The principle of operation of the gas generator. Wood-burning gas generator for home heating: do-it-yourself device and manufacture Wood-burning engine principle of operation in

Soot is not emitted in this case.

With the advent of the energy crisis and the rise in gas and fuel prices, people have increasingly become interested in alternative forms of energy, switching to solid fuel boilers. Let's look at three examples of how people can ride on wood.

The history of wood-burning cars

Alexey Lagunov cars on gas generators

“In May 2013, I accidentally found out that there are cars that run on wood - that is, with the help of a gas generator. Then I found out that there is old Soviet literature, according to which you can learn how to build the same devices yourself. I told my fellow friends about it, and we did the calculations ourselves and put everything together ourselves. Of course, at first there were mistakes, but in the end we made sure that everything worked perfectly.”

“During the ride, firewood burns in a metal container, which is very easy to build,” Sergey explained the principle by which the mechanism works. - There is little oxygen, and therefore they do not burn like in a fire. Carbon monoxide is produced, enters the engine and there it performs the function of gasoline or propane. The output is carbon dioxide - as if we were opening a bottle of soda. No harmful emissions, it is ten times more environmentally friendly than gasoline. It also has a very positive effect on plants.

Evgeny Kolyvan, Opel on wood

“My Opel can run on both gasoline and wood,” says Evgeny. - The car is not new, 1986 release. I decided to redo it last winter. Due to the rise in the price of gasoline, it became expensive to travel to work, so I came up with an alternative option. It is easier to ride on wood than to pedal a bicycle. It was easy to change the car. I am a teacher of physics and mathematics by profession. For several years I worked at a school, and now I am repairing cars at a private service station. In the trunk, I attached a metal barrel and a can, in which firewood is laid. They smolder, releasing gas that is filtered, cooled and fed into the engine through pipes.

Riding on wood is also environmentally friendly. Only water vapor and carbon dioxide come out of the Opel's exhaust pipe.

Once I was stopped by traffic cops to ask how I converted the Opel in such a way. They didn't even ask for documents. Soon it will be a year since I began to ride on firewood, and I have never regretted it. During this time, "wound" more than 7000 kilometers. Saved where 15,000 hryvnia. Since the terrain in the Chernihiv region is wooded, there are enough “gas stations” along the way. I took out a saw from the trunk, which I jokingly call the "Refueling Gun", sawed dry branches - and forward. If there is no time to stop or drove into the field, then you can switch to gasoline.

December 11th, 2015 Admin

A long time ago, in the 1930s, the first tests of unusual - gas-generating - cars took place in our country. Outwardly, they differed from ordinary ones in that they were equipped with a box-shaped structure behind the cab, but inside there were much more differences, because wooden chocks were used as fuel! They were not produced from a good life, because the country did not have enough gasoline. Therefore, despite the fact that such cars had fewer advantages than disadvantages, they continued to be produced. In the Great Patriotic War, gas generator trucks were actively used in the rear. After all, all liquid fuel went to the front, but it was not enough for civilian vehicles.

After the war, the supply situation began to improve, and gas-generating cars became part of history. However, to this day there are people who are trying to create such devices with their own hands for domestic needs, and some craftsmen are experimenting on their machines by installing a gas generator on them.

Does it make sense to re-equip your "iron horse"? And how does a wood-fired gas generator work in general? We will consider these questions in today's article.

At first, it will be advisable to figure out what is the scheme of operation of a gas generating installation. Perhaps this knowledge will not be useful to you, but if you seriously want to understand this topic, you cannot do without this information.

The full name of this type of installation sounds like "pyrolysis gas generator". This device is designed to release a mixture of gases by pyrolysis (thermal decomposition) of firewood, peat briquettes, charcoal or other types of solid fuel, in order to then use this mixture in an internal combustion engine as a fuel.

Below we will consider the principle of operation and the design of a gas generating installation in which firewood is used as fuel.

The principle of operation is based on the fact that during the pyrolysis of wood a mixture of several combustible gases is released. It consists of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane and other unsaturated hydrocarbons.

Composition of pyrolysis gas from wood:

In addition, it contains non-combustible compounds, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor.

For example: We will calculate the calorific value of gas when birch is used as fuel.

Q n r\u003d 127.5 * 28.4% + 108.1 * 3.0% + 358.8 * 18.2 + 604.4 * 1.4 \u003d 11 321.62 kJ / m 3 \u003d 11.3 MJ / m 3

And who cares how much it is in kcal / m 3, then you need to divide the calorie content of gas by 4,187 . Hence Q n r\u003d 2704 kcal / m 3. If we compare this indicator with natural gas, then its calorific value is about 8000 kcal / m 3.

However, it is not enough just to isolate the gas mixture, it is also necessary to make it suitable as a fuel for internal combustion engines. For this reason, a whole technological process takes place in the gas generator, which can be divided into several stages:

1) On the first of them, fuel (in our case, firewood) is not burned, but thermally decomposes due to oxygen deficiency, which is supplied in the amount of 1/3 of the normal amount for combustion;

2) On the second, volatile particles are removed by means of a cyclone (in other words, a dry vortex filter);

4) Then the cooled mixture is sent for fine cleaning;

5) Ultimately, the gas is fed into the mixer, and through it it enters the engine.

Below is a diagram of an industrial-type gas generator, which differs from an automobile one in that it has a scrubber (additional coarse filter), and the fuel is supplied to the distribution tank:

The main unit, from among those presented in the diagram, is, of course, a gas generator. Outwardly, it looks like a column in the form of a cylinder or parallelepiped, which gradually tapers towards the bottom. Several nozzles exit the housing through which air enters and the combustible mixture exits. In addition, a hatch has been cut that provides access to the ash pan. At the top of the gas generator there is a large lid that opens during fuel loading. There is no chimney, because it is not needed. Below is a diagram of the gas generator:

Where 1 - BUNKER, 2 - FUELER, 3 - ash pan;

The rest of the units presented in the general scheme of the gas generator plant are necessary in order to purify the gas mixture and make it suitable for use in the internal combustion engine, since in its original form it is heavily contaminated with small particles and has an excessively high temperature.

Naturally, installations that are produced by the artisanal method are much simpler than industrial ones, which, alas, most dramatically affects their efficiency.

Interesting facts about gas generators - true or false?

Gas generating installations are surrounded by a whole cloud of myths that wander from one magazine to another and are actively exaggerated on the Web. Sometimes there are absolutely fantastic statements. Do they have real ground? Not always, and you will be convinced of this.

Myth #1.

The statement about the allegedly incredibly high efficiency of the gas generator. Sky-high figures of 90% or even more are given. In fact, due to the chemical reactions occurring during the pyrolysis process, the efficiency does not exceed 75-80%.

Myth #2.

It sounds like this: a gas generator set can operate without any problems even on wet fuel. In part, this is true, so such a statement is not entirely a myth. However, there is a small nuance - wet fuel reduces the volume of the resulting mixture. In some cases, the drop in productivity can reach 1/4, and all because the thermal energy is spent not on the release of gases, but on the evaporation of water vapor, which leads to a drop in temperature and a slowdown in the pyrolysis process. So the firewood should be thoroughly dried before laying in the bunker.

Myth #3

It lies in the fact that when using a gas generator, you can save on heating your home when compared with a traditional solid fuel boiler. You can verify the incorrectness of this thesis by making simple arithmetic calculations of the cost of the boiler and the gas generator installation, which will still take up a lot of space.

How to make a car on wood with your own hands

If you want to try converting your car to wood, there will be many obstacles in your way. When designing a gas generating plant, you will need to make it small, fairly light, and at the same time highly efficient. If finances allow, the best solution would be to follow the path of craftsmen from abroad and use stainless steel for the body of the gas generator itself, filter and cooler.

This will give you a noticeable gain in the mass of the entire structure, and without loss of strength. However, stainless steel will cost you a pretty penny, and therefore domestic craftsmen often replace it with ordinary steel.

The image below shows a diagram of the most advanced automobile gas generating unit, which was equipped with serial cars (we are talking about the UralZIS-352 truck, produced in the 1950s). It is on its design that it is best to focus on when assembling your gas generator:

To begin with, it will be necessary to make an external container - a strong iron barrel or a rolled and welded sheet of metal with a thickness of at least 1 mm is perfect for this purpose, while a gas cylinder (for propane) or a receiver from a truck (KamAZ, for example) will do for the inside. Do not forget to cut a door in the body to access the ash pan, otherwise you will not be able to clean it. A neck should be placed at the bottom of the combustion chamber - resins will be deposited there. The grate is easy to make from durable fittings, and for pipes you will have to find pipes of a suitable size and diameter. A 5 mm thick sheet of metal will make an excellent cover and bottom. Use an asbestos cord as a sealant (do not forget to impregnate it in the form of graphite grease).

A used fire extinguisher can be used on the coarse filter. In the lower part, it is equipped with a cone-shaped nozzle with a fitting, and a branch pipe is welded in from above, through which the purified gas will exit. On the side, into the body, another fitting cuts into the supply of combustion products. The general scheme of the cyclone is shown below:

Since the mixture of gases has too high a temperature, it cannot be used in an internal combustion engine. Therefore, the gases must be cooled. As a cooler, you can use both an ordinary "accordion" used in heating systems, and a more advanced bimetallic radiator, placing it so that it is well blown by the oncoming air flow.

After the cooler, the gases must be cleaned again using a fine filter. Here, too, the case from the old fire extinguisher is suitable, but choose the filter element at your discretion. Units and assemblies should be combined according to this scheme:

In addition, you will need 2 more parts. The first of these is a mixer, with which you will regulate the fuel-air mixture for the internal combustion engine. The second is a fan with a relay, which is necessary for pumping gas during ignition (after starting the engine, a vacuum appears in the system, and the fan should turn off at this stage). By the way, the fan is installed in an air distribution box equipped with a check valve. The box is not part of the gas generator, but is installed separately.

Although the idea of ​​converting a car from gasoline to wood seems very attractive, an equivalent replacement will not work. With all the advantages of a gas generator, an engine running on a mixture of combustible gases is simply unable to develop power comparable to a liquid fuel engine. As a result, the dynamics leave much to be desired (even 70-80 km / h - the speed is almost unattainable). Another thing is if a gas generating installation is created for the purpose of heating housing in non-gasified settlements. In this case, this is a very good option, which is definitely worth paying attention to.

People invented electricity, learned how to use solar and wind energy, extract various minerals, such as oil and gas. However, most of them still continue to burn wood in furnaces. Sawdust and other waste from the woodworking industry can be used if you make a wood-burning gas-generating car with your own hands. Many masters today successfully operate such devices.

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The principle of the car

A feature of the gas generator for a wood-burning car is the unit in which the gas mixture is extracted. Then it enters the internal combustion engine, where it is burned. As a result of these processes, the machine moves. When using such a device, it must be taken into account that it takes up a lot of space and requires the use of additional equipment- filters, pipes and radiator.

A gas generator is a device that turns wood into gas. Everyone knows that gas is an alternative energy source for cars. This is confirmed by a large number of gas stations. However, getting fuel on your own is not only possible, but quite real. The onboard structure is capable of producing as many resources as the vehicle needs. However, there is one caveat: hot fuel is less efficient, especially if impurities are present in it. Therefore, the first step is to cool it, and then clean it.

After leaving the unit, the gas moves through the pipes to the filter, and then to the radiator. During movement, it is cleaned of dust and acids. In addition, its temperature decreases. In the process of passing through the labyrinths, impurities settle on the walls in the form of liquid or solid particles. Through a special tee, the gas is combined with oxygen and sent to the engine. Then the mixture reaches not only the required condition, but also ends up in the engine. After that, the gas enters the combustion chamber and sets the car in motion.

The suspension, interior, engine and clutch of the car remain in place. The only problem is where to place the gas generator and how to lay the pipeline so that the machine looks like a steam locomotive. All these questions should be studied in detail before starting work.



The essence of the gas generator

It is quite possible to make a car on wood with your own hands. The manufacture of a gas generator is a feasible task, however, as well as its installation. To begin with, it is important to understand the features of the unit and the essence of the process. The design itself is presented in the form of a cylinder narrowed at the bottom. Figuratively, you can call it a bunker, a store for firewood in which is a cylindrical part. In the narrow half, combustion occurs.

The workpieces themselves fall under the influence of their own weight. This ensures an uninterrupted supply of fuel to the combustion source. Ash settles in a special container, which periodically requires cleaning. Firewood is loaded into the hatch from above.

Small workpieces are tightly placed from the grate to the lid. The latter is hermetically sealed to minimize leakage. The device is kindled, after a while the car can hit the road.

The design should not be confused with an open fire. The oxygen required for combustion is supplied in portions through a special tube. On the opposite side there is a hole for the gas outlet. With portioned air supply, active combustion is not carried out. Wooden blanks undergo pyrolysis - they smolder on low heat, actively releasing a combustible mixture.

Wood burning car - made in Donetsk

The main purpose of the gas generator is to produce a combustible gas called carbon monoxide. It is this substance that will burn in the internal combustion engine. This procedure can be positioned as complete and partial combustion, during which carbon monoxide is formed. In addition, carbon dioxide is released. When burned in contact with moisture, firewood forms a mixture that consists of:

• methane;
• unsaturated hydrocarbons;
• carbon monoxide;
• hydrogen.




In addition, during the combustion process, several non-combustible components are released. These include:

• oxygen;
• water;
• carbon dioxide;
• nitrogen.



Types of structures

There are three types of gas generators for a car. If oxygen is supplied from the bottom, and gas is taken from above, this is a direct-flow product. With such an arrangement of nozzles, the gas mixture is released during combustion at the bottom of the cone. In the process of movement of gases through coal and chocks of wood, air and heat are released. After the blanks are passed through a hot gas mixture, they are dried and prepared for pyrolysis.

If the supply of oxygen to support combustion is carried out at the beginning of the narrow part of the bunker, and the gas mixture is taken from below, then this type of device is called reverse or overturned. The wood is ignited inside, above the grate zone. Pipes for gas removal are located below the grate. A similar principle of operation is similar to a smoking pipe.

There is also an alternative option - the combustion chamber at the reverse gas generator is limited by a special inclined partition. Opposite the oxygen supply pipe, on the back side of the partition, there is a niche from which combustible gas is taken. Oxygen supply and gas exhaust pipes are located on the same level. The pipe supply line crosses the bunker across, so this design is called horizontal.

3) Do-it-yourself wood-burning gas generator #3

Direct-flow and horizontal gas generators have shown themselves well when using peat, charcoal or coke. The overturned type of equipment is widely used for riding dry wood chocks.



Device Features

A characteristic feature of all gas generators is the movement of carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide) through decaying coal. In this case, the gas mixture gives off excess air and is converted into carbon monoxide. It is desirable that a cyclone filter be placed between the heat exchanger and the combustion chamber. This is necessary to ensure that the gas mixture is purified from all kinds of mechanical impurities. Such a device can trap about 90% of flying dust.

The radiator plays an essential role. Cooling, the gas becomes more concentrated and decreases in volume. This contributes to the supply of more fuel to the internal combustion engine. Engine power during operation directly depends on the temperature indicators of the gaseous mixture. This is because the gas is resistant to detonation, so it must be cooled to increase compression.

A fine filter element made of two canisters is considered compact. Mineral wool and slag in granules are placed inside the tanks. They will clean the gas well. At the bottom of the filter and heat exchanger, it is imperative to install taps. This is necessary to drain the condensate. After cleaning and cooling of the gas mixture, dew falls. Every 200 km of driving, about 3 liters of liquid is collected in the tank.

Welds and joints must be sealed, because in the event of a leak with the constant addition of firewood, the speed and performance of the car engine will remain at a minimum level. The assembled unit must be well fixed so that it does not collapse from vibration during movement.

do-it-yourself gas generator for cars

A wood-burning gas engine for a car can be of various shapes and sizes. There are no specific requirements for these indicators. However, it must be borne in mind that the device must necessarily be created from metal with a thickness of at least 3 mm. Where exactly to install the structure, each motorist decides for himself.

When choosing a location, it is important to consider not only the dimensions of the entire unit, heat exchanger and filters, but also the length of the nozzles. It is important that the batch of fuel is loaded through the cover from above. While the engine is running, refueling is carried out with a slight emission of gas. If the internal combustion engine is turned off, and the mass continues to burn in the device, loading a new batch is accompanied by the appearance of a plentiful cloud.

You can place such a device only outside the car and always behind. This is because the structure must be freely accessible. The longer the planned distances without refueling, the larger the dimensions of the product. The constituent elements of the apparatus must be made in accordance with the dimensions of the hopper.




The gas generator on a truck can be placed between the cab and the board on the driver's side. Pipes, heat exchanger and filter element may be placed behind the cab. The fine filter should be located on the opposite side of the cabin (behind the passenger door). For convenient removal of condensate, pipes and drain valves are led below the fine filter element.

On a passenger car, it is recommended to install the device on an open part. To do this, you can modify the trunk, weld a trailer, etc. It all depends on the taste preferences and fantasies of the owner. It is not recommended to install the equipment in the trunk under the lid, since during its operation smoke and coal dust will enter the car interior.

Gas generator - unit which produces combustible gas. After running the latter through cleaning filters and a cooling radiator, a clean and cold gas mixture is obtained. Carbon monoxide can replace the classic fuel option, keeping the engine running smoothly. Gasoline internal combustion engines operate with a gas generating device without significant performance losses.

DIY manufacturing

The production of any device begins with the production of a drawing. After studying the detailed information, a person has an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe external design of the unit. Then it remains to bring your idea to life.

To make the device look aesthetically pleasing, you should choose the right details . For its manufacture you will need:

First you need to make 5-6 holes at the top of the pipe. It will become the top of the structure. An oxygen supply tube should be welded to one of the holes obtained. The rest will release gas. In the lower part it is necessary to weld a perforated stainless steel bottom. Get the grate part, which will accommodate the coals. Dust will come out through the holes.

From the inside of the resulting glass, a metal cone is welded to supply coal. Then a metal sheet should be welded with a hole the size of which matches the inner diameter of the pipe. The structure must be placed perpendicular to the top of the tube. The sheet will become the bottom of the hopper. The functions of the latter will be performed by a can.

The resulting workpiece is placed in a barrel and welded in such a way that there is room for ash below, and the neck of the can is placed above the barrel. Then one of the can holes must be aligned with the combustion chamber and connected with an oxygen supply tube. Further, a metal sheet is welded in the upper part, which covers the difference in the size of the neck of the can and the barrel. The structure is ready.

Making a car on wood with your own hands is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. The procedure requires a lot of effort and time. However, for a skilled craftsman who is ready to experiment and is not afraid of difficulties, this is a very real task. It is very important to study in detail the device and the principle of operation of the product, as well as to correctly draw up its drawing.

Let's make a reservation right away: if a car runs on wood, this does not mean that it is a steam locomotive without rails. The low efficiency of the steam engine, with its separate firebox, boiler, and double-triple expansion cylinders, left steam cars among the forgotten exotics. And today we will talk about "wood-burning" transport with the usual internal combustion engines, engines that burn fuel inside themselves.

Of course, no one has yet been able to push firewood (or something similar) into the carburetor instead of gasoline, but the idea to get combustible gas from wood right on board the car and feed it into the cylinders as fuel has taken root for many years. We are talking about gas generator cars, cars whose classic internal combustion engine runs on generator gas, which is obtained from wood, organic briquettes, or coal. By the way, such machines also do not refuse the usual liquid fuel - they are able to run on gasoline.

Holy simplicity

Generator gas is a mixture of gases, consisting mainly of carbon monoxide CO and hydrogen H2. This gas can be obtained by burning wood placed in a thick layer in a limited amount of air. An automobile gas generator also works on this simple principle, which is essentially a simple unit, but cumbersome and structurally complicated by additional systems.

Also, in addition to the actual production of generator gas, an automobile gas generator unit cools it, cleans it and mixes it with air. Accordingly, a structurally classical installation includes the gas generator itself, coarse and fine filters, coolers, an electric fan to speed up the ignition process and pipelines.

I take the refinery with me

The simplest gas generator has the form of a vertical cylinder, into which fuel is loaded almost to the top - firewood, coal, peat, pressed pellets, etc. The combustion zone is located below, it is here, in the lower layer of the burning fuel, that a high temperature is created (up to 1,500 degrees Celsius), which is necessary for the release of future components of the fuel mixture from the upper layers - carbon monoxide CO and hydrogen H2. Next, the hot mixture of these gases enters the cooler, which lowers the temperature, thus increasing the specific calorific value of the gas. This rather large assembly usually had to be placed under the car body. The filter-cleaner, located next to the gas flow, rids the future fuel mixture of impurities and ash. Next, the gas is sent to the mixer, where it is combined with air, and the finally prepared mixture is sent to the combustion chamber of the car engine.

Scheme of the ZIS-21 car with a gas generator

As you can see, the fuel production system right on board a truck or passenger car took up quite a lot of space and weighed a lot. But the game was worth the candle. Thanks to their own - and, moreover, gratuitous - fuel, enterprises located hundreds and thousands of kilometers from fuel supply bases could afford their autonomous vehicles. This advantage for a long time could not overshadow all the shortcomings of gas-generating cars, and there were many of them:

Significant reduction in mileage per refueling;
- reduction in the carrying capacity of the car by 150-400 kg;
- reduction of the useful volume of the body;
- the troublesome process of "refueling" the gas generator;
- an additional set of routine maintenance work;
- starting the generator takes from 10-15 minutes;
- a significant reduction in engine power.

ZiS 150UM, experimental model with NAMI 015UM gas generator

There are no gas stations in Taiga

Wood has always been the main fuel for natural gas vehicles. First of all, of course, where there is an abundance of firewood - in logging, in furniture and construction industries. Traditional timber processing technologies in the industrial use of wood in the heyday of "gasgens" about 30% of the mass of the forest were released into waste. They were also used as automobile fuel. Interestingly, the rules for the operation of domestic "gasgens" strictly prohibited the use of industrial wood, since there was an abundance of waste from the forest industry. Both soft and hard woods were suitable for gas generators.

The only requirement is the absence of rot on the chocks. As shown by numerous studies conducted in the 30s at the Scientific Automotive and Tractor Institute of the USSR, oak, beech, ash and birch are best suited as fuel. The chocks used to fill the boilers of gas generators most often had a rectangular shape with a side of 5-6 centimeters. Agricultural waste (straw, husk, sawdust, bark, cones, etc.) was pressed into special briquettes and also "filled" with them gas generators.

The main disadvantage of "gasgens", as we have already said, can be considered a low mileage at one gas station. So, one load of wood chocks to Soviet trucks (see below) was enough for no more than 80-85 km of run. Given that the operating manual recommends "refueling" when the tank is empty by 50-60%, then the mileage between refueling is reduced to 40-50 km. Secondly, the plant itself, which produces generator gas, weighs several hundred kilograms. In addition, engines running on such gas produce 30-35% less power than their gasoline counterparts.

Refinement of cars for firewood

Cars had to be adapted to work on a gas generator, but the changes were not serious and were sometimes available even outside the factory. Firstly, the compression ratio was increased in the engines so that the loss of power was not so significant. In some cases, even turbocharging was used to improve the filling of the engine cylinders. On many "gasified" cars, an electrical equipment generator with increased output was installed, since a fairly powerful electric fan was used to blow air into the furnace.

ZIS-13

To maintain traction characteristics, especially for trucks, with reduced engine power, the transmission ratios were made higher. The speed of movement fell, but for cars used in the wilderness and other desert and remote areas, this was not of decisive importance. To compensate for the weight distribution that has changed due to the heavy gas generator, the suspension was strengthened in some cars.

In addition, due to the bulkiness of the "gas" equipment, it was partly necessary to reconfigure the car: change, move the loading platform or cut the truck cab, abandon the trunk, transfer the exhaust system.

The golden era of "gasgen" in the USSR and abroad

The heyday of gas-generating cars fell on the 30-40s of the last century. At the same time, in several countries with large needs for cars and small explored oil reserves (USSR, Germany, Sweden), engineers from large enterprises and research institutes set about developing wood-fired vehicles. Soviet specialists were more successful in creating trucks.

GAZ-42

From 1935 until the very beginning of World War II, at various enterprises of the Ministry of Forestry and the Gulag (the Main Directorate of Camps, alas, the realities of that time), the GAZ-AA lorry and the ZIS-5 three-ton, as well as buses based on them, were remade to work with wood. Also, in separate batches, gas-generating versions of trucks were produced by the machine manufacturers themselves. For example, Soviet auto historians give the figure 33,840 - so many GAZ-42 gas-generating "lorries" were produced. More than 16 thousand units of gas generator ZISs of the ZIS-13 and ZIS-21 models were produced in Moscow.

ZIS-21

Before the war, Soviet engineers created more than 300 different versions of gas generators, of which 10 reached serial production. During the war, serial plants prepared drawings of simplified installations that could be manufactured locally in auto repair shops without the use of sophisticated equipment. According to the recollections of residents of the northern and northeastern regions of the USSR, wood-fired trucks could be found in the outback until the 70s of the twentieth century.

In Germany during the Second World War, there was an acute shortage of gasoline. The design bureaus of two companies (Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz) were tasked with developing gas-powered versions of their popular compact cars. Both firms in a fairly short time coped with the task. Volkswagen Beetle and Mercedes-Benz 230 got on the conveyor. It is interesting that in serial cars, additional equipment did not even stand out for the standard dimensions of "passenger cars". Volkswagen went even further and created a prototype of the "wood-burning" military Volkswagen Tour 82 ("Kubelvagen").

Volkswagen Tour 82

Wood burning machines today

Fortunately, the main advantage of gas-generating cars - independence from the gas station network, has become of little relevance today. However, in the light of modern environmental trends, another advantage of wood-burning cars has come to the fore - working on renewable fuel without any chemical preparation, without additional energy wasted for fuel production. As theoretical calculations and practical tests show, a wood-burning engine does less harm to the atmosphere with its emissions than a similar engine, but already running on gasoline or diesel fuel. The content of exhaust gases is very similar to the emissions of internal combustion engines running on natural gas.

Nevertheless, the topic of wood-burning cars has lost its former popularity. Gas generators are not forgotten mainly by enthusiastic engineers who, for the sake of saving on fuel or as an experiment, convert their personal cars to run on generator gas. In the post-Soviet space, there are successful examples of "gasgens" based on the AZLK-2141 and GAZ-24 passenger cars, the GAZ-52 truck, the RAF-2203 minibus, etc. According to the designers, their creations can travel up to 120 km at a single gas station at a speed of 80- 90 km/h

Gas generating unit GAZ-52

The only country today in which wood-burning cars are massively used is North Korea. In connection with the total world isolation, there is a certain shortage of liquid fuel. And firewood again comes to the rescue of those who find themselves in a difficult situation.