Hi Abd, I'll wait for the detail of your ideas regarding the electronics, but it seems to me a few dollars worth of components would be sufficient for the computing and electrical "equipment", which could boil down to a tiny "USB key" with some relatively simple microcontroller and power electronics design work. A full blown computer plus a programmable power supply are certainly not necessary.
Regarding current reversal: a/ no it's not stupid I don't think, indeed I seem to recall platinum works as a cathode substrate in those experiments (i.e. pits are produced). But you'll have to verify that the plating on the cathode does redissolve when it becomes an anode, things are not exactly symmetrical as Cl2 will have evolved from the solution in the first run I think. Anyone knows? b/ if it does redissolve, the electrode on the bottom doesn't have to be a permanent anode as you proposed, it could be an extension of one of only two electrodes (rather than three), which would thus occupy one side and the bottom, agreed? Michel 2009/9/13 Abd ul-Rahman Lomax <a...@lomaxdesign.com>: > At 05:15 AM 9/13/2009, you wrote: >> >> 2009/9/7, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax <a...@lomaxdesign.com>: >> >> > Computer >> > interface, standard USB. >> >> We could even have the kit _powered _by the USB interface, I am pretty >> sure we don't need more than the 5 V at 500 mA = 2.5 W it can deliver >> for a small codep cell. The inexpensive USB CF kit would even >> withstand power outages if connected to a laptop! > > Yeah, attractive. If more power is required, UPS devices are cheap, but > that's up to the end user, I'd say. I'm inclining toward thinking that the > "interface" (i.e., what I've been calling the "instrumentation," which > includes power supply, I assume, would have its own computer, they are > *very* cheap now, and could easily be designed to withstand power outages > and other interruptions. More money can go into the interface than the > cells, much more. Part of what I have in mind would collect data even if the > user forgets to do anything but turn the thing on. > > We'll get into more detail on coldfusionproj...@yahoogroups.com, I assume, > much more, broken down into the various aspects that need to be > brainstormed/discussed/decided. > >> Anode cost: A silver wire as you proposed would corrode, but we could >> use a platinum _plated_ wire. > > That's interesting. Someone tell me about symmetry. What happens if, say, we > have platinum plated silver anodes and cathodes, both, and we run the cell > one way for a time, then reverse the polarity? If I understand it, the > palladium that was plated onto the former cathode will be dissolved in the > electrolyte, being plated at the same time onto the former anode. Palladium > that falls off the original cathode, if it does, will be lost unless somehow > it falls onto another anode, possibly the bottom of the cell is an anode > always, it recycles the palladium that flakes off and falls. > > Being able to cycle the cell multiple times would have some obvious value, > if it works. > > I'm just asking, perhaps, all the stupid questions I can think of. > Obviously, I don't know that they are stupid or I wouldn't ask them, but > once in a while I ask a stupid question and it's something nobody thought of > before; and even if it is, I get to learn. After a while, I assure you all, > the questions get better. > >
