fuel cell question?

Question

i am planing on making a home made fuel cell for my truck to get uncle sam out the wallet and i would appreciate some help. first does the oxygen go into the carburator when runing a fuel cell or is it all hydrogen. second what is the bubbling process and how do i do it. third is it as simple as to put the negative and positive with a couple of stainless steal plates in water and straight to the carburator i know there are regulators involved but what am i regulating. How much power for a 5.6 liter v8 truck i will need .
finally what is the purpse of a dc pulse circut.

Answer 1

You cannot be serious. This is a spoof question I hope.

If you actually try to build and operate the device that you describe you will blow yourself up.

In that case I hope you have very good medical insurance and a very good funeral plan.

Also, if you do build this device as you have described it, I recommend that you write your will or update it if you already have a will.

Answer 2

Slow down man, that's a mighty big leap.

What I recommend you do is build a series hybrid, which means converting the truck to electric vehicle and then building a small generator that recharges the batteries while you drive. That way you can get 100hp on-demand from the battery pack, and the generator can be smaller, 10-20hp.

Then the generator can be ANYTHING, for instance a Honda generator or Thermo King diesel, and you can swap it for a hydrogen fuel cell once you get all that stuff worked out.

A truck can suck a lot of power when you step on the gas. You don't want to make the fuel cell so big that it can satisfy all that, that's what batteries are for.

Answer 3

What you are attempting to build is a simple Water Electrolizer. Not a fuel cell.

The problem with this route is that these devices barely produce enough H2 to run a small engine. (Lawnmower Type) Another problem is In order to make hydrogen from water you must use electrical current. More electic current = more Hydrogen. But the engine can't produce enough electicity to keep itself running on hydrogen. If you were to react the hydrogen and oxygen created in the electrolosis process in a perfect manner (i.e. no heat produced) you would merely recover that power.

It takes Thousands of liters per min. to run even a small 4 Cyl. engine. The best Hydrogen boosters you can buy only make upto around 8-10 Liters per min. These may or may not improve your gas mileage. Most companies making these electolizers claim 10-50% mpg improvements. I have seen zero confirmation from the public that these claims are true.

Fuel cells, on the other hand, take in Hydrogen and Oxygen/Air and make electricity that could be used to charge batteries on an Electric Vehicle.

You're going in the right direction. Here are a few things to read up on. Promising hydrogen prduction methods are patented and being worked on by ppl like us. Maybe you can help.

Chemical Hydrogen production (no electricity needed but still doesn't make enough to power an engine directly but may be ideal to run a PEM Fuel Cell for an electric car, may work with the device below to run an engine)
http://www.overunity.com/index.php/topic,518.0.html

A plama spark plug that can use a small amount of hydrogen to ignite steam to power an engine.
http://oupower.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=550

These are possibly the 2 best pathways I have found that may get us off oil. We need more ppl involved in building and testing these methods. Maybe you're up to it.

Answer 4

Yes u could build a fuel cell that could supply enough hydrogen for that big a motor u should build it on a trailer with a spare generator for power . Oh hydrogen is a very explosive material and the atom is so small it will leak through almost any thing. so be careful it could be dangerous.

Answer 5

gas cellular vehicles will in all probability be out quicker. no could desire to have organic hydrogen in storage. some gas cells can chop up the hydrogen off of certainly available hydrocarbons like methane or LPG. because gas cells are better than two times as effective as inner combustion engines people will ask your self how we ever have been given alongside with basically having a 4 hundred or so mile selection in the previous having to refuel.

Answer 6

Sounds like you need help with the whole process. Sorry cant help you. Dont blow yourself up

Answer 7

This is simply not possible for the amatuer mechanic to do. Please do not attempt this else you will probably wind up with a darwin award

Answer 8

You have far to many questions--Get a bike.:-)

Answer 9

How stuff works.