Description
Hydro-Flame is a home built cannon prototype that fires rubber projectiles powered by Hydrogen Gas.
Inspiration
It was my summer break in 2008 and I was spending most of my days holed up in my lab at home. Inspired by the recently taught about internal combustion engines, I wanted to make one for myself!
Hydrogen came onto the board for I had known it to be a clean fuel. I wanted to make a hydrogen powered engine!
Hydro-Flame, in the flesh!
Concept and Embodiment Design
Studying the idea for some time, I realized the complexity an engine model would bring along. Instead of sustained combustion, I scaled it down to a single blast and conceptualized it into a cannon.
Clip
Schematic
However, using a gaseous fuel to fire a projectile presented its own challenges. I came up with the idea of the simplest available air-tight chamber, which I found in syringes.
The cannon chamber would need a projectile, inlets for both the fuel and air and a mechanism to ignite the mixture.
I cut away the heads out of two 20mL syringes and hooked them together using water sealant. This would form the combustion chamber.
To allow for the easiest air-tight projectile, I used the syringe's own rubber cork. From a recent plumbing job at home, we had some teflon tape lying around albeit I didn't at the time know what it was called.
To allow for a valve entry of the fuel into the chamber, I cut away a used deodorant can and attached it to the chamber using water sealant.
For the ignition system, a humble battery powered kitchen lighter came in handy. I attached wires to extend the sparking point and poked tiny holes to transfer it into the chamber.
Harvesting the Fuel
The simplest recipe for harvesting hydrogen gas through household items was using electrolysis of water.
A car battery charger became the DC power source and having read about the structure of torch cells, I broke open a couple and took out the graphite rods for conductors.
Capping a bigger 50mL syringe from the top, I dipped and filled it with water, inverted it and brought it up to the brim.
This would become my collection chamber for the gas.
I hooked up the electrodes to the bottom of the bucket and the system was a go!
Hydrogen Harvesting Setup
Once the chamber would fill up with hydrogen, holding it below the brim of the water, the plunger of the syringe would be inserted back into it to seal the gas in.
To store the gas I used another deodorant can. Using the atomizer of the original deodorant, I made a gas transfer attachment using syringe needle housing and some valve tubing from bicycle tires.
Process Flow
The process of loading and popping the cannon is three stepped.
-
To begin loading, the projectile is popped into the front of the cannon and a negative pressure is created by pulling back the rear plunger
-
The plunger is locked in place using a thick wired lock.
-
Having the chamber ready for the fuel, the hydrogen tank is brought in and using the connector attachment the fuel is puffed in
Step 2
Step 1
Step 3
Summary and Learnings
This project holds a special place for me and is one of my fondest memories from my childhood. I continue to hold onto all of these parts and it taught me to find creative uses for miscellaneous house-hold items.
Lighter
