Development of a low-cost instrumentation system applied to an electrolytic cell.

Abstract

Humanity’s growing long-term energy demand will be the opportunity for new energy generation sources. In this scenario, the use of hydrogen as an energy source has become an interesting alternative to energy production, as the use of fossil fuels can lead to harmful consequences, such as the emission of greenhouse gases. This paper presents the development of a low-cost instrumentation system for monitoring the temperature, current, voltage, and gas flow rate of a dry electrolytic cell. Through the electrolysis process, the cell generates a hydrogen-rich gas which is used as an additive in an internal combustion engine to reduce pollutant gas emissions and primary fuel consumption. The measured variables are presented as a function of the time to analyze the behavior of the electrolyzer. The main advance reported in this work is related to the use of a low-cost sensor for a hydrogen-rich gas flow measurement, in which calibration was performed indirectly using a rotameter as a reference. The calibration curve adjusted to the experimental data by linear regression presented a coefficient of determination of 0.9957. Thus, the use of the low-cost sensor is a feasible alternative for measuring the electrolysis gas generated by the cell.