Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
A Russian Billionaire wants to become Immortal
A 32-year-old Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov hopes to live permanently and media mogul believes he is able to do this by creating an android body system by the year 2045. There are some weak points to Itskov’s idea, however that hasn’t ended around 20, 000 individuals from publicly supporting the site outlining his program of utilizing android bodies for immortality. Dubbed the 2045 Initiative, Itskov is promoting his idea as the "next step" in human evolution, or "neo-humanity," as he refers to it.
It doesn't keep with android bodies, either. The 2045 people are also asking for a new religion and also group of ethics for the reason that they don’t believe some of the present ones can manage the societal effects of living forever—as many of the present ones have you dying first to be able to attain immortality . Itskov also has progressed forward and endorsed his own political party in Russia known as “Evolution 2045.”
His future , that “new period of controlled evolution ,” goes something like this : By 2020 , Initiative 2045 targets to create this avatar technology available and mainstream—never mind that’s seven years from these days and a running prototype doesn’t exist yet . By 2025, Itskov predicts an “autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot." Quite simply, they'll have the technology for implanting the human brain into the robot. By 2035, a human should be capable to upload their brain into a robot, and by 2045 our bodies might be changed to holograms. When this occurs, Itskov states we will become "a new species.”
Apart from developing the technology required for this type of evolution, Initiative 2045 has a number of “key” future projects beyond attempting to start an “international social movement." Along with a social network known as immortal.me , Itskov lists the projects he desires to begin : a a non-profit foundation known as Global Future 2045 , the “scientific research centre ‘Immortality ,’” “a business incubator” without more elaboration , a “University of ‘Immortality ,’” and an “annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of ‘Immortality .’”
To encourage appreciate these goals is the Global Future Congress, which conducted its very first meeting in Moscow a year ago. The congress is going to meet again in New York City this June, in which guarantees to introduce the most human-like robot the World has ever seen.
Some practical advantages of Itskov’s type of technology are for the application of medical purposes in designing an alternative body. Itskov says also that this kind of avatar technology also permits you “work in harmful environments” or even “perform rescue operations.”
Via: motherboard.vice.com
A Teenager invented a device which charges Mobile Phone in 20 seconds
An Indian-American teenager has captivated the attention of tech giants Google for her possible groundbreaking invention which charges a mobile phone in 20 seconds fixed. The super-fast charging device is actually dubbed a super-capacitor by 18 year old Eesha Khare, of Saratoga, as she took home $50,000 from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix.
The device can certainly make waiting hours for mobile phone to charge a thing of the past along with the gizmo packs more energy into a lesser space compared to conventional phone batteries and takes the charge for more time. The super-capacitor is elastic and small , and is capable to manage 10,000 recharge cycles, a lot more than regular batteries by a factor of 10.
Until now, Khare has only utilized her super-capacitor to power a light-emitting diode (LED), however she views a bright future that one day will see her device powering mobile phones, cars as well as any gadget that needs a rechargeable battery.
Proceeding to Harvard, Khare told CBS San Francisco that this is simply the beginning which she will 'be setting the world on fire' from here. When NBC News questioned what motivated her to work with the energy-storage technology. 'My cell phone battery always dies', she told NBC News.
Devoted to nanochemistry able Khare to reduce the size of her invention. 'Really working at the nanoscale to make significant advances in many different fields.'
Via: dailymail.co.uk
Earth like Planet found, Possibly Habitable
A group of astronomers has found precisely what might be viewed as the most Earth-like planet possibly discovered outside our Solar System. They used the Kepler Space Telescope to discover Kepler 62f, a small rocky planet orbiting a Sun-like star in the Lyra constellation. The planet is approximately 1.4 times the size of Earth, and also gets around fifty percent as much heat and radiation.
Kepler 62f is among the two “super-Earth” planets discovered in the star Kepler 62′s habitable zone — this means that a planet is not too close that liquid water would probably heat up off the face of the planet, and not that far away that it could be frozen. The planetary system’s some super-Earth, Kepler 62e, is 1 .61 times the Earth’s size also it receives around 20 percent extra radiation and heat than Kepler 62f.
“The planets this small that we have found until now have been very close to their stars and much too hot to be possibly habitable,” stated Eric Agol, a University of Washington associate professor of astronomy who is actually the second author of the magazine released in Science Express.
“This is the first one Kepler has found in the habitable zone that satisfies this small size,” Agol stated in a statement. “Kepler 62f is the smallest size and the most promising distance from its star, which by these measures makes it the most similar exoplanet to Earth that has been found by Kepler.” He said that while the sizes of Kepler 62e and 62f are known, their mass and densities are not.
“Based on its size, our best guess is that it´s rocky and has some atmosphere, but not a thick gaseous envelope, like Neptune,” Agol stated. Even though each super-Earths around Kepler 62 are generally small for their masses to be calculated, the astronomers assume they may be made up of rock and water.
“Kepler-62e probably has a very cloudy sky and is warm and humid all the way to the Polar Regions. Kepler-62f would be cooler, but still potentially life-friendly,” stated Harvard astronomer and co-author Dimitar Sasselov. “The good news is — the two would exhibit distinctly different colors and make our search for signatures of life easier on such planets in the near future.” Lead author Lisa Kaltenegger, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and the CfA, thought life of these kinds of planets.
Kepler Telescope
Astronomers think that the number of possible habitable planets is much more than previously thought. A group from Penn State´s Department of Geosciences said that if we were to look at 10 of the nearest small stars, we would probably find about four potentially habitable planets.
NASA's Voyager 1 enters new Location of Space
NASA's Voyager 1 , that has happened to be zooming throughout space for longer than 35 years , noticed a great decrease in solar particles and a multiple big jump in high-energy galactic cosmic rays past August , the scientists publicized in three new studies published June 27 in the journal Science. The probe did not measure a shift in the direction of the ambient magnetic field, indicating that Voyager 1 is still within the sun's sphere of influence, experts stated. But mission scientists believe the spacecraft will most likely leave Earth's solar system somewhat soon.
"I think it's probably several more years at 2015 is reasonable," stated Voyager project scientist Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, lead author of one of the new studies as well as co-author of another. "But it's speculation, because none of the models we have, have this particular region in them," Stone explained to SPACE.com. "So none of the models can be directly and accurately compared to what we're observing. What we're observing is really quite new."
Another Location of Space
Voyager 1 as well as its twin, Voyager 2, 1977 to examine Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The probes finished this exceptional "grand tour" afterward maintained precise on traveling toward interstellar space. Voyager 1 should get there first. At 11 .5 billion miles from Earth, the spacecraft is the farthest man-made object in space. Voyager 2, for its part, is now 9 .4 billion miles. Each probes are presently travelling the outer layers of the heliosphere, the tremendous bubble of charged particles and magnetic fields encircling the sun. However details are actually becoming insightful for Voyager 1, the new studies report.
On Aug. 25, 2012, the probe reported a 1, 000-fold drop in the amount of charged solar particles while also measuring a 9 percent increasing amount of fast-moving particles of galactic origin known as cosmic rays. Those are two of the three phenomena that Voyager scientists expect to observe whenever the spacecraft crosses over into interstellar space. But Voyager 1 still hasn't recognized the third one — a transformation in magnetic-field orientation, from east-west within the solar system to about north-south outside of it. The magnetic field "did not change direction. All it did was get compressed, so it's stronger now than it was," Stone stated. "That's what one would expect if, in fact, the energetic particles, which were providing the pressure, suddenly left." In general, experts believed, Voyager 1's recent information shows that the spacecraft continues to be within the solar system, although it seems to remain in a sort of interface location linking the heliosphere and interstellar space.
Keep on Tracking
Mission scientists will keep an eye on the magnetic-field readings over the coming months and years, Stone stated. "If there's a dramatic change, like there was last Aug. 25, that will be very exciting," he stated. "If it's a gradual change, well, it'll just take us longer to realize what's happening."
Stone and his fellow workers expect that Voyager 1 leaves the solar system before 2020. The probe's decreasing power source will certainly force engineers to shut down the very first instrument that year, and most of them probably will stop working by 2025.
There's certainly no reason to imagine something will go wrong before 2020 , due to the fact the spacecraft remains to be in good condition despite its advanced age .However the mission team is aware there are no guarantees . "Something could break. That's what you can't predict — the random failure," Stone stated. "So far, we've been lucky. There haven't been any catastrophic random failures."
Via: foxnews.com
A Metal can easily Melted on the Hand
Gallium is a metallic element designated by the symbol, "Ga" it's atomic number is 31, and has an atomic weight of 69.72. Gallium metal can easily melt on the palm of the hand , because of its low melting point ( 29.76 °C ). If you hold a solid gallium crystal in your hand, your own body temperature will cause it to slowly melt into a silvery metallic puddle. Put it into a dish or a mold, and it freezes back into a solid. Gallium isn't toxic as well as won't cause you to crazy like mercury does. And if you get bored with it, you can melt it onto glass and make yourself a mirror.
DNA samples of Human being lowered into the Marianas Trench
At the end of 2013, vast steel sculpture, 8 by 8 by 8m, being lowered deep into the Pacific Ocean. This first of a series of sculpture will be stored into the Marianas Trench, right to the bottom 11,000 meters down. That’s 200 miles off Guam Island between Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. It’s going to be full of human blood and hair samples, DNA.
This is art and hard science colliding head on. 30 locations around the world have attracted 5,000 willing donors or investors, if you like. All are rewarded with certificates proving they believed this might be a second chance.
Science is progressing faster than the greatest philosophers dare to predict, so who’s to say that there won’t be a point in the future when these samples can’s be utilized to bring people and endangered species back to life. It could be 500 to 100,000 years from now. Who knows? But this is a chance to be there when it happens!
How will we have evolved? How will humans be different? The Deep Storage Project is fighting back against the natural decay and erosion destroying all that we know and understand. People are embracing the ideals of the The Deep Storage Project, and in doing so, they are becoming a voice to be heard in the future.
Via: deepstorageproject.com
Students Win NASA Competition by designing a Self-supporting Greenhouse for Mars
A group of Greek students have worked with to bring one step forward in the mission to make Mars more hospitable. They developed a self-supporting garden greenhouse that grows spinach and is brilliantly named Popeye.
Last May, the students' creation won NASA's International Space Apps Challenge, a competition throughout 48 hours in cities across the world. The objective is to create an open-source solution to deal with a variety of needs for life on Earth and in space. In the designs, the garden greenhouse is made up of a solar-powered system enclosed in a protective dome. It's meant to grow spinach over a 45-day period to supply potential astronauts on Mars with food.
The Red Planet (Mars) isn't really known for its welcoming nature. Its unpleasant environment will make it difficult to shelter vegetation, and its conditions are tremendously not the same as Earth, with temperatures usually hovering around minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and an atmosphere roughly 100 times less dense than Earth’s.
The greenhouse protective dome hopes to combat this challenging atmosphere. It permits sunlight while offering isolation from the planet's harsher climate. The enclosed system also "reproduces the conditions needed for photosynthesis" while working autonomously, per Reuters.
Via: mashable.com
An Ion Thruster permits future Spacecraft to travel various destinations in the Universe
An ion thruster is a form of electric propulsion intended for spacecraft propulsion that generates thrust by accelerating ions. Ion thrusters are grouped by the way they accelerate the ions, utilizing either electrostatic or electromagnetic force. Electrostatic ion thrusters apply the Coulomb force and accelerate the ions in the direction of the electric field. Electromagnetic ion thrusters use the Lorentz force to accelerate the ions (Wikipedia).
At the same time as the Dawn spacecraft is traveling to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, NASA Glenn has been working on the next generation of ion thrusters for future missions. NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project has engineered a 7-kilowatt ion thruster which can offer the capabilities needed in the future.
Ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, but does so at higher specific impulse (or higher exhaust velocities), which means that an ion thruster has a fuel efficiency of 10-12 times greater than a chemical thruster. The higher the rocket's specific impulse (fuel efficiency), the farther the spacecraft can go with a given amount of fuel. Given that an ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, it needs to operate in excess of 10,000 hours to slowly accelerate the spacecraft to speeds necessary to reach the asteroid belt or beyond.
The NEXT ion thruster has been operated for over 43, 000 hours, which for rocket scientists indicates that the thruster has processed over 770 kilograms of xenon propellant and can provide 30 million-Newton-seconds of total impulse to the spacecraft. This illustrated the fact that its performance permits future science spacecraft to travel to varied destinations, such as extended tours of multi-asteroids, comets, as well as outer planets and their moons.
Via: nasa.gov
The first ever Solar-Powered Boat to circumnavigate the Planet
In May 2012, MS Tûranor PlanetSolar, recognized under the project name PlanetSolar was became the first ever solar electric vessel to circumnavigate the planet. It is the largest solar-powered boat on the planet. The vessel was designed by LOMOcean Design, built by Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel, Germany, and introduced on 31 March 2010.
PlanetSolar is a catamaran (a multihulled vessel consisting of two parallel hulls of equal size) that runs solely on energy found in light. The additional removable parts allow it to expose a total of 516 m2 of photovoltaic surface (solar panels) to the sun. This impressive data make it the biggest solar run ship in the world.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
- Length: 31 m
- Width: 15 m
- Length with flaps: 35 m
- Width with flaps: 23 m
- Height: 6,30 m
- Draft: 1,55 m
- Weight: 89 t
- Average speed: 5 knots (9.25 km/h)
- Surface area of solar modules: 516 m2
- PV panel efficiency: 18.8%
- PV panel efficiency: 18.8%
- Maximal engine power: 120 kW
- Average engine consumption: 20 kW (26.8 HP)
- Autonomy: never-ending solar navigation
- Crew: 4 members
- Number of people that can go on board: 60
The designer of PlanetSolar, Craig Loomes from New Zealand, has already imagined numerous innovative ships around the world. Several months of research enabled to finish the ideal dimensions and design of this double hull vessel with respect to the chosen journey. Engineers had to optimize the energy collection and stocking but also the aerodynamics, the ship’s propulsion and the choice of materials. The incredibly light carbon structure of this futuristic vessel with electric motorization is extremely durable. PlanetSolar is the biggest solar ship in the world. The 516 m2 of photovoltaic panel power 6 blocks of lithium-ion battery, a technology that offers maximal power and energy density, thus enabling a navigation time that is unmatched to date! Indeed, each new sunrise provides the catamaran with the light needed to continue its journey…Baptized Tûranor PlanetSolar, which means power of the sun in J.R.R Tolkien mythology, this clean and quiet vessel has been launched in March 2010 in Kiel, Germany, in the shipyards ofKnierim Yachtbau after 14 months of construction.
Via: planetsolar.org
Mir Mine, one of the Largest Excavated Hole on the Planet
The Mir Mine also known as Mirny Mine is a past open pit diamond mine, now not active, situated in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The mine is 525 meters ( 1 ,722 ft ) deep ( 4th in the world ) and also has a diameter of 1 ,200 m ( 3,900 ft ), which is the second biggest excavated hole on the planet , after Bingham Canyon Mine . The airspace above the mine is blocked for helicopters resulting from incidents through which they were sucked in by the downward air flow.
The diamond-bearing deposit was found out on June 13, 1955 by Soviet geologists Yuri Khabardin, Ekaterina Elagina and Viktor Avdeenko during the large Amakinsky Expedition in Yakut ASSR. They discovered traces of volcanic rock kimberlite which are usually in connection with diamonds. This discovering was the first achievements in the seek for kimberlite in Russia, after a number of unsuccessful expeditions of the 1940s and 1950s. With this breakthrough discovery, in 1957 Khabardin received the Lenin Prize, which was certainly one of the highest awards in the Soviet Union.
Via: wikipedia.org
The winner of the 2013 $50,000 Science in Action award
A 16 year old girl, Elif Bilgin, of Istanbul Turkey is the winner of the 2013 $50,000 Science in Action award, a part of the third annual Google Science Fair. The award honors a project which could render an effective big difference by dealing with an environmental, health or resources challenge; it needs to be innovative, simple to implement as well as reproducible in other communities.
The ingredients to generate Bilgin’s plastic are somewhat harmless. As she had written in her admission materials, “it is possible to say that one could do it at home.” In her study, she discovered that starch as well as cellulose is used somewhere else in the bioplastic industry (for instance from the skin of mangoes) and also made the leap that banana peels could possibly be perfect feedstock sources as well. She desires that the usage of the bioplastic could possibly replace a few of the petroleum-based plastics being used nowadays for this kind of applications as insulation for electric cables as well as for cosmetic prostheses. The health application is probably not surprising to individuals who know Bilgin; she really wants to go to medical school someday (“science is my calling,” she wrote in her entry).
Bilgin is also a finalist in the overall Google Science Fair for the 15-16-year-old category, and will fly, with the additional 14 contestants, to the company’s Mountain View, Calif campus for the awards event in September. The schools of the Google Science Fair finalists will receive digital subscriptions to Scientific American as part of their prize.
Via: blogs.scientificamerican.com
A Contact Lens that enables you to zoom your Eyesight
Scientists made a prototype contact lens and glasses system that enables you to zoom in on a specific thing to 2.8 times magnification. The lenses perform the zooming, while the glasses allow you to shift between normal and magnified sight. At this time, the lens' technical engineers, a group with members from California and Switzerland, are developing it for those who have age related macular degeneration , which happens to be the number one reason for eyesight loss in Americans older than 60. The technical engineers are actually preparing to begin a clinical experiment in November, the BBC said.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded the groundwork, recommending that the U.S. government is eying super vision of soldiers in the near future. But, it really must be better to create something for macular degeneration first, since it's better to come up with a possible remedy for eyesight loss compared to it is to improve on healthy eyesight, the BBC said. The lens is composed of concentric regions. The center region allows light through normally, for regular eyesight. Whereas, the corners of the lens are purposely designed to reflect light as well as magnify it. The final lens is 1.17 millimeters at the thickest region around the corners and it's manufactured from the similar hard plastic as first-generation contact lenses, the technical engineers explained in a paper they published in the journal Optics Express.
Image: extremetech.com
The glasses function by adding or taking out a polarized light filter onto their lenses. With the filter on, light would travel to the normal region of the lens. Without the filter, light would go to the magnifying region rather.
Via: popsci.com
Barbecuing with Hydrogen Gas
Walt Pyle, John Dabritz, Reynaldo Cortez, and Jim Healy
©1994 Walt Pyle, John Dabritz, Reynaldo Cortez, and Jim Healy
Barbecuing with hydrogen is cleaner than using charcoal or propane because there's no carbon in hydrogen. When hydrogen burns, it emits only water vapor and traces of nitrogen oxide. No toxic pollutants, smoke, or particulates are released by a hydrogen flame. When hydrogen is produced by renewable energy, the water-to-fuel-to-water cycle can be sustained virtually forever!
Above: The propane gas barbecue before modification
For generations, barbecue fires have been made from charcoal. Though we also have natural gas and electricity for cooking, resources these are largely based on fossil fuels and are not sustainable. PV produced hydrogen PV electrolysis is accomplished. Cooking with hydrogen also appeared in HP #33.) Air pollution from barbecues is becoming objectionable in densely populated areas. Outdoor cooking is very popular on hot summer days. Unfortunately, that's also when air quality is usually at its worst. Legislation regulating barbecuing has even been enacted in some areas.
Propane Barbecues
Propane barbecues are more convenient and produce less emissions than charcoal models. Propane also eliminates waiting while the coals get hot.
Above: By removing the cooking grill and lava rock support, you can see the stainless steel propane burner.
Above: The propane gas supply valves, burner, and pre-mix tubes, and pressure regulator.
The propane burner is ignited by turning on the gas and pressing the piezo-electric igniter button. A spark ignites the fuel-air mixture escaping from the burner. The flame heats lava rocks, distributing the heat to the grill. Liquids that drip onto the lava will vaporize and burn, shielding the burner from contamination. After cooking is finished, the gas is turned off and the heat stops. The lava cools quickly to ambient temperature.
Gaseous fuel is safer than charcoal in some respects. For instance, there's no need to supervise the fire after cooking. You're less likely to start a fire when a gust of wind comes up and rekindles "dead" coals! There's also much less ash residue. Though propane flames emit carbon oxides and hydrocarbons, amounts are less than from charcoal. Better fuel-air mixing results in less smoke. Cooking time is also shorter with propane.
The propane flow to each burner is controlled by a valve and delivered to an orifice. The orifice limits the gas flow and produces a high velocity jet, which aids fuel-air mixing. The high velocity gas enters the pre- mixer, drawing air through ports on each side of the burner delivery tube.
Above: The propane burners installed in our barbecue use fuel-air pre-mixers.
Conversion of a Propane Barbecue to Hydrogen
We started with a two-burner Kenmore propane barbecue. It has 1451 square centimeters (225 square inches) of cooking area and is rated at 24,000 Btu (82 kW) per hour. Sears had it on sale for under $100.
We converted our barbecue by changing the burners and gas delivery tubes to prevent pre-mixing of the hydrogen fuel and air. Other parts of the barbecue were usable without modification. The covers, grill plates, gas supply line, control valves, pressure regulator, and piezo-electric igniter all worked as purchased. We will use the propane tank in a future hydrogen storage experiment.
Above: The gas pressure regulator with Swage lock tubing INLET pipe fitting.
Step 1. Feeding Hydrogen to the Pressure
Regulator
Remove the pressure regulator from the propane tank. Attach 0.64 cm (0.25 inch) Swage lock stainless steel tubing to a 1/4 NPT fitting. This will replace the original pipe fitting on the "INLET" side of the regulator. We used stainless tubing, but copper or brass tubing and fittings can be used as well. They may also be easier to obtain at your local hardware store.
Set the hydrogen gas supply pressure to about 1 bar (14.5 PSIG) at the pressure regulator "INLET". Most propane-type regulators are rated for 17 bar (250 PSIG) maximum inlet pressure. Do not exceed the rated value. Use safety relief-valves in the piping and storage tank so excessive pressure cannot cause an unsafe condition. A welding-type compressed hydrogen cylinder with two-stage regulator can be used to supply the pressure regulator. For safety, include a shutoff valve to isolate the hydrogen supply from the pressure regulator during idle periods.
Before we continued our hydrogen conversion, we wanted to try the barbecue on hydrogen in its "propane" configuration. We supplied the pressure regulator inlet with 1 bar (14.5 PSIG) pressure from the hydrogen tank and checked for leaks. Donning safety glasses, we turned on the control valve and pushed the igniter button. The fuel-air mixture in the burner and supply line promptly lit with a loud "BANG" that resembled a firecracker! We weren't surprised. The pre-mixed gas and air was flammable. The velocity of a hydrogen flame is much higher than that of propane. The flame moved backwards against the hydrogen flow. It traveled from the igniter at the burner pre-mix outlets to the orifice at the mixer. The flame burned freely on the open jet of hydrogen coming out of the orifice, heating the pre-mix tube instead of the burner.
The hydrogen diffusion burner and gas distribution plate are designed to prevent the pre-mixing of hydrogen with air. In a gas diffusion burner, fuel is burned without premixing the fuel (hydrogen) with air.
Below A close-up of Hydrogen Burner Showing Gas Diffusion Ring. By coating the surface of the burner pores with a catalyst, nitrogen oxide emissions can be reduced.
Pure hydrogen fuel passes out through the porous surface of the burner. The hydrogen and oxygen from the air then mix within the outer pores of the burner. This prevents flash-backs and keeps the flame from propagating from the outer burner surface back into the fuel supply.
Step 2. Making The Burner
Machining the hydrogen gas distribution base from low carbon steel requires the following steps:
1) For the gas diffusion ring, cut a circular groove with a shoulder step on the outside. The step prevents the ring from being pressed all the way to the bottom of the circular groove.
2) Drill two long holes completely through the steel base at 90 degrees to each other. The holes will connect the gas feed fitting at the center of the burner to four different locations around the circular gas distribution groove.
3) Tap the outermost ends of the four holes for 1/8 NPT pipe plugs.
4) Tap the center gas feed point of the base to accept a 1/4 NPT-to-stainless tubing supply line fitting.
(Click image to enlarge)
The burner gas diffusion ring is made from tantalum foam tubing. The rectangular ring segment can be cut with a table saw or chop saw. Another source of the tantalum burner-ring material is automotive air-bag deployment shell diffusers. Besides tantalum, other high temperature foam materials are also available from Ultramet (see access).
The burner ring is plated with platinum catalyst. Attach the ring to the negative (cathode) lead of a low voltage D.C. power supply. Attach the positive (anode) power supply lead to a platinum wire. Immerse the ring and wire in an electrolyte solution. The solution is made by dissolving 1 gram of platinum in about 20 ml of aqua- regia and diluting to 100 ml with distilled water. Apply 1-2 Amps of current for several hours until the surface of the tantalum ring is coated with a thin layer of platinum.
Press the burner ring into the gas distribution base using a mechanical press. A completed burner is shown in the photo. The lava rocks have been removed from one side for clarity.
Above: The burner installed in barbecue
Step 3. The Hydrogen Delivery Lines
Extend the hydrogen gas delivery lines from the flow valve to the burner with two stainless steel "L" shaped 22.5 cm (9 inch, 0.25 inch diameter) lengths of tubing.
Remove the jets from the valve body using a 10 mm (3/8 inch) box end wrench. Insert the stainless tubing lengths in the former jet holes. Before soldering, disassemble the brass flow valves and remove heat sensitive components and lubricant. Position the stainless tubing sections securely and silver solder them in place. Be sure to put the sheet metal support bracket over the tubes before soldering them into the valve bodies. Also check that the bent sheet metal tabs face away from the valve bodies.
Clean the valve bodies after soldering. Reassemble the heat sensitive stem, spring, and plastic detent retainer. Use silicone stopcock grease as seal and lubricant.
Step 4. Install the Igniter
Install the piezo-electric igniter's insulator and high voltage lead near the new hydrogen gas diffusion burner. It will be used to light the burner. Bring up a ground lead alongside to position the spark gap near the burner gas diffusion ring.
A loud "POP" will occur at the moment of ignition. The hydrogen-air mixture ignites at the spark and will propagate to the burner surface. Thereafter, combustion will occur primarily in the pores of the burner ring.
Above: Remove the jets and valve components, before silver-soldering stainless tubing.
Above: The barbecue's underside with burner hydrogen delivery tubes & valves.
Safety First!
Hydrogen gas testing should be done outside or in a well ventilated area. Only pure gas should be used or stored. Remember, though hydrogen diffuses rapidly away from a source when released, it's flammable over wider ranges of air-fuel ratios than propane. It must be handled with respect. Hydrogen safety precautions are given in articles appearing in HP #34 and #35.
Step 5. Testing
Use a soap solution to leak test the tubing connections, pipe fittings, valves, and regulator. Test with about 1 bar (14. 5 PSIG) hydrogen gas pressure.
We also tested the completed burner for heat release and nitrogen oxide emissions. A NOx meter was used to sample the burner's hot exhaust gas plume at different positions. We used a Bacharach NONOXOR II with a range of 0-2000 parts per million (ppm) NOx. These meters are used for field testing engine exhaust for emission compliance.
Above: Test setup showing barbecue, NOx meter at 50% hydrogen flow (86 ppm)
At the "LOW" gas valve setting, NOx levels varied from 60-80 ppm in the flame 5 cm (2 inches) above the burner ring. At 12 to 30 cm (5-12 inches) above the burner center, NOx varied from 2 — 6 ppm.
For "HIGH" hydrogen flows, NOx levels varied from 80- 160 ppm 2.5 cm (1 inch) directly above the burner ring. At 30 cm (12 inches), the NOx dropped to 36-47 ppm. The NOx increased with increasing flow at all positions. The NOx level also increased as the probe was moved closer to the burner.
At about 50% flow, the cooking temperature was just about right. Fortunately, the heat release can be set to the proper level for cooking on the lava with no further changes to the hydrogen flow valve and valve ports. We reinstalled the rock and food grills and made a NOx measurement at the cooking grill surface above the burner and rocks. We recorded 65-90 ppm at 50% flow and 180-260 ppm at "HIGH" flow.
Background NOx released by the hydrogen burner exposes the cook to no more than 2 ppm. The eight hour time-weighted average set by the U.S.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is 25 ppm NOx. For reference purposes, our natural gas stove burner ran at mid-range with 15-25 ppm NOx at 2.5 cm. (1 inch) above the natural gas burner flame.
Cooking Tests were conducted: Hydrogen Steaks!!
We tried steaks for our first hydrogen barbecue as seen in this picture.
Above: Cooking Steaks on Hydrogen Gas Barbecue
Endurance testing is needed to determine the lifetime of the burner. Some burner ring "break-in" has occurred. After several hours of operation, the sharp edges of the gas diffusion ring have become rounded by excessive heating. Whether this will stabilize remains to be seen. Lifting the rock grill higher above the burner ring will probably reduce the reflected heat reaching the burner ring from the glowing lava.
Possible Future Improvements and Measurements
1) Coating the steel base to prevent rust caused by combustion water condensation at startup and "LOW" hydrogen flows.
2) Venting the lid to prevent the buildup of an explosive mixture. This could occur when the gas is "on", the cover is closed, and ignition has not yet occurred. An interlock could be used to prevent hydrogen from flowing to the burner when the barbecue cover is closed and the flame has not yet been lit.
3) Measuring the flow rate of the hydrogen gas delivered to the burner at different valve settings.
4) Measuring the temperature of the burner surface at different hydrogen flow valve settings.
Acknowledgements
Ultramet, for the foam tantalum and silicon carbide tubing samples. A&K Machine Shop, Richmond, California for machining the burner gas distribution plate.
Access
Authors: Walt Pyle WA6DUR 510-237-7877, John
Dabritz 510-242-5366, Reynaldo Cortz 510-237-9748,
and Jim Healy WH6LZ 510-236-6745
Diffusion Burners for Hydrogen: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Institute for Solar Energy Systems Tel: (Freiberg, Germany) 49-761-4014-0 Ext.
164 or 210. FAX: 49-761-4014-100
Diffusion Ring Tubing: Ultramet, 12173 Montague Street, Pacoima,
CA • 818-899-0236 FAX 818-890-1946
Chemical supplies (platinum powder and wire, aqua-regia): Aldrich
Chemical Co., 1001 W St Paul Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53233 • 800-558-
9160