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How to Produce Brown's Gas to Weld Metals

Brown's Gas is composed of a mixture of di-atomic and mon-atomic hydrogen and oxygen. The gas is named for Yull Brown who patented the Brown's Gas Electrolyzer in 1977. Brown's discovery was that his method of water electrolysis could produce a nonexplosive combination of hydrogen and oxygen gas. William Rhodes, who held earlier patents on a similar design, challenged Brown's patent and accused Brown of stealing his design. Today, Brown's gas is used as a way of deriving gas from water in an economical fashion.

Things You'll Need

Electrolytic system
Electrolyzer
Current sensors
Flame arrestor device
High frequency transformer
Full bridge diode rectifier
Fast recovery diode rectifier
Polarity changing switches
25 percent potassium hydroxide liquid as electrolyte

Instructions

- 1
  Distill water through the process of electrolysis using an electrolyzer. Water needs to be passed through an electrolytic system. Use an electrolyzer as your power source to improve the efficiency of the gas for welding.
- 2
  Use a cylindrical electrolytic cell with multiple poles to increase the amount of Brown's gas that can be generated.
- 3
  Supply power using a high frequency transformer, which offers the advantage of being lighter and smaller than a traditional transformer. Use a full bridge inverter so that voltage and current can be controlled.
- 4
  Change the DC current to AC using the full bridge diode rectifier. This converts the DC power to 10kHz AC. The high frequency transformer then reduces the AC voltage. The fast recovery diode rectifier rectifies the AC to DC. Use polarity changing switches to periodically change the polarity of the power supply to prevent anode oxidization of the electrolyte cell.
- 5
  Use a 25 percent potassium hydroxide liquid in your water cell as an electrolyte. Before attaching this system to a welding torch add current sensors and a flame arrestor to ensure a safe and controlled operation of the torch.

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