The Black Box Hydrogen Fuel Cell Difference
-Electrolysis occurs at the “optimal cell voltage” of 1.48 to 2 volts. The typical automobile alternator produces 13.8 volts. A vehicle alternator provides more voltage than needed for electrolysis to occur. This extra voltage is wasted creating unnecessary heat, resulting in lost energy and lower efficiency in many hydrogen generator designs sold today.
Compare The Black Box Design - The Black Box is a modified series-cell design where each cell is separated or isolated from each other. The electrolyte does not move freely between, under or around the electrodes. The Black Box design is more difficult and expensive to build. Without doubt a series-cell electrolyzer is considered the most efficient design. Open bath (wet cells) and dry cell electrolyzers are rather popular, mainly because they are easier to manufacture.
The Black Box difference is in our design and construction methods - Our basic design contains 6 to 7 cells or gaps between the plates. Because each cell is separated from the next, the 13.8 volts provided by the vehicle's alternator are evenly divided between the cells because the plate surface areas are equal and spacing is exact. Therefore, 13.8 volts / 6 cells = 2.3 volts per cell or 13.8 volts / 7 cells = 1.97 volts per cell producing elevated levels of oxy-hydrogen. Most of the electrical energy is used to create oxy-hydrogen gas without wasted voltage heating the electrolyte.
The gas-producing efficiency of a series cell design could be up to double when compared to many open bath or dry cell designs on the market today. The series cell creates more oxy-hydrogen gas using less amperage.
In our tests, the Black Box Cell electrolyte thermally stabilized at approximately 150 degrees without cooling. After a fast start up, the Black Box electrical input quickly stabilizes. The Black Box can be operated several days at a time without the worry of electrical and thermal run away issues associated with other hydrogen generator designs.
How Does the Open Bath Design Compare? - The “open bath” hydrogen generator is the most common electrolysis design available today. It is a simple design that’s typically made with PVC pipe, acrylic, Mason Jars or in some instances, stainless steel pipe. This design is typically easier and less expensive to manufacture.
An “open bath” design is where the cells, plates, wires, tubes, sink strainers or bolts are placed in a bath of water/electrolyte. The electrolyte moves freely between and around the electrodes.
As mentioned above, electrolysis occurs at the “optimal cell voltage” of 1.48 to 2 volts and the typical automobile alternator produces 13.8 volts. With an open bath design, the alternator provides 11 to 12 volts more than needed for electrolysis to occur. This extra voltage is wasted creating unnecessary heat, resulting in lost energy and lower efficiency.
This diagram represents the way the plates are connected in many open bath designs. The red lines show paths of unwanted current flow which produces little if any hho gas generating excess heat. The current across gap “A” is where useful hho gas is produced.
Since the excess voltage heats the water, many open bath designs can overheat pumping unwanted water and steam into your engine.
After 1 to 2 hours of operation, thermal and electrical run away occurs causing the electrolyte in an "open bath" to boil over without external cooling. Many “open bath” hydrogen boosters on the market include a pulse width modulators (PWM) to control the electrical input, cooling fans, heat sinks, small radiators, or require installation in front of the radiator to cool the electrolyte.
Dry Cell Design -
Another hydrogen generator commonly known as a “dry cell” (although there’s nothing dry about it) is another choice for an HHO electrolyzer. The dry cell is another easy to build HHO Generator. The typical dry cell design consists of several plates of stainless steel sandwiched between two pieces of clear acrylic or plastic material. To ensure proper spacing between the steel plates, gaskets or O-rings are used to provide a gap for electrolysis to occur. Several Nuts and bolts surround the perimeter of steel plates holding the dry cell together.
Many dry cells on the market have a water/electrolyte inlet (at the bottom) and water/hho gas outlet in the top half of the cell attached to the acrylic end panels. Behind these fittings, holes are typically placed in the steel plates to facilitate the flow of electrolyte and hho gas through the dry cell. Just like the "open bath" design, tests have shown unwanted electrical current flows from one cell to the next through these holes in the plates.
The unwanted current flow occurring from one plate to the next causes excess voltage (over 2 volts) to be applied to the electrolyte in a dry cell. As seen in the open bath design, the dry cell may also experience thermal and electrical run away. Many manufacturers resort to the same cooling and electrical devices as indicated above to control their electrolyzers.
Hydrogen Electrolyzer Efficiency -
While surfing the internet, one frequently comes across other websites selling hydrogen generators, boosters and electrolyzers. Most websites provide only “partial” performance specifications for their product(s). The Most often used performance specification is “liters per minute”. While “liters per minute” is important, most websites fail to provide all of the details such as:
- Input Voltage
- Input Amperes
- Total # of Plates
- Total # of Cell Stacks
- Barometric Pressure of their location
- And Gas Temperature
After entering this data into an MMW Calculator, you can obtain the MMW Rating. MMW represents “Milliliters (gas) per Minute per Watt”.
If other companies provided all of the information above, you have the data needed to effectively compare one hydrogen generator design or booster to the next.
In an effort to help our customers make an informed decision, we provide the lowest MMW Ratings calculated for each Black Box model.
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