Electrode configuration

[myoldyourgold]

As you told me I’ve done some research so this is what I’ve understood, but I still has a few questions…

Well… As it’s very important to prevent holes and edges in the solution, I think the best way to pack all that stuff is to use 3mm thick polycarbonate (it’s softer than soft PVC, so it acts more like rubber) to separate the plates and fixed all that with thin nylon screws or metal ones with some insulating cover (that will act only as guide) and some metal screws pressing all together between the end covers. It’s Ok to put 3mm separation?

Each plate should have 2 holes: one at the top to allow the gas circulation (which doesn’t produce leakage since it’s not in the solution) and another one in the bottom which will allow the water circulation and, unfortunately, will produce leakage. I’ve read that people have tried many different systems to insulate these edges, but that most of them doesn’t work too long and the ones that do are too expensive… So I’ve been thinking about that and well… the only thing I can think of is to put them in alternative sides… What do you think about that? Any other idea?

Another important thing to keep in mind is that I should have an easy way to connect the plates in different ways because I think I will have to do a bit testing an measurements to choose a good plate configuration, so I thing that this can be done by making a small cut in alternative corners of the plates, so that I can attach a faston there.

And now I have a question about voltage distribution and neutrals… I’ve read a lot of posts about that but it doesn’t help… I thought before to use +NNNNN- blocks, so each gap gets about 2v (12v total), but some people says that using 3 or 4 neutrals is better and other say that it’s better to put the cells in series but, theoretically, it should be the same than using 5 neutrals, because each gap gets 2v… Can anyone help me with that? And one more thing: it is supposed that the gas production take place between the plates and that these are only used to ‘split’ the voltage so we have about 2v per gap so what if I use plates thinner than 1mm, about a half or less? Wouldn’t it be a better production since less current is getting lost in the plates?

As soon as I build my cell I’ll start to measure productions with different connections to find out which one is better and I think I will go to buy all I need this Saturday, so please, help me decide the gap width and the plates measures… I thought about a 3mm gap and 10cm x 15cm x 1mm plates would be Ok, but this will result on only about 100cm2 active surface per plate side. Will this be enough if I have about 40 plates to produce enough gas for a welding torch or for a car? And is Ok to use 1mm thick plates or is better to use thinner ones as I suggested before?

Sorry for writing so much, but I couldn’t find anything about that in other posts.

Thanks in advance!

Most of your questions have been answered before. But I will start you on your way. You have proposed to make a reactor the is proximately 4 X 6 (10 X 15cm) inches and will have a gap of just over 1/16" (2mm) between plates. So far you have made good choices. The best configuration is going to depend on if it is going to be running in a car at 13.8 to 14.2 volts or just on a battery at maximum 12.5 volts and dropping quickly. In a car I suggest 6 bi polar (neutrals) and on a battery alone 5 bi polar plates. How many stacks you will need of these is going to require a lot more information and is related to how much gas you are trying to make, size of engine/alternator etc. Do some more research use the search feature and you should find all the answers you need. Gaskets are something you also need to research and how a dry-cell is assembled. Good luck and Welcome the forum.

Carter,
Have you EVER known me to be WRONG??????????????????

Lee the last time I made a mistake was before you were born. LOL

[danihxh]

Ok, I've read about the gaskets... Thanks for the info, I didn't know that word.

Well, I think I will use EPDM gaskets since it's easy to obtain and work with that rather than with polycarbonate and they will be about 3mm thick due to it's a soft material and I think if I press the end covers enought I should obtain a gap of about 2mm which is what I want.

I will also try what I said before about alternating the side of the water holes and I will look for some plates a little thinner than 1mm and maybe a bit bigger than 10cm x 15cm. About the bi polars I will start with 5 and then try different configurations.

[astrocady]

if I use plates thinner than 1mm, about a half or less? Wouldn’t it be a better production since less current is getting lost in the plates?

Stainless Steel is a poor conductor. The thinner your plates, the more resistance they have, which means wasted energy (heat) just to overcome that resistance. This applies mainly (only?) to the plates you connect to the power supply, not the bipolar plates.

Steve

[danihxh]

What can I use as a power supply? I need something that can deliver about 40 amps, but I don’t want to buy an expensive bench power supply, so what do you think about using 2 ATX power supplies so that I can obtain up to 40 amps.

http://www.pccomponentes.com/b_move_...cion_500w.html

Using two of them I will have 12 volts at 56 amps (28 + 28) and I may use the rest of the connections for indicators or something.

One more question… I’ve seen a lot of different bubbler-deposit configurations: in some of them the water tank is used also as bubbler, some others have 3 or more different bottles/tanks (ones as bubblers, others as deposits…)… What do you recommend me? I thought doing something like that. Is it Ok?

[myoldyourgold]

Reverse your bubbler and reservoir. It should go Reactor, reservoir, bubbler. The reason for this is that the bubbler's two functions are to clean electrolyte from the gas and the other is to help prevent a flash back getting to the reservoir/reactor. The electrolyte is harmful in any volume to anything aluminum.