The present invention relates to liquid to gas conversion method with an electrical voltage, specifically to such a method which is energy efficient.
It is known in the prior art that liquid-to-gas conversion is commonly achieved by the application of a voltage to a liquid conversion solution through two pieces of conductive materials to produce final gases. With two pieces of conductive materials immersed in the liquid conversion solution, as anode and cathode, the conductive materials are under direct contact with the liquid conversion solution. Electrons are exchanged between these conductive materials and the liquid conversion solution, and final gases are released as bubbles from the immersed conductive materials. The gases float upward from the liquid conversion solution to the gas chambers above. This prior process is generally not energy efficient.
Our method provides an energy efficient liquid-to-gas conversion using nanometer-manufactured artificial intelligence flow control conversion cell.
Our method discloses a nanometer manufactured artificial intelligence flow control liquid-to-gas conversion method.
The anode electron exchanger 250 and the cathode electron exchanger 240 in the liquid-to-gas conversion cell are placed in the conversion cell (
The nonconductive sides of the electron exchangers facing the liquid conversion solution chamber are in direct contact with the liquid flow controller. The other sides of the electron exchangers facing the gas chambers are conductive. The surfaces of the electron exchangers are covered with multiple puncture channels.
Liquid conversion solution 270 is fed into the liquid flow controller inside the liquid conversion solution chamber from the liquid reservoir 260, and voltage is applied to the anode electron exchanger and the cathode electron exchanger. Liquid conversion solution passes through the puncture channels of the electron exchangers from the liquid flow controller to the conductive sides of the electron exchangers. Electrons are exchanged on the conductive sides of electron exchangers facing the gas chambers, and the liquid conversion solution is converted into final gases, releasing separately into the cathode gas chamber and the anode gas chamber.
A liquid flow valve 280 is placed at liquid inlet of the liquid flow controller to control the flow of liquid conversion solution from the liquid reservoir to the liquid flow controller. Solvent is added to the liquid conversion solution to ionize the molecules of the liquid conversion solution. The working temperature of the conversion cell is adjusted to approximately close to normal room temperature, and the operating pressure inside the different chambers of the conversion cell is adjusted to approximately close to normal sea level atmospheric pressure. Gas flow valves are placed at the gas outlets of cathode and anode gas chambers. By using artificial intelligence calculations, a microprocessor controls the liquid flow valve and the gas flow valves to adjust the working temperature, liquid pressure, and gas pressure in different chambers of the conversion cell to improve the gas production level and the energy efficiency of the conversion cell.
Multiple nonconductive flow control single sheets are stacked together to form the liquid flow controller, and the number of flow control single sheets ranges from 2 to 10,000 sheets or more. There are multiple puncture channels on the surface of the flow control single sheet. The sizes of the puncture channels are designed by critical surface calculations. Also, the puncture channels of the electron exchangers are designed and manufactured in a similar way as the puncture channels of the flow control single sheets. The puncture channels control the rate and amount of the liquid conversion solution in passing through the flow control single sheets. The puncture channels have special designed Y-shaped, X-shaped, and star-shaped patterns (
When the flow control single sheets are stacked together, the puncture channels from adjacent flow control single sheets are kept out of alignment with each other. In other words, the puncture channels from adjacent flow control single sheets are located at different positions from each other, and they are separated to form a pattern of interlocking puncture channels. These interlocking puncture channels enhance the ability of liquid conversion solution to adhere to the surfaces of the flow control single sheets.
The flow control single sheets are manufactured by a precision technology selected from a list of options comprising: chemical etching, plasma etching, laser drilling or electroforming. The first option of chemical etching process is applied to a piece of conductive material to etch away specific points of the material to form the puncture channels. As the second option, it is also possible to apply plasma etch on a nonconductive polymer material to etch away specific spots of the nonconductive polymer material to form the puncture channels. The third option is laser drilling, in which a piece of conductive or nonconductive material that meets the requirements is repeatedly applied with pulsing focused laser energy to cut through the material to form the puncture channels. A fourth option is electroforming, where nanometer scale or micrometer scale metal devices are fabricated by electrodepositing on a pattern called a mandrel. The desired conductive material is electrodeposited on the mandrel to form the flow control single sheet and the puncture channels. If the making of the flow control single sheet starts from a conductive material, after the puncture channels are made by one of the above processes, the surface of the conductive material is coated with a nonconductive polymer material to make the flow control single sheet nonconductive on one side.
The design of the liquid flow controller, the flow control single sheet, and the puncture channels is the key to control the liquid conversion solution to adhere to the flow control single sheets, and to make the liquid conversion solution form thin films on the flow control single sheets. The thickness of the flow control single sheets, the spacing between adjacent flow control single sheets, the size of the puncture channels, and the distance separating the puncture channels should not be too large or too small, in the range of nanometers to micrometers, and should be calculated by the following method.
The liquid conversion solution stays on the critical surface of the flow control single sheet as droplets. It will diffuse until a partial wetting equilibrium contact radius is reached. For a simple estimation calculations, the droplet radius r can be expressed as:
Using a more detailed model and calculations, the change in droplet radius over time r(t) can be expressed as:
It is also possible to assume perfect spreading of the liquid conversion molecules and radius over time r(t) can be expressed as:
Assuming the delay time is approximately 0.1 to 2 seconds to calculate the droplet radius, the spacing between adjacent puncture channels of flow control single sheets should be set as approximately 100% to 200% of the droplet radius over time r(t).
The radii of the puncture channels of flow control single sheets should be set approximately no larger than the radius over time r(t). In common liquid conversion solution materials, the diameters of the puncture channels can be approximately 100 nanometers to 100 micrometers. The spacing and the radii of the puncture channels can be adjusted based on the operating temperature, liquid pressure, gas pressure, and the desired gas production level.
On the same flow control single sheet, the size and the spacing of the puncture channels can be smaller or larger depending on their distances away from the source of the liquid conversion solution flowing into the flow control single sheet.
The thickness of the flow control single sheet and the distance between adjacent flow control single sheets can be calculated in the following:
The height h of a liquid column is given as
The thickness of the puncture channels of the flow control single sheet should be as approximately no thicker than h. The thickness of the sheet is approximately 100 nanometers to 100 microns in common liquid conversion solution materials.
The liquid flow controller is formed by stacking multiple flow control single sheets, and the spacing between adjacent flow control single sheets should not be greater than approximately 50% to 100% of h. In common liquid conversion solution materials, the spacing between adjacent flow control single sheets is approximately between 50 nanometers and 100 microns. The thickness and the spacing of the flow control single sheet can be adjusted according to the operating temperature, liquid pressure, gas pressure, and the desired gas production level.
The conversion cell is equipped with an intelligent microprocessor (MCU) 310 responsible for the artificial intelligence machine learning calculations. The liquid flow valve is placed at liquid inlet of the liquid flow controller. The microprocessor controls the liquid flow valve and decides whether to open or close the valve, increase or slow the flow of the liquid conversion solution from the liquid reservoir to the liquid flow controller.
The microprocessor is connected to the hygrometer 300 with four liquid content sensors 290 inside the conversion cell, and more liquid content sensors can be placed at selected locations of the conversion cell. Each sensor has a pair of resistance probes to sense the liquid content of the liquid conversion solution at different locations in the conversion cell. The probes are made of anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation conductive materials, or they can be coated with highly conductive anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation materials to prevent the probe from oxidation over time.
The first liquid content sensor is placed at the liquid inlet side of the liquid flow controller, and the second liquid content sensor is placed near the middle area of the liquid flow controller in order to detect the liquid content of the liquid conversion solution in these locations. If the microprocessor senses the lack of liquid conversion solution at these sensor locations, the microprocessor opens the liquid flow valve to let more liquid conversion solution flow from the liquid reservoir to the liquid flow controller. When the microprocessor senses enough liquid conversion solution at these sensor locations, the microprocessor closes the liquid flow valve and slow the flow of liquid conversion solution from the liquid reservoir.
The third and fourth liquid content sensors are placed at the bottom of the cathode gas chamber, and the bottom of the anode gas chamber. If the microprocessor senses certain amount of liquid conversion solution at these locations because there is too much liquid conversion solution entering the liquid flow controller, and the electron exchanger cannot keep up with the liquid-to-gas conversion. The microprocessor turns off the liquid flow valve to slow the liquid conversion solution flow to the liquid flow controller, and let the electron exchanger catch up with the liquid-to-gas conversion.
The microprocessor is connected to and exchange data with temperature sensors, liquid pressure sensors, and gas pressure sensors placed inside the anode gas chamber, cathode gas chambers, liquid conversion solution chamber, or next to these chambers of the conversion cell. The microprocessor is connected to two gas flow sensors placed at the gas outlets of the cathode and the anode gas chambers. The microprocessor adjusts the liquid flow valve and the gas flow valves, affecting the working temperature, liquid pressure, and the gas pressure inside or next to the various chambers of the conversion cell, and affecting the gas output level at the gas outlets of the gas chambers. The microprocessor's control action improves the gas production level and the energy efficiency of the conversion cell.
The microprocessor transmits the data to the cloud computing engine through the Internet to perform the artificial intelligence calculations and store the data in the cloud storage. Due to security concerns, these data can also be transmitted to the local computing engine through wired or wireless network, and the artificial intelligence calculations can be completed in the local microprocessor and local computing engine.
The combined use of microprocessor, local computing engine, and cloud computing engine calculates the control instructions from the analysis results, and transmits the control instructions to control the liquid flow valve, gas flow valves, and the sensors. At the same time, human operators can read the data and the artificial intelligence calculations results through wired or wireless networks from mobile phones and computer devices.
Machine learning is specifically a predictive modeling technique, and the main objective is to minimize the error of the model, and to make the most accurate prediction possible. Machine learning algorithms are described as learning target predictive function that can be used to predict output data based on future input data. Through the training of a large amount of previous data, the machine learning model continues to learn and improve its accuracy in predicting the output data from future new input data.
Machine learning algorithm is described as learning an objective prediction function (F) that best maps an input variable (X) to an output variable (Y), in other words, predicts an output (Y) based on an input (X).
Y=F(X)
Regression analysis is used for the artificial intelligence machine learning calculations and it can use a combination of 1) single variable regression, 2) multi variable regression, 3) linear regression, and 4) nonlinear regression.
For illustration, an example will be shown using a multi variable linear regression function with predictive function F(X) for the machine learning calculations, and the same principle can be applied to use different combinations of single variable regression, multiple variable regression, linear regression and nonlinear regression for the machine learning calculations.
When building and training the model, the regression function F(X) is described as follows:
Y=F(X)
Y=C+M1×X1+M2×X2+M3×X3+ . . . +Mn×Xn
Let
Based on the value of decision parameter Y, control commands are sent to control the liquid flow valve and gas flow valves. The result is this machine learning model controls the flow of the liquid conversion solution from the liquid reservoir to the liquid flow controller. Decision parameter Y is also used in a similar way to control gas flow valves to control gas out flow from the outlets of the gas chambers.
When training a machine learning model, more and more sensor data and the “commonly accepted decision parameters” are collected and fed into the model. The prediction function F is calculated and will become more and more accurate. The coefficients C, M1, M2, . . . Mn will become more and more accurate. When the model is fully trained with enough training data, the model can be used (using function F, coefficient C, M1, M2, . . . Mn) with new sensor data to predict future decision parameters.
This method of liquid-to-gas conversion utilizes artificial intelligence machine learning to control the liquid conversion solution flow. At the side of the electron exchangers facing the gas chambers, the liquid conversion solution is converted into final gases and directly released into the gas chambers. The power consumed by the conversion cell will be optimized.
This liquid-to-gas conversion method can be used to convert different kinds of liquid conversion solution into different kinds of gases, and this conversion method can also be used to convert liquid water to hydrogen and oxygen gases.
Multiple conversion cells 410 can be stacked vertically and horizontally (
In the following example, we describe our method using water as liquid conversion solution to generate hydrogen and oxygen gases, but the principle of our method can be generalized to apply to other types of liquid conversion solutions to generate other types of gases. The following described embodiment is only one of the, but not all, embodiments of our presented method. Based on the embodiments of our presented method, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of our presented method.
The anode electron exchanger and cathode electron exchanger are placed in the liquid-to-gas conversion cell, and the conversion cell is separated into the cathode gas chamber, the liquid conversion solution chamber filled with the liquid flow controller, and the anode gas chamber.
The surface of the electron exchanger is covered with puncture channels. The nonconductive side of the electron exchanger faces the liquid conversion solution chamber and it is in direct contact with the liquid flow controller. The other conductive side of the electron exchanger faces the gas chamber. The liquid flow controller is formed by stacking together multiple nonconductive flow control single sheets. The surface of the flow control single sheets is covered with multiple puncture channels.
Water is used as the liquid conversion solution and is stored in the liquid reservoir. Water is fed via the liquid flow valve into the liquid flow controller inside the liquid conversion solution chamber. Potassium hydroxide is added to the water to ionize the liquid water molecules. By applying a voltage to the cathode and anode electron exchange, electrons are exchanged on the side of electron exchangers facing the gas chambers, and water is converted into hydrogen and oxygen gases releasing into the cathode gas chamber and the anode gas chamber.
The water in the liquid flow controller is in contact with the anode electron exchanger and the cathode electron exchanger. Water molecules pass through the puncture channels of the cathode electron exchanger, and reach the conductive side of the cathode electron exchanger facing the cathode gas chamber. At this side, electrons from the cathode electron exchanger are released into the water to reduce the water to hydrogen and hydroxide root ion, and hydrogen gas is released into the cathode gas chamber. The hydroxide ions from the cathode electron exchanger flow through the liquid flow controller, pass through the puncture channels of the anode electron exchanger, and reach the conductive side of the anode electron exchanger facing the anode gas chamber. At this side, the hydroxide ions are converted into water, oxygen and electrons. The electrons are collected by the anode electron exchanger, and the oxygen gas is released to the anode gas chamber.
The result is hydrogen and oxygen gases are collected separately from the two gas chambers. As more gas is produced, the water content in the liquid flow controller goes down, and the microprocessor senses the low water content. After executing artificial intelligence calculations, the microprocessor opens the liquid flow valve, allowing more water from the liquid reservoir to flow to the liquid flow controller. The result of our conversion method provides an energy efficient liquid-to-gas conversion method to generate hydrogen and oxygen gases from liquid water.
While the above description contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of one preferred embodiment thereof. Many other variations are possible.
For example, we describe our method using an example of water as liquid conversion solution to generate hydrogen and oxygen gases, but the principle of our method can be generalized to apply to other types of liquid conversion solutions to generate other types of gases.
For example, we describe our method in manufacturing the puncture channels using precision technologies, comprising: chemical etching, plasma etching, laser drilling or electroforming. The puncture channels can possibly be manufactured by other kinds of technologies that are not listed in our described list of technologies, but the principle of our method can be generalized to apply to manufacturing the puncture channels with technologies that are able to create similar small openings.
For example, we describe our machine learning regression method by using a multi variable linear regression method as an illustration, but the principle of our regression method can be generalized to applying a combination of 1) single variable regression, 2) multi variable regression, 3) linear regression, and 4) nonlinear regression.
The described embodiment in the above description is only one of the, but not all, embodiments of our presented method. Based on the embodiments of our presented method, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of our presented method.
The scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. 63/424,118 filed Nov. 9, 2022 by the present inventors, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
63424118 | Nov 2022 | US |