Waterfuel_Tech_Adm._Griffin.pdf

The following is an extract from the lecture given by Admiral Sir Anthony Griffin to the Maritime Division of

the Southampton Institute, Warsash, UK as part of the symposium on the Impact of New technology on the

Marine Industries, September 1993.

Water As Fuel

ABSTRACT

The earth's main sources of non-solar energy are fossil fuels, which cause severe pollution and cannot last

indefinitely; nuclear, which is capital intensive, and whose waste disposal is problematical; tidal and wind

schemes which are inefficient; and thermal and hydro installations which are efficient but lack flexibility and

require major capital investment.

An alternative is water (salt, fresh or distilled) as a cheap and inexhaustible source of global energy which

has none of the foregoing disadvantages. The theoretical evidence in support of the relevant technology is

briefly described and related to the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Practical evidence is

illustrated and the impact of this revolutionary development on the marine industries, with ships floating on

their own fuel and thus having no need for either bunkers or ambient air, is indicated.

Much wider and global implications for the environment, industry, defence and political stability are

discussed.

INTRODUCTION

In 1972, the Royal Navy examined how the Fleet should be fuelled when current fossil fuels become too

scarce, say in the year 2030. They concluded that the fuel of the future was hydrogen but since the gas was

not normally available in usable form, it would have to be extracted through either electrolysis of water or

nuclear fusion. Neither appeared to be immediately practicable. Electrolysis needed more power than that

of the hydrogen it yielded and was too slow a process to meet the demands of an internal combustion

engine. This meant that it would have to be stored in either liquid form or in a fuel cell, both of which

involved substantial weight or safety problems. Nuclear fusion appeared to be too distant and expensive an

alternative.

This position remains the current generally accepted view of hydrogen as a fuel. It has not however,

deterred numerous investors from producing, for example, over 100 hydrogen fuelled cars in the USA, at

least 12 in Germany and 3 in the UK. The latest is Japan's Mazda HRX car and its Wankel engine shown

here.

This car was described in June 1992 to the 9th World hydrogen Energy conference in Paris. Here the

papers referred only to various aspects of hydrogen generation through electrolysis, or its storage or its

subsequent application. It is worth recalling that in April 1988, the starboard engine of a three-engined

Tupolev 255 airliner was modified to run on hydrogen which was seen to be embarked in liquid form from a

fuel bowser. The aircraft flew for about twenty minutes on its hydrogen powered engine which showed no

exhaust except a trail of water vapour. The main attraction in all of these cases has been the absence of

pollution at the scene of action. However, the pollution problem has merely been transferred to the source of

the power required to drive the electrolytic process.

PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATIONS

Many practical demonstrations of Water Fuel Cell technology have already been made and more are

planned. Most of Meyer's patents were filed under a particular clause of the US Patent Regulations which

requires a claim to be demonstrated before it can be granted.

The 1980 Patent

The first and probably the most frequently demonstrated patent is based on the actual equipment used in

1980 to support Meyer's claim for his hydrogen fracturing process. I have now personally witnessed it 4

times.

In outline, the apparatus consists of 9 concentric stainless steel cylinders, with about a 1 mm gap between

them. They are 14 inches long and are effectively waveguides. They are immersed in tap water contained

in a glass vessel. The top of the vessel is normally gas tight but has a pressure gauge and a valve to allow

gas to pass to atmosphere when required.

Electrical power with opposite polarities is applied in pulses to the inner and outer cylinders and at a power

of 10 watts, i.e. 5 volts at 2 amps. A considerable quantity of gas immediately accumulates in the top of the

vessel and, within 10 seconds, reaches a pressure of about 10 pounds per square inch.

When the valve is opened, a jet of cold gas can be felt, but on this being lit with a match, the temperature

instantly rises to about 3000 0 F and the flame burns through a stainless steel wire in about 2 seconds. The

glass vessel and its attachments remain at room temperature throughout, thus ruling out any normal

electrolytic process. Plainly, the generation of such a quantity of gas and its immediate application at such a

high temperature, demands more than 10 watts of electrical energy. Furthermore, as the stainless steel

cylinders have not noticeably been consumed over several years, the balance of the energy required can

only come from the zero-point energy in the water. Meyer points out that all the parameters involved in this

demonstration have been deliberately de-optimised, e.g. 5 volts instead of 20,000 volts and 2 amps instead

of 0.5 milliamp, 14 inch tubes instead of an optimum of 27 inch tubes, etc. in order to allow the principle of

the water fracturing process to be demonstrated without risk of explosion.

The 1985 Dune Buggy

In 1985, a dune buggy powered by a standard 1600 cc Volkswagen engine was modified through Water Fuel

Cell technology to run on water fuel. It was a breadboard quality experiment which was successfully

demonstrated as broadcast on American TV and reported in the press. A video tape record is held by

London University.

The 1993 Dune Buggy

This will be the first demonstration of a complete system, manufactured to a pre-production standard as a

conversion kit for a typical car. The rig is designed for powers up to 400 hp and, in production, Meyer

expects to market it for $1500. The date has yet to be settled, but is expected to be within the next 2 months

in Ohio.

The Hyperdrive Portable Demonstrator

This project is under consideration as a convenient means of demonstrating how zero-point energy can

impel water without any moving parts as shown here.

THE THEORY OF WATER FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY

This begins with the basic structures of hydrogen and oxygen atoms and how they are combined in the

water molecule.

Note the orbital paths of the electrons and their 'shells'; the magnetic polarity of an electron and a nucleus;

and the space occupied by the so-called vacuum.

Note the presence of the two hydrogen electrons in the 'L' shell of the oxygen atom. These are known as

the covalent electrons which are bonded in position by considerable electrical force. In the case of normal

electrolysis, the energy needed to break these bonds and produce separate hydrogen and oxygen atoms

from water, is roughly three times the energy of the hydrogen released. It is thus a highly inefficient process

because of the considerable amount of waste heat which is generated.

The energy extracted from water by the Water Fuel Cell derives from two distinct, but virtually simultaneous

processes. The first is the hydrogen fracturing process which dissociates the hydrogen gas from the water

molecule. The second is the electron ionisation process which enhances the explosive energy of the gases

released.

THE HYDROGEN FRACTURING PROCESS

The basis of this process is the subjection of the water molecule to very high voltage (20,000+) pulses at a

particular frequency and within positively and negatively charged voltage zones at a very low current of less

than 1 milliamp.

The effect is to attract the negatively charged electrons towards the positive voltage zone and the positively

charged nucleus towards the negative zone. The electron orbital path is changed from a circle to an ellipse

and this, coupled with the effect of pulsing, causes such electrical stress on the molecule that the covalent

bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are broken and the two gases separated. Thereafter, they

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