Automatic reciprocating hydraulic circuit?

[treaney]

Renze,

The fuel is peat or turf as it is commonly called in Ireland. See www.bnm.ie for details. Peat is the decayed remains of plants and trees in a waterlogged area. Peatlands cover 16.2% of the land mass of the island of Ireland.

Raw peat is approx 90% water. Dried peat is usable as fuel with a water content of 40% or below.

I need a machine to remove moisture to these levels. I'll look into pellet presses.

TomZ
Tom

 

[treaney]

Renze,

The fuel is peat or turf as it is commonly called in Ireland. See www.bnm.ie for details. Peat is the decayed remains of plants and trees in a waterlogged area. Peatlands cover 16.2% of the land mass of the island of Ireland.

Raw peat is approx 90% water. Dried peat is usable as fuel with a water content of 40% or below.

I need a machine to remove moisture to these levels. I'll look into pellet presses.

TomZ
Tom

 

[Renze]

Tom,

we used to have huge bog fields a bit up north here, they extended into Germany.

In the old days they first cut them out with a handforce spade, in blocks of 15x15x30 cm. once they were dug out, they were compacted in a clamp like this <> that was pressed together by handforce, through a wheel that drives a threaded rod.

then they let them dry in stacks, with a few centimeter between the peat breads, so the wind could blow through the stack.

 

[Renze]

Tom,

we used to have huge bog fields a bit up north here, they extended into Germany.

In the old days they first cut them out with a handforce spade, in blocks of 15x15x30 cm. once they were dug out, they were compacted in a clamp like this <> that was pressed together by handforce, through a wheel that drives a threaded rod.

then they let them dry in stacks, with a few centimeter between the peat breads, so the wind could blow through the stack.

 

[arctic003]

J-P,

Thanks for the offer - I'm interested to see what you can find.

To set you on the right road, I am NOT interested in peat milling production as this takes a lot of expensive equipment. Finland and Ireland have a well developed industry for this.

Ideally, an automated version of the scheme that Renze describes a couple of posts back would be ideal. I can use my MF 50B digger to get the raw turf out of the bog (raw turf is 90% water), use the digger to load it into a trailer, transport it to a hard stand area in the farmyard, compress a cylinder of turf hydraulically with the Zetor Crystal (ref my original post re the automatic reciprocating hydraulic circuit) to reduce the mositure content (if I could even get it to 60% this would be a big improvment!), rack it automatically on pallets to 10 sods high leaving gaps as Renze described and then let the wind do the remainder of the drying. Once fully air dried (this will take many weeks even months depending on the weather), the pallets can be picked up and tipped in a shed. No manual handling! Hallelujah!!!

I have put together a Powerpoint presentation that reviews exisitng technologies and outlines a proposal for my machine. If anyone is interested, ask me for a copy tomreaney@eircom.net

BTW I used to cut turf by hand 30 years ago, We used a sln (pronounced SLA-IN) to take sods like Renze described out of the bog. It was bloody hard work!

Given the rising price of oil, the financial impetus for this is growing.

Best of all it is green and eco friendly as bog re-generates and the CO2 emissions are matched by that absorbed when the moss is growing.

TomZ
Tom

 

[arctic003]

J-P,

Thanks for the offer - I'm interested to see what you can find.

To set you on the right road, I am NOT interested in peat milling production as this takes a lot of expensive equipment. Finland and Ireland have a well developed industry for this.

Ideally, an automated version of the scheme that Renze describes a couple of posts back would be ideal. I can use my MF 50B digger to get the raw turf out of the bog (raw turf is 90% water), use the digger to load it into a trailer, transport it to a hard stand area in the farmyard, compress a cylinder of turf hydraulically with the Zetor Crystal (ref my original post re the automatic reciprocating hydraulic circuit) to reduce the mositure content (if I could even get it to 60% this would be a big improvment!), rack it automatically on pallets to 10 sods high leaving gaps as Renze described and then let the wind do the remainder of the drying. Once fully air dried (this will take many weeks even months depending on the weather), the pallets can be picked up and tipped in a shed. No manual handling! Hallelujah!!!

I have put together a Powerpoint presentation that reviews exisitng technologies and outlines a proposal for my machine. If anyone is interested, ask me for a copy tomreaney@eircom.net

BTW I used to cut turf by hand 30 years ago, We used a sln (pronounced SLA-IN) to take sods like Renze described out of the bog. It was bloody hard work!

Given the rising price of oil, the financial impetus for this is growing.

Best of all it is green and eco friendly as bog re-generates and the CO2 emissions are matched by that absorbed when the moss is growing.

TomZ
Tom

 

[treaney]

Renze,

This is very interesting!

Would you have a photo of the machine that was used to compact the sod? Was the compacting done in the bog?

Is fuel still being harvested from these bogs?

TomZ
Tom

 

[treaney]

Renze,

This is very interesting!

Would you have a photo of the machine that was used to compact the sod? Was the compacting done in the bog?

Is fuel still being harvested from these bogs?

TomZ
Tom

 

[Renze]

a bogfield with stacks of "breads"

four breads in an antique clamp:

No, in holland we dont dig turf anymore, bog fields are protected reservations...

 

[Renze]

a bogfield with stacks of "breads"

four breads in an antique clamp:

No, in holland we dont dig turf anymore, bog fields are protected reservations...

 

[treaney]

Hi Renze,

Thanks for posting the photo's. I'm curious to understand how the clamp works. I can see that as you rotate the wheel, that this will cause the diamond to collapse and squeeze the turf. However, this will only happen over a small portion of the length of the sod. Did the process have to be repeated a number of times for each sod or have I mis-understood how it works?

TomZ
Tom

 

[treaney]

Hi Renze,

Thanks for posting the photo's. I'm curious to understand how the clamp works. I can see that as you rotate the wheel, that this will cause the diamond to collapse and squeeze the turf. However, this will only happen over a small portion of the length of the sod. Did the process have to be repeated a number of times for each sod or have I mis-understood how it works?

TomZ
Tom

 

[Renze]

I have no idea, tom.. All that the book said, is that this is a turfpacker, that enlightens the hand work a bit.

For your situation, i would build a PTO driven excenter press that presses the sods through a perforated cone.

The oil flow on a 8011 is a bit low to get high capacity, i think.

 

[Renze]

I have no idea, tom.. All that the book said, is that this is a turfpacker, that enlightens the hand work a bit.

For your situation, i would build a PTO driven excenter press that presses the sods through a perforated cone.

The oil flow on a 8011 is a bit low to get high capacity, i think.

 

[arctic003]

Hi

Sorry for the delay, my internet provider stopped ..er.. providing for a few days...

As far as I have been able to find out, there are a few different ways that peat is dried here.
The main method seems to be to use solar energy. The peat is loosened to the depth of a few centimetres, and the sun and wind then begin to dry the peat pretty much like making hay. The peat layer is turned with a machine like a plough, only with tiny blades that only turn the top 2 centimetres. The machine is towed behind a very big tractor with twin wheels front and back, and is about 18 metres wide. The peat is turned up to three times depending on the weather. After drying in this manner the dry peat is then hoovered off with a "giant vacuum cleaner" (that's how it was described to me ) and then carted away in a trailer.

Another method uses a machine that digs down about 18" over a wide area, loosens what it has dug, and leaves behind a long windrow.

Remember though that Finland has a continental climate, so this might not work in Ireland. As well as the dark -40C winters we have hot summers and 22 hour daylight as part of the package! Having said that though, the last two summers have been bad for haymaking and peat drying. Maybe the climate is changing slowly?

The third method uses a process involving the use of superheated steam. That doesn't sound like something you'd find in a Zetor radiator even on a bad day and is probably left well alone

Here are some photos of the dinky-toys used in Finnish peat bogs:

http://www.koneyrittajat.fi/vanha/toimialat/turvetuotanto.htm

Best regards

J-P

 

[arctic003]

Hi

Sorry for the delay, my internet provider stopped ..er.. providing for a few days...

As far as I have been able to find out, there are a few different ways that peat is dried here.
The main method seems to be to use solar energy. The peat is loosened to the depth of a few centimetres, and the sun and wind then begin to dry the peat pretty much like making hay. The peat layer is turned with a machine like a plough, only with tiny blades that only turn the top 2 centimetres. The machine is towed behind a very big tractor with twin wheels front and back, and is about 18 metres wide. The peat is turned up to three times depending on the weather. After drying in this manner the dry peat is then hoovered off with a "giant vacuum cleaner" (that's how it was described to me ) and then carted away in a trailer.

Another method uses a machine that digs down about 18" over a wide area, loosens what it has dug, and leaves behind a long windrow.

Remember though that Finland has a continental climate, so this might not work in Ireland. As well as the dark -40C winters we have hot summers and 22 hour daylight as part of the package! Having said that though, the last two summers have been bad for haymaking and peat drying. Maybe the climate is changing slowly?

The third method uses a process involving the use of superheated steam. That doesn't sound like something you'd find in a Zetor radiator even on a bad day and is probably left well alone

Here are some photos of the dinky-toys used in Finnish peat bogs:

http://www.koneyrittajat.fi/vanha/toimialat/turvetuotanto.htm

Best regards

J-P

 

[treaney]

Hi J-P,

Glad to see that you are back online.

The methods you describe (milling) are also used in Ireland. These are very capital intensive.

What I would like is a machine suitable for my own use to cut out the labour traditionally associated with saving turf. I believe that by hydraulically compressing the peat, a significant reduction in mositure content can be achieved. Solar and Wind energy would then reduce the moisture content to burnable levels.

TomZ
Tom

 

[treaney]

Hi J-P,

Glad to see that you are back online.

The methods you describe (milling) are also used in Ireland. These are very capital intensive.

What I would like is a machine suitable for my own use to cut out the labour traditionally associated with saving turf. I believe that by hydraulically compressing the peat, a significant reduction in mositure content can be achieved. Solar and Wind energy would then reduce the moisture content to burnable levels.

TomZ
Tom

 

[Trond from Norway]

Just a thought, and I know that it is not what you asked for, but:

There are valves for log splitters that greatly increases the outward piston speed. They work by routing the oil from the - chamber into the other side of the cylinder, thus the oil amount from the pump decreases.
And it is smart as well, because when resistance increases, it switches to "normal" mode.

Info here, but in Norwegian:
http://www.okonomi-deler.no/pdf/hydro/hydro-22.html

 

[Trond from Norway]

Just a thought, and I know that it is not what you asked for, but:

There are valves for log splitters that greatly increases the outward piston speed. They work by routing the oil from the - chamber into the other side of the cylinder, thus the oil amount from the pump decreases.
And it is smart as well, because when resistance increases, it switches to "normal" mode.

Info here, but in Norwegian:
http://www.okonomi-deler.no/pdf/hydro/hydro-22.html