Gaybutton Posted August 22, 2008 Posted August 22, 2008 The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Thai Device Power Car with Water By The Nation Published on August 22, 2008 Udon Thani - Thai engineers yesterday launched their latest invention, the "Reactor 1" device, which extracts hydrogen from water to power a car, as the fruit of 30 years of study and labour that could be an alternative energy idea. Device developer Sumit Isarangkul na Ayutthaya, managing director of Pathum Thanibased Integrated Technology Consultant Co Ltd, and codeveloper Somchai Traisuriyathamma presented a hydropowered car at a press conference hosted by Udon Thani Rajabhat University's Mechanical Engineering Department. The conference did not reveal the cost of invention or its commercial use. Sumit said the reactor - a 12inch wide and 10inch high metal box installed inside the car's trunk - used electricity to extract two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen from water. It needed direct current (DC) from a 12voltage battery to extract hydrogen for the car engine's combustion, he said. This device extracted hydrogen for each use without having to store the gas in a tank, Sumit said. He said the "Reactor 1" could also control the heat produced from the hydrogen extraction to a safe level. The result was clean energy. Sumit said he continued to improve on the safety of the "Reactor 2" model by designing an electrical circuit to detect any abnormality in the whole system. The circuit would work with a "Micro Controller" to control the reactor and the engine to save the battery and have just the right amount of hydrogen produced for the car's engine usage. "I'm very happy to serve my country and there are many things to do. This invention is not my first and certainly will not my last. There will be more and better inventions to come," he said urging the Thai public to give support to his team. Quote
Bob Posted August 22, 2008 Posted August 22, 2008 Maybe a story for the "hey, I don't make it up, I just report it" column? Sounds rather goofy to me..... I can understand how you can get hydrogen from water (you do the old electrolysis thing by running electric current through water and the water breaks down into it's two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule - hey, that's why they call it H2O!) but the real difficulty is the quantity of hydrogen produced that way (absent 2000 pounds of equipment to produce enough) and, even worse, what the heck provides the substantial electrical current needed (perhaps another 4000 pounds of batteries that would need a substation to recharge themselves?). And I wouldn't even ask where the substation gets its power..... Maybe better stick to water buffaloes. Come to think of it, if one connnected plastic tubes to the backend of a water buffalo, we could burn methane to boil the water to run the steam generator to create the electrical current to run through more water to create the hydrogen to power the trucks needed to haul the tons of grass to feed the water buffaloes so they'll continue farting vast amounts of methane so we can heat enough water..... Quote
