At 05:15 AM 9/13/2009, you wrote:
2009/9/7, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax <[email protected]>:
> 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 [email protected], 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.
