Electric Hookah Concept (just A Concept)

[sburke15]

This is just a concept, if you have come here expecting a full blown working electric coal, I am sorry to dissapoint but please read on as you may have something useful to contribute.

I was gonna post in the previous topic but that one had wandered so far off topic and I figured this would be a nice way for a clean start.

Well the design I thought up incorporates an electric heating element (i.e. Nichrome wire) and a heat resistant housing. The housing holds the heating element slightly off of the shisha with two electrodes, or leads that go from the element to outside of the housing. The housing is conical shaped with a short cylindriclal section topped with a valve. This valve is key to change the amount of heat that the bowl is subjected to not only "idling" but also when the smoker draws in. This design i feel is much "simpler" and more effecient then other designs requiring air flow sensitive valves, and heat valves and multiple elements switching on and off, etc.

The design I have come up with allows the user to vary the amount of heat kept in the housing by opening or closing the valve. Becuase heat rises this will lower the temperature of the bowl allowing a stack effect to occure. This means that the heat rising up the "flue" (cylindrical piece) will cause air to be drawn in around the base of the bowl where the heating element sits on it, becuase its not perfectly sealed on there but mearly placed, The design may actually require a ring of small holes around the base to help this affect and possibly a longer "flue". When the smoker draws in the hot air is sucked into the bowl heating the shisha (like an excited coal) before it can rise.

The valve adjustment here is absolutley essential, becuase if the valve open too much and the bowl will not heat up and the user will not be able to draw enough heat in. If the valve is closed too much then the hookah will over heat when not being smoked. I think with simple valve on top, and a heating element that can be varied slightly (not the large variation needed as discussed before).

Well if you made it through my rambling congratulations but a picture is worth a thousand words so here it is. Please feel free to critisize, comment, whatever, I would like to keep this "electronic" hookah idea going.

[NIGHTS OF BAGHDAD]

nice illustration..when i look at the pic it reminds me of a heat lamp..

[indian_villager]

So your theory revolves around a switch activated by slight vacuum pressure?

[sburke15]

The theory relies on a constriction on air flow (and rising heat), so that the heat can not escape as readily as an open design so when the smoker inhales some heat is lost through the holes but the majority is sucked through the bowl. On the top is a little valve,
While thinking i was interested in doing something that operated on a slight vacuum pressure like a foil diaphram, so when the heat rose it would lift it up, and when you inhaled it would vacuum itself to a high temperature seal but figured it could be easier, and i thought that would heat the bowl up too much and burn the shisha.

I was thinking the valve could be one exactly like one used on a propane furnace torch. (something i used to be interested in and have these images of chokes saved on my computer if you want more info go to http://ronreil.abana.org/design2.shtml#Additional but i'm uploading the images that pertain to this project)

[Cerritus]

If you're going to go to all the trouble of making a vacuum switch, why not go all out and make it a bimetallic strip? Then you have a circuit breaker at a certain high temp, but never let the bowl cool. This way you always have perfect smoke ready.

If you just have a vacuum switch your coal is only on while you're pulling, so it'll take a lot of pulling to heat your bowl up to smoke. If you walk away for a few minutes you're left with a cold bowl. I guess it would be more safe, but with a bimetallic switch in the right place your smoke is always ready and you literally can't burn a bowl.

[sburke15]

The idea does not involve a vacuum switch.

That idea relies on the fact that heat rises, and thats about it. The valve on top just restricts this flow to allow the heat to rise and escape, but retain enough to keep the bowl warm. When the smoker inhales they draw the warm air in the cone and air through the valve across the heating element and heat the bowl more like oxygen to a coal.

[Punx Clever]

The idea does not involve a vacuum switch.

That idea relies on the fact that heat rises, and thats about it. The valve on top just restricts this flow to allow the heat to rise and escape, but retain enough to keep the bowl warm. When the smoker inhales they draw the warm air in the cone and air through the valve across the heating element and heat the bowl more like oxygen to a coal.

Well, I've been thinking of something like this myself... but revolves around electronic control and sensing of the draw. I was reluctant to discuss it in great detail because I was gonna build one and possibly patent it but... meh.

Anyways, my idea revolves around the idea that a coal puts out a certain amount of heat while it is just sitting there... call it the "idle" state. As soon as you draw on the hookah, more air flows past the coal, producing more heat. Call it the "active state".

The trick to making an electric system seems to me to be emulating the idle and active states of the coals. Other than that, there is no difference (from a thermo standpoint) of electric heating (Nichrome wire) and chemical combustion (coals). Question is, how to go about controlling the the electrics to "know" when you are pulling.

You already hit on the idea of air-flow sensing devices and whatnot, but those are relatively expensive and definitely very finicky. Option two is allowing the user a manual means of controlling the voltage to your heating element, such as a button or knob (rheostat), but that means that everyone who uses the device must be proficient with the operation of the device to produce even a decent smoke.

So, we want the device to be able to control itself while being relatively simple and needing little user input. I say little input because we all know that one heat setting (number/size of coals) doesn't cover all the brands of shisha (or even flavors for that matter).

Adjusting the heat is easy, provide 2 rheostats that control the idle and active voltages independently. Would require trial and error, but the settings would be very consistent from session to session, just like coals. Remember, you don't need special stacks to operate coals (unless you count a windcover, but it's primary purpose is to shield your coals from wind).

Now, the kicker, and what I think would make such a design patentable: the control system. What does EVERY hookah do when you draw on it? Vibrate from the air-bubbles in the base. Vibration is ridiculously easy to pick up, and a black and white change from idle to active. Much simpler than measuring airflow, a helluva lot cheaper, and more elegant (in my humble opinion).

To pick up the vibrations, one could build a base that the hookah sits on that consists of a plate and some piezo-electric crystals underneath. The vibration compresses/expands the crystals as the hookah bubbles, causing the crystals to produce a very small, but measurable, voltage. Use an op-amp to amplify the signal from the crystals and activate a relay. The relay would need to be a double-pole single throw type (solid state or otherwise, doesn't matter, but solid state is MUCH smaller and more reliable). On the NC (normally closed) circuit is the idle voltage. On the NO (normally open) circuit is the active voltage. You draw, the relay trips, the heating element heats up (pretty damn rapidly if you use very small gauge wire) and, BAM, your heating element acts like a real coal.

Overall design would require one cable to run power to the base (presumably from the wall, not to sure on the power density of batteries for this application, would have to measure how much heat (energy) is released from coals over a session and decide), and one cable from the base to the bowl. The heating element could be something put on top of the bowl to act just like coals, or it could be a bowl with the heating element built in. I'd think the bowl-element would work better by providing a more even heat distribution to all parts of the shisha, but whatev.

There you go. Electric hookah that *should* work great. Lots of measurement and trial-and-error needed to figure out how much nichrome to use and what voltages... but certainly doable for anyone with access to the proper tools.

[Venger]

the Chinese already invented one.gonna see if i can get one soon.heard they are a little light on the smoke but monster flavor.check youtube reviews

[agstevens]

Here it is http://www.hnrydk.com/sdp/129091/4/pl-1002...ct_Catalog.html

I found it while browsing another forum. Kinda dumb though, it says minimum order 1008 pieces lol

[dagman]

here is a butane coal alternative.
http://www.sheecool.com/products_desc.php?id=81

[agstevens]

[quote name='dagman' date='24 December 2009 - 05:33 PM' timestamp='1261694023' post='441564']
here is a butane coal alternative.
[url="http://www.sheecool.com/products_desc.php?id=81"]http://www.sheecool...._desc.php?id=81[/url]
[/quote]


very interesting. Has anyone here actually tried this. If so is it too hot for the shisha?

[blagage]

[quote name='agstevens' date='29 December 2009 - 10:48 AM' timestamp='1262101681' post='442256']
[quote name='dagman' date='24 December 2009 - 05:33 PM' timestamp='1261694023' post='441564']
here is a butane coal alternative.
[url="http://www.sheecool.com/products_desc.php?id=81"]http://www.sheecool...._desc.php?id=81[/url]
[/quote]


very interesting. Has anyone here actually tried this. If so is it too hot for the shisha?
[/quote]

I dont really know what to think about this sheecool burner. someone with extra money to blow should get this and review it.

who knows, maybe this is the next big thing in hookah.

[Matto]

I've been thinking about an electric hookah heating element since the first time I smoked... I've had a lot of the same thoughts as you guys had and am very happy that I'm not the only one considering this!! I think that the ideas Punx has come up with are a very viable solution and would love to know how it turns out if he builds one. I wish I had more electrical knowledge so that I could attempt to build one myself. I suppose I'll just have to wait for one of you to build it! Please keep us up to date on this idea, especially when you start to build a prototype. I would be more than happy to toss my thoughts into the mix!

[b1acktigress]

they are already invented and in use i believe.
But i like your idea, its much more aesthetically pleasing. Do you think there would be any way to modify it? The chinese version is big black and bulky.