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Chattanooga: Two Bright School students earn national recognition with alternative energy plan

By: Clint Cooper
(Contact)

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Kitty McMillan

“Don’t try this at home,” Christian Devlin told his fellow fifth-grade Bright School students, “but that’s exactly what we did.”

He and fellow student Drew Shikoh recently earned an honorable mention in the National ExploraVision Contest, sponsored by Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association, with an entry that suggested superior engine performance by using Brown’s gas as an alternative to gasoline.

ExploraVision, according to its Web site, encourages K-12 students to explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science.

“Drew and Christian have always been very imaginative students,” said Kitty McMillan, the students’ science teacher. “They have always pushed a little harder, dug a little deeper.”

Indeed, the Bright School students went beyond what was needed for the contest and tested their theory by putting together a kit and installing it in an old van.

The kit uses electricity from the car’s battery to separate water into its two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule. When the separation takes place, the gas HHO, also known as Brown’s gas or hydroxy, is produced and burned on demand — and in conjunction with gasoline — by the vehicle’s engine.

What the boys found proved their theory.

Gas mileage on the GMC Vandura 2500 increased by 19.5 percent, and the vehicle went from failing the state emissions test to passing it.

O.J. Morgan, headmaster of Bright School, said the project showed the two boys already are looking for real-time solutions.

“They’re thinking about solving problems,” he said. “It’s something they’re bringing to our attention. It’s a part of their world.”

Mrs. McMillan, who agreed to sponsor the students after they had learned about the properties of water and had an understanding of compounds from her class, said they only worked on the project outside of class.

“I said I would sponsor them,” she said, “but then I never heard from them again. They worked a lot of late nights. It shows they can do as much as you give them and even more.”

Christian and Drew said they put together the kit, which was purchased online from Canada for less than $100, and completed all the necessary paperwork.

They had help — allowed by contest rules — to install it in the van from Christian’s dad, Dr. Tom Devlin, and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga graduate student Abe Mishler.

The most difficult part of the project, according to Drew, was putting it in the car.

The main components to be installed underneath the hood were a hydrogen generator, water trap and tube to connect them to the carburetor. Inside the car, an on-off switch for the generator and an amp meter were added.

When tested, the conversion process functioned immediately, the students said.

“I wasn’t surprised, but I was satisfied,” Drew said. “I was relieved it worked.”

To complete the process, the van was professionally painted a bright green to match Bright School’s color. On the side, it received lettering proclaiming it “The Green Machine.” On the hood, the words “I Burn Water” were affixed.

On the spare tire cover mounted on the rear of the van, Christian and Drew painted a sphere of the world with the words “Save the Earth — U Can Help.”

Dr. Devlin said the boys entered the contest “for the fun of it and to learn science,” but they got even more.

In addition, he said, they learned about the politics of global warming, the physics needed for the oxygen-hydrogen process to work and the economics which are forcing the need for alternative fuels.

“It underscores all that,” Dr. Devlin said.

What’s left in order for the process to catch on, the boys said, is for it to become better known.

“Most people don’t know about it,” Drew said. “If it was (widely) available to put it in, it would help the environment. If just a few people in a city, or even a neighborhood, tried it, it would help.”

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