USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Wayne E Glad

Carol A Becker

Brandon J Wiedemeier

Robert K Fogg, Jr

An apparatus and method generate oxygen gas from sodium percarbonate and water including seawater. The apparatus includes a chamber, a valve system, and an output port. The valve system controls combining a quantity of the sodium percarbonate, a quantity of the water, a quantity of potassium iodide, and optionally a quantity of sodium sulfate decahydrate. A chemical reaction between the sodium percarbonate and the water in the chamber generates oxygen gas, which is output at an output port from the chamber. The potassium iodide is a catalyst for the chemical reaction and optionally the sodium sulfate decahydrate is a temperature moderator for the chemical reaction. A ratio between the water and the sodium percarbonate is in a range of 2.5 to 8 by weight. A ratio of the potassium iodide per liter of the water yields a molarity in a range of 0.25 to 1.25.

Apparatus and method for generating oxygen from sodium percarbonate and water, including seawater

An underwater hydrogen generator can include a watertight reaction housing enclosing a metering chamber. The metering chamber can have an upper portion that terminates at a piston opening, and a lower portion that merges into a funnel, which can further terminate at a metering opening. The metering chamber can be filled with an acid accelerator, and the watertight reaction void can be partially filled with NaBHin solution. The generator can further include a seawater float valve that can be in fluid communication between the external environment, the metering chamber and the void defined by the reaction housing. The float valve, metering chamber and reaction housing can cooperate to generate hydrogen when said generator is submerged, by allowing seawater to contact both the acid accelerator and the NaBH. The size of the metering opening can determine the rate at which acid accelerator is added to the NaBHsolution.

Metered acid acceleration of hydrogen generation using seawater as a reactant

An apparatus and method provide a solute-solvent solution that allows the solute to become photo-protonated by the solvent on absorption of ultraviolet light. The solute is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octamethylanthracene (OMA). The solvent is 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP). The protonated form of the solute absorbs visible light to change the coloration of the solution from a substantially clear state to a colored state.

Long-lived photo-protonated carbocation for photochromic, photoconductive liquids

An apparatus is provided for identifying an unknown liquid by determining the speed of sound in the liquid. A pulse generator provides an excitation pulse to a first acoustic transducer which transmits an acoustic pulse in the liquid. The acoustic pulse is received by a second acoustic transducer at a distance from the first transducer measured by a displacement transducer. A gated clock is enabled by the excitation pulse and disabled when the acoustic pulse received by the second acoustic transducer reaches a predetermined threshold. The clock measures the time it takes the acoustic pulse to travel the distance between transducers. The temperature of the liquid is determined by indirect means and is provided as an input to a digital computer which computes the speed of the acoustic pulse by dividing the distance between the transducers, provided by the displacement transducer, by the elapsed time measured by the clock. The computer compares the speed of the unknown liquid with the sound speeds of known liquids at the temperature of the unknown liquid. A display coupled to the computer presents the identities of any of the known liquids having the sound speeds within a predetermined interval about the calculated sound speed.

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Del Mar, CA, United States of America

Wayne E Glad