POSSIBILITY OF LIBERATING SOLAR ENERGY VIA WATER ARC EXPLOSIONS

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POSSIBILITY OF LIBERATING SOLAR ENERGY VIA WATER ARC EXPLOSIONS
George Hathaway
Hathaway Consulting Services
39 Kendal Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1L5
Canada
Phone 416-929-9059; Fax 416-929-9059
Peter Graneau
Center for Electromagnetics Research
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115
Phone 508-369-7936; Fax 508-369-7936
ABSTRACT
This paper reports progress in an
experimental investigation, started in the
Hathaway laboratory in 1994, which deals
with the liberation of intermolecular bonding
energy from ordinary water by means of an
arc discharge. A new fog accelerator is
described and a table of results of the kinetic
energies of fog jets is included. The energy
of liquid cohesion is stored in water during
condensation when the vapor molecules
transform their kinetic energy to potential
energy. Since the kinetic energy of the vapor
was acquired by solar heating of the
atmosphere, it is solar energy in concentrated
form that is being liberated by water arc
explosions.
INTRODUCTION
Frungel (1948) discovered the working
principle of water arc launchers. The arc was
established in a small cavity between a
vertical rod electrode and a coaxial ring
electrode by the discharge of a capacitor.
The unusual strength of the explosions led to
the development of a new technology known
as electro-hydraulic metal forming (Gilchrist
and Crossland, 1967). It was clearly
recognized from the start that water arcs were
relatively cold and no steam was raised.
Measurements of arc explosion forces were
started at MIT (Graneau and Graneau, 1985)
and continued at Northeastern University
(Azevedo et al, 1986). Not until 1993 was it
realized that the water arc liberated energy
from another source than the capacitor input
energy. It caused Hathaway Consulting
Services to resume experimentation with
water arcs. The present paper presents a
series of experiments which forms part of a
continuing research program.
The principal discovery made in the
past two years was that it is a collection of
fog droplets in the water which explodes and
not the liquid water itself. The term 'fog' is
meant to include not only the tiny droplets
which float in air but also larger droplets
which fall in the atmosphere and would be
more correctly described as 'mist'. The sole
explanation of the explosions so far put
forward contends that the intermolecular
bonding energy in fog is less than 540 callg,
the latent heat of bulk water. The bonding
energy difference is then liberated in a
quantum jump when the fog is formed in
micro-seconds. It is difficult to determine
the latent heat of fog, and no published
measurements have been found.
The intermolecular bonding energy, that is
the energy of liquid cohesion, is stored in
water during the process of condensation,
Vapor molecules give up their kinetic energy
and exchange it for bonding energy. But the
kinetic energy of the vapor in the clouds is
the result of solar heating. Liberating the
bonding energy is therefore a means of
1715 0-7803-3547-3-711 6 $4.00 0 1996 IEEE
regaining concentrated solar energy.
Progress made in this research up to
October 1, 1995, has been reviewed in a
recently published book by Graneau and
Graneau (1996). Further information is
contained in a paper which was presented at
the 1996 World Renewable Energy Congress
(Graneau, 1996).
In the reviewed experiments, the energy
delivered to small quantities of water, up to
1.5 cm3, was typically less than 50 J. This
could not have increased the water
temperature by more than 10°K. Steam
explosions were out of the question because
no liquid breakdown mechanism is known
which can channel a significant fraction of
the current into a thin water filament. A
photocell measurement established that
ionization was completed in 0.8 ps and no
current flowed around the circuit until after
this time. It has to be remembered that the
ionization process absorbs energy and does
not generate heat.
As shown in the energy flow diagram of
fig.1, the energy Ez is discharged from the
capacitor (C) into a simple series circuit
comprising an arc switch (S), the inductance
(L), the short-circuit resistance RC and the
water filled cavity (W). The discharge
current i is of the form
where IO is the intercept of the exponential
envelope on the current axis, T is the
damping time constant, o=2nf the ringing
frequency, and t stands for time. From the
current oscillogram we can determine T and
the damping factor R given by standard
circuit theory as
R = 2 L/T. (2)
R has two components
R = Ro + eb/irms. (3)
RO is the ohmic resistance of the discharge
circuit and eb is the induced back-e.m.f. in
the water which accounts for any mechanical
work (E7) which has to be done on the water
to generate cold fog. We know of no way in
which the components of equ.(3) can be
CAPACITOR
I I
ULE
AT
G
)E12
Fig. 1 Energy Flow Diagram
obtained separately.
E7 must supply the surface tension
energy increase required by fog formation and
it may accelerate the droplets a little. This
has to be done by electrodynamic Lorentz or
Ampere forces. The Lorentz pinch force can
produce thrust in the direction of current
flow. Northrup (1907) proved that the pinch
thrust will be of the general electrodynamic
form
The value calculated by Northrup for the
dimensionless k-factor was k=O. 5, whatever
the diameter of the current cross-section.
E12 is the kinetic energy of the fog jet
as it leaves the accelerator. The impulse this
jet exerts on an absorbing balsa wood
secondary projectile has been measured
(Graneau and Graneau, 1996) and is given by
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where m is the mass of the fog and Uav its
average velocity. This should be compared
to the mechanical impulse received by the fog
droplets from the electrodynamic impulse P7.
We may write
P7 = JF7dt = (p0/4n) k Ji2dt. (6)
The action integral Ji2dt is available from the
current oscillogram. To compare P12 with P7
we express Pi2 by
P12 = (p0/4n) k’ Ji’dt, (7)
where
k’ = 107 m uav/Ji2dt. (8)
The dimensionless factor k’ is now an
experimentally determined quantity.
As soon as water arc explosion forces
were measured ten years ago (Azevedo e t a l ,
1986) it was found that k’>>k. This fact was
confirmed in all subsequent experiments. It
left little doubt that the water arc explosions
contained additional energy (E8) over and
above E7.
When Ampere’s force law was used in
equ.(b), the k-values increased from 0.5 to
-200 (Graneau and Graneau, 1996). This
was still far too small to deny the existence
of E8 and gave an impulse ratio P12/P7 of the
order of 50 - 100. Newtonian mechanics then
requires that, provided the impulses act on
the same mass (fog),
E12/E7 = (P12/P7)’. (9)
This can be proved as follows. If a mass m
is accelerated to the velocity VI it requires an
impulse of
Pi = JFidt = m vi. (10)
Let the same mass acquire additional energy
in flight (E8) to reach the velocity vz, then
the impulse becomes
Pz = m v2. (11)
Therefore the impulse ratio is
P2/P1 = v2/v1. (12)
This makes the ratio of final to initial kinetic
energy
E2/E1 = % m vz2 / % m vi2 = (P2/Pd2,
which proves equ. (9).
For the impulse ratios of 50 - 100 of
the water arc experiments this implies E12 is
at least 1000 times larger than E7. We
therefore claim that virtually all the kinetic
energy of the fog jet leaving the water plasma
accelerator is derived from the internal water
energy contribution, Es.
TYPE B ACCELERATOR RESULTS
The various accelerator designs used
since 1983 were described by Graneau and
Graneau (1996). A new design, which has
been called the type B accelerator, is shown
(13)
in fig.2. - - - - - - - - - -
I I
I I BalsaWood
I I
I , Secondary
I Projectile
I
I
I
I Copper
/ barrel
Water
Charge
Nylon
Insulation
Sleeve
Nylon
Secondary
Insulation
Center Electrode
Fig. 2 Type B Accelerator with
Sec0 nda ry P rojecti I e
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To determine the fog jet momentum, a
secondary projectile consisting of balsa wood
stands on the accelerator barrel. The dry
mass of the projectile is labeled M while the
fog mass absorbed in the wood is denoted by
m. C=0.565 pF capacitance is charged to the
voltage VO and then discharged through the
accelerator by closing the switch S. An
oscilloscope records the discharge current i (t) .
The throw height h of the secondary
projectile is measured with a freeze-frame
video camera. This defines the initial
velocity vo of the projectile as
vo = d(2 g h), (1 4)
where g is the acceleration due to gravity.
Because of momentum conservation, the
average velocity, Uav, of the fog mass that
penetrated deep into the balsa wood is given
by
In some shots not all the capacitor energy is
discharged, leaving a residual voltage Vr on
the capacitor terminals. Hence the energy
actually discharged into the circuit is
The kinetic energy of the fog jet is
Neither the mass distribution of the fog
droplets nor their velocity distribution are
known. As on previous occasions, the
simplifying assumption is made that the
droplets are of equal size and their velocity
distribution is half a cycle of a sine wave.
This results in
The table lists the results of 14 shots. In
all cases the water charge was w=1.5 cm3 of
distilled water at room temperature.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
The kinetic energies of the fog jets
(E121 have been derived from the dry and wet
weights of the balsa wood secondary
projectile, M and M+m, the throw height h,
and equs.(lO) to (14). The table shows these
energies to vary between 13.0 and 29.2 J.
Take shot SP24 with the largest kinetic
energy output. For this shot the fog mass
was m=0.504 g and its average velocity came
to uav=306.4 m/s. This resulted in an
impulse exerted on the secondary projectile of
P~=muav=0.154 N s. The action integral of
this shot was lizdt=120.5 A's. Then with the
TABLE OF RESULTS
Shot VO E2 Min LOSS uav E12
# kV J J mls J
SP12 10 28.3 24.4 258 21.0
SP13 9 22.9 22.4 273 21.5
SP14 12 40.7 27.2 235 21.5
SP15 12 40.7 27.2 244 17.8
SP16 12 40.7 27.2 229 20.9
SP17 10 28.3 24.4 172 13.0
SP18 10 28.3 24.4 258 21.8
SP19 10 28.3 24.4 274 23.1
SP20 10 28.3 24.4 218 17.8
SP21 10 28.3 24.4 191 16.1
SP22 10 28.3 24.4 251 19.7
SP23 12 39.8 27.2 243 22.3
SP24 12 39.8 27.2 306 29.2
SP25 12 39.8 27.2 275 28.5
Ampere force factor k=200, equ.(6) gives
P7=2.41xlO 3 N s. The impulse and energy
ratios, therefore, are Piz/P7=63.9 and
E12/E7=4083. Hence E7=7.15 mJ, which is
negligible compared to E12=29.2 J and
demonstrates that virtually all the kinetic
energy developed by the explosion must be
internal water energy.
In spite of the gain in internal water
energy, the overall energy ratio, E12/E2 is less
than unity because of the five loss
components indicated in fig. 1. Additional
losses occur because of electrolytic action in
the water and the emission of light and sound
from the arc. We have made a rough
estimate of the circuit losses. E3 is derived
from the short circuit resistance RC and the
action integrals of the water shots. E6 is
obtained from the water temperature rise of a
few degrees measured with a thermocouple
projecting through the barrel into the water
cavity. The ionization energy is estimated by
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a method described by Graneau and Graneau
(1996). The sum of the three loss
components is listed in the table under
minimum circuit loss. It varies between 67
and 94 percent of the input energy E2,
providing further confirmation that E12/E7>1.
To utilize the internal water energy for
electricity generation, large reductions in
circuit loss and barrel losses have to be
achieved. Our objective has been to prove
the liberation of internal water energy. We
have made no effort to optimize the process.
REFERENCES
Azevedo, R., Graneau, P., Millet, C.
and Graneau, N . , 1986, "Powerful Water-
Plasma Explosions", Physics Letters A,
Vo1.117, p.101.
Frungel, F., 1948, "Zum mechanischen
W i r ku n g s gr a d vo n F1 u s s i g k e i t s f u n ken , 0 p t i k ,
Vo1.13, p.125.
Gilchrist, I . , and Crossland, B., 1967,
"The Forming of Sheet Metal Using
Underwater Electrical Discharges", IEE
Conference Publication, No.38, p.92.
Graneau, P., 1996, "Gaining Solar
Energy from Ordinary Water", Proceedings of
the World Renewable Energy Congress IV,
Denver, CO.
Graneau, P. and Graneau N., 1985,
I' El e c t r o d y n a m i c Explosion s in Li qui ds ,
Applied Physics Letters, Vo1.46, p.468.
Graneau, P. and Graneau, N., 1996,
Newtonian Electrodynamics, World
Scientific, New Jersey, pp.249-271.
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