Cell Progress Update

[spencyg]

Thanks for the interesting points Thomas. Currently the flow of water is directed from one diagonal corner to the other. It wouldn't be difficult to jumper the plates to simulate a parallel cell, and I'll be sure to report on the changes witnessed. One thing I can't easily do is change the plate area...I'm stuck with ~0.120" (1/8" hypalon gasket compressed). I have a PWM which will be hooked to the pump to allow flow variation. I'm a little confused with the implementation of a vortex tube. I certainly understand the theory, but am having trouble visualizing how one could seperate the gas from the water at the tip of the vortex. My current separator (going into production this week) pumps water through the center of a tube (concentric tubes) to an overflow point. As the water and gas spills over the edge of the interior tube, the gas should seperate as the water cascades down the wall into the lower level of water contained between the inner tube and outer tube. I'll have a float switch which will maintain the "moat" level approx 2" below the lip of the interior tube. I'm going to install baffles at the top of the system to prevent water from this system going into the bubbler farther down the line. This is all very confusing when written, so I'll just post pictures at the end of the week to clarify.

Spence

[spencyg]

I finally got around to hooking up the H cell last night for conditioning. I am pumping a very diluted solution (probably 3 tablespoons in 2 gallons of water) of NaOH and well water (not city water) at 2psi through the unit. It is nearly impossible for me to capture any production volume at the moment because my separator isn't finished yet. Presently I'm just drawing and returning electrolyte from a 1.5 gal bucket with an open top. Unfortunately, I don't have two battery chargers, so running the cell at 24V (the voltage it will see with the pulsed transformer) isn't a viable option. I ended up running the end plates at 0V potential, and tapping the center plate at 14V. This gives me 1.85V across each cell, and as of this morning, I was running around 0.77A. For some reason, last night at around 10:30p, the current got up to 0.97A...I think it had to do with the shop heat being on, and this morning, the heat had been off all night. There is no heating of the cell with this small amount of current. One interesting thing I noted was that when I turned the pump off, but left the cell on, the current dropped 30%. I have no way of knowing how much production stopped, as my gas exits the cell with the pumped water. The second I turn the pump back on, the current goes up 30%. There is no change in cell current draw when I vary the pressure beyond 1 psi (and thus, volume) at the pump, however I noticed that higher flow rates (@ ~4 psi) seem to break free any entrapped gas that may stick to the corners with the smaller flow rates. Anyway...I'll be very interested to actually record production volumes once the cell is conditioned and hooked to the separator.

Spence

[slash1]

Spence,

You are going to have contamination issues with well water city water for that matter. You need to use distilled water to keep contamination down and provide repeatable results.

Heath

[spencyg]

I am aware of the contamination issue...this is another compromise I have made. I will be on the road with the vehicle this system will be installed in for the better part of 12 months and 30,000 miles. Most of the travel will be occurring far away from civilization in Canada and throughout Central America. I could figure out how to make distilled water on-board with heat from the exhaust manifolds, and I may do just that. For now, I want to assume that I'll be stuck for the most part with water from any number of sources. This cell needs to perform acceptably with water from the tap...from a stream...from rain...etc. I've also compromised efficiency by pumping the cell, but as with all things, you can't always have your cake and eat it too. I'll be reporting on initial efficiencies next week.

Spence

[nickle989]

Most of the travel will be occurring far away from civilization in Canada and throughout Central America

sheesh spencyq ... we are civilised up here ... honestly we do not live in mud here and yup we do have roads ...

just kidding ... couldn't resist

... the various contamination in the different waters will play greatly on your production rate .. ie iron to calcium ... I would look to some filtration method .. to remove the various elements at the very least ... reverse osmosis systems require only water to be passed through the filters .. the household one ran me 120.00

[spencyg]

Haha....tuche' I should have specified the NWT factor....up there civilization has a different definition:) I suppose there is no argument about central America?

I hear ya on the contamination thing...I think the decision to use only distilled water will rely on how much water is consumed in the booster. If I'm having to come up with 3 or 4 gallons a day, than I'll run into trouble. On the other hand, if I only consume just ounces per day, than this could be easily produced. Assuming I consume too much water to realistically utilize distilled water, I will have to incorporate some filters into my pump loop, and plan on a PM schedule to keep the cell from building up too much crud.

Spence

[kevinsatterfield]

Spence why is there a DO NOT COPY title on yer update?

[spencyg]

I just put that on incase something ever came back at me....for the people who regular this place, I'm in no way worried about it. I have no interest in hiding any thing I'm doing. Most everything we are all working on here has already been figured out by somebody else who claims intellectual rights, so nobody here is going to make billions on recycled ideas. I just don't want somebody replicating my designs, maiming themselves, and coming back at me with a law suite. We live in a sue-happy culture, so I prefer to at least attempt to protect myself.

Spence