21 Plate Dry Cell

[Wallaby]

My good friend came over today and we spent most of the morning building and testing his new 21 plate dry cell. It was a nice operating cell. We mounted all the components on a small table and moved it close enough to my toyota so we could utilize my PWM to power it. At 20 amps the cell was awesome by producing 1.0L in 44 seconds. I should have made a small video, the circulation was amazing. The most impressive thing was it ran cool. We ran it for about 45 minutes and it was only warrm to the touch.


Wallaby

[alpha-dog]

Are you using small plates. My dry cell has 21 plates. I don't have a pwm but with dc current I get 3.5~4Lpm. 8X8 inch plates. What electrolite and at what percentage are you using? My runs at 45amps.
Russ

[Wallaby]

Alpha-Dog the plates are 3.5x3.5. I'm sure if we doubled the amps the output would have been much greater. Our goal is to produce as much HHO as possible while using no more than 20 amps. The mixture is 2 tablespoons of KOH per 2L of distilled water. Since the Dry cell operates much cooler than the wet cells we plan to increase the KOH and see what happens.
Do you have any results from your setup at 20 amps? It would be interesting to see the results from your larger cell at 20 amps with 2 tablespoons of KOH per 2L of distilled water.


Wallaby

[VanHalen]

I'm redesigning my dry cell, and saw this thread and I like the idea of the under 20 amps. I have a question though. What are the advantages of a 21 plate cell over a 7 plate cell, assuming all gaps and variables are the same, running at 20 amps? Would you divide 13.8/21 to get .65 volts per plate? I read that 13.8/7 (around 1.8 volts per plate) is the most efficient in terms of amps/heat.

[alpha-dog]

I'm redesigning my dry cell, and saw this thread and I like the idea of the under 20 amps. I have a question though. What are the advantages of a 21 plate cell over a 7 plate cell, assuming all gaps and variables are the same, running at 20 amps? Would you divide 13.8/21 to get .65 volts per plate? I read that 13.8/7 (around 1.8 volts per plate) is the most efficient in terms of amps/heat.

In the case of my dry cell its 4 series cells -NNNN+ connected in parallel. So the voltage drop accross each plate will be the same in the series cell you just do it again 4 four times. So if you use 10amps now with +NNNN- and you add another +NNNN- for this configuration +NNNN-NNNN+ you will use 20 amps. You will still drop the same voltage from one plate to the next. In a series cell voltage divides and current stays the same and in a parallel configuration voltage will stay the same but current will divided. The advantage of a 21 plate configuration is more HHO
Russ

[VanHalen]

So then in each individual series, each plate has a voltage of 13.8/6 or whatever your alternator runs at/6, and thats true for each different series. Then in for each parallel the amps are equal(assuming you have an identical series), so then you just add them up for however many series you have. Sorry if this seems an elementary question but I'm not too good on the electrical, and just wanted to make sure I have a more decent grasp before I continue to build my cell.

[alpha-dog]

So then in each individual series, each plate has a voltage of 13.8/6 or whatever your alternator runs at/6, and thats true for each different series. Then in for each parallel the amps are equal(assuming you have an identical series), so then you just add them up for however many series you have. Sorry if this seems an elementary question but I'm not too good on the electrical, and just wanted to make sure I have a more decent grasp before I continue to build my cell.

Series allows only one path for current to flow i.e. +NNNN-. Current flows from (+) to (-). Voltage will divide acording to each of the loads. From (-) to the first N you will drop 2.3vdc and from (N) to the next (N) another 2.33vdc. Because the loads are the same you will drop equal voltages accross them. If you put two of these series cells together +NNNN-NNNN+ then you have two paths for current to flow. If you read from (+) to (-) you will read 14vdc. If you read from (+) to (+) you will read 0vdc. Electrically they are the same. Because (+) connection are the same point electrically and the (-) connections are also electrically the same the circuits connected between them are in parallel.
Current stays the same and voltage divided in series circuits.
Current divides and voltage stays the same in parallel circuits.
I hope that helps you.
Russ