This is my first prototype. The entire assembly screws into a 4 inch ABS pipe. The 9 plates are 12" long making the entire assembly about 19" in length.
In this unit I'm using 1/4 spacing with a couple of neutral plates which can be connected electrically. I use the neutral plate connection to control amperage as the current draw changes with different temperatures.
All the plates and metal bolts are stainless steel. The plate mounting bolts are nylon. The brownish color is sediment after a couple of months in operation. I managed 19 mi/gal city and 37 miles to the gallon highway in my Bronco11 so far.
Its been almost two months of continuous use using baking soda as an electrolyte. As you can see some of the plates turn a dirty brown while others remain relatively clean. the reason for this is in the way the electrons travel, one side gets coated with the deposits of debris. I plan on a switching unit to reverse polarity occasionally to keep this contamination down to a minimum
I switch out this unit for a newer design today May 13/08. The new unit is much shorted has 19 plates with more neutral plates and is using a different electrolyte solution, (sodium hydroxide). The new unit is also about three times more efficient.
This is the test vehicle. A1986 Bronco with a 2.9 liter V6 with nearly 400,000 kilometers on it and its running strong with good power and no oil loss. I love the performance increase with the fuel cell. it has a lot more snap and better power over all.
Here is the fuel cell unit installed. I made a bracket which is bolted onto the front sway-bar mount. There isn't a whole lot of room under the hood which is one reason I decided to go with the tube configuration. Down the road I plan on using a battery size square box once I get to where I'm happy with results.
The temporary setup has the ammeter mounted to the cell and a Plexiglas bubble tube seen on the right is used to prevent backfires and explosions and is a operational aid.
19 plates with neutral plates between each positive and negative plate. These plates are 7" in length making the assemble only 13" tall. After the initial run I had to dump the electrolyte for straight water because the current draw was too high. Even with straight water the current was in the 40 to 60 amp range so I decided to rebuild after only a couple of runs.
The connections are very simple, I used ready rod bent at 90% for the positive and negative plates. I used copper wire on a third bolt to connect the neutral plates if desired but they weren't because of high current draw. The spacing here is 1.5mm or 1/16"
I reduced the configuration to 11 plates with 4mm or almost 1/8" spacing. Current draw is now about 25 amps cold, have not done road test yet. I was planning on building a heat exchanger into these units to keep a constant temperature with the engine coolant however with the new electrolyte it is much more stable with varying temperatures.
on the 4th of July I installed a small cell on my bike with a separate reservoir and a bubble chamber. This cell was originally designed for another use however its output was much higher than i thought it would be so I thought I'd try it here. The reservoir side shown here uses clear line to see water level.
The cell and the reservoir are both made of 1 1/2" ABS pipe. I am currently running on straight water after conditioning the plates. the system draws only 5 amps and does not increase in current noticeably as it heats up.
I had to add some blue LEDs just to make it more noticeable, Its too bad the water has to turn brown with the reaction. I may add a filter later. There is no difference in mileage yet although there is an improvement in power at lower RPM s. to make an increase in mileage I need to retard the timing however it is preset on this bike and can not be changed, I'll have to design an electronic interrupter delay circuit to do that.
In only a few days i noticed a crack in the Plexiglass - not good
Another trip to my local plastic shop to confer with my supplier and I got some Lexan - much tougher material
and I had to fabricate a tube to fitting so I could pass the gas through the water without leaks. A little drilling and soldering took care of that
ready to assemble again