Chemistry: electrical and wave energy – Apparatus – Electrolytic
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-07
2003-10-07
Valentine, Donald R. (Department: 1742)
Chemistry: electrical and wave energy
Apparatus
Electrolytic
C204S239000, C204S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06630061
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for generating a mixture gas of oxygen and hydrogen, more particularly, to an apparatus for generating a mixture gas of oxygen and hydrogen wherein an improved configuration of an electrolytic cell is provided for an efficient use of a current supplied thereto and a cooling unit for preventing a temperature of electrolyte from being increased is also provided, thereby producing the mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in a reduced cost.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In general, in a conventional gas generation apparatus of a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, the oxygen and the hydrogen are obtained by electrolysis of water, wherein the water containing a small amount of an electrolyte is supplied to an electrolytic cell provided with a positive electrode and a negative electrode and then a direct current is applied to generate the mixture of the oxygen and the hydrogen of an energy source without being accompanied by any pollution factors. A mole fraction of the oxygen and the hydrogen in the mixture is 2:1. The gas generation apparatus described above is newly in the limelight due to an increase of an interest on the environmental problems.
In this regard, many studies have been made on the gas generation apparatus and a number of gas generation apparatus for generating efficiently much more oxygen/hydrogen have been proposed.
As one of the prior art oxygen/hydrogen generation apparatuses, Korean Utility Model application No. 1998-117445 discloses an electrolytic cell which will be described with reference to
FIGS. 1 through 2
c
. As shown, the apparatus taught by the Korean Utility Model application comprises an electrolytic cell
100
, wherein a plurality of electrode plates
101
of a rectangular shape and spacers
102
made of a synthetic resin are alternately laminated and a pair of termination plates
103
are attached to both ends of the electrolytic cell and finally stay bolts
104
and nuts
105
are mounted through.
An O-ring
106
made of rubber is inserted onto an inner peripheral surface of the spacer
102
. The space where the O-ring
106
and the electrode plates
101
take up becomes a gas generation chamber
110
. The electrode plate
101
has a gas passing hole
101
a
and an electrolyte passing hole
101
b
which are formed through one portion and another portion of the plate
101
, respectively. The termination plate
103
has a gas connection nipple
107
and an electrolyte connection nipple
108
which communicate with the gas passing hole
101
a
and the electrolyte passing hole
101
b
, respectively, and a current connection bolt
109
mounted thereto.
In the electrolytic cell
100
constructed in this manner, when the electric power is connected to the current connection bolt
109
, the oxygen and the hydrogen gases are generated from the electrolyte within the gas generation chamber
110
by the electrolysis of the water. The mixture gas is exhausted through the gas passing hole
101
a
to be charged within a gas reservoir mounted externally. The water is supplied through the electrolyte passing hole
101
b
for a supplement for the water consumed during the electrolysis.
In the electrolytic cell
100
, however, since the gas generation chamber
110
is formed in the space defined with the electrode plates
101
and the O-rings
106
, with a radially outer portion of the electrode plate
101
serving as a radiating plate, the gas generation chamber
110
is too smaller with respect to an area of the electrode plate
101
, causing the speed of the gas generation to be limited.
Further, since the electrolytic cell
100
scatters the heat generated during the electrolysis by using an air-cooling manner, it does not have an efficient cooling effect. Furthermore, leakage between the O-ring
106
and the electrode plate
101
may degrade the quality of the oxygen and hydrogen mixture gas being produced.
Meanwhile, Korean Utility Model No. 0196437 teaches an apparatus for generating an oxygen/hydrogen mixture gas, which will be described with reference to
FIGS. 3 and 4
.
An electrolytic cell
200
for the apparatus shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, comprises an external housing
201
having a plurality of radiating fins
201
a
for dissipating a heat during an electrolysis formed parallel in a longitudinal direction, an internal housing
202
being contacted to a lower wall of the external housing
201
, a negative and a positive electrodes
203
and
204
mounted inside right and left side walls of the internal housing
202
, being parallel in the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of negative and positive plates
205
and
206
electrically parallel connected to the negative and the positive electrodes
203
and
204
, respectively to perform the electrolysis of electrolyte charged within the internal housing
202
so as to generate the oxygen/hydrogen mixture gas.
The negative plates
205
and the positive plates
206
are alternately mounted, being connected to the negative electrode
203
and the positive electrode
204
, respectively.
The electrolytic cell
200
is also provided with a temperature sensor for detecting temperature of the electrolyte, an electronic valve which opens when the temperature of the electrolyte is increased above a predetermined value, and an electrolyte circulation pump, thereby maintaining the electrolyte under the predetermined level.
However, the electrolytic cell
200
constructed in this manner must have an operating power source having a lower voltage level and a higher current level, since the negative and the positive plates
205
and
206
are electrically connected to the negative and the positive electrodes
203
and
204
, respectively, in a parallel connection.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide an apparatus for generating a mixture gas of oxygen and hydrogen wherein a cooling unit for actively regulating temperature of an electrolyte is provided and electrolysis is made on overall surface of electrode plates connected in series manner, thereby having an increased productivity of the mixture of the oxygen/hydrogen and removing a possibility of leakage problem of the electrolyte.
In order to achieve the object, the present invention provides an apparatus for generating a mixture of oxygen gas and hydrogen gas is provided with an electrolytic cell in which electrolysis of electrolyte therein is performed to generate the mixture of the oxygen and the hydrogen gas by electricity being applied from an electrical conversion device and having a plurality of electrode plates arranged with separation, a insulating materials attached to inner wall surfaces of the electrolytic cell and having at least one surface grooves formed thereon into which the electrode plates are inserted, a water supply device for supplementing the water into the electrolytic cell, the water supply device connected to the electrolytic cell, a gas reservoir for restoring the mixture generated in the electrolytic cell, the gas reservoir connected to the electrolytic cell, and a cooling unit for maintaining temperature inside the electrolytic cell constant connected to the electrolytic cell.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5628885 (1997-05-01), Lin
patent: 5711865 (1998-01-01), Caesar
patent: 5733422 (1998-03-01), Lin
patent: 6068741 (2000-05-01), Lin
patent: 1998-117445 (1998-04-01), None
patent: 0196437 (2000-09-01), None
Jun Yung-Kil
Kim Jung-Hi
Lee Jae-Heung
Sheridan Ross PC
Valentine Donald R.
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