Hydrogen generator?

[ralphinnj]

any results....huh?

 

[Zookie400]

any results....huh?

yes....i was 3rd overall.

will be working on the generator this week, in my "spare time"

 

[jturbodiesel]

yes....i was 3rd overall.

will be working on the generator this week, in my "spare time"

 

[Tbar]

It is a TOTAL load of BS. Don't waste your time or energy. The energy needed to break apart hydrogen from water (yielding oxygen gas and hydrogen gas) EQUALS what you will get back when you re-introduce them into te combstion chamber and make...guess what...water). Here is the bad news: the efficiency of breaking water to oxygen and hydrogen is less than the efficiency of burning it in your engine. This is a SCAM, and anyone doing it will never yield better true mileage.

Here is something to think about: The heat of combustion of hydrogen is about 3x that of diesel (61,000BTU/lb for hydrogen, 19,300BTU/lb for diesel). Those scam kits give you a 1-liter container that you fill with water, add the electrodes and then attach to your battery system. The off gas is routed to your intake. Simple system, but worthless.

Anyway, let's consider the energy equivalent of this 1-liter container. 1-liter of water is 1000g. Water has a molecular weight of 18g, so since hydrogen has an atomic weight of 1 and oxygen has an atomic weight of 16, you can calculate that 2/18ths of the weight of any container of water is the hydrogen contained in it. In other words (just trust me on this if you are not a chemist/engineer), 1000g of water, which is about what they give you in these kits, is about 111g hydrogen. That is ~0.25 pounds. Since it has ~3x the energy content of diesel, that 0.25 pounds of hydrogen (which is what you could maximally extract from that 1-liter jug) is about the same as 0.75 pounds of diesel fuel. A gallon of diesel weighs about 7.15 pounds, so real rough, 0.75 pounds is about a tenth of a gallon.

So, in the best case scenario, where you get the hydrogen for free, the entire container equates to a tenth of a gallon of extra diesel fuel. The "inventors" (quacks) say the container lasts a few tank fulls of fuel, so imagine how small the gains will be of geting an extra 0.1 gallons spread out over, say, 100 gallons of normal fueling. A 0.1% efficiency increase, which you couldn't even measure.

Anyone who swears this stuff works is dissillusioned. As I said, the energy needed to split off the hydrogen exceeds (or at best equals) the energy you will get back. So, in fact, using this should result in a net negative impact to fuel efficiency, if it could be measured. It is worthless, don't waste your time. But it is an interesting chemistry/engineering exercise to prove that it is BS.

Ralph

While I am skeptical and wondering the same thing you are the only calculation needed is one at the fuel pump.

The miles driven/# of gals fuel used with the system vs without it is the only numbers you need to look at. This calculation has already factored in the amount of energy used to produce the gas. Of course the cost of materials used will also need to be amortized into the equation as well.

I am watching this tread with great interest for real world numbers.


Tbar

 

[Tbar]

Any results on the testing yet???


Tbar

 

[Zookie400]

well i still havent had enough free time to make my full sized generator, and even after i do make it......IM RIDING THE BIKE NOW! so my numbers wont be in for some time, unless we get a looooong rain storm.

im not sure how far along the other experimenters are with their generators......

 

[FordGuy100]

well i still havent had enough free time to make my full sized generator, and even after i do make it......IM RIDING THE BIKE NOW! so my numbers wont be in for some time, unless we get a looooong rain storm.

im not sure how far along the other experimenters are with their generators......

I'm still experimenting with small scale models.

 

[ralphinnj]

The miles driven/# of gals fuel used with the system vs without it is the only numbers you need to look at....Tbar

Agree 100%. My theoretical discussions are to show that it is impossible, but as usual, there are always some who don't believe the science. But who am I? Why would I know anything about this.....besides having a Ph.D. that happened to be studying the hydrocracking of heavy oil feedstocks. Even a bull*****ter couldn't come up with that last line. (And for those that don't know, heavy oil feedstocks and diesel fuel are not many steps apart in the refinery)

You'll be waiting the rest of your life for those results, and even then, they won't come.

Ralph

 

[Zookie400]

You'll be waiting the rest of your life for those results, and even then, they won't come.

i think hes losing sleep over this.....

FordGuy100- how many plates (and how big are they) do you plan on using in your full size generator?

 

[FordGuy100]

i think hes losing sleep over this.....

FordGuy100- how many plates (and how big are they) do you plan on using in your full size generator?

I'm thinking my full size generator is going to be a little on the big side. I'm thinking 40-60 plates, 2-3 plates per little section (I'm thinking about basing my system off of that one big one on youtube, search hydrogen generator, it should be the first one). Probably 4x6" each. I'll use ammonia in it as well. I might upgrade my alternator to one from an ambulance that will put out 160+amps so if it pulls 50+amps it wont be a big deal.