The terminology 'dry-cell' came into the public domain (I haven't tracked down the originator) during the explosion of on-board electrolyzer experimentation that happened during 2008. The originator popularized the terminology to differentiate the 'recirculating-electrolyte' designs (dry-cell) from electrolyzers that do not recirculate the electrolyte (wet-cell).

The 'dry-cell' is a misnomer.  Dry-cells, do NOT use dry (no liquid) electrolyte.  In fact, they usually use MORE liquid electrolyte than, (what they re-named), a 'wet-cell'.  

A so-called 'dry-cell' is simply a full flooded wet-cell with an additional reservoir for electrolyte and a means to circulate the electrolyte (the fluids and gas mixture) between the electrolyzer and the reservoir.

I think they were named 'dry' because they, theoretically, have a smaller portion of the liquid electrolyte in the cell-pack at any given time.  This is actually not true in a lot of cases.

The dry-cell's fluid reservoir is usually mounted higher than the cell-pack and is connected to the cell-pack so that the natrual 'rising' action of convection (heated liquid electrolyte) and gas bubbles will 'pump' the electrolyte/gas mixture up out of the electrolyzer, allowing fresh electrolyte to flow into the bottom of the electrolyzer.

Typically the reservoir is used to separate the BG and electrolyte fluid, allowing the BG to exit from the system and the de-gassed electrolyte to re-enter the electrolyzer.

Dry-cells can be designed using parallel-plate or series-plate configurations.

Advantages of the dry-cell are include:

1. An increased ability to control the temperature of the electrolyte.  For any given electrolyzer design, frequency, pulse (width and shape), electrolyte and electrolyte concentration there will be an ideal or optimum temperature.  Sometimes the BG production increase can be dramatic if the optimum temperature is maintained; so all electrolyzers should have temperature control, allowing heating or cooling as needed.  Our HyZor is designed to be heated or cooled and is more efficient when HOT!

2. The ability to mount the reservoir tank separately from the electrolyzer, supposedly allowing easier filling with water and easier placing of components within the vehicle.  Easier filling may not be actually true, depending on the electrolyzer.  Our HyZor is designed to be filled remotely and includes electronics to monitor fluid level.

3. The ability to remove bubbles from the electrolyzer faster than natural convection, particularly if using a pump.  Using a pump to increase 'dry-cell' efficiency is highly recommended.

4. The ability to 'treat' all the electrolyte, filtering out solids and/or changing the electrolyte density easily and quickly.  In some cases, this can be a practical advantage.

The idea is to have the BG, generated in the electrolyzer, lift itself and some electrolyte out of the electrolyzer using bubble-assisted convection or pump assisted convection. The upper tank then allows the BG to separate from the electrolyte fluid (at it's own convenience) and the, now clear, electrolyte then falls back (through a separate tube) to the bottom of the electrolyzer, to continue the process.   

The dry-cell may also cause more ExW to form, as cations and anions are 'pushed' out of the electrolyzer with the BG before they have a chance to complete their chemical dance. 

My advise would be to provide a pump for positive circulation of the electrolyte. Maximizing the advantages above (particularly as I'm finding that temperature control may be a major factor in finding the peak performance point) and minimizing the inevitable 'surging' that happens with passive bubble-assisted circulation (surging causes portions of plate surfaces to become inactive).  

Also, most dry-cells are miss-designed for maximum efficiency, because they enter and exit the fluid through a side-plate.  Fluid for each cell should enter from directly below the cell and exit directly above the cell, using a manifold.  If fluids from one cell can access another cell, electricity can 'short' between the cells and cause lower efficiency.

Our HyZor, as currently designed, is a compact, integrated hybrid wet/dry electrolyzer wherein the bulk of the electrolyte is separate from the (dual) electrolyzers and electrolyte CAN circulate in and out of the cells. 

I have not yet seen a dry-cell that can match or exceed the efficiencies of our HyZor design, currently have achieved 20+ MMW.

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... than a wet-cell?  Not automatically.

Efficiency depends largely on the design of the electrolyzer, power supply, electrolyte, electrolyte density, electrolyte temperature, etc. These design parameters are largely independent of whether an electrolyzer is a 'wet-cell' or a 'dry-cell'.

Efficient designs are optimized for the application. There are far too many electrolyzer design variables to discuss them all and the ramifications of each here. However, if building electrolyzers, keep in mind:

General Efficiency Considerations:

1. Don't assume that any particular electrolyte or concentration is the best. Test each electrolyte with various concentrations until you find the optimum for your electrolyzer design. The main two electrolytes are NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and KOH (potassium hydroxide). We prefer NaOH because in our electrolyzer designs NaOH is 30% more efficient than KOH.

2. Wide plates tend to be more efficient than tall ones.  You need to remove the bubbles from the plates as fast as possible, because wherever there is a bubble, there is inactive plate area.  That is the one advantage of the wire-wound design of the 'jar' cell from Water4Gas.

3. Electrolyzers tend to run more efficiently when hot (reduces electrolyte resistance). There will be an optimum temperature for any given electrolyzer, electrolyte and electrolyte density; it's best to be able to control the temperature.

4. Because electrolyte lowers resistance when the temperature rises, you need to deal with an effect I call 'amperage-runaway'.  Learn about efficient ways to control amperage-runaway (see HyZor Technology book). MOST power supply designs 'out there' are using technologies we abandonded decades ago.

Dry-cell specific Considerations:

1. Designs with pumps tend to eliminate the 'surging' that happens in convection cells. Be sure to use a pump large enough to remove the bubbles from the cells ASAP. If this is done, excellent results can be achieved with narrow plate spacing.  Of course this also means a larger reservoir, because the bubbles need to be removed from the fluid before re-entering the electrolyzer.  Perhaps a vortex could help.

2. Design for even flow of electrolyte through all cells, unrestricted exit of the liquid/gas mixture from the cell-pack to the reservoir and DO NOT allow the electrolyte from any cell to mix with any other cell's electrolyte until the electrolyte is well away from the electrolyzer.

Wet-cell Efficiency:

For the world's most efficient and practical (as far as we know) electrolyzer designs, read our Brown's Gas books 1 and 2, the HyZor Technology book and watch Brown's Gas videos 2 and 3.

Our HyZor, as currently designed, could be considered to be a compact hybrid 'wet/dry- cell' wherein the bulk of the electrolyte is separate from the (dual) electrolyzers. 

I have not yet seen a dry-cell or wet-cell that can match or exceed the efficiencies of our HyZor design, which have achieved 20+ MMW.

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MMW is an acronym for MilliLiter(s) per Minute per Watt.

MMW is meant to measure the efficiency of any given electrolyzer technology; particularly electrolyzers designed for on-board vehicle use. The idea is to know the relationship of the volume of BG being produced (milli-liters) for each watt-minute of power.

MMW came into the public domain (I haven't tracked down the originator) during the explosion of on-board electrolyzer experimentation that happened during 2008. The originator popularized the measurement even though there was already (for decades) an electrolyzer efficiency standard in place and accepted worldwide by the scientific community.

The 'official' standard for electrolyzer efficiency is Watt-hour(s) per Liter (Wh/L). Watt-hours are a measurement of work, so this measurement gives the actual amount of electrical energy it took to make 1 liter of BG.

So, an on-board electrolyzer (like the Mighty Mite version of the HyZor technology) that measures 30 seconds to fill a 1,000 mL volume, using a steady 13.8 VDC and 8.5 ADC would calculate:

Given:

13.8 VDC * 8.5 ADC = 117.3 watts
30 seconds to fill 1,000 mL = 120 liters/hr
117.3 watts * 1 hr = 117.3 Wh

Results:

117.3 Wh / 120 L/hr = 0.9775 Wh/L (for Wh/L smaller is better)

2000 mL / 1 minute / 117.3 watts = 17.05 MMW (for MMW larger is better)

Here is a website that has a very good MMW spreadsheet you can download so you can know the efficiency of your experiments.  The other factor you need to consider is properly taking measurements.

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A. Find out here:

http://eagle-research.com/cms/faq/what-is-browns-gas

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A. Internal combustion engines run extremely well on pure BG.  In the BG video 2 we show an engine running exclusively on BG.

However, it takes more energy, in form of electricity to make the BG than the engine will produce while running with BG as its only fuel.  

Using the best BG technology known today, BG as an engine's only fuel, cannot generate more power from an internal combustion engine than the electricity it took to make the BG.

This is because internal combustion engines are only 25%-30% efficient.

Example: 100 watts of electricity can make about 98 watts of BG (using figures from 1996 Eagle-Research technology).  

An internal combustion engine (fueled by 98 watts of BG) will generate about 25 watts of electricity (because the engine is 25% efficient). 25 watts is NOT enough to even replace the energy the engine used/wasted (98 watts), let alone provide excess power to move the vehicle.  The 'BG Myth' section of Eagle-Research.com gives analysis of running internal combustion engines on BG.

Better to use the 100 watts of electricity (instead of making BG) to directly power an electric motor. The electric motor is far simpler than an internal combustion engine and operates at 60+ % efficiency.  Thus the same 100 watts would take you more than twice as far.

Having said that, Brown's Gas can increase the combustion efficiency of carbon fuels dramatically, using less power to make it than you get back from the combustion efficiency increase... Because it is then acting like a Catalyst, not as a Fuel.

See the HyZor Technology and Brown's Gas, book 2 to learn how.  

We are trying to figure out how to run engines exclusively on water.  Join our eNews to help or learn how once we've figured it out.

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A. Eagle-Research does not recommend storing Brown's Gas in any kind of tank.

BG is primarily a stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen and oxygen; one of the most explosive mixtures known!  If you watch the movie 'Outbreak' you will see two examples of how the US Military uses hydrogen/oxygen mixture to make a 'gas bomb' that is non-nuclear.

As BG is compressed, there will come a point at which it will self-explode. The higher the pressure, the more violent the explosion.  

To ensure that there is no possibility of dangerous concentrations, ER HyZor technology is specifically designed to produce BG only when the engine is actually running and to consume the BG as soon as it is produced.

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A. Yes!

Our research so far has been with using Brown's Gas to increase the efficiency of internal combustion.

We have the world's most practical such technology. It is described in our HyZor Technology book.  

We sincerely wish all those experimenters out there would read our book (developed from research done since 1974).  Most of those researchers are using technology that we abandoned, for better designs, over a decade ago.

Here is a document that PROVEs that on-board electrolyzers can save fuel.
http://www.eagle-research.com/cms/node/443 

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A. Brown's Gas makes the engine more efficient and 'longer lived' in several ways.

In this application, BG is like a catalyst; NOT a FUEL! For a PDF that details the catalytic effect (click here).

BG's helps the fuel Burn much faster, during the time when heat energy is most efficiently converted to mechanical energy (see my Extreme Mileage 101 for why fuel burn timing is so important).

BG does this because it contains a high-energy mixture of ExW and hydrogen.  The hydrogen has a flame speed that is 5 to 7 times faster than carbon-based fuels.  And the ExW helps the carbon-based fuel molecules 'break apart' much easier, faster and with less endothermic energy.

Independent studies show that adding hydrogen ensures a complete burn of the fuel and increases engine torque.  Brown's Gas is even more effective than straight hydrogen.

A fast complete burn assures that:  

1. You got the maximum possible power from your fuel.

a. Because the fuel has a very short time to burn while the piston and crankshaft are in the optimum configuration to convert heat into power.

b. Because slow and incomplete burn causes some of your fuel burning in the exhaust (catalytic converter) where you cannot get power from it.  

2. Your combustion chamber doesn't get engine destroying and efficiency reducing carbon buildups. In fact, if you have carbon buildups, the BG will help remove them.  

3. Engine oil stays clean longer because less unburned carbon gets into the oil.  

4. Pollution is reduced by burning the fuel in the engine. 

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A. All fuels explode.  The key is to have it explode inside the engine at a time and manner whereby the energy of the explosion is most efficently converted into mechanical motion.

You are producing the hydrogen on demand; it is never stored anywhere.

Hydrogen is the lightest known gas and has the fastest dissipation rate in air. The BG produced by a ER HyZor cannot form a combustible mixture in a ventilated area.  

Brown's Gas is entirely non-toxic (made from water).

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