Capstone Microturbine . . .

Stumble,

I hesitate to get any further off topic but I was thinking that a sailboat could place a turbo-prop in the water to scavenge energy while under sail. It could then save the energy in a flywheel instead of batteries. The flywheel could then power a generator for when the boat was trolling?

 

You really don't want to go there Auriel....that whole regenerative thing from boat propulsion...you're working against yourself

 

Ok Brian,

I don't want to get the natives restless.

Besides, I've moved on to fantasizing about building a high-tech Dutch barge.

That boat Roi Soleil is just so elegant . . . I'm a sucker for all the brass, wood and tile.

Wouldn't see very many boats like that on the Ohio.

 

Now that is a dream worth pursuing. I'd love to have one of those to live on myself. I was thinking of trying to express that Roi Soleil in a 60' version.

 

Thanks Brian, I agree it's a great dream. It's going to take a lot of work to make it come true though.
I found out there is an "Official" Roi Soleil website that has even more detailed information about the boat.
http://www.riveryacht.com/the_barge-specifications.php

Auriel

 

How does part throttle efficiency of the microturbines compare to diesel?

 

I'm not sure I understand the question Phil?
Perhaps someone else here gets it?
Oh your from Beaufort, SC, I've been there with my Father. Wonderful place.

 

I used to hear that part throttle efficiency was one of the reasons gas turbines have not been seriously considered for road vehicle use for several decades. That was from folks who had some involvement with an automotive gas turbine program.

 

Diesel power is quite good at maintaining its efficiency under part load or cycling load. Turbines are not generally as good, but with heat scavenging (edit- the proper term is recuperator) they could be so-so. It is a bit of a trick question because part throttle fuel consumption data is hardly ever published. One common solution is to use both. If the turbine is running, it operates at max efficiency and steady power production. The diesel is throttled to provide whatever extra is needed. Hybrid schemes that try to win efficiency from diesels through steady state operation have a hard time because diesels have been developed over the years to be good at variable load. Hybrid with a turbine front end might be easier to justify on paper because the turbine performs worse at part throttle. Obviously, that's not a good argument for choosing a turbine.

 

I just keep wondering what I'm going to do about all the noise if I go with a traditional diesel powered genset?

I found a fairly compact 30kW genset new for about $10k

I'm a musician and I record quite a bit.

I guess when I'm playing or recording I could do it with batteries?

 

On a house boat, sure, you could run on batts for 12 hours with a normal design, and four times that with a bit extra invested.

 

Auriel,

It might be possible to use batteries depending on the current draw of the stuff you have plugged in. The more power you draw the larger the battery banks need to be, though modern digital instruments probably don't draw all that much power. You will also need an inverter sized to handle a constant load equal to the draw you need. Figure a 5kw inverter runs about $3-400 and of course the batteries need to be sizable enough to power it. Since most inverters also act as a 12v battery charger, it is pretty much a wash with large marine chargers.

I doubt however that you could get the type of quiet you would need for high end audio recording. Remember there is always going to be water lapping against the hull, wind blowing, small pumps clicking over, ect... And I can't see how you would soundproof an area on a boat well enough to eliminate those sounds. Though if you were willing to accept some background noise it would be possible.

 

long time ago I got a contract to rebuild a place called Caribou Recording Studios after a pretty big fire burned a lot of it to the ground. They make this stuff called, "sound deadening material" stuff works like a charm. Not so sure how well it would deaden engine vibrations coming up through the hull tho. Maybe a modified BOES sound cancelation system would do the trick, since your thinking of developing some new technologies anyway. You could always just use the same multi-wall deadening systems that are in most higher end recording studio's. Lots of solutions including the battery one, but your still going to have residual noise to deal with.

The river barge is spectacular by the way.

Hybrids
we get this question constantly so try and forgive the deep sigh preceding the less than enthusiastic response. I've investigated it myself. At 20~30% efficient the microturbine is almost but not quite as efficient as a diesel. The big diesels are even more efficient. If you add up all the stuff involved in a hybrid system and consider as well as cost and complexity what all that extra weight does to efficiency, then it begins to get clearer why even with a slightly better engine its just not going to work out.

Yellowjackets response was pretty mind bending, but don't let it discourage you, just pick a different power plant and put your savings into the boat. Again spectacular boat, if you can pull it off I have a pretty well known sound engineer buddy who'll probably be happy to help design that studio.

anyway best of luck with it
cheers
B

 

From reading your posts in this thread I already guessed you were a musician.

If getting electricity without a lot of noise is your objective, there are far easier ways to reach your goal than an overly expensive Capstone microturbine.
There are diesel gen sets for yachts, encased in a sealed coffin-like grp box. When installed under the cabin floor they are so quiet that you need to look at the remote display to confirm that it runs.

And of course there is always solar power......

 

Thanks a lot . . .

Phil, Boston, Stumble, CDK

Boston I found a really good article on Caribou Ranch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribou_Ranch

Auriel