfully to muffle its sound output. (4) We willadd a 75 amp alternator to the Lister fordirect battery charging. (5) We will alsoconnect the 240 volt output of the Lister to atransformer, so that we can get all the powerout from a single, 120 volt outlet, instead oftwo outlets at half the power.

6. Waste Oil Furnace and Applications: Wewill either build our own self-powered oilburner or purchase a commercial unit. Weare currently evaluating options and pricesfor systems. We are interested in a systemthat has a simple heat-up mechanism andwhich sustains its power output withoutelectricity. We are interested in a robust

system that could burn all types of wasteoils. We may be interested in a unit thatrequires electricity, as in Fig. 7, if theelectricity to sustain the burn can begenerated from the burner itself.

We are interested in a burner system thatcan be used as an interchangeablemodule. We would like to attach thismodule or its multiples to various devicesas needed. This diagram shows thepossibilities that arise with our burner:

Figure 40. Suggested applications for a waste oilburner.

7. Windmill: We are pursing a verticalaxis sailwing wind turbine for baseloadpower generation. Average wind speedsare 11 mph in Osborn, MO. We choosethe vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT)design because it is the simplest to buildfrom a mechanical standpoint. It cancatch wind from any direction by design..The basic design is shown in Figure 41.

Figure 41. Vertical axis sailwing windmillexample.

The sailwing is a superior blade design forthe simplicity involved, as it changes shapewith the wind.

Figure 42. Diagram of sailwing interaction with thewind. Figure taken from the Appropriate TechnologySourcebook.17

We have parts for an 12 foot diameterversion with 6 foot high sails. A 50-foldgear increase ratio is required. The parts,including a 300 amp, 24 volt generator head,voltage control rheostat, circuit breakers,chain, sprockets, pillow blocks, and collarsare shown in Figure 43.

Figure 43. some of the parts for a 12 foot diametersail windmill.

Developments to be worked out areintegration into our battery bank. We areconsidering a mobile battery bank that wewill use with the CEB machine.

The icon for the windmill is shown in Figure44. The left hand side indicates the sailwingrotor and structure with 50-fold gearingincrease, connected to an electrical

Figure 44. Windmill icon.

generator as in Fig. 43. The two-wayarrow indicates connection to andfeedback from the battery bank, wherecharge regulation is required due to the9kW potential max output of thewindmill. This control will be done in theimmediate term with circuit breakers anda shunt relay. The battery bank mayrequire switching from 24V to 72V,where the latter is the minimumoperating voltage for our modular,Advanced DC electric motor that weshowed in Fig. 18 of Part A. The PWMstands for a PWM-based inverter thatwill feed 120V AC back into our on-sitegrid from the 24V battery bank. This maybe a major development in our powerelectronics infrastructure if we developthis inverter in-house.

The wheel indicates that the battery bankmay be placed on a mobile trailer, suchthat power is either fed into our grid orinto a battery bank that may be used inthe near future with the CEB machine.

7. Modern Steam Electricity: The modernsteam engine, as shown in Figure 15,may provide a viable, decentralizedelectrical generation option fromcogeneration heat sources such as a woodstove or waste vegetable oil burner. Thisengine is scalable from 1 to 40 hp. Inparticular, battery charging could be agreat application whenever the sun is notshining, the wind is not blowing, or if werun out of oil for the Lister engine.

We are particularly interested in acompact oil burner unit for mobileapplications in steam electric hybrid

vehicles.

The additional advantage of the steamengine is that distilled water is a byproduct.The schematic below18 shows how toproduce up to 24 gallons of distilled waterper day and all the hot water for a householdemploying an ordinary household pressurecooker on a low simmering fire. The steamengine operates the system on 4 to 20 psi ofsteam.

Figure 45. Schematic of the Green water distiller andwater heater operating from a steam engine.

Thus, this steam engine may contribute to aninteresting household ecology of winter heatand power cogeneration, water heating andrecycling.

We have the plans for this engine. Theinventor is willing to share his knowledgeopenly to help us deploy the device.

9. On-demand Water Heater: We havepurchased nichrome wire and fiberglasssleeving, as shown in Fig. 21, to fabricate anelectric on-demand water heater forhousehold use. Other applications mayinclude oil preheating in oil burner andengine applications.

The key is to test the proper length of wireand power input to operate this device inshowers, sinks, and any other hot waterapplications. The basic diagram for a waterheater is shown in Figure 46.

Figure 46. Basic diagram for an on-demand fluidheater.

Note that in addition to the nichromewire and sleeve of Fig. 21., a largerdiameter fiberglass sleeve is required togo around the copper tube itself, asindicated in Figure 46.

10. Hydronic Floor Heating: Using theheat exchanger as in Fig. 31 of PastWork, we have the capacity to heat 300gallons of water by 10 degrees per hourof firing. This is sufficient for radiantfloor heating. Our low-tech conceptinvolves a water-sealed CEB floor andfoundation. The floor may serve as thewater conduit, if linear channels aremade from water-sealed CEBs placed onthe foundation. Water may be pumped infrom one end of the room, and pumpedout from the opposite end. The housefloor, sealed with a water vapor barrier,may be put on top of these conduits. Adiagram of this is:

Figure 47. Radiant floor heating with waterconduits made with CEB. The entire foundationmay be made from CEBs as long as they arewater-sealed.

The simplicity of this design is that it usesearth blocks instead of a large length ofpolyethylene tubing to provide the radiantheating conduit.

11. Tractor and Vehicle Infrastructure: Weare presently working on our hybrid vehicleand tractor. The summary icon for thiscombined infrastructure is shown in Figure48.

Figure 48. Icon for the vehicle and tractorinfrastructure.

The key to this infrastructure is a powerfulengine, noted as L23. One possibility for L23was shown in Fig. 3. The importance of asingle cylinder engine lies in its simplicity.

The electrical generation part is anothermain feature of this development. We arepresently planning to purchase 3 of the 24V,140 amp, $100 generator heads19 that willprovide 10kW of continuous electricalpower.

The linkage of the engine to the generatorsincludes the features shown in Figure 49.The electrical power unit (EPU) will ride ona trailer that may be attachedinterchangeably to the VW Beetle or thetractor.

For initial testing, we will build a simpleframe for the tractor and mount a batterybank of 12 6v batteries. We will be able totest the tractor and its linkage to thehydraulic system. We will leave the PWMmotor control for later, while we test theelectric motor and hydraulics at 72 voltswith simple on-off switching to thehydraulic pump. The first application of this

tractor will be as the power source for theCEB machine, as discussed in the relatedsection above. The tractor will feature 4wheel skid steer drive and hydraulicwheel motors. The middle section ofFigure 31 above shows this tractor for theCEB machine. Initially, battery chargingpower will come from the L6.

Figure 49. Composition of the electrical powerunit.

The goals of the initial tractor/vehicledevelopment is to demonstrate that theelectrical power unit and electric motormay be used interchangeably between thecar and the tractor. From that point, wewill make additions to the tractor as if itwere a life-size erector set.

Our first addition after the CEB machinewill be a front end loader. This is arequired part of our earth-movinginfrastructure. If pulleys are sufficient toactivate the loader, we will use them.Alternately, we will proceed to ahydraulic version with cylinders andquick-disconnect hydraulic hoses.

12. Food Processing Kitchen and SproutHouse: Once the CEB machine isdeveloped and the earth-movinginfrastructure is in place, we will proceedto build our food processing kitchen andsprout house. Both will share aninfrastructure including heated, runningwater, a freezer, refrigerator, stove, and

oven. The kitchen will have a range ofelectrical appliances. These include mixers,flour grinders, blenders, juicers, foodprocessors, and others.

The design of the sprout house includesgood ventilation and ample water sourceand drain, water testing capacity, waterfiltering, heating and cooling, and access tosunlight.

13. Aquaculture and Engineered WetlandSystem: With our CEB equipmentinfrastructure in place, we can build troughsfor aquaculture and engineered wetlands.We plan on raising tilapia in greenhouses,and developing our own tilapia breedingstock. Engineered wetlands, including wormbeds, will be used to process organic waste.We would like to connect a water bodyunder the chicken house roosts to produce aself-cleaning chicken coop. The engineeredwetland will handle domestic effluents. Partof this system will be under greenhouse, andpart will be outside. A component diagramis shown in Figure 50.

Figure 51. Diagram of the components foraquaculture and engineered wetlands.

14. Glazing Technology and SolaRoofGreenhouses: Greenhouse glazingtechnology needs further development tomake it a more practical option for foodgrowing. Affordable ( 8 cents/sq ft) UV-stabilized polyethylene film has a shortlifetime of 4 years and it can be punctured.Polycarbonate, a lightweight, durable, 20-year, high tech glazing material, costs atleast $1/sq ft. Glass greenhouse glazing is

heavy and it breaks easily.

We will evaluate the feasibility of low-tech polycarbonate resin extrusion usingcommercial resins to produce UV-stabilized polycarbonate sheet. Given the$1/lb recycled resin costs and $2/lb costsfor virgin polycarbonate,20 this translatesto 10 or 20 cent/sq ft material cost for1/32 inch thick sheet.

We will experiment with extrusion of 1foot wide sheets initially. A diagram for asimplified pneumatic extruder is shownin Figure 51.

Figure 51. Diagram of an experimentalpolycarbonate extruder for making 1 foot widesheets.

If this works, then we will have found acost-effective route to building large-scale, long-lifetime greenhouseoperations. This is a potentially greatcontribution to local food sufficiency.

Another unique greenhouse technologythat would work well with single wallpolycarbonate sheets is the SolaRoof21technology developed by Richard Nelsonin the United Kingdom. This is an opensource technology for insulatinggreenhouses in cold weather by filling aglazing cavity formed by two layers ofglazing with soap bubbles. A cavityfilling with bubble is shown in Figure 52,along with two examples of greenhousesusing this technique.

Figure 52. SolaRoof glazing cavity filling withbubbles.

This technique may be implemented readily.This may be done by using a nozzle thatsprays a 5% soap solution onto a windowscreen, where a strong fan blows through thescreen to generate the bubbles. Practicalaspects of this technique need to beexperienced to determine the feasibility inour applications. The actual part of filling acavity may be done in a day's time, using a5 gallon bucket with window screen on it, apump and nozzle with dishwasher detergent

solution, and a shop-vac blower toprovide the forced air flow.

1 Seminal work on the feasibility of flexible, high-skill manufacturing, as an alternative tounskilled mass production, is proposed in The Second Industrial Divide, by Michael J. Piore andCharles F. Sabel, from MIT.

2 http://www.yanmar.com/store/index.asp?DEPARTMENT_ID=54 3 http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2006040916520241&item=6-987X&catname = 4 http://www.cybernet1.com/mcquaid/Waste%20Oil%20Burners.htm 5 http://inov8-intl.com/products.htm 6 http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/servlet/display/product/detail/29153 7 http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2006041118375073&item=11-3054&catname = 8 http://www.greensteamengine.com/ 9 http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation.php?cPath=35_50 10Copyrighted material taken from http://vegoilconversions.netfirms.com/Little%20Angel.pdf 11http://pages.sbcglobal.net/fwehman/AECTOverview.html 12http://pages.sbcglobal.net/fwehman/Impact2001.html 13http://pages.sbcglobal.net/fwehman/ 14Photo taken from personal visit to AECT, Inc., in Texas.15http://freepatentsonline.com/4563144.pdf 16http://www.undergroundhousing.com/ 17Taken from Vertical Axis Sail Windmill Plans, http://villageearth.org/atnetwork/atsourcebook/ 18Taken from copyrighted material at http://www.greensteamengine.com/ 19http://surpluscenter.com/ 20http://www.ides.com/resinprice/resinpricingreport.asp ,

http://www.plasticstechnology.com/dp/pt/resins.cfm ,http://www.plasticsnews.com/subscriber/resin/price5.html

21http://solaroof.org/wiki