July 20, 2008
Ms. Peggy Griffith
Chief Executive Officer
Fair Trading Commission
Good Hope, Green Hill
St. Michael
Dear Ms. Griffith:
It was with some concern that I read an article in the Weekend Nation (Friday, July 18) entitled “Gas Pump. This article outlined plans by Trans-Tech Inc. to start selling a device which, it is claimed, will almost double mileage in gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. Such devices, also known as HHO hydrogen generators, take electricity from the vehicle’s alternator and, through hydrolysis, produce a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. The gas mixture is fed into the engine where it becomes part of the combustion cycle.
Companies selling HHO hydrogen generators prey on people’s anxiety over the rising cost of gasoline and diesel. Unfortunately, all such devices do not work as claimed. Far from improving fuel economy, they will actually consume more fuel because of the extra load being placed on the alternator. These devices are nothing more than scams which seek to dupe unsuspecting consumers into buying them by making fraudulent promises of vastly improved fuel economy, promises which are never fulfilled. At this stage, I am not accusing Trans-Tech of trying to defraud consumers, for the company may be an unwitting victim of the manufacturer of this device. It is disconcerting, however, that Trans-Tech has plans to manufacture this device, so one would assume that they are fully versed in the limitations of the technology.
The basic failing of such devices is that they consume more energy that they produce because of inherent inefficiencies of the various steps along the process to produce and burn the hydrogen and oxygen.
1.The vehicle’s alternator is about 95% efficient, in that it takes 100 watts of input energy to produce 95 watts of electricity.
2.The electrolysis process is probably no more than 75% efficient, but the efficiency may be as low as 50%.
3.The internal combustion engine is only about 25% efficient, as most of the energy from combustion is lost as heat, noise and vibration.
So, for every one watt of usable energy which the oxygen and hydrogen gas will produce when burnt, it will take anywhere from 5.6 – 8.4 watts to generate it. The volume of hydrogen and oxygen gas produced by such systems is too small to have any discernible effect on the energy produced by the internal combustion engine, and definitely cannot compensate for a 60% reduction in fuel consumption that Trans-Tech is promising.
Some of these devices also require that the installer modify the readings from the oxygen sensor to reduce the amount of fuel in the air-fuel mixture, and this will reduce consumption particularly when the car is idling. However, running an international combustion engine on an air-fuel mixture that is too lean will cause serious damage to the engine and will increase the level of pollutants in the exhaust.
Some of these devices also claim that the hydrogen and oxygen gas produced from the electrolysis makes the vehicle’s engine more efficient. This claim, however, is also not supported by empirical evidence. In most modern cars, about 99% of the fuel is burned during combustion, so it is impossible to produce any significant improvements in efficiency, and certainly not along the lines to support Trans-Tech’s claims.
Should Trans-Tech wish to provide further information in support of their product and in refute of my analysis presented here, I would be more than happy to provide a rebuttal. There is presently an NZ$1 million challenge for a company who can achieve a sustainable 25% increase in baseline fuel economy by installing a HHO hydrogen generator into a test vehicle. Perhaps Trans-Tech would like to take the challenge (http://aardvark.co.nz/hho_challenge.shtml)?
A final point to ponder: if these devices were able to deliver on their promises, don’t you think every car manufacturer would be clamouring to include the technology in their cars? Having an SUV that could deliver 50 mpg or a compact car that could deliver 100mpg in these days of high oil prices would be a huge marketing advantage for any manufacturer. Sadly, this technology does not (and will never) deliver on its promises and hence is not being pursued by car manufacturers.
I urge the Fair Trading Commission to investigate this product carefully and, if your findings concur with mine, not to let such devices be sold in Barbados. Failure to do so will result in numerous claims against this product and Trans-Tech Inc. in the future and will impact on the credibility of the FTC to stand up for the rights of consumers.
Yours sincerely,
John Da Silva
For more information about the lack of scientific basic for these devices, please see the following links:
http://aardvark.co.nz/hho.shtml
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9551919888/m/2321969559
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