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Energy from Natural Resources => Electrolysis of H20 and Hydrogen on demand generation => Topic started by: Zipster on March 04, 2010, 06:06:43 PM

Title: Electrolyte problem
Post by: Zipster on March 04, 2010, 06:06:43 PM
Hi there,

Here is some background: I'm building an electrolyzer of the "dry cell type" in order to make a welding setup. My design is based on the Smack Gen IV. The plates are 300mm X 150mm (10mm gasket surround). The gaskets are 3mm thick. The stack is a dual cell 13 plates running on 24v battery bank.

Getting to the problem: I'm testing my cell at the moment and something inexplainable is happening. I'm using pure KOH and yesterday my concentration was 3 table spoon/L the cell was pulling 10 amps. Today I doubled the amount of KOH to 6sp/L and the amperage is the same... 10amps..! I have checked all my leads and tubes to see if any kind of restrictive problem was occurring. The leads are not heating at all (10A/600v rated), same for the connections, no heat, good contacts, the tubes are doing well (10mm id). The batteries are full, they are delivering a bit over 24v.

Do you have any idea why the amps are not going up when I'm doubling the amount of electrolyte? I should have at the very least 20A at this stage and I do not understand what is happening. The solution is far to be saturated. Maybe I should try with NaOH.. Let me know if you have a clue on what is happening.

PS: I'm naturally purging the whole system completely between each test.
Title: Re: Electrolyte problem
Post by: Doug1 on March 05, 2010, 08:15:44 AM
Distilled water? Sounds like you have a contamination in the water.
Title: Re: Electrolyte problem
Post by: sushimoto on March 05, 2010, 12:39:46 PM
Sounds like your meter has its limit at 10A. ;D