WO2010011126A2

WO2010011126A2 - Water fuel apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2010011126A2
Application number: PCT/MY2009/000098
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ewe Chiang Choong
Original assignee: Ewe Chiang Choong
Priority date: 2008-07-24
Filing date: 2009-07-17
Publication date: 2010-01-28
Also published as: MY143484A; WO2010011126A3

Abstract

A water fuel apparatus includes one or more electrolytic cells (34) connected to a reservoir (10) of water as electrolyte. The electrolytic cell has a tubular housing (42) having a cathode (78) and an anode (92) therein and an inlet port (68) to admit electrolyte from the reservoir and an outlet port (86) to exit electrolyte back to the reservoir. The cathode is in the form of a rod and the anode is in the form of a cylindrical spring. There is an inlet means (52) to convey a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to engine intake (54) for an internal combustion engine.

Description

Water Fuel Apparatus

Technical Field

This invention relates to water fuel apparatus for using water as a fuel to supplement fossil fuel in fuel cells or internal combustion engines, particularly for automotive application to increase fuel efficiency and improve quality of emission to the environment.

Technical Background

Global demand for energy is ever increasing for various industrial applications. A large percentage of fossil fuel is being devoted for operating internal combustion engines such as for automotive application. As such, inventors all over are channeling efforts to improve fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines because global reserves for fossil fuel are fast declining.

Various innovative solutions have been proposed to improve fuel efficiency in automotive engines such as those involving the use of natural gas, biogas, plant diesel and electricity. There are also numerous attempts by using chemical additives to improve mileage performance of motor vehicles. Though promising, most of these innovative solutions however do not achieve much commercial viability and success due to limitations like the loss in performance, complex modifications involving engine design and difficulties concerning installation onto existing engine structure.

Another problem inventors have been trying hard to address is the problem concerning quality of emission emitted by conventional combustion engines in order that less harmful pollutants are discharged into our environment. Such harmful pollutants include toxic substances like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxides and the health threatening carbon particles. If uncontrolled, said harmful pollutants would lead to serious environmental and health hazards which will eventually affect everyone in the world. Therefore, many countries are imposing more and more stringent regulations requiring car manufacturers to comply with higher and higher emission control standards.

On the other hand, it is well known that water can be used as a fuel. Water is an ideal fuel because it emits nothing harmful upon ignition. It contains hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are inflammable and release energy thereto. To be used as a fuel, water has to be broken down into free hydrogen and oxygen molecules through a process called electrolysis. For automotive application, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen is supplied into engine compartment of the internal combustion engine wherein said mixture burns together with conventional fossil fuel-air mixture for the release of more energy.

The advantage of burning of a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in engine compartment of internal combustion engine is that the mixture itself does not generate any pollution problem. The energy derived from burning of the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen can be utilized to supplement the conventional fossil fuel-air combination for the engine. Therefore, additional energy is created and used for improving fuel efficiency hence increasing mileage performance of automotive vehicles. Due to the consumption of less fossil fuel in such vehicles, fewer pollutants are produced and therefore less harm would be done to environment.

Although there have been a number of methods and apparatus proposed to supplement conventional fossil fuel system in automotive vehicles by using hydrogen and oxygen, very few of them have been successfully commercialized due to a number of teething problems. One major problem is that large amount of heat will be released during electrolysis of water. In order to produce sufficient hydrogen and oxygen, high amperage of current is required in electrolytic cells thus causing unavoidable temperature rise which can be as high as boiling point of water. At the end, more steam is produced than free hydrogen and oxygen gases. In this connection, steam is not a productive by-product and in fact can be detrimental to the engine system.

To overcome heating problem during electrolysis of water, there were also attempts to increase the surface area of electrodes used so as to dissipate heat more quickly either by increasing the number of electrode plates or by enlarging the sizes thereof. As a result, such electrolytic cells can become really bulky and expensive to manufacture because of the bigger and larger number of components used. Although special heat resistant materials can be used to overcome part of the heating problem, the manufacturing costs then will be very high and therefore beyond the reach by ordinary end users.

Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a water fuel apparatus that is environmentally friendly and adapted to supplement petrochemical fuel in internal combustion engines. Said apparatus can also be used a stand alone fuel system.

It is another key object of the present invention to provide a water fuel apparatus that is adapted to feed a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to typical fossil fuel-air combination in internal combustion engines for automotive application. Said apparatus is fairly compact in design and can be readily installed onto existing automotive vehicles with minimum modification. Another key object of the present invention is to provide a water fuel apparatus available in small units of electrolytic cells of the plug-and-play type whereby end users can conveniently determine the number of units they require and hence control the amount of hydrogen and oxygen to be fed into engine intake of their automotive vehicles.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a water fuel apparatus with simple operative parts which are inexpensive to manufacture. Therefore, end users would find the apparatus user-friendly in terms of purchase cost, installation and maintenance.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying disclosure of preferred embodiments of the invention.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention relates to a water fuel apparatus for supplying a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to internal combustion engine wherein said mixture will combine with typical fossil fuel-gas mixture for the engine comprises a reservoir containing water as electrolyte, an electric pump connected to passageway conduits for communicating said electrolyte to and back from said reservoir, one or more electrolytic cells connected to said reservoir via said passageway conduits, each electrolytic cell includes a tubular housing having two electrode connectors disposed respectively at each end to define an internal chamber therein, the first electrode connector having provisions for connecting to said passageway conduits to admit electrolyte into said internal chamber and means for mounting a first electrode within the internal chamber and the second electrode connector having provisions for connecting to said passageway conduits to exit electrolyte from said internal chamber and means for mounting a second electrode within the internal chamber.

Said water fuel apparatus further comprises an electrical means for maintaining a potential difference across the first electrode and the second electrode to break down said electrolyte into hydrogen and oxygen gases and an inlet means for supplying a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to engine intake for the internal combustion engine.

Description of Specific Example

The invention will now be described by way of preferred embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig 1 shows a schematic representation of the water fuel apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig 2 shows a perspective view of the body of an electrolytic cell in Fig 1 including the hidden first and second inner ring.

Fig 3 shows a perspective view of the electrolytic cell in Fig 2 including all the hidden parts.

Fig 4 shows a perspective view of the cathode and related parts in Fig 3.

Fig 5 shows top view of the bridge as shown in Fig 3.

Fig 6 shows a perspective view of the anode and related parts in Fig 3. Referring to the drawings, Fig 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of water fuel apparatus according to the present invention wherein the key components include a reservoir made up of two tanks 10, 12 of electrolyte connected with one another, a plurality of electrolytic cells connected in parallel 34, 36, 38, 40, passageway conduits 22 for communicating electrolyte from said reservoir to said electrolytic cells and back, electrical means 321 for maintaining a potential difference across anode and cathode of said electrolytic cells to decompose said electrolyte into hydrogen and oxygen and an inlet means 52 for supplying mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to engine intake 54 for internal combustion engine (not shown). Technical details of the above-mentioned components and other related technical features of the present invention will be explained below.

Said reservoir of electrolyte consists of two tubular tanks 10, 12 having substantially similar dimensions which are disposed vertically adjacent to one another and are connected at a point 14 near the bottom of each tank. The first tank 10, generally referred to as main tank, includes at the top a removable end cap 16 so that electrolyte can be poured into the tank. The second tank 12, generally referred to as sub tank, includes at the top a ceiling cap 18 having connection means for coupling to the inlet means 52, and at the bottom a drain hole 20. The inlet means 52 is a comparatively narrow passageway conduit made of insulated nylon material which connects via a non returnable valve 50 to the engine intake 54 for internal combustion engine.

Electrolyte is introduced into said main tank 10 through the top opening thereof. As the main tank 10 and sub tank 12 are connected at the bottom, electrolyte will be filled to the same level in both tanks until approximately 80% full such that a space is left between the filled electrolyte and ceiling cap 18 thereof. According to the present invention, the electrolyte used is preferred to be pure or distilled water which does not contain impurities or minerals to affect quality of the electrolysis process. As electrolysis of pure water is a fairly slow process, it can be sped up by adding small quantity of sodium bicarbonate to the water. The amount of sodium bicarbonate used is approximately 1.5 grams by weight to every one liter of pure water. In practice, however the amount of sodium bicarbonate used will depend on actual alkaline level of the water available, which will then affect the amount of hydrogen and oxygen released during electrolysis process.

According to the present invention, a vehicle battery in the range of 9 to 36 V is connected to a plurality of electrolytic cells 34, 36, 38, 40. As illustrated in Fig 1, the electrical means for the present invention includes a voltage inverter 321 which is intentionally provided in order to stabilize either by means of step-up or step-down procedure the input voltage into the water fuel apparatus system.

In view of the fact that at times, end users may be compelled to use other sources of water e.g. sea and river water as electrolyte instead of pure water. Under such situation, power consumption can vary significantly according to the water used which will then cause strains to electrical system of the vehicle. To make good the situation, the present embodiment of the invention has included a power stabilizer 322 as a means to regulate power output in order to protect the battery and alternator thereof.

The present invention is also adapted to ensure that said electrolytic cells are actuated only when the internal combustion engine is running. As such, whenever the internal combustion engine is not running due to any reason, the electrolytic cells cease to operate. In addition, a DC power alternation system 323 is provided thereto which has the function for alternating polarity of the anode and cathode electrodes at pre-determined intervals during electrolysis process in order to prolong the life span of said electrolytic cells.

When the electrical system of the present invention is fully actuated, an electric pump 24 works to draw electrolyte out from bottom of the main tank 10 through passageway conduit 22. Said electric pump 24 applies pressure to the electrolyte forcing it to travel to a condenser 28, which is made up of a coil of metallic conducting pipes, and then onwards to the electrolytic cells 34, 36, 38, 40 as shown in Fig 1. Located adjacent to the condenser 28 is an electric fan 30 which works to cool down temperature of the electrolyte therein. It is evident that technology concerning cooling mechanism of condenser is well known in the market and shall not be discussed here. Upon leaving said condenser 28, the pressurized electrolyte is conveyed by passageway conduit 44 to said electrolytic cells as mentioned earlier.

The passageway conduit 44 from the condenser is split into four smaller conduits before entering said electrolytic cells 34, 36, 38, 40. To simplify description, only one of said electrolytic cells will be described in detail. As shown in Fig 1, the smaller conduit 46, generally referred to as incoming conduit, leads the electrolyte into the electrolytic cell 34. The incoming conduit 46 has small cross sectional area as compared to the passageway conduit 44 from the condenser 28 by a ratio of about half the size of the latter. Therefore, as shown in Fig 1, individual small incoming conduit conveys electrolyte into the four electrolytic cells respectively.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, said incoming conduits 46 is constructed of nylon insulator pipe with 4 mm diameter, and said passageway conduit 44 from the condenser is of similar pipe with 8 mm diameter. Therefore, when electrolyte in said passageway conduit 44 is channeled into the smaller incoming conduit 46, it experiences an increase in pressure and hence is compelled to accelerate to higher speed before entering the electrolytic cell 34.

Externally, each of the four electrolytic cells includes a tubular housing having provisions at both ends to define an internal chamber therein. Said provisions includes inlet and outlet ports respectively to admit electrolyte into the internal chamber for electrolysis process and exit electrolyte out of the chamber upon completion of the electrolysis process. As an example, technical features of the electrolytic cell 34 will be discussed hereinafter.

Referring to Fig 2 and Fig 3, said electrolytic cell 34 includes a tubular housing 42 having two inner rings 56, 60, one disposed at each end. Said inner rings can be mounted thereto or integrally formed with body of the tubular housing. Said tubular housing and inner rings define an internal chamber therein. The first inner ring 56 is made of metallic stainless steel material and the second inner ring 60 is made of rigid but electrically non-conducting material. Both inner rings are preferably push-fitted within the respective end of said tubular housing 42. As illustrated, said inner rings include respectively threaded through bore 58, 62 which are orientated substantially axially to the tubular body, leading to the internal chamber thereof.

As shown in Fig 3 and Fig 4, said electrolytic cell 34 also includes a first connector, generally referred to as cathode connector 64, which comprises a first flat 66 of circular shape having diameter comparable to the inner ring 56 of the tubular body and is perforated with a central hole called inlet port 68. Said first flat 66 has on one side provisions adapted to couple said inlet port 68 to the incoming conduit 46 which carries electrolyte from the condenser 28. On the reverse side of said first flat 66, there is a first collar 70 having shape of a cylindrical housing mounted thereto with wall circumscribing said inlet port 68. Said first collar 70 includes an inner passage 72 and a threaded outer wall, the height and threads of which wall are adapted to mate complimentarily with the through bore 58 of said inner ring 56 of the tubular housing 42.

Said first collar 70 further includes at the free end a means in the form of a bridge 74, said bridge being disposed transversely across the inner passage 72 thereof by mounting its ends directly onto the rim of the circular wall thereto as illustrated in Fig 5. It should be appreciated that said bridge can be integrally formed with said first collar. As shown in Fig 4 and Fig 5, said bridge 74 is a solid structure which includes at substantially center position a recessed locking means 76 being provided with helical threads. The structure of said bridge^"74 is sized in such a way that it covers only partially the inner passage 72 of said first collar 70 and therefore there remain sufficient gaps thereto for electrolyte to travel into internal chamber of the electrolytic cell 34 from the inlet port 68 as shown on Fig 5.

As shown in Fig 4, said electrolytic cell 34 further includes a rod which serves as cathode 78, said rod being an elongated cylindrical bar and preferably made of titanium material. Said rod-shaped cathode 78 includes at one end a key 80 provided with external threads. Said key 80 is adapted to mate complementarily with the helical threads of the locking means 76 of said bridge 74. For installation, said key 80 is screwed directly into said locking means 76 such that the rod structure stays firmly in longitudinal position relative to the tubular housing 42 within the internal chamber thereof. As shown in Fig 6, said electrolytic cell 34 includes a second connector, generally referred to as anode connector 82, which comprises a second flat 84 of circular shape having diameter comparable to the inner ring 60 of said tubular housing and is perforated with a central hole called outlet port 86. Said outlet port 86 has diameter larger than that of the inlet port 68 in the first flat 66.

Referring to Fig 6, said second flat 84 has on one side provisions adapted to couple said outlet port 86 to an outgoing conduit 48 which carries electrolyte onwards back to the reservoir. On the reverse side of said second flat 84, there is a second collar 88 having shape of a cylindrical housing mounted thereto with wall circumscribing said outlet port 86. Said second collar 88 includes an inner passage 90 and threaded inner and outer wall, the height and threads of which wall are adapted to mate complimentarily with the through bore 62 of said second inner ring 60, said second inner ring being made of electrically non-conducting material.

As shown in Fig 6, said electrolytic cell further includes a spring as anode 92, in the form of a cylindrical spring having coils evenly spaced, or of uniform pitch, and is preferably made of titanium material. Said anode 92 includes coils of uniform diameter and has one end adapted for connection into inner wall of said second collar 88 by engagement of the coils with the threaded inner wall thereof. Therefore, the inner threaded wall of the second collar 88 actually serves as mounting means for said spring-coil anode 92. In installed position, said anode 92 is kept stably in longitudinal position relative to the tubular housing 42 within the internal chamber thereof.

When fully installed, said electrolytic cell 34 includes within said tubular housing 42 a cathode 78 in the shape of a metallic rod disposed longitudinally thereof, said cathode being surrounded lengthwise by an anode 92 which is in the form of a cylindrical spring having coils evenly spaced as shown in Fig 3. In this way, said cathode 78 and said anode 92 are kept apart at fairly consistent distance throughout the electrolytic cell.

When said electrolytic cell 34 is activated, incoming conduit 46 communicates pressurized electrolyte which is essentially water with minute amount of alkaline sodium bicarbonate into said tubular housing 42 through inner port 68 of the first cathode connector 64. The electrolyte travels through internal chamber of the tubular housing 42 and exit via outlet port 86 of the second anode connector 82. As the electrolyte comes into contact with said cathode 78 and said anode 92 which are maintained at a potential difference by external electrical means, electrolysis process takes place whereby water is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen.

Although heat is an inherent unproductive by-product of the electrolysis process, the present invention is capable to keep temperature rise at minimum level through innovative design of the cathode and anode electrodes. The rod and spring coil combination for said electrodes has significantly increased the area of reaction and thus the yield of hydrogen and oxygen while other parameters for the electrolysis process remain the same. The present invention also has the effect to accelerate flow of electrolyte through the electrolytic cell concerned whereby quickly eliminating heat that has been built up within the internal chamber. The accelerated flow of electrolyte through the internal chamber also helps to remove any impurities or solid matters that could have been formed during electrolysis process. As shown in Fig 3, the outgoing conduit 48 exits electrolyte from said electrolytic cell 34 after the electrolysis process. As there are four electrolytic cells for the preferred embodiment, there are four outgoing conduits to exit electrolyte after the electrolysis process. As mentioned earlier, said outgoing conduits have cross sectional area that is doubled that of the incoming conduits. The larger cross sectional area of the outgoing conduit is to enable water and the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen traveling therein to progress on smoothly out of the respective electrolytic cell so as not to cause any "air blockage" along the way, which will otherwise jam up the flow of water and the gaseous mixture.

Individual outgoing conduit from the four electrolytic cells will join up at a common point along the passageway conduit 22 to send electrolyte back to the sub tank 12. A filter 26 is disposed along the way back to said sub tank so as to sieve off any impurities or solid matters that have been caused by the preceding electrolysis process. Carrying the electrolyte and mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, the returning passageway conduit 22 enters said sub tank 12 at a point near the bottom but higher than the connection point with the main tank 10.

Being lighter than water, the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen bubbles through the liquid content of said sub tank 12 and rises thereto above the electrolyte level and then occupies the designated space below the ceiling cap 18. As the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen moves up said sub tank, any water vapor that has been created as a result of the preceding electrolysis process and got caught within the bubbles will be dissolved and removed thereof. When going through said sub tank 12, the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen comes into direct contact with the electrolyte content therein which serves to bring down the temperature. At the same time, any impurities or solid matters generated during the preceding electrolysis process would sink to bottom of said sub tank 12 which will be removed through the drain hole 20 thereof from time to time.

The mixture of hydrogen and oxygen that has been accumulated in the space at top portion of the sub tank 12 would make escape through the inlet means 52, which has earlier been installed into said ceiling cap 18. Said inlet means 52 is in the form of a conduit made of insulated nylon material and is adapted to communicate the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gases to a non returnable valve 50 and then onward to engine intake 54 for the internal combustion engine. Said non returnable valve 50 has the function to ensure that hydrogen and oxygen gases therein travel in unidirectional movement to said engine intake 54. Once within the internal combustion engine, the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen will combine with typical fossil fuel-air mixture for the engine to produce additional power.

As an additional safety measure, conduit size of said inlet means 52 is intentionally made narrow such that at any one time, the gaseous content of hydrogen and oxygen therein is kept at small quantity. Therefore, even in the most unlikely event of fire, damage is reduced to the minimum.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art such as by extending the concept used in the proposed electrolytic cells into similar fuel system that is applicable in automotive vehicles or other applications. It is intended that the scope of the present invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A water fuel apparatus for supplying a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to internal combustion engine wherein said mixture will combine with typical fossil fuel-air mixture for the engine, comprises;

- a reservoir (10, 12) containing water as electrolyte, an electric pump (24) connected to passageway conduits (22) for communicating said electrolyte to and back from said reservoir,

- one or more electrolytic cells (34, 36, 38, 40) connected to said reservoir via said passageway conduits, each electrolytic cell includes a tubular housing (42) having two electrode connectors (64, 82) disposed respectively at each end to define an internal chamber therein, the first electrode connector (64) having provisions (68) for connecting to said passageway conduits to admit electrolyte into said internal chamber and means (74) for mounting a first electrode within the internal chamber and the second electrode connector (82) having provisions (86) for connecting to said passageway conduits to exit electrolyte from said internal chamber and means (88) for mounting a second electrode within the internal chamber,

- an electrical means (321, 322, 323) for maintaining a potential difference across the first electrode and the second electrode to break down said electrolyte into hydrogen and oxygen gases, and

- an inlet means (52) for supplying a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to engine intake (54) for the internal combustion engine.

2. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said first electrode is cathode (78) which includes a metallic rod and said second electrode is anode (92) which includes a metallic cylindrical spring having coils evenly spaced such that said metallic rod is disposed longitudinally relative to said tubular housing (42) and is surrounded lengthwise by said metallic cylindrical spring.

3. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said cathode (78) is made of titanium in the form of a uniform cylindrical bar.

4. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said anode (92) is made of titanium.

5. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said passageway conduits (48) which exit electrolyte from said internal chamber of the tubular housing has cross sectional area larger than that of the passageway conduits (46) which admit electrolyte into said internal chamber of the tubular housing.

6. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said inlet means is coupled to a non returnable valve (50) to prevent retraction of hydrogen and oxygen from said engine intake for the internal combustion engine.

7. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said electrical means includes a voltage inverter (321) for stabilizing input voltage into the electrolytic cells.

8. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said electrical means includes a power stabilizer (322) for regulating power output for the electrolytic cells.

9. The water fuel apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said electrical means includes a DC power alternation system (323) for alternating polarity of the first electrode and the second electrode at pre-determined intervals.