REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This part of the research proposal shall discuss the relevant literature
connected with the study of oxyhydrogen gas, particularly, the previous re-
searches made by scholars through experimentation and qualitative analysis.
The following key researches shall be discussed in order to give light to the
objectives of this research as mentioned in chapter 1 and also indicate the rea-
son why there is a need to conduct the said research.

Oxyhydrogen (HHO)

Oxyhydrogen is a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gases.

This gaseous mixture is used for torches to process refractory materials and
was the first gaseous mixture used for welding. Theoretically, a ratio of 2:1
hydrogen:oxygen is enough to achieve maximum efficiency; in practice a ratio
4:1 or 5:1 is needed to avoid an oxidizing flame.

This mixture may also be referred to as Knallgas (Scandinavian and

German Knallgas: "bang-gas"), although some authors define knallgas to be a
generic term for the mixture of fuel with the precise amount of oxygen re-
quired for complete combustion, thus 2:1 oxyhydrogen would be called "hy-
drogen-knallgas". (W. Dittmar, "Exercises in quantitative chemical analysis".)

Oxyhydrogen will combust when brought to its autoignition tempera-

ture. For the stoichiometric mixture, 2:1 hydrogen:oxygen, at normal atmo-
spheric pressure, autoignition occurs at about 570 °C (1065 °F). The minimum
energy required to ignite such a mixture with a spark is about 20 microjoules.
At standard temperature and pressure, oxyhydrogen can burn when it is be-
tween about 4% and 95% hydrogen by volume.

When ignited, the gas mixture converts to water vapor and releases en-

ergy, which sustains the reaction: 241.8 kJ of energy (LHV) for ev-
ery mole of H2 burned. The amount of heat energy released is independent of
the mode of combustion, but the temperature of the flame varies. The maxi-
mum temperature of about 2,800 °C (5,100 °F) is achieved with an exact stoi-
chiometric mixture, about 700 °C (1,300 °F) hotter than a hydrogen flame in
air. When either of the gases are mixed in excess of this ratio, or when mixed
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with an inert gas like nitrogen, the heat must spread throughout a greater
quantity of matter and the temperature will be lower. (Howard Monroe Ray-
mond "Oxy-Hydrogen Welding", Modern Shop Practice volume 1, American
Technical Society)

A pure stoichiometric mixture may be obtained by water electrolysis,

which uses an electric current to dissociate the water molecules:

electrolysis: 2 H2O → 2 H2 + O2

combustion: 2 H2 + O2 → 2 H2O

William Nicholson was the first to decompose water in this manner in

1800. In theory, the input energy of a closed system will always equal the out-
put energy, as the first law of thermodynamics states. However, in practice no
systems are perfectly closed, and the energy required to generate the oxyhy-
drogen will always exceed the energy released by combusting it, even at max-
imum practical efficiency, as the second law of thermodynamics implies.

Electrolysis of water can give us hydrogen in form of oxy-hydrogen

gas which can be used as an alternative fuel for any internal combustion en-
gine. This research paper discusses the method of installing an HHO generator
directly into the motorcycle system and shall then analyze the results.

Oxy-hydrogen gas is an enriched mixture of ‘hydrogen’ and ‘oxygen’

bonded together molecularly and magnetically. Oxy-hydrogen gas is produced
by electrolysis of water using caustic soda or KOH as the catalyst. Presence of
‘oxy-hydrogen gas’ during combustion process decreases the ‘brake specific
fuel consumption’ and also increases the ‘brake thermal efficiency’. Water is
one of the by-products of the combustion process which also decreases the
temperature of the combustion process. (Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Research Vol. 3(9), pp. 325-332, 21 September, 2011)

Oxyhydrogen as Secondary Fuel

Bi-fuel vehicles or otherwise known as dual fuel are vehi-

cles with multifuel engines capable of running on two fuels. On internal com-
bustion engines one fuel is gasoline or diesel, and the other is an alternate
fuel such as natural gas (CNG), LPG, or hydrogen. The two fuels are stored in
 7

separate tanks and the engine runs on one fuel at a time in some cases, in oth-
ers both fuels are used in unison. Bi-fuel vehicles have the capability to switch
back and forth from gasoline or diesel to the other fuel, manually or automati-
cally. (Diane Nassy. "Flexible Fuel Vehicles". Motopoint. Archived from the
original on 23 July 2008.)

Several experimental researches have been conducted in order to ana-

lyze the effect of integrating Oxyhydrogen gas into the combustion chamber
of an internal combustion engine as secondary fuel. One notable research was
conducted by K.V. Shivaprasad (2014) in which the results of injecting Hy-
drogen gas into the intake manifold of an engine reported a continuous in-
crease in Bmep and thermal efficiency, and a decrease in both HC and CO
emissions, with an increase in H2 fraction.

Another research on integrating Hydrogen into the combustion cham-

ber, conducted by S. Wang (2009), suggests that the results demonstrate a
most profound enhancement in Bmep and thermal efficiency in lean condi-
tions, and an increase in peak cylinder pressure and an advance in the corre-
sponding crank angle (CA) with the increase in H2%.

Although several researches already prove the effectiveness of inject-

ing HHO into the combustion chamber, a proper, cheap and simple design in
which a hydrogen generator is integrated into a motorcycle system is still un-
known to the general public. Subsequently, no formal research has been con-
ducted as far as integrating an HHO generator specifically into the engine of a
100 cc, spark ignition motorcycle engine is concerned. Thus, the reason for
this research is creating such generator for the said specific engine and shall
then analyze the results.

Hydrogen Generator For Uses In An Internal Combustion Engine

In 2007, a certain inventor named Aquilino R. Vinuya patented his hy-

drogen generator for internal combustion engines. He designed an apparatus
for producing hydrogen that utilizes water vapour from automobile's radiator
modified to have two outlets both directed to the splitter. The splitter is com-
posed of several openings that serve as distribution panel of different mole-
cules. Some molecules are fed into the carburator and the other to the atomic
 8

reactor. The atomic reactor is a container with adsorbent material arranged in-
side. A coil is also arranged within the container connected to a power supply
to oxygenate and diffuse hydrogen. The atomic reactor container is self-pres-
surized and is humidified with atmospheric air coming through the container's
breather. All molecules are subjected by residence time and are atomized ac-
cording to their properties. Hydrogen being the lightest element is harnessed
at the top portion ofthe atomic reactor and then fed to the internal combustion

engine.

Figure 2.1 Hydrogen Generator Diagram