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Turning to water to save fuel
The shape of the device is quite simple. A coil is wrapped around a plastic soy sauce bottle and is used to transmit an electric current beneath the bottle. The coil is connected to the battery. A pipe is attached to the top of the bottle to connect the engine to the carburetor. "When the engine is running, it will automatically produce hydrogen and this causes an explosion in the engine," Joko said. "The chemical formula for water is H2O. If this is subjected to an electric current, it will produce H2 and O2," Joko said. About five seconds after the electric current, gas bubbles out of the water. After the gas has been channeled to the trial engine, it explodes and can drive the crankshaft five meters or more. "This is just from using one piston. If we use three pistons to drive the crankshaft, it can break," Joko said. He chose a transparent soy sauce bottle because it was cheap, easy to find and safe. "The transparency can help us check the water's condition and whether or not it is still clear," Joko said. In order to produce good hydrogen, the water should be neutral or rainwater, and it only needs to be changed once a month. The use of tap water can cause problems because it includes other substances that inhibit the production of hydrogen. Joko installed the electrolyzer in his car. Joko said burning hydrogen was good and its octane rating reached 130. This compares with the rating of premium fuel, which is only in the 80s, and Pertamax, with a rating of 94. With the electrolyzer, the burning of fuel is more efficient and the power of the engine is stronger, he said. He said the more efficient burning decreases carbon emissions. Oil use also becomes more economical. It is cleaner because it partly emits water in place of carbon. "Consequently, water will always come out of vehicles with electrolyzers. When the engine is used for the first time in the morning, the system expels water," Joko said. To replace the raw materials used for installation in a motorcycle, the customer is charged Rp 75,000 (US$8) for motorbikes and Rp 150,000 for cars. "This is not about profit. The money being charged is only used to buy the components," said Joko, adding more than 1,000 vehicles have used his invention. Since he has no commercial interest, Joko said he did not want to patent his invention. He hopes people will make the device themselves since its construction is simple and the materials easy to find. Joko is further innovating in trying to develop an engine that uses water as its fuel. He has changed the working mechanisms of a lawn mower engine so the machine can only use exploding hydrogen and not fuel. "Using 10 soy sauce bottles each containing 0.5 liters of water, the lawn mower engine keeps running," he said. "I want to try this on my motorcycle just using water." Joko believes the fuel crisis will be solved with the creation of a water-powered engine. |
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Franky Chahyadi's motorbike used to travel between 30 and 35 kilometers on one liter of premium fuel. But since he started using an electrolyzer, a liter of premium fuel can keep his motorbike going for 50 to 55 kilometers. And it's not just his motorbike; his Mercedes C18 is also performing more economically. Before, a liter of fuel was just enough to travel five kilometers, but with an electrolyzer, his Mercedes travels nine. In 2006, after undertaking numerous tests, Joko found a simple way to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water and channel the hydrogen to the engine. This can save between 70 and 100 percent of fuel used in motor vehicles.