GB2586628A

GB2586628A - Exploiting potential energy from rising gasses produced by electrolysis

Info

Publication number: GB2586628A
Application number: GB1912435.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stewan Kukard Gideon
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2019-08-30
Filing date: 2019-08-30
Publication date: 2021-03-03
Also published as: GB201912435D0

Abstract

A process that combines the potential energy of the gasses hydrogen and oxygen produced by electrolysis and the potential energy of the same hydrogen and oxygen rising in a liquid comprises a means of electrolysing a liquid. The gases produced are collected and used to produce electric or mechanical energy. The gases are then harvested and used as required. The system may use water or another liquid. The combination of these two potential energies allows for more energy/work/force to be gained than was used in the electrolysis process.

Description

Exploiting potential energy from rising gasses produced by electrolysis

Background:

Renewable technologies have in the past tried to exploit the rising gasses in a liquid to produce mechanical force or electricity. The problem that has always existed, was that the energy/force needed to pump/compress the gasses to the depth needed, used more energy than could be exploited by the gasses then rising back up (a dissipative process).

Any chemical reaction that creates gasses are temporary/consumes chemicals/produces waste chemicals or products. Rendering chemical processes to create the rising gasses, non-feasible as a viable renewable technology.

Electrolysis is a commonly used process used to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. The process runs an electrical current through water and one gas forms at the cathode and the other gas at the anode. These gasses will the naturally rise through the water. Chemicals can be added to the water to make the process more efficient. Some current electrolysis processes claim up to 85% efficiency, but they will always be negative yielding (under 100% efficient). It will always take more energy to split the water into the two gasses (Hydrogen and Oxygen) than the energy/work the two gasses can create, by any means. There are many well-known ways to exploit the gasses created by this process like; fuel cells for electricity or just combusting them. None create more energy overall, than the energy used by electrolysis to create the gasses in the first place.

Electrolysis is a process that can happen at any depth, until now this fact has never been exploited by another patent/process to create extra work/force/energy. The amount of energy used to perform electrolysis at 1 meter debth might be 70% efficient, while it might only drop slightly to 60% at 100 meters. It's a gain of a 100 fold increase of potential energy with only a 10% loss in efficiency.

Gasses rising in a liquid (like water) can create force/work on their way up. The deeper they rise from the more potential energy they have. The depth that electrolysis can create hydrogen and oxygen at, is near unlimited and the process can create near unlimited quantities of the two gasses.

With electrolysis performed at 100 meters in depth (while being 60% efficient for the electricity used) it is easy to see how the potential energy of the rising gasses can be exploited to perform force/work for more than the 40% extra needed (to get to 100%), to gain more energy than was used in the electrolysis itself.

Summary of the invention:

This patent combines the use of the gasses created by electrolysis and the force/work the gasses can exert while rising in a liquid, like water (the potential energy).

This patent is for a process that exploits the gasses (oxygen and hydrogen) created by electrolysis in two ways.

Firstly the rising of the gas/gasses through a liquid (like water) to create work/force/energy and secondly, once the gasses have created this work/force/energy the gas/gasses themselves, can be exploited to create work/force/energy via well known technologies like combustion engines or fuel cells.

The innovative step is to combine the gasses produced by electrolysis, rising through a liquid (like water) to create work/force/energy before the gas/gasses themselves are used to perform work/force/ create energy. The process can yield more energy than it takes to perform the electrolysis process itself, because the amount of energy needed to perform electrolysis at depth does not increase equal to the amount of work/force/energy (potential energy) that can be gained by the gasses rising back up, on a meter to meter basis.

This patent is to gain work from the gasses (created by electrolysis) rising through a liquid (like water) before the potential energy is extracted from the gasses themselves. This process/patent is therefore not a dissipative process.

The liquid the two gasses rise through may be water and the water may have added chemicals to aid in the efficiency of the electrolysis process.

The gasses hydrogen and oxygen may be combined and exploited while rising in a liquid or separated, to be exploited separately.

Minimum of two potential energies involved: First potential energy -The force created by the rising hydrogen and oxygen is exploited as a force to create work. This may be by a mechanical means, where the rising gasses are trapped to form of cavity in a structure and potential energy is extracted by the rising trapped gas. Extracting work from rising gasses are a known technology and there are many variants to this technology, but none of them exploit the gasses created by electrolysis (Oxygen and Hydrogen).

There are many well known means of generating electricity/work from rising gasses in a liquid; some are in the form of a underwater wheel that functions like a wind turbine, but uses gasses to turn the blades in water rather than wind to turn them in air.

Second potential energy -The gasses (Oxygen and Hydrogen) once these gasses have been exploited to perform work/ create energy, the potential energy of the gasses themselves be used. This is again a well known and well developed field of technology and can be done in many ways from fuel cells to combustion engines. They may also just be contained/compressed into cylinders for use.

There is nearly no limit or restrictions on how deep the electrolysis process can be take place. That means that the gasses can be created at any depth and that the amount of force/energy the gasses can exert/exploitable force/work is near unlimited.

This patent combines the "First potential energy" and "Second potential energy" (described above) to create a process where the work/energy consumed by electrolysis process is less that the combined work/energy/force that can be exploited, overall. This process is not dissipative process, unlike electrolysis by itself.

This patent may take other a form different to that specifically described above.

Further modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

Claims: 1) A process where the potential energy from the gasses hydrogen and oxygen produced from electrolysis, is used a minimum of two times to produce work/force/energy by exploiting them rising through a liquid, before the properties (potential energy) of one or both of the gasses are exploited.
2) A process as in claim 1 where the gas/gasses, hydrogen and oxygen are used produce work/force/energy after they have risen through a liquid.
3) A process as in claim 1 where liquid is water or a water-based liquid.
4) A process as in claim 1 where liquid is a water-based liquid.
5) A process as in claim 1 where liquid is water and has added chemicals to aid/increase efficiency of the electrolysis process.
6) A process as in claim 1 where liquid is water and has added chemicals.
7) A process as in claim 1 where the liquid that the gasses are rising in, is not water or water based.
8) A process as in claim 1 where the potential energy of the rising gas/gasses are mechanically exploited.
9) A process as in claim 1 where the potential energy of the gas/gasses are electronically exploited.
10) A process as in claim 1 where the there may be more gasses than just hydrogen and oxygen.