Method and apparatus for the production of hydrogen and oxygen

Abstract

A method and apparatus for producing hydrogen and oxygen gas includes a tank for capturing the gas and holding anodes and cathodes submersed in water. An electrical supply is attached to the anodes and cathodes, providing direct current modulated at a duty cycle that is varied depending on the measured pressure of the produced gas.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to the field of generating a hydrogen and oxygen gasses using electricity and more particularly to an apparatus and method that produces the gasses in an efficient manner while permitting continuous control of gas production. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Using electricity to decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen gas was discovered by William Nicholson in 1800. The process uses two electrodes, a cathode and an anode, immersed in water (not pure water). The electrodes are coupled to a direct current power source, the cathode to the negative power source and the anode to the positive power source. As current passes through the water, hydrogen is produced around the cathode and oxygen around the anode. The gasses may be left separate or allowed to mix, the mixed gasses often known as “Brown's gas,” hereby referred to as “brown gas.” Burning the brown gas produces an in...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Furthermore, because brown gas is lighter than air, any leakage will dissipate into the air, whereas other commonly used gasses such as propane are heavier than air, collect at ground level and can be inadvertently ignited.

Unfortunately, the amount of electricity required for generating brown gas and the ability to discretely control the production of the gas in response to demands limits the efficiency of prior systems.

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