Micro CoGen.

1. what prime mover are you using or planning to use?
That is why I'm here. Want something less than 180 lbs
2. what hp or kwatt (mechanical) output is the prime mover?
10~23 kw that is less than 180 lbs, so 3600 rpm unit.
3. what generator are you using? AC only? DC only? or both?
Will be DC only to charge 48 volt lithium bank
4. how long have you had the unit? 
N/A
5. how long does it run or are you planning to run,  per day, week, month or year?
<200 hours per year
6. is the unit used for primary power, backup, emergency, or?
Primary for "hotel" loads, back up for sailboat propulsion.
7. do you harvest the waste heat and use that heat?  if so for what purpose? domestic hot water
production, space heating or both?
Hot water.

8. if you are not harvesting the waste heat, are you planning to do so?  do you have any interest in doing so?

9. do you use any form of automation, such as autostart?

10. if you do not use automation, would you do so if it were commonly available and reasonable in price?

11. how would you rank fuel efficiency of a unit, not very important, somewhat important, moderately important, very important, or most important.

now a couple of other questions

12. where do you find the information you rely on to make decisions about your genset designs?
Forums such as this one and the Cruiser's Forum, google searches
13. do you feel that there is enough information available to you to make good decisions regarding design?
I'm getting there
14. if you are frustrated or find it difficult to find information, what sorts of information would you like to find?
I would like to see a list with specs of all available small diesels.
15. if there was a book available on some facet or facets of power generation for offgrid applications such as what is typical on this forum, what would you find as being a must have or rather what would you like to see in such a book?
More places to purchase lithium batteries.
16. please feel free to add other comments that you might have an interest in sharing.
http://tbuckets.lefora.com/2012/03/13/integration-of-systems/

Quote from: SPSInc on September 17, 2012, 09:21:00 PM
Somebody on the forum had a used Kubota Z482 with the marine cooling kit up for sale. Kubota calls out the engine to weigh 117lbs.

http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2872.0

Put one of the PMGs on it with a variable speed controller and you would have a nice light compact generator. Probably should be able to get 7KW out of it.

The Z482 looks like a good candidate, thanks for the tip. 9kw rating from 479 cc IDI and only 117 lbs. Looks like I'm being steered to Kubota and other more reputable brands. My research missed this engine. After checking out Kubota's site, it looks like they have a line of engines in my needed power range and weight requirements.

Quote from: Frank S on September 17, 2012, 03:59:18 PM
I suppose this would be out of the question then


!2V92 700HP hydraulic driven prop the pod mounts on a work barge with 360Deg turning

You might check out this thread
http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2679.0
or this one
http://www.microcogen.info/index.php?topic=2800.15

Way too big for my pleasure sailboat and way too small for the dynamically positioned rig I served on.

The rig......


My "office".....


Yours truly...........

Your right Steve I did ask. It is too bad that claims of the manufacturer might appear to be false. For what little I plan on needing the DC gen-set charger I figured 75 db a 7 meters was tolerable but your telling me from your personal experience that the Lambradini diesels are even louder than other air cooled diesels. This hands on experience is the reason I joined this forum. For my needs I don't see running the DC gen set much more than 200 hours per year, so don't need the longevity with the high price of a water cooled unit, and weight is a very important factor for me, so that leaves out all the engines designed to run at 1800 rpm, because for the same power out there is almost a 2 fold weight penalty for 1800 vs 3600. I know 3600 on an air cooled diesel is going to be very noisy, that is why I upped the displacement ante and thought the Lambradini at 23 hp @ 3600 would be a good candidate to give me 11 kw @ 2200 rpm.

I'm all ears for what the membership has for suggestions, knowing I want a bare minimum of 8 kw with the engine side of the package being under 180 lbs.

Frank,

You have a lot of good ideas. The last vessel I served on was 32,000 ton displacement and had (6) 5,000 hp electric azipods, and I became a big fan of the maneuvering ability of electric motor propulsion. Makes a big difference when you have the torque of an electric motor at a speed an ICE couldn't even idle at, let alone have enough torque to swing a prop at a slow speed. For pleasure sailing I'm a single hander and look forward to the precision of docking with electric propulsion.

The cat is a PDQ 36 but not the LRC model that has small 19 hp diesels aft in each hull but instead use a pair of 9.9 hp high thrust outboard gas engines. This will be replaced by the German built Torqeedo Cruise 4.0, 4kw electric motors. The battery bank I'm assembling now, consisting of (16) 200 a/hr Winston LiFePO4 cells for a 48 volt bank , 10.3 kw/hr. This would propel the cat for 25 nm at about 5 kt. The Torqeedos mount in place of the 9.9 hp gas outboards in a ama hull well that provides powered tilt out of the water when under sail.

A pair of these................


Is what will be replaced by a pair of Torqeedos...........


The piece of equipment I'm working on now, that has prompted me to join this forum, is a diesel powered DC gen-set for battery charging should I need to motor without sail longer than 25 nm. Polar DC Marine has what I want, but they are asking way too much for it.

Casey,

It is a weight thing. If you want to keep sailing performance in a catamaran, you can't load it up with much weight. I plan to run 800+ watts of solar panels, so shouldn't have to shatter the silence of a pristine anchorage. 2200 rpm is a good rpm for not too much noise (75db a 7 meters) yet decent power out (11~13kw) in a sub 175 lb package. I wonder why I haven't seen the Lombardini diesel mentioned on this site?

Looks like a decent air cool diesel 23 hp @ 3600 for 78 kg (172 lbs)

http://www.powertechengines.com/LomData/12LD477_GB.pdf

http://www.powertechengines.com/Lombardini.html

At a rating of 200 amps cont, 400 amp peak, would this brushed PM motor be a good candidate as a DC generator for the above air cooled diesel?

http://www.cloudelectric.com/product-p/mo-me1003.htm

I figure at 2200 rpm would produce 55.6 volts for charging a lithium 48 volt bank
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-129399866319704/ME1003drawing.pdf

Bob,

The heaviest duty cycle would be sailing through the doldrums at 10N to 10S, and for that I would like to produce 8kw cont. for propulsion with the electric drives. For being on the hook in some anchorage, solar panels should do the trick if I'm not needing AC. If running AC, then about a 2 hour run time every other day.

Hi all,

Name is Bob and I'm in Northern California. I have designed and built off grid power for remote homesites, have (2) electric vehicles that I've built and one "store" bought EV. I'm retired Merchant Marine and a pleasure sailor and that is the reason I have joined this forum. My next sailboat I plan to refit with hybrid diesel/electric propulsion and a fully electric galley, all the way down to a 1500 watt BBQ on the railing. My dinghy also will be electric, plus I have an electric kayak that I have set up with LiFePO4 cells for long range and low weight.

What I want on my cruising sailboat is no gasoline or propane, just a combination house/propulsion bank of LiFePO4 cells at 48 volts. Since all AC loads will be handled by a 48 volt inverter, I want to ditch the diesel AC gen-set that has to run at a fixed rpm for frequency, for a lighter and more efficient diesel DC gen-set for battery charging. With the cost of these units from Polar DC Marine running $15K for just 10kw, I figure I'll roll my own. So, I have a spare Etek motor and hoping the expertise of this forum will help me use that motor as a DC generator, being powered by a cheap China built 10 hp air cooled diesel that is sold new on ebay for $620. If someone can point me to a thread that might have already covered this, that would be great, if not, that is why these forums have a search function.