Modern methods heating of buildings and premises are proposed for domestic market in the form of many options. It is understandable that consumers choose those that promise maximum efficiency at minimal cost.
One of alternative ways heating the room is considered to be the use of a hydrogen generator.
The principle of operation of hydrogen energy was noted in ancient times. The famous healer Paracelsus, while conducting his scientific experiments, noticed that when certain elements were combined, bubbles were formed, which at that time he mistook for air. It was later discovered that it was hydrogen, which is a colorless gas that exhibits explosive properties under certain conditions.
Currently, they have learned to use hydrogen for various purposes, including heating a residential building or any other structure. These technologies are being actively developed and implemented in many industries. As an innovation on the scientific development market, hydrogen heating has already attracted the interest of many consumers and continues to gain popularity among the general public.
It has been proven that hydrogen is considered not only a fairly common substance, but also an easily accessible substance. The only difficulty is that it has to be extracted from chemical compounds, most often water.
Based on the requirements and size of a private or municipal building, it is necessary to select a hydrogen burner with an optimal power level, adapted to the needs of a particular room. It should be noted that the maximum possible power rating of the generators is 6.
Hydrogen, rightfully recognized as the most economical type of fuel, can be produced in any quantity. Required condition for this is the presence electrical energy, as well as water.
The main task of technology is to fully independent heating premises. However, hydrogen-based installations can perfectly complement existing home heating systems. You just need to make sure that all elements of the heating system operate at low temperatures.
These units are also used to heat the room using heated floors, which are now easy to assemble with your own hands.
The heat generation process is based on the electrolysis of water in a medium saturated with a catalyst. The main condition for the normal operation, as well as the safety of the generator, is that under such conditions, water does not decompose into oxygen and hydrogen, the combination of which can be explosive.
Modern generators work to produce Brown gas. This is a completely non-explosive substance of a brownish or green hue, also called water gas. After production and heating to 40 degrees, it immediately goes to the combustion chambers, and more specifically, to the heat exchanger. There it is mixed with air-fuel elements.
The main structural components of the simplest hydrogen unit are pipes and the boiler itself. Often no technical accessories or additional elements and no more equipment is required.
This also applies to components designed to remove combustion products. After all, as a result of the operation of the generator, only steam is released into the atmosphere: water, clean and completely safe.
Often, burners of this type have a modular design, each part of which has its own catalyst, which increases the overall efficiency of the system.
As for pipes for a hydrogen heating system, it is advisable to use those whose diameter is in the range from 1 to 1.25 inches. Some deviations are allowed, but most often these are the ones used to heat a house. Important rule, which should not be neglected when installing heating pipes, – each previous branch should be larger in diameter than the next one.
A hydrogen generator based on the principle of electrolysis is most often produced in a container version. A prerequisite for purchasing such a heating device is the presence of the following documents: permission from Rostechnadzor, certificates (compliance with GOSTR and hygienic).
The electrolytic generator consists of the following elements:
To achieve the most efficient electrical conduction process, drops of lye are used. The reservoir with it is replenished as needed, but most often this happens about once a year.
Any electrolytic generators of industrial type are manufactured based on European environmental and safety standards.
It has been experimentally proven that purchasing a hydrogen electrolytic generator is much more profitable than regularly purchasing gas. Thus, to produce 1 cubic meter of gas from hydrogen and oxygen, only about 3.5 kW of electrical energy is required, as well as half a liter of demineralized water.
The device attracts many for the following reasons:
To be fair, it is worth highlighting some of the disadvantages of this heating method:
It’s better not to take risks, because such a process is associated not only with the need to know the intricacies of technology and chemistry, but also requires proper compliance with safety rules. But installing the equipment yourself is possible. To do this, it is enough to follow the instructions and avoid amateur activities.
Heating of any home should ensure not only comfortable human living, but also environmental cleanliness environment. This is achieved due to the fact that after the combustion of hydrogen no harmful compounds are formed.
IN Western countries Heating using hydrogen generators has gained widespread acceptance and economic justification. If a similar method takes root in Russia, it will significantly increase the efficiency of heating with minimal costs for resources.
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The development of technology has led to the replacement of classic wood stoves with boiler units. In addition to firewood and coal, gas, oil, diesel fuel and even electricity began to be used as fuel. IN Lately energy for autonomous heating systems additionally received with the help solar panels and geothermal installations. Considering that hydrogen is an inexhaustible source of energy, you can try to assemble a hydrogen generator with your own hands to produce environmentally friendly fuel.
DIY hydrogen generator
A hydrogen generator for heating is considered a promising development, since fuel with a high calorific value can be obtained from ordinary water. The main task is to obtain pure hydrogen in the simplest and cheapest way possible.
Traditionally, the electrolysis method is used for these purposes. Its essence is as follows: metal plates are placed in the water, not far from each other, and are connected to a source high voltage. Water conducts electricity, therefore, when electricity is applied, the water molecule breaks into components. The release of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom from each molecule allows one to obtain the so-called Brown gas with the formula HHO.
The calorific value of Brown's gas is 121 MJ/kg. When the substance burns, no harmful substances are formed, and in order to use it as an energy carrier for heating a house, it is enough to slightly upgrade a standard gas boiler. However, when creating a installation for producing hydrogen with your own hands Special attention safety precautions should be taken into account - when hydrogen combines with oxygen, an explosive mixture is formed.
An electrolyser, an installation for producing Brown gas by electrolyzing large volumes of water, consists of several cells in which metal plate electrodes are mounted. The larger the total surface area of the electrodes, the more powerful the installation.
The cells are located in a sealed container, which is equipped with a pipe for connecting to a water source, a pipe for removing the resulting gas, and terminals for connecting the power supply. The generator is also equipped with a water seal that prevents contact of hydrogen with oxygen, and a safety valve to prevent the backfire effect - the gas burns only in the burner device.
Operating principle of a hydrogen generator Hydrogen heating at home requires the use of an installation with a large area of electrodes, otherwise the heating boiler will not be able to effectively heat the coolant. It is unprofitable to use a conventional electrolyzer, increasing its dimensions, since more electricity will be spent on producing hydrogen than would be spent on operating an electric heating boiler to heat a house of the same area.
Development of more efficient installations for producing hydrogen fuel without unnecessary energy consumption is underway. The story of the American inventor Stanley Meyer is known, who created a “hydrogen cell” that consumes tens of times less electricity compared to traditional installations. However, the scientist failed to make a revolution in modern technologies- he died suddenly from poisoning, and the installation drawings disappeared.
The creation of a hydrogen generator with attempts to implement Meyer’s idea is being worked on in technical laboratories and in the workshops of home craftsmen all over the world. The invention of the American scientist was to create a resonance of a swaying water molecule with electrical impulses - in this case, it splits into atoms without the use of high electrical voltage.
Hydrogen is an extremely promising energy carrier for a number of reasons.:
Advantages of hydrogen heating Hydrogen is highly regarded as an energy carrier and is actively used, for example, as fuel for space rockets. Are used different ways its production on an industrial scale. This is mainly the gasification of coal or petroleum products, the conversion of methane and its homologues. Such cheap hydrogen cannot be considered as an environmentally friendly fuel, since its production is associated with harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen in large volumes is used only in Norway, where there is an abundance of cheap electricity.
The compact electric gas generator has found application in the field of gas cutting. Equipment producing hydrogen is more convenient to use compared to bottled gas - there is no need to transport heavy cylinders, depend on liquefied gas supplies, etc. But for the sake of convenience, savings were brought - the electrolytic process requires quite a lot of electricity, as a result, the cost of the energy carrier increases significantly. At the same time, the difference in the cost of purchased and produced hydrogen is largely compensated by the absence of costs for its delivery.
On many websites devoted to heating systems, you can find information that hydrogen is a worthy competitor to natural gas as an energy carrier for a heating boiler. The emphasis is on the fact that by installing a hydrogen generator, you get the opportunity to spend no more money on heating than on gas heating, without having to fill out a lot of documents and pay significant sums for connecting your house to the central gas network.
Based on the above, the article can conclude that the cost of hydrogen is low only when it is industrial production. That is, producing fuel by electrolysis will obviously cost more, and it makes no sense to rely on attractive figures for the cost of a kilogram of liquefied hydrogen.
Let's consider boiler equipment presented on the market. The production of hydrogen boilers is carried out by the Italian company Giacomini, which specializes in the field of alternative energy. Also, similar units are manufactured by some Chinese companies that have successfully copied the technology.
Hydrogen solid fuel boiler Giacomini's developments are aimed at creating heating equipment, which would be completely safe for the environment.
The hydrogen boiler of this company belongs to this category - its operation is associated with the release of water vapor, there are no harmful emissions. Hydrogen is used as an energy carrier, and it is produced by electrolysis.
However, it is worth paying special attention to the operating principle of this boiler. The hydrogen produced in the system is not burned; it reacts with oxygen in the presence of a catalyst. As a result, thermal energy is released, which is sufficient to heat the heating circuit to 40°C.
That is, hydrogen boilers, which are offered to be purchased at a substantial price, are only suitable for use as a heat generator for a water floor circuit, baseboard or ceiling heating.
It can be concluded that global manufacturers of boiler equipment have not found an acceptable technical solution to create an efficient heating boiler capable of using thermal energy burned hydrogen. Or they calculated that this option is unprofitable.
On the Internet you can find many instructions on how to make a hydrogen generator. It should be noted that it is quite possible to assemble such an installation for your home with your own hands - the design is quite simple.
DIY hydrogen generator components for heating in a private home But what will you do with the resulting hydrogen? Once again, pay attention to the combustion temperature of this fuel in the air. It is 2800-3000°C. If you consider that metals and other solid materials are cut with the help of burning hydrogen, it becomes clear that installing the burner in a regular gas, liquid fuel or solid fuel boiler with a water jacket will not work - it will simply burn out.
Craftsmen on the forums advise lining the inside of the firebox with fireclay bricks. But the melting point even the best materials of this type does not exceed 1600°C, such a firebox will not last long. The second option is to use a special burner that can lower the flame temperature to acceptable values. Thus, until you find such a burner, you should not start installing a homemade hydrogen generator.
Having solved the issue with the boiler, choose a suitable diagram and instructions on how to make a hydrogen generator for heating a private house.
A homemade device will be effective only if:
What size should be the unit that generates hydrogen in sufficient quantities to heat a house will have to be determined “by eye” (based on other people’s experience), or by first assembling a small installation. The second option is more practical - it will allow you to understand whether it is worth spending money and time on installing a full-fledged generator.
Rare metals are ideally used as electrodes, but this is too expensive for a home unit. It is recommended to choose stainless steel plates, preferably ferromagnetic.
Hydrogen generator design There are certain requirements for water quality. It should not contain mechanical impurities and heavy metals. The generator operates most efficiently on distilled water, but to reduce the cost of design, you can limit yourself to filters to purify water from unnecessary impurities. To make the electrical reaction more intense, sodium hydroxide is added to the water in a ratio of 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water.
Before you begin to understand in detail how to make a hydrogen generator, it is advisable to remember your school physics course. All transformations occur with a loss of energy, that is, the cost of electricity to produce hydrogen will not be recouped by the thermal power when burning the resulting fuel.
Considering that burning hydrogen with maximum temperature and heat transfer at home is simply impossible, it becomes clear that real losses will be even higher than those calculated for ideal conditions.
So, using a DIY hydrogen generator for heating doesn't make any sense if you don't have access to free electricity. Installing an electric boiler to heat your home and spending electricity directly, without complex transformations, will cost you 2-3 times less. In addition, the electric boiler is completely safe, and the operation of a homemade installation can lead to an explosion if the installation and operation rules are not followed.
Obviously, producing cheap hydrogen in an environmentally friendly way, which includes electrolysis, is a matter of the future, which scientists in the leading countries of the world are working on today.
Due to the constant rise in price utilities people are becoming interested in alternative heat sources. In a modern way Home heating is heating with hydrogen using a special generator. Experts often suggest installing such a heating system, and some craftsmen even tell you how to assemble it yourself.
Hydrogen is a substance with unique properties. A colorless and invisible gas, it has no mass at all in its solid and liquid states. Hydrogen is the most abundant substance on the planet, and it also contains no toxins. If you mix it with the surrounding air, the properties of the resulting mixture will remain for a very long time, and if it comes into contact with fire, it will ignite.
Scientists and engineers classify hydrogen as an explosive gas due to its flammability. That is why it is stored in special sealed alloy steel cylinders. Despite the increased explosion hazard, Hydrogen is actively used in various spheres of human life:
Using hydrogen instead natural gas, coal and oil has become increasingly popular lately. This is due to the fact that the extraction of such fuel is much cheaper, because to obtain it only water and electricity are needed.
A hydrogen generator for heating a private home is a great way to save money, but you will have to invest a lot in the installation. Of course you can buy finished design. The average price has a cost of about 50 thousand rubles. But often owners simply adapt old equipment to process hydrogen fuel.
To create an effective hydrogen installation for heating your home with your own hands, you need to understand what the fuel is made from and on what principle the device operates. There are several methods for releasing hydrogen:
All these technologies are most often used on an industrial scale, and to provide a home with heat, they choose the simplest and most affordable way- electrolysis.
Hydrogen in home heating
Electrolysis is a technique in which a direct electric current is passed through an aqueous solution saturated with salt. As a result, a chemical reaction occurs that involves the breakdown of the substance. This reaction can be more accurately described using the equation 2NaCl + 2H 2 O → 2NaOH + Cl 2 + H 2.
The heat released when hydrogen is burned is the so-called electrolyzer, that is, hydrogen fuel for heating.
If you assemble the equipment yourself, then in addition to the heat exchange device you will need catalysts to optimize chemical reaction, a hydrogen burner, and a pipeline.
The burner is located in the firebox and is responsible for heating the system. Using pipes, the recommended diameter of which is from 25 to 32 mm, the boiler is connected to the water supply. Also, to work, you need to connect the boiler to the electrical network, because this is the only way to carry out electrolysis. Of course, constructing a boiler for heating with hydrogen with your own hands will be much more enjoyable in financially, however, you need to take into account that a homemade NNO generator is less compact than a factory one.
Household generators have a simpler design than industrial ones. That is why they do not produce pure hydrogen, but the so-called Brown's gas - a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen. This is more practical, and the resulting gas is burned immediately. This is even better, because storing it somewhere is quite problematic.
How to make a hydrogen generator (WITHOUT ELECTRICITY) with your own hands
Before you start converting an existing heating system into a water boiler with your own hands, it’s worth creating a test sample. This model will give an understanding of the operation of the system as a whole, and will also help to understand whether it is worth making a hydrogen generator for heating a residential building yourself. To create a pilot model of an electrolyzer, the following components are required:
The electrodes, which are immersed in water, are supplied with voltage from a regulated source. At home, to improve the reaction, add a little salt to the water.
As a result of the reaction, hydrogen will be released from the cathode, and oxygen from the anode. The gases then enter the water seal, where water vapor is separated. The detonating gas is supplied from the second tank, where it is burned to form water.
At home, the design of a hydrogen stove can be recreated using scrap materials. To do this, you only need two plastic containers, a dozen screws and a medical dropper. Making such a design will not be difficult, and this process is described in detail on any specialized website dedicated to hydrogen heating. This is the most primitive model, so its performance will be extremely low.
But the generator also has significant disadvantages. To install it, you will have to significantly alter the existing heating system or dismantle the stove. In addition, factory devices have very high cost, which forces home owners to create a hydrogen generator with their own hands. There are other important details, namely:
Heating with hydrogen! Small stand.
Before installation, it is necessary to carefully weigh the pros and cons and only then dismantle the existing equipment. It is best to turn to specialists for help, because installing hydrogen generators for heating residential buildings is not an easy task, and the device must be made with high quality and technically correct.
To generate heat in your home, you can use various energy sources. Among them there are enough unusual options– for example, hydrogen fuel. Currently, hydrogen heating is rarely used by domestic consumers due to some difficulties in obtaining raw materials.
However, this method is still considered the most environmentally friendly and provides heating large premises. And the costs of such heating will be, although higher compared to the use of gas as an energy carrier, but noticeably lower compared to the operation of solid fuel and electric boilers.
For the first time, home heating using hydrogen was developed by Italian inventors. The device they created created virtually no noise and did not emit radiation into the atmosphere. harmful substances. At the same time, the temperature inside the boilers was low, and the equipment could be made not from cast iron or heat-resistant steel, but from ordinary metal and even plastic.
The “classic”, low-temperature version of hydrogen heating is the release of heat during the formation of water from hydrogen and oxygen. Although there is also a technique that involves the reverse process - the splitting of water molecules to create hydrogen fuel that burns in boilers.
Boilers running on hydrogen do not need a special system for exhausting combustion products into the atmosphere. After all, the process produces only steam, which is harmless to the environment. And obtaining raw materials is practically no particular problem, unlike energy carriers such as gas, diesel fuel and pellets.
Costs when using hydrogen heating will only go to electricity for the generator.
The spread of hydrogen heating systems is facilitated by a number of advantages of this method:
The only more profitable method in terms of operation is gas heating, which is not always available for suburban housing.
Also, the use of hydrogen reduces the costs of hydrocarbons such as oil and gas, which are non-renewable resources.
True, the technique also has disadvantages. Firstly, hydrogen is quite explosive and, as a result, difficult to transport, although this problem exists only for the low-temperature version.
Secondly, specialists capable of correct installation There are few such boilers and certification of hydrogen cylinders in our country.
Hydrogen heating is based on the release of a significant amount of thermal energy resulting from the interaction of oxygen and hydrogen molecules. The process is characterized large sizes the capacity necessary for its flow and high efficiency(>80%). For proper operation of the equipment it is necessary:
However, considering that it is unlikely to be possible to create equipment such as a low-temperature hydrogen installation for heating a house with your own hands, they most often use alternative method– obtaining hydrogen and using it as an energy carrier. This option will be more affordable and will provide a higher coolant temperature in the heating system (the same as gas).
Hydrogen heating systems include hydrogen generators, burners and boilers. The first is necessary to decompose the liquid into its components (with or without the use of catalysts to speed up the process). The burner creates an open flame, and the boiler serves as a heat exchange device. All this can be purchased at the appropriate stores, but the same system created by yourself, as a rule, works more efficiently.
The hydrogen generator can be assembled in several ways. To make it, you will need several steel tubes, a tank to house the structure, a pulse-width generator with a power of 30A or higher, or another power source. In addition, during assembly you cannot do without a container for distilled water.
The liquid from which hydrogen will be released is supplied inside a sealed structure, where there are stainless steel plates (the more of them, the more hydrogen is produced, although additional electricity is also consumed), adjacent to each other.
In the container, under the influence of current, the process of splitting water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen occurs, after which the latter is fed into the boiler where the burner is installed. If the current is supplied not from the network, but from a PWM generator, the efficiency of the system increases.
The heating system usually uses distilled water, to which sodium hydroxide is added in a proportion of 10 liters of liquid per 1 tbsp. l substances. In the absence or difficulty of obtaining required quantity distillate, it is also possible to use ordinary tap water, but only if it does not contain heavy metals.
It is permissible to use any types of metals from which hydrogen boilers are made. stainless steels – excellent option will become ferrimagnetic steel, to which excess particles are not attracted. Although the main criterion for choosing a material should still be resistance to corrosion and rust.
To assemble the apparatus, tubes with a diameter of 1 or 1.25 inches are usually used. The burner can be purchased at the appropriate store or online service.
If you choose the right materials and carefully study the heating circuit, manufacturing the installation and connecting it to the boiler is not difficult.
The reason for installing a hydrogen heating system in a private home may be the lack of natural gas and the availability of electricity. At the same time, the costs of providing the building with heat are lower compared to the use of electric heating devices.
In addition, there is no need for pipes to remove combustion products. It turns out that the hydrogen installation may well be used in country houses as independent or additional heating equipment.
Hydrogen is practically perfect view fuel, but the problem is that it is found on our planet only in the form of compounds with other chemical elements. The share of “pure” substance in the atmosphere is no more than 0.00005%. Given these realities, it becomes topical issue about the hydrogen generator. Let's consider the operating principle of such a device, its design features, scope of application and the possibility of self-production.
There are several methods for extracting hydrogen from other substances; we list the most common:
Of the listed options, the last one is the least expensive, and the first one is the most accessible; it is the one that forms the basis of most hydrogen generators, including household ones. Their principle of operation is that in the process of passing current through a solution, the positive electrode attracts negative ions, and the electrode with the opposite charge attracts positive ones, resulting in the splitting of the substance.
While there are practically no problems with producing hydrogen now, its transportation and storage still remains an urgent task. The molecules of this substance are so small that they can even penetrate metal, which poses a certain safety risk. Absorbed storage is not yet highly profitable. Therefore, most best option– generation of hydrogen immediately before its use in the production cycle.
For this purpose they are made industrial installations for hydrogen generation. As a rule, these are membrane-type electrolyzers. The simplified design of such a device and the principle of operation are given below.
Designations:
The design of household generators is much simpler, since most of them do not produce pure hydrogen, but produce Brown's gas. This is the name given to a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen. This option is the most practical; it does not require separating hydrogen and oxygen; the design can be significantly simplified, and therefore cheaper. In addition, the resulting gas is burned as it is produced. Storing and accumulating it at home is not only problematic, but also unsafe.
Designations:
A characteristic feature of such devices is the use of electrode blocks, since separation of hydrogen and oxygen is not required. This allows the generators to be quite compact.
Due to the problems associated with the transportation and storage of hydrogen, such devices are in demand in industries where the presence of this gas is required by the technological cycle. Let's list the main directions:
Despite the fact that the production of hydrogen during oil refining is cheaper than its production through electrolysis, as mentioned above, difficulties arise with gas transportation. The environmental situation does not always allow the construction of hazardous chemical production facilities directly next to oil refineries. In addition, hydrogen produced by electrolysis is much cleaner than that produced by cracking oil. In this regard, industrial hydrogen generators are always in high demand.
There are also uses for hydrogen in everyday life. First of all, these are autonomous heating systems. But here are some peculiarities. Pure hydrogen production plants are much more expensive than Brown gas generators; the latter can even be assembled yourself. But when organizing home heating, it is necessary to take into account that the combustion temperature of Brown gas is much higher than that of methane, so you will need a special boiler, which is somewhat more expensive than a regular one.
On the Internet you can find many articles in which it is written that ordinary boilers can be used for detonating gas, but this is strictly forbidden. At best, they will quickly fail, and at worst, they can cause sad or even tragic consequences. Special designs with a more heat-resistant nozzle are available for Brown's mixture.
It should be noted that the profitability of heating systems based on hydrogen generators is highly questionable due to low efficiency. In such systems there are double losses, firstly, during the gas generation process, and secondly, when heating water in the boiler. It is cheaper to immediately heat water in an electric boiler for heating.
An equally controversial implementation for household use, in which gasoline is enriched with Brown gas in the fuel system of a car engine in order to save money.
Designations:
It should be noted that in some cases such a system even works (if it is assembled correctly). But you won’t find exact parameters, power gain coefficient, or savings percentage. These data are highly blurred and their reliability is questionable. Again, the question is not clear how much the engine life will decrease.
But demand creates supply; on the Internet you can find detailed drawings of such devices and instructions for connecting them. There are also ready-made models made in the Land of the Rising Sun.
We'll tell you how to do it homemade generator to obtain a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen (HHO). Its power is not enough to heat a house, but for gas burner for cutting metal, the amount of gas produced will be sufficient.
Rice. 8. Gas burner diagram Designations:
First of all, we make an electrolyzer; for this we need a sealed container and electrodes. As the latter, we use steel plates (their size is chosen arbitrarily, depending on the desired performance), attached to a dielectric base. We connect all the plates of each electrode to each other.
When the electrodes are ready, they must be secured in the container so that the connection points for the power wires are above the expected water level. The wires from the electrodes go to a 12-volt power supply or car battery.
We make a hole in the lid of the container for the gas outlet tube. Conventional water seals can be used glass jars capacity 1 liter. We fill them 2/3 with water and connect them to the electrolyzer and burner, as shown in Figure 8.
It is better to take a ready-made burner, since not every material can withstand the combustion temperature of Brown gas. We connect it to the output of the last water valve.
We fill the electrolyzer with water to which ordinary kitchen salt has been added.
Apply voltage to the electrodes and check the operation of the device.
