Patent Application
20180135883
Water heating is a thermodynamic process that uses an energy source to heat water above its initial temperature. Typical domestic uses of hot water include cooking, cleaning, bathing, and space heating. In industry, hot water and water heated to steam have many uses.
Domestically, water is traditionally heated in vessels known as water heaters, kettles, cauldrons, pots, or coppers. These metal vessels that heat a batch of water do not produce a continual supply of heated water at a preset temperature. Rarely, hot water occurs naturally, usually from natural hot springs. The temperature varies with the consumption rate, becoming cooler as flow increases.
Appliances that provide a continual supply of hot water are called water heaters, hot water heaters, hot water tanks, boilers, heat exchangers, geysers, or calorifiers. These names depend on region, and whether they heat potable or non-potable water, are in domestic or industrial use, and their energy source. In domestic installations, potable water heated for uses other than space heating is also called domestic hot water (DHW).
Fossil fuels (natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, oil), or solid fuels are commonly used for heating water. These may be consumed directly or may produce electricity that, in turn, heats water. Electricity to heat water may also come from any other electrical source, such as nuclear power or renewable energy. Alternative energy such as solar energy, heat pumps, hot water heat recycling, and geothermal heating can also heat water, often in combination with backup systems powered by fossil fuels or electricity.
Densely populated urban areas of some countries provide district heating of hot water. This is especially the case in Scandinavia and Finland. District heating systems supply energy for water heating and space heating from waste heat from industries, power plants, incinerators, geothermal heating, and central solar heating. Actual heating of tap water is performed in heat exchangers at the consumers' premises. Generally the consumer has no in-building backup system, due to the expected high availability of district heating systems.
In household and commercial usage, most North American and Southern Asian water heaters are the tank type, also called storage water heaters, these consist of a cylindrical vessel or container that keeps water continuously hot and ready to use. Typical sizes for household use range from 75 to 400 liters (20 to 100 US gallons). These may use electricity, natural gas, propane, heating oil, solar, or other energy sources.
Natural gas heaters are most popular in the US and most European countries, since the gas is often conveniently piped throughout cities and towns and currently is the cheapest to use. In the United States, typical natural gas water heaters for households without unusual needs are 40 or 50 US gallons with a burner rated at 34,000 to 40,000 BTU/hour. Some models offer “High Efficiency and Ultra Low NOx” emissions.
This is a popular arrangement where higher flow rates are required for limited periods, water is heated in a pressure vessel that can withstand a hydrostatic pressure close to that of the incoming mains supply. In North America, these vessels are called hot water tanks, and may incorporate an electrical resistance heater, a heat pump, or a gas or oil burner that heats water directly.
Where hot-water space heating boilers are installed, domestic hot water cylinders are usually heated indirectly by primary water from the boiler, or by an electric immersion heater (often as backup to the boiler). In the UK these vessels are called indirect cylinders, or direct cylinders, respectively. Additionally, if these cylinders form part of a sealed system, providing mains-pressure hot water, they are known as unvented cylinders. In the US, when connected to a boiler they are called indirect-fired water heaters.
Compared to tankless heaters, storage water heaters have the advantage of using energy (gas or electricity) at a relatively slow rate, storing the heat for later use. The disadvantage is that over time, heat escapes through the tank wall and the water cools down, activating the heating system to heat the water back up, so investing in a tank with better insulation improves this standby efficiency. Additionally, when heavy use exhausts the hot water, there is a significant delay before hot water is available again. Larger tanks tend to provide hot water with less temperature fluctuation at moderate flow rates.
Volume storage water heaters in the United States and New Zealand are typically vertical, cylindrical tanks, usually standing on the floor or on a platform raised a short distance above the floor. Volume storage water heaters in Spain are typically horizontal. In India, they are mainly vertical. In apartments they can be mounted in the ceiling space over laundry-utility rooms. In Australia, gas and electric outdoor tank heaters have mainly been used (with high temperatures to increase effective capacity), but solar roof tanks are becoming fashionable.
Tiny point-of-use (POU) electric storage water heaters with capacities ranging from 8 to 32 liters (2 to 6 gallons) are made for installation in kitchen and bath cabinets or on the wall above a sink. They typically use low power heating elements, about 1 kW to 1.5 kW, and can provide hot water long enough for hand washing, or, if plumbed into an existing hot water line, until hot water arrives from a remote high capacity water heater. They may be used when retrofitting a building with hot water plumbing is too costly or impractical. Since they maintain water temperature thermostatically, they can only supply a continuous flow of hot water at extremely low flow rates, unlike high-capacity tankless heaters.
In tropical countries, like Singapore and India, a storage water heater may vary from 10 L to 35 L. Smaller water heaters are sufficient, as ambient weather temperatures and incoming water temperature are moderate.
Tankless water heaters—also called instantaneous, continuous flow, inline, flash, on-demand, or instant-on water heaters—are gaining in popularity. These high-power water heaters instantly heat water as it flows through the device, and do not retain any water internally except for what is in the heat exchanger coil. Copper heat exchangers are preferred in these units because of their high thermal conductivity and ease of fabrication.
Tankless heaters may be installed throughout a household at more than one point-of-use (POU), far from a central water heater, or larger centralized models may still be used to provide all the hot water requirements for an entire house. The main advantages of tankless water heaters are a plentiful continuous flow of hot water (as compared to a limited flow of continuously heated hot water from conventional tank water heaters), and potential energy savings under some conditions. The main disadvantage is their much higher initial costs, a US study in Minnesota study reported a 20- to 40-year payback for the tankless water heaters. In a comparison to a less efficient natural gas fired hot water tank, on-demand natural gas will cost 30% more over its useful life.
Stand-alone appliances for quickly heating water for domestic usage are known in North America as tankless or on demand water heaters. In some places, they are called multipoint heaters, geysers or ascots. In Australia and New Zealand they are called instantaneous hot water units. In Argentina they are called calefones. In that country calefones use gas instead of electricity. A similar wood-fired appliance was known as the chip heater.
A common arrangement where hot-water space heating is employed, is for a boiler to also heat potable water, providing a continuous supply of hot water without extra equipment. Appliances that can supply both space-heating and domestic hot water are called combination (or combi) boilers. Though on-demand heaters provide a continuous supply of domestic hot water, the rate at which they can produce it is limited by the thermodynamics of heating water from the available fuel supplies.
Nuclear water heaters are used in power generating stations to create electricity by the resulting steam created by the atomic reaction being used to rotate a series of turbine fins attached to a generator or alternator to create electricity.
Coal is one of the most affordable and largest domestically produced sources of energy in the United States. It is used to generate a substantial amount of our electricity—about 37%. The challenge? Finding ways to burn it more sustainable. Historically, a wide variety of environmental impacts are associated with generating electricity from coal.
Typical swimming pool and spa heaters utilizing natural gas or propane for example, takes hours to heat a pool or spa to the required temperature. A popular brand of pool heater operating at 400,000 BTU's and costing approximately $2,600.00 requires 44 minutes to increase the temperature of 1,000 gallons of water by 30 degrees Fahrenheit. A similar heater by the same manufacturer requires 24 hours to heat a 50,000 gallon pool by 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
The present invention relates generally to the creating of a chemical ionic plasma in an aqueous solution of water to free ions of hydrogen and oxygen and at the same time recombining the said hydrogen and oxygen ions derived by the reaction and igniting the combination in a controlled explosion wherein massive amounts of heat get absorbed in gasification, then transformed back into heated liquid simultaneously and instantly.
An important feature of water is its polar nature. The structure has a bent molecular geometry for the two hydrogens from the oxygen vertex. The oxygen atom also has two lone pairs of electrons. One effect usually ascribed to the lone pairs is that the H—O—H gas phase bend angle is 104.48°, which is smaller than the typical tetrahedral angle of 109.47°. The lone pairs are closer to the oxygen atom than the electrons sigma bonded to the hydrogens, so they require more space. The increased repulsion of the lone pairs forces the O—H bonds closer to each other.
Another effect of the electronic structure is that water is a polar molecule. Due to the difference in electronegativity, there is a bond dipole moment pointing from each H to the O, making the oxygen partially negative and each hydrogen partially positive. In addition, the lone pairs of electrons on the O are in the direction opposite to the hydrogen atoms. This results in a large molecular dipole, pointing from a positive region between the two hydrogen atoms to the negative region of the oxygen atom. The charge differences cause water molecules to be attracted to each other (the relatively positive areas being attracted to the relatively negative areas) and to other polar molecules. This attraction contributes to hydrogen bonding, and explains many of the properties of water, such as solvent action.
Although hydrogen bonding is a relatively weak attraction compared to the covalent bonds within the water molecule itself, it is responsible for a number of water's physical properties. These properties include its relatively high melting and boiling point temperatures: more energy is required to break the hydrogen bonds between water molecules. In contrast, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), has much weaker hydrogen bonding due to sulfur's lower electronegativity. H2S is a gas at room temperature, in spite of hydrogen sulfide having nearly twice the molar mass of water. The extra bonding between water molecules also gives liquid water a large specific heat capacity. This high heat capacity makes water a good heat storage medium (coolant) and heat shield.
A single water molecule can participate in a maximum of four hydrogen bonds because it can accept two bonds using the lone pairs on oxygen and donate two hydrogen atoms. Other molecules like hydrogen fluoride, ammonia and methanol can also form hydrogen bonds. However, they do not show anomalous thermodynamic, kinetic or structural properties like those observed in water because none of them can form four hydrogen bonds: either they cannot donate or accept hydrogen atoms, or there are steric effects in bulky residues. In water, intermolecular tetrahedral structures form due to the four hydrogen bonds, thereby forming an open structure and a three-dimensional bonding network, resulting in the anomalous decrease in density when cooled below 4° C. This repeated, constantly reorganizing unit defines a three-dimensional network extending throughout the liquid. This view is based upon neutron scattering studies and computer simulations, and it makes sense in the light of the unambiguously tetrahedral arrangement of water molecules in ice structures.
However, there is an alternative theory for the structure of water. In 2004, a controversial paper from Stockholm University suggested that water molecules in liquid form typically bind not to four but to only two others; thus forming chains and rings. The term “string theory of water” (which is not to be confused with the string theory of physics) was coined. These observations were based upon X-ray absorption spectroscopy that probed the local environment of individual oxygen atoms. Water, the team suggests, is a muddle of the two proposed structures. They say that it is a soup flecked with “icebergs” each comprising 100 or so loosely connected molecules that are relatively open and hydrogen bonded.
Water molecules stay close to each other (cohesion), due to the collective action of hydrogen bonds between water molecules. These hydrogen bonds are constantly breaking, with new bonds being formed with different water molecules; but at any given time in a sample of liquid water, a large portion of the molecules are held together by such bonds.
Water also has high adhesion properties because of its polar nature. On extremely clean/smooth glass the water may form a thin film because the molecular forces between glass and water molecules (adhesive forces) are stronger than the cohesive forces. In biological cells and organelles, water is in contact with membrane and protein surfaces that are hydrophilic; that is, surfaces that have a strong attraction to water. Irving Langmuir observed a strong repulsive force between hydrophilic surfaces. To dehydrate hydrophilic surfaces (to remove the strongly held layers of water of hydration) requires doing substantial work against these forces, called hydration forces. These forces are very large but decrease rapidly over a nanometer or less. They are important in biology, particularly when cells are dehydrated by exposure to dry atmospheres or to extracellular freezing.
Water has a high surface tension of 71.99 mN/m at 25° C., caused by the strong cohesion between water molecules, the highest of the common non-ionic, non-metallic liquids. This can be seen when small quantities of water are placed onto a absorption-free (non-adsorbent and non-absorbent) surface, such as polyethylene or Teflon, and the water stays together as drops. Just as significantly, air trapped in surface disturbances forms bubbles, which sometimes last long enough to transfer gas molecules to the water.
Another surface tension effect is capillary waves, which are the surface ripples that form around the impacts of drops on water surfaces, and sometimes occur with strong subsurface currents flowing to the water surface. The apparent elasticity caused by surface tension drives the waves. Additionally, the surface tension of water allows certain insects to walk on the surface of water. This is caused by the strength of the hydrogen bonds, making it difficult to break the surface of water. These insects, including the raft spider, are more dense than water and yet are still able to walk on the surface.
Water is also a good solvent, due to its polarity. Substances that will mix well and dissolve in water (e.g. salts) are known as hydrophilic (“water-loving”) substances, while those that do not mix well with water (e.g. fats and oils), are known as hydrophobic (“water-fearing”) substances. The ability of a substance to dissolve in water is determined by whether or not the substance can match or better the strong attractive forces that water molecules generate between other water molecules. If a substance has properties that do not allow it to overcome these strong intermolecular forces, the molecules are “pushed out” from the water, and do not dissolve. Contrary to the common misconception, water and hydrophobic substances do not “repel”, and the hydration of a hydrophobic surface is energetically, but not entropically, favorable.
When an ionic or polar compound enters water, it is surrounded by water molecules (hydration). The relatively small size of water molecules (˜3 angstroms) allows many water molecules to surround one molecule of solute. The partially negative dipole ends of the water are attracted to positively charged components of the solute, and vice versa for the positive dipole ends.
In general, ionic and polar substances such as acids, alcohols, and salts are relatively soluble in water, and non-polar substances such as fats and oils are not. Non-polar molecules stay together in water because it is energetically more favorable for the water molecules to hydrogen bond to each other than to engage in van der Waals interactions with non-polar molecules.
An example of an ionic solute is table salt; the sodium chloride, NaCl, separates into Na+ cations and Cl− anions, each being surrounded by water molecules. The ions are then easily transported away from their crystalline lattice into solution. An example of a nonionic solute is table sugar. The water dipoles make hydrogen bonds with the polar regions of the sugar molecule (OH groups) and allow it to be carried away into solution.
The quantum tunneling dynamics in water was reported as early as 1992. At that time it was known that there are motions which destroy and regenerate the weak hydrogen bond by internal rotations of the substituent water monomers. On 18 Mar. 2016, it was reported that the hydrogen bond can be broken by quantum tunneling in the water hexamer. Unlike previously reported tunneling motions in water, this involved the concerted breaking of two hydrogen bonds. Later in the same year, the discovery of the quantum tunneling of water molecules was reported. The present invention takes advantage of this factor in removing the salinity in brine waters.
Water is relatively transparent to visible light, near ultraviolet light, and far-red light, but it absorbs most ultraviolet light, infrared light, and microwaves. Most photoreceptors and photosynthetic pigments utilize the portion of the light spectrum that is transmitted well through water. Microwave ovens take advantage of water's opacity to microwave radiation to heat the water inside of foods. The very weak onset of absorption in the red end of the visible spectrum lends water its intrinsic blue hue.
Hydrogen occurs naturally in three isotopes. The most common isotope, 1H, sometimes called protium, accounts for more than 99.98% of hydrogen in water and consists of only a single proton in its nucleus. A second stable isotope, deuterium (chemical symbol D or 2H), has an additional neutron. Deuterium oxide, D2O, is also known as heavy water because of its higher density. It is used in nuclear reactors as a neutron moderator. The third isotope, tritium (chemical symbol T or 3H) has 1 proton and 2 neutrons, and is radioactive, decaying with a half-life of 4500 days. THO exists in nature only in minute quantities, being produced primarily via cosmic ray-induced nuclear reactions in the atmosphere. Water with one protium and one deuterium atom HDO occurs naturally in ordinary water in low concentrations (˜0.03%) and D2O in far lower amounts (0.000003%) and any such molecules are temporary as the atoms recombine.
The most notable physical differences between H2O and D2O, other than the simple difference in specific mass, involve properties that are affected by hydrogen bonding, such as freezing and boiling, and other kinetic effects. This is because the nucleus of deuterium is twice as heavy as protium, and this causes noticeable differences in bonding energies. The difference in boiling points allows the isotopologues to be separated. The self-diffusion coefficient of H2O at 25° C. is 23% higher than the value of D2O. Because water molecules exchange hydrogen atoms with one another, hydrogen deuterium oxide (DOH) is much more common in low-purity heavy water than pure deuterium monoxide D2O.
Consumption of pure isolated D2O may affect biochemical processes—ingestion of large amounts impairs kidney and central nervous system function. Small quantities can be consumed without any ill-effects; humans are generally unaware of taste differences, but sometimes report a burning sensation or sweet flavor. Very large amounts of heavy water must be consumed for any toxicity to become apparent. Rats, however, are able to avoid heavy water by smell, and it is toxic to many animals. Oxygen also has three stable isotopes, with 16O present in 99.76%, 17O in 0.04%, and 18O in 0.2% of water molecules. Light water refers to deuterium-depleted water (DDW), water in which the deuterium content has been reduced below the standard 155 ppm level.
Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water is the current international standard for water isotopes. Naturally occurring water is almost completely composed of the neutron-less hydrogen isotope protium. Only 155 ppm include deuterium (2H or D), a hydrogen isotope with one neutron, and fewer than 20 parts per quintillion include tritium (3H or T), which has two neutrons.
Water is amphoteric: it has the ability to act as either an acid or a base in chemical reactions. According to the Brønsted-Lowry definition, an acid is a proton (H+) donor and a base is a proton acceptor. When reacting with a stronger acid, water acts as a base; when reacting with a stronger base, it acts as an acid. For instance, water receives an H+ ion from HCl when hydrochloric acid is formed:
HCl(acid)+H2O(base)H30++Cl−
In the reaction with ammonia, NH3, water donates a H+ ion, and is thus acting as an acid:
NH3(base)+H2O(acid)NH+4+OH−
Because the oxygen atom in water has two lone pairs, water often acts as a Lewis base, or electron pair donor, in reactions with Lewis acids, although it can also react with Lewis bases, forming hydrogen bonds between the electron pair donors and the hydrogen atoms of water. HSAB theory describes water as both a weak hard acid and a weak hard base, meaning that it reacts preferentially with other hard species:
H+(Lewis acid)+H2O(Lewis base)→H3O+Fe3+(Lewis acid)+H2O(Lewis base)→+Fe(H2O)3+6Cl−(Lewis base)+H2O(Lewis acid)→Cl(H2O)−6
When a salt of a weak acid or of a weak base is dissolved in water, water can partially hydrolyze the salt, producing the corresponding base or acid, which gives aqueous solutions of soap and baking soda their basic pH: Na2CO3+H2O NaOH+NaHCO3
Water can be split into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, by passing an electric current through it. This process is called electrolysis.
The cathode half reaction is:
2H++2e−→H2
The anode half reaction is:
2H2O→O2+4H++4e−
The gases produced bubble to the surface, where they can be collected. The standard potential of the water electrolysis cell (when heat is added to the reaction) is a minimum of 1.23 V at 25° C. The operating potential is actually 1.48 V (or above) in practical electrolysis when heat input is negligible.
In the present invention a crucible made of metal such as stainless steel, which is externally coated with a ceramic or Teflon layer, to control the heat, has the newly invented Arc-Plug that creates hydrogen-oxygen ionic plasma within the crucible by, bifurcating the hydrogen and oxygen by a plasma process, and by triggering the recombination of the H+O by the same electrostatic pulse where that combination creates heated water retaining substantially all of the energy input. This occurs with neither the noxious fumes of gas heaters nor lost intermediate material heat of traditional electrical coil heaters.
The crucible is fed (pure or contaminated) water from a water storage container tank which has a divider wall within the tank to separate the tainted incoming water from the purified heated water to create a water heating system. The plasma arc from the Arc-Plug is created by connecting the Anode part of the plasma generator to a pulsating 200 volt D.C. Energy source, and the Cathode side is a floating ground completing the circuit by having the stainless steel metal crucible connected to the positive side of the D.C. Power supply. In the present invention the Anode is comprised of a thin metal wire while the floating cathode is comprised of solid nickel ring around the Anode wire part, separated by a ceramic or Teflon insulator. The heated water generated within the crucible is filtered through a granular filter and the output of the crucible is stored into the clean side of a water storage tank ready for use when required. On the one hand we have non-potable water on the incoming side of the water storage tank and on the other side of the same water storage tank we have the purified water in heated form.
This system is meant to be deployed as swimming pool heaters, hot water heaters for all sorts of vehicles such as motor homes, SU V's, and residential home systems where hot water can be called up on demand, which reduces the cost of keeping the desired water constantly heated to a certain temperature until it is needed. In the present teachings the dirty water is stored at room temperature until moments before the hot water is needed, thereby creating a safe, efficient, low cost, low power and on demand system overall.
In the case of a swimming pool, jacuzzi spa, or therapeutic bath, the water is recirculated through the crucible or chamber for example, until the desired temperature is reached. For super fast heating of water a series of arc-plugs are used in either a cluster or an array to heat smaller amounts of water and then recombine the water in the pool or spa together. In this case, 1,000 gallons of water can be heated by thirty (30) degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 20 minutes, and similarly 10,000 gallons can be heated by thirty (30) degrees in as little as 3 hours and 50,000 gallons heated by twenty (20) degrees in as little as ten (10) hours.
As can be readily understood in the case of pools and spas the water is stored in a tank (SPA) or pool and heated as it is recirculated, however, hot water on demand for cooking, showering, or cleaning purposes can be available on demand utilizing the arc-plug design which is disclosed herein.
The arc-plug creates a short when submerged in water or other aqueous solutions between its anode made of tungsten wire, and its cathode part, which is the stainless steel or metal made crucible which connects to the floating nickel ring surrounding the tungsten via the solution and the short between the two create an arc that if not submerged would produce ozone gasses, if the nickel ring were connected to the cathode side by a wire, rather than floating. The resulting arc when the arc-plug is submerged in an aqueous solution heats the water rapidly and creates ions of both oxygen and hydrogen as the water ions in the H2O become agitated by the heat and start to separate and then as the ions of the freed oxygen and hydrogen try to recombine they are pulled away by the magnetic attraction of the magnets and then they are allowed to recombine in minuscule amounts which are then ignited by the arc itself, which while still submerged, in turn creates even more heat in a very short period of time. As has been shown by the comparisons herein above the time required to increase the water temperature significantly, by 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, is approximately half in this circumstance, as a product of this invention, as compared to the time required for natural gas or propane at a significantly greater cost to the consumer. In fact the cost of the arc-flashpoint system is negligible to construct as opposed to a solid titanium heat exchanger, which is the latest state of the art heater in use today, as compared to the present invention above. The arc-flashpoint system has only the arc-plugs, (that may wear out over time and need to be replaced), however, the maintenance costs and repair costs are negligible and any perceived functional obsolesce is not a factor.
In the case of a turbine power generator system, the arc-plugs are much larger than those found in a spa or pool heater and of course draw a minimal amount of energy as well since the hydrogen-oxygen implosion creates most of the energy. In terms of energy efficiencies the ARC-FLASHPOINT system is very economical to operate. For example, an arc-plug a foot in diameter and with a bundle of tungsten rods approximately 4 inches in diameter consumes only about 1,000 watts of power because the voltage is high but the current is low in this instance. This can be computed by the well known OHMS LAW. Thus in the present invention 200 volts pulsed D.C., when connected to a direct short (where the resistance of the water or aqueous solution is zero), computes to about 200 amps and a 50% duty cycle computes as 100 amps, however the cathode is floating and not directly connected to the arc-plug but the crucible that holds the water and so the resistance is 333 ohms which equates to 0.6 amps measured in the small crucibles and about 800 volts pulsating d.c. in the giant arc-plug so the current is about 2.3 amps. This 2.3 amps can raise the temperature of water by 100 degrees Fahrenheit in about 3 minutes for a volume of 50 gallons of water.
It is a known fact that 97% of the earth's water is saline and about 2% of the earth's water is glacier and only about 1% is fresh water. In the United States the average person consumes 150 gallons of water per day in one manner or another. The other half of the present invention is the purification and desalinization of water further described in the contemporaneous invention by these self same inventors in application No. 62/539,993 incorporated herein as if fully disclosed hereat.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62531321 | Jul 2017 | US |
