Hydrogen / Gasoline Hybrid Geo Metro Project

 

After exhaustive study, I decided to embark on an experiment of my own implementing an electrolysis cell to produce Brown’s Gas (H2 & O2).  I found plans and pictures on a website to build the cell.  I built it exactly as the pictures showed, but it didn’t work like the video showed.  There were some unknowns, like if anything was added to the water to help electrolysis, and after the device was drawing a little over 25 amps, and not producing very much Brown’s Gas, I decided to change the design.  In the video, the device was constructed as shown in this picture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the cell I built with 8 plates and ¼” posts:

It is almost exactly the same.  I used four 304 Stainless plates 2” x 5”, spaced 1/8” apart with vinyl spacers, at first to duplicate the device.  It didn’t work like the video showed.  I then built four more plates, now with 8 plates, it was producing gas at twice the rate in the first test, which I expected.  It pulled about 28 amps, less than expected.  It was still not producing gas as fast as the video showed. 

 

I studied the experiments online closely, and concluded that the vacuum from the carburator was causing the ionic gasses to be expelled by the water faster.  I decided to connect the device to my Geo Metro.  I found an unused vacuum hose connection with a rubber cap on it located just under the air filter so the vacuum would be strong.  It still did not work the same.  It was, however, producing a reasonable amount of gas.  I was not satisfied.  I knew that adding salt to the water would make the resistance in the water decrease, so I added a dash of table salt.  When I turned the device on, it ran for about 20 seconds and pulled about 65 amps.  It fried the 30A relay. 

I then replaced the burnt relay with a much bigger contactor relay.  I bridged all the contact points together on each side to maximize the amperage value for the relay.  I was not having any more burnt relays getting in the way.  The new relay could sustain 200A continuously.  The result was a cell that produced gas at the rate that I saw in the video.  Finally!  I have achieved my goal!  Then I got the Tim Allen disease, and wanted more power! 

 

I added a table spoon of salt to the container.  The water was now saturated with salt.  I turned the cell on and ran the motor for about 10 minutes.  The cell was producing a lot of gas. 

The idling RPM’s were at 1000 before, and with the device turned on the engine was turning 900 RPM’s.  The current draw was putting a load on my little 3 cylinder engine.  I forgot to measure the final amperage draw of the cell, but the 10 AWG wire was getting hot.  The plastic top of the cell was melting after 15 min of running non-stop.  After 20 minutes, I had to turn it off.  The plastic was starting to flame and detonate the gas in the cell.  It seems, the kinetic energy of the water directly affects the ability of the water to ionize.  As the cell heated up, the gas production was increasing exponentially. 

 

I then decided the cell was not going to do what I wanted and the value of the experiment was greater than the value of the cell.  I was facinated at how much gas was being produced and cursed myself for not having any tools to measure the cubic feet per minute.

 

I plan to build another cell that can run continously without the extreme heat build-up at the terminals.  I think the weakness in design was the ¼” stainless bolts I used for the connection posts, and the O-ring connectors I crimped onto the 10 AWG wires.  These items were clearly not large enough for the current passing through them.  I also do not believe I had an adaquate seal around the posts of the cell.  I was losing vacuum around the bolts.  I will re-build this cell using 5/16” stainless bolts with high-temp silicone sealer around them.  This is a picture of the improved cell.

 

With the improvements described above, I can use the device for over an hour before the temperature gets above the limits of the plastic.  I also did some calculations on the gas produced.  It makes roughly 311 grams of Brown’s Gas per hour.  This is 13.67 cu. ft. of combined O2 and H2 gasses.  It comes out to 9.17 cu. ft. of H2 and 4.5 cu. ft. of O2 in one hour.  I have been using purified drinking water or tap water.  I tried distilled water and have to add an electrolyte for it to work. 

The calculations were done by using the volume of water that was used up after one hour.  I also noticed that as the temperature increases, the resistance in the cell decreases, which does not follow with most things that use electricity.  I have determined that if I use a transformer to step up the amperage and reduce the voltage, it will work better.  It will eventually get hot enough to melt the vinyl spacers.  I will need to rebuild using ceramic washers, nuts, and bolts.  I am having difficulty locating these parts though.  My budget has been very limited, and I have done everything so far with about 60 dollars.  I have found most of the materials needed at Home Depot, and the rest lying around in the garage. 

I am now in the process of building a larger cell that I hope to run on 120v AC with a 5v DC power supply that puts out about 50A.  This will be my first VLR cell.  It will have 3-1/2” wide by 7” plate electrodes.  The more surface area you have the lower the resistance.  I will use a supersaturated solution with NaCl.  I will be incorporating the use of powerful magnets to circulate the ions faster, and laser radiation to create a “partial fracturing” process that will disallow the H2 and O2 from recombining in the hose.  I will also use a 5KV power supply to further ionize the steam that evaporates from the solution during the process.  It will take about 2 weeks to build, but I will keep this page updated with my progress.