I posted some basic requirements in order to properly approach the analysis of an electrolysis cell here:
http://oupower.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2347
A few weeks ago we had decided to redesign and construct a new cell due to a large leak of which we could not seal. One thing i would like to stress is that our large leak was a pressure drop of .97681925~ N/m2 every 5 seconds. For those who would neglect this term i will convert that to PSI.
.97681925~ N/m2 = .00014167 psi
The reciprical of .00014167 = 7058.6574
If the term was linear for every 5 seconds, it would take 5 x 7058.6574
or 35293.287 seconds to drop 1 psi. But our cell is not intended to operate above 2490 N/m2 (that's ~ 36/100 of a psi)
If i have calculated things properly That's 9.8 hrs to leak 1 psi out of a volume < 5 liters(1.32 gal). Though the cell will never reach such an extreme pressure, and the term is NOT linear
We performed an initial leak test on the latest design and found it to be ok. In addition we also confirmed that IR radiation affects the pressure within the cell. At a distance of 4" from the cell with an open hand repeatible pressure increases were noted. This was confirmed with an electrical transducer as well as with a low angle water column gauge.
Since the cell exhibits IR radiative gain it is complimented that the cell will exhibit IR radiative loss as the temperature rises above the environment. The solution is to add a radiation sheild in the form of a reflective wrap as well as control the thermal gain of the cell medium.
This is more evidence that crude constructions are not likely to yeild representative results suitable for analysis. I'm not trying to tell anyone to stop experimenting. But if you are going to do this put a little thought in to it.
If you have a crude cell all figures cited are highly questionable. Secondly a crude cell is not likely to produce meaningful trend data across variables.
Though i highly doubt i will ask anyway. Has anyone constructed a cell intended for analysis?