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Re: Mineral Oil Source - drying wet oil

Hi Jim,all

>Original Poster: Jim Lux <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov>
>
>For more excitement, you could also dry the oil by using metallic
>sodium. It will react with the water forming Hydrogen and Sodium
>hydroxide. Enjoy.....
>
>Tesla List wrote ( a very boring technique...)
>>
>> Original Poster: "Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov>
>>
>> Temperatures that high would degrade the oil. I'd use a temperature
more
>> like 100C and pull a vacuum on it to dry it.  Or, and this is
probably
>> easier, get some silica gel or other dessicant and mix it in with the
oil.
>> Then strain/filter the silica gel out. Either way, it is going to
take more
>> than a few minutes to remove the few ppm of water.


Of course I know you didnīt mean this last idea all too seriously, but
just in case anyone DOES try it:

The oil will collect water again over time (from the atmosphere), unless
you seal your cap absolutely air tight (meaning a big BOOM if it fails
internally).

1.) Any residual NaOH in the oil will corrode your Al foil.
2.) Al+NaOH will form (to some extent) H.
3.) H+O+corona = BOOM.

Now on the serious side. I had designed my PE cap (before I went
MMC). My main pointers on casing construction were:

1.) Fill all caps to the brim with oil (and I mean FULL).
2.) All caps vent into a HDPE bottle filled 1/3 with oil.
2a.) The cap vent lines inside the HDPE bottle go below the oil level.
3.) The HDPE bottle is vented to the atmosphere. This vent
3a.) has a wire mesh "ball" to prevent oil from leaving the bottle
       (in case of burps or in the form of vapor).
3b.) Above the wire wool is a dual packet of silica gel. This prevents
       moisture from entering the system and contaminating the oil.
4.) A plug for the vent. This prevents the silica gel from collecting
     water while the cap is not in usage. This cap is MUST be
     removed before a run!!!

This setup was designed to:
a.) Prevent air from entering the caps.
b.) To allow the oil to expand and contract during a run
      w/o sucking in air or water (vapor).
c.) The silica gel keeps water out of the xformer oil.

Silica gel is reusable if you heat the packets to 120-130°C for
about 30 min-1hr to drive off the moisture. Of course you will
need a second set to cover the expansion bottle while you
are heating the first packet.

Coiler greets from germany,
Reinhard