World recognition for local inventor

Never let it be said that hard work and persistence goes unrewarded. Robert Vancina is the latest example having won a prestigious Energy Globe Award in recognition of developing a high efficiency clean energy source – a hydrogen-oxygen plasma electrolysis (HOPE) cell.

Robert’s work has come a long way since establishing of a bench-top HOPE cell prototype in his garage.  After being presented with the Energy Globe Award in April this year, Robert appeared with his HOPE cell on the ABC television programme, “The New Inventors” on 6 May 2009. Since then, he has established a website (www.hopecell.com) and set up a company Hope Cell Technologies Pty Ltd to commercialise his invnetion. He recently completed the first of four rounds in a pre-IPO capital raising programme.

According to Energy Globe, the awards “recognise projects from all over the world that conserve our resources such as energy and water or that utilize renewable or emission-free forms of energy”. Many of the projects submitted from 111 countries are funded by governments or aid organisations to make energy available for basic human needs in undeveloped regions of the world.  A smaller number of projects compete for recognition of technical advances. It is testament to Robert’s success that his self-funded project for a cleaner source of energy prevailed over other government and university-funded energy technology projects.  But the success is not surprising because you get the impression from talking to Robert that he has poured himself into this project for considerably longer than just the last few years.  He is quietly pleased with winning as he knows the importance of the Energy Globe Awards.

While the Energy Globe Awards may not be immediately familiar, their importance is underlined by the high profile group of attendees attracted each year.  This year they included Environment Ministers and policy advisors of European Union countries, the European Union Counsel President and the Climate Advisor to US President Barrack Obama. The then Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, attended in past years and gave strong support.

The project for which Robert received the award involves producing hydrogen and oxygen gas by plasma electrolysis of water in a confined cellleading Robert to coin the name HOPE cell technology.  His company also goes by the same name.  The HOPE cell technology involves breaking hydrogen bonds in water molecules to release hydrogen and oxygen gas.  The hydrogen and oxygen gas is collected and combusted to provide a source of clean energy because the main by-product is water. 

The electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen and oxygen gas is not new, but the method adopted by Robert provides significant advantages because the energy output compared to energy input is highly efficient.  In some cases, Robert has found energy output to be three times greater than the energy input and these results have been observed in independent tests.  Robert has achieved this success through stabilising the relatively fickle plasma in a cell by using an arrangement of permanent magnets.  Plasma stability is key to the process and is the subject of an International patent application published as WO2008/141369. 

Robert anticipates overwhelming expansion of the company and this is not surprising given the vast range of applications to which the technology is suited.  The major advantage of the technology, apart from high efficiency and clean energy, is that the cell is scaleable.  This means that the technology can be scaled-up to supply energy to local communities or can be scaled-down to install in domestic cars as a source of fuel.

Griffith Hack assists Robert in protecting intellectual property associated with the HOPE cell technology andappreciates the opportunity to be involved with Robert and his technology. Griffith Hack would like to congratulate Robert Vancina for winning a National Energy Globe Award.

For further information, please contact:
Hope Cell Technologies Pty Ltd at:
info@hopecell.com
or
Nick Hunter at:
nick.hunter@griffithhack.com.au

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