How Hydrogen Generators Work
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Hydrogen Generator
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A hydrogen generator is something which is completely different from a hydrogen fuel cell. In a fuel cell, hydrogen gas is pressurized and stored on board a vehicle to be used as a fuel to create electrical current. A hydrogen generator on the other hand is what's used to convert an internal combustion engine into a clean burning, hydrogen engine. A hydrogen generator is an on board mechanism that will harvest hydrogen from water and feed that hydrogen into the engine to be burned. The water should be purified and distilled for the best results.
Process
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A hydrogen generator works through a process called electrolysis. When water, with an electrolyte present, has an electrical current run through it, the water wants to break into its component parts. Those component parts are of course two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, which are all gases. The engine that the generator is hooked up to creates a vacuum that sucks the hydrogen into it, and the hydrogen is then used to fuel internal combustion which drives the engine just like gasoline powered engines.
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Power and Efficiency
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At this current time, hydrogen generators cannot match the power of a gasoline powered internal combustion engine. As such, there are vehicles which combine the ability to generate hydrogen with standard gasoline use in an internal combustion engine. At present an added hydrogen generator can save up to 45 percent of fuel use, but there are claims that new technologies may save as much as 65 percent on fuel. It's the hope of those designing these hydrogen generators that eventually the fuel tank will just be a water reservoir and that the vehicle will run on pure hydrogen.
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