Tube-free pneumatic rubber actuator

Electrical-direct-driven new pneumatic actuator, working with no compressor and valves. Based on the principle of electrolysis, the electrical charge directly controls the generating amounts of gas.
K. Suzumori, A. Wada, and S. Wakimoto, “New mobile pressure control system for pneumatic actuators, using reversible chemical reactions of water,” Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. A 201, pp. 148-153, 2013.
Our lab's URL is here (Japanese).
www-robot.mes.t...

[@darkeyedgirl005]

Could actuators be used to take hydrogen and oxygen gas out of salt water and reconstitute it into fresh water in another actuator? I've been looking at different ways to make salt water into fresh water (reverse osmosis, steam distillation, even wondering about centripetally forcing non-saline water through a membrane) but your actuators seem like a phenomenal way to overcome my biggest issue-wasted energy in conversion via motion. Let me know if this is feasible, since I love fresh water and drought areas near the ocean would definitely benefit from such a breakthrough. Have a wonderful day, and thank you for the milestone in actuator development. :)

[@artuortiz]

+Winters Flames I think that if you use this mechanism with salt water, you dont get HO, you get Chloride gas... so it would not serve your purpose. :(

[@darkeyedgirl005]

ah...thank you. I never thought about it like that. Still, chloride gas from salt water might have its uses as well, if the rest of the water is unaltered. I'm not sure how it works, actually, like the mechanisms involved for this actuator to separate the water as it does. Electrolysis, yes, but why that is not possible for regular salt water I don't know.
Could a part of the actuator only pull chlorine, while the rest pulls hydrogen and oxygen? keeping the chlorine section separate would allow it to do what I think, right? Or does it not actually separate the gases in this way?
Thank you.

[@GadgetsCrafts]

the electrolysis of salt water was in fact used to produce bleach (Sodium hypochlorite), it is called "chloralkali process" and happens as follow:
- As the electricity passes through and between the electrodes, the water splits into hydrogen and chlorine gas, which collect as very tiny bubbles around the electrode tips.
- Hydrogen collects around the cathode and chlorine gas collects around the anode.
- Oxygen is not given off in this experiment. The oxygen is in hydroxyl ions that stay in the solution
- The oxygen in the hydroxyl ions stay in the solution and react with the sodium atom to form sodium hydroxyde NaOH
- sodium hydroxide and chlorine gas, are then mixed to form sodium hypochlorite (bleach)
Sources:
-aquarius.nasa.gov/pdfs/electrolysis.pdf
-Paul May. "Bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite)". University of Bristol. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
i hope that helps you understand the process better

[@darkeyedgirl005]

Thank you, it does help me understand the process better.
I guess that reverse osmosis is still the cleanest way to convert salt water into drinkable water. All of the other ways I have seen would fill the salt water with chemicals that could not be returned to the ocean. It is my hope that we could, one day, set large tankers near the artic and Antarctic circles to collect sunlight and dump the salinated water back into the ocean, thereby rejuvenating the oceanic 'circulatory' system. Adding chemicals into the water is, understandably, not an option there. Having a way to separate the hydrogen and oxygen directly from the water, in small amounts, would allow the water left over to be brinier than when it started but still viable for the ocean to use. I guess, until then, I'll have to work on a system of reverse osmosis that uses less energy and is low maintenance.
Since this will not work on salt water, are there any forms of 'dirty' water that this can possibly clean? Polluted, tainted, bacterial water full of parasites...there are many places where this might be of benefit with a few solar panels. Could THIS be a viable option to cleaning water worldwide?

[@GadgetsCrafts]

+Winters Flames i guess that the best way to clean dirty water is to use the bacteria and parasite you talked about, microorganisms have a big bio deversity and have metabolisms of all kinds, and even if they dont , they can fastly adabt and create more reactions, they are used now to clean sewer waters and produce non polluent water, i love biotech , i studied it and i will always be facinated with microorganisms, they are geniouses. cheers