Point of use hydrogen production unit

Abstract

This invention relates to a point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell. The unit uses energy compression to produce a high energy pulse which reacts with the plasma of a gas filled flashlamp to produce a very high pulse of power which is discharged into the water via the surface of the flashlamp to activate the photocatalyst's surface and water interface to produce Hydrogen gas in a water tank or vessel having a gas filled flashlamp or a side emitting fiber optic array. The Hydrogen gas is fed to a storage container and thence to a fuel cell whom it is converted into power to drive vehicles, ships, airplanes, underwater vehicles, boats, etc.

Claims

1. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell comprising: a flashlamp vessel comprising a flashlamp having electrodes mounted internally at both ends of the flashlamp vessel; means for supplying water to the flashlamp vessel; a Xenon or gas filled mixture or single gas under a selected pressure mounted within the flashlamp vessel containing water and a semiconductor photocatalyst 3D printed or manually mounted in proximity to the flashlamp; a capacitor bank connected to the flashlamp to generate high electrical potential energy pulses to the lamp to facilitate high power pulses to activate the photocatalyst for the creation of Hydrogen from the water, and means for feeding the Hydrogen from the photocatalyst's surface to the fuel cell.

2. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, further including: a UV/visible light pulse sensor coupled to the flashlamp vessel to monitor the intensity and wavelength range from pulsed UV/visible light from the flashlamp to verify the selective bond disassociation energy relevant to the target molecular bonds of the water to produce Hydrogen.

3. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 2, further including: a sensor interface and microprocessor unit; and, a temperature sensor and a UV/visible pulse light intensity and wavelength range sensor coupled to the lamp vessel and to the sensor interface and microprocessor unit to monitor the operation of the flashlamp.

4. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, wherein: The capacitor bank further comprises a Marx generator.

5. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, wherein: The capacitor bank further comprises a Fitch generator.

6. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, further comprising: a hydrogen storage and regulation tank connected to the flashlamp vessel and configured to collect and store the Hydrogen and Oxygen, provide the Hydrogen to the fuel cell, and feed the Oxygen to the fuel cell or atmosphere Oxygen.

7. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, wherein: the photocatalyst comprises a water splitting photocatalyst, a carbon based photocatalyst, a Graphene, or 2D photocatalyst covering a large surface area within the flashlamp water vessel.

8. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, wherein: the Xenon flashlamp comprises a tunable spectrum flashlamp targeting the 123 nm Spectrum range.

9. A point of use Hydrogen production unit for use with a Hydrogen fuel cell in accordance with claim 1, wherein: the flashlamp vessel includes an outlet configured to remove the oxygen produced within the flashlamp vessel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and other objects and advantages of this invention may be more clearly seen when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(3) Referring now to the drawing FIG. 1, high purity technical water 11 is supplied to a reaction chamber 12 from storage 26 through valve 25 *******). An apparatus 13 similar to a Marx generator pulses high energy pulses through a tunable and/or doped Xenon or gas mixtures/(gas filled) flashlamp 14 in vessel 12 targeting the 125 nm wavelength via a range of wavelengths with the 125 nm as the center of the range compensating for inhibitors such as cage effect. In proximity to the lamp 14, a semiconductor photocatalyst 27 surface provides the necessary election hole to facilitate the creation of Hydrogen ions and in turn Hydrogen gas in the presence of UV/visible registration. The formed Hydrogen and Oxygen gas bubbles are selectively separated in chamber 28. The high purity Hydrogen gas flows through outlet 15. The Oxygen is removed through outlet 16 and is either stored or exhausted to the atmosphere. Pulse frequency and water supply flow rates determine the overall quantity of Hydrogen production and can be tuned to the required system demands. The Hydrogen is fed to a Hydrogen storage and regulation tank 29. The Hydrogen is then passed through a commercially available PEM fuel cell (such as a 80 KW Toyota or similar) creating DC current. The only inputs to the system are purified water 1l and a power supply 13 for the energy compression capacitors feeding the UV/visible flashlamps. The concept is scalable to nearly any system demand via either larger reaction chambers or multiple, potentially redundant units or smaller units.

(4) As shown in FIG. 1, The flashlamp vessel 12 also includes a UV/visible intensity pulse light sensor 18 and a temperature sensor 19 which are coupled to a sensor interface/microprocessor 20 to monitor and control the Hydrogen producing operation. The Hydrogen input 21 and an air input 22 are fed to the fuel cell 17 in FIG. 1. This produces a power output 23 to the load bank 30 while a water end product is supplied back to the water storage vessel through outlet 24.

(5) Optimizing the light source 14 and photocatalyst surface area contact points 27, is one goal of this patent. The result can be accomplished in several ways. The light source 14 can be set at a fixed pulsed wavelength or wavelength range or ranges or by use of a tunable control. Pulsed flashlamps, pulsed lasers, pulsed LLED, and pulsed electromagnetic spectrum are options. This would include a multiphoton enhanced water splitting photocatalyst activation site and the use of 2 or more photons which combine their lesser energies to meet a much higher energy of dissociation. This can be realized through ultrafast pulses. For example, using extremely low energy photons in the IR and visible light wavelengths and combining their energies to meet the dissociation energy of water at 125 nm (extremely high energy).

(6) As an additional energy conservation method the photocatalyst 27 can be positioned in relationship to the light source 14 to optimize the light to photocatalyst surface exposure. This can be accomplished by use of a CAD simulation software and in turn 3D print the photocatalyst (with or without a base) so the photocatalyst's surface area is optimized and so the 3-D photocatalyst can be inserted around the flashlamp in the water chamber. Furthermore, by use of ultra-fast pulses and pulse shaping, other liquids can be scavenged for their Hydrogen and the photocatalytic surface can be manipulated or changed to other photocatalysts for a more efficient reaction site for new Hydrogen rich liquid forms. One other arrangement to fully optimize the light to photocatalyst exposure area, would use a fiber optic cable which runs from a single to multiple pulsed laser or lasers (tunable) to a vessel 12 or vessels holding the water at which point side emitting photocatalytic surface coated fiber would fill the vessels along with the water and where the water splitting can take place via the activation of the photocatalyst from within the side emitting fiber optic cable and the Hydrogen collected.

(7) To summarize, this invention is directed to a new and unique point of use Hydrogen generation method which makes the use of Hydrogen feasible as a fuel for automobiles, boats, planes, ships etc. The use of Hydrogen fuel cells provides an economical, non-polluting source of power which requires less input than electric power sources having batteries using rare earth components. It also has considerable advantages over conventional combustion engine technologies.

(8) While the invention has been explained by a detailed description of certain specific embodiments, it is understood that various modifications and substitutions can be made in any of them within the scope of the appended Claims, which are intended also to include equivalents of such embodiments.