Hydrogen Electrolyzers L. E. Spicer copyright 1991 L. E. Spicer The wind blows freely over the hill behind our house turning an old Jacobs wind charger. This is the power source that we use to split the rain water that flows off our roof. Above the set-up cost and maintenance, making hydrogen is a free ride. For the wind and water are free and nothing else is used up in the process. Inside the Electrolyzer In Home Power #22, page 32, our hydrostatic column was explained. Here I would like to give drawings that more clearly show the water electrolyzer and the arrangement of multiple electrolyzer cells in a common liquid electrolyte as brought forth by patent #4,382,849 and used by Hydrogen Wind, Inc. Figure #1 is an exploded view of the basic one cell electrolyzer. You can see in the drawing it is simple in construction. It consists of a positive and negative electrode #20 and #44, a separator box #40, within a pressure retaining housing #22 (see lower part of Figure 1.). Hydrogen and oxygen are divided out of the water by the use of a microporous membrane configured into a separator box illustrated by Figures #2 and #3. The hydrogen and oxygen so separated rise out of this box and are maintained separated by the divider plate (#56 in the upper part of Figure 1). A multiple of these cells can be wired together to match up to an available DC power source. This, however, must be done in a certain way. If a number of electrolyzer cells were just wired together in a common electrolyte, the electricity would simply enter on the first positive electrode. It would then pass through the electrolyte and exit on the last negative electrode, ignoring all the cells in between. Gas Traps This shunting of the current can be avoided by using gas traps and electrolyte channeling as shown by Figure 4 and 5. The gas traps (#30 of Figure 4) consist of plastic tubing that hold a pocket of gas to prevent the flow of an electric current. The electrolyte channeling (#60 of Figure 5) is also plastic tubing so arranged that the greatest resistance to shunt current through these tubes is at the cells of the highest potential. Electricity therefore, will take the path of least resistance, which is straight through each cell. In addition to this, each electrolyzer must be spaced apart from each other to avoid electrical contact and be resting on a plastic or non- electrical conducting surface. Access L. E. Spicer, Hydrogen Wind, Inc., Rte. 2 Box 262, Lineville, IA 50147