Week 7: Successful Burning Mechanism Achieved

This week, we were able to successfully develop a wick mechanism that will allow the biodiesel to burn at a sufficient rate. Previously, all the wick designs resulted in flames that died out quickly or burned too slowly. After experimenting with varying placement, number of wicks. and amount of biodiesel in the container, we have come up with a simple and effective design. This design involves braiding three pieces of string together to create one wick. The instructions for braiding are located here. We place three of these braided wicks into the container. We then completely soak them in biodiesel. Additionally, we make sure the container is at least half filled with biodiesel. To achieve the most accurate results, we pre-burned the wicks to the point that they no longer burn. At this point, the wicks themselves cease to burn and the flame continues because the wick is pulling up the biodiesel.

What we have concluded was our main problem originally with respect to burning the biodiesel at a sufficient rate was that the conditions did not allow the biodiesel to climb up the wick quickly enough. To fix this, we increased the amount of wick and raised the level of the biodiesel within the container.

This burner design, incorporating 3 triple braided wicks, is extremely effective.