Month: June 2011

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Interviews with Rossi and Xanthoulis


Defkalion Green TechnologiesNearly a week after Defkalion Green Technologies S.A. held its press conference in Palaio Faliro, there appears to be no mention of the event in the mainstream media, perhaps the nearest thing being mentions of Andrea Rossi and the E-Cat in the comments to a CNET article on high-energy plasma fusion at MIT. Even DGT itself, which promised a video of the event with English subtitles on Monday or Tuesday of this week, has failed to deliver so far. The company has, however, recently released some information regarding press conference attendance on its website.

Meanwhile, Phizero, the producer of “Low Energy Nuclear Revolution”, has released a new video containing footage of interviews with Andrea Rossi and DGT board member Alexandros Xanthoulis, conducted after the press conference:

Two short interviews recorded after Defkalion’s press conference. from Giacomo Guidi on Vimeo.

The first interview, with Andrea Rossi, is very brief, and mostly concerns his research contract with the University of Bologna. According to Rossi the research will be conducted over two years, with the first results expected in one year. The study will consist of research and development to improve the E-Cat technology, and will involve running the reactor for 24 hours a day over a period of six months. Afterwards a metallurgical analysis will be conducted to examine the transmutation of the metals in the device.

The interview with Alexandros Xanthoulis revealed some new information. Among the highlights:

  • DGT is in discussions [with Ampenergo?] to sell their products in the USA.
  • DGT’s investors are a group of friends of the Greek diaspora who attended the same university in Canada.
  • The 5 to 30 kW modules are all the same size, the only difference being the pressure, so they will cost the same.
  • The 1 MW reactor is now being tested, and DGT is working on producing a 3 MW reactor.
  • DGT is only producing the units, not distributing or marketing them.
  • It will take five years of production for DGT to meet the demand of the orders they’ve received so far.
  • Every six months the units will be serviced by technicians employed by the distributors, but trained by Defkalion.
  • The reactors have twelve levels of security; nevertheless, somebody will break the security sooner or later. Defkalion is depending primarily on legal protections and the low cost of the units to discourage competitors from producing Hyperion knock-offs.

Thanks to Phizero for the video!

Related posts:

Early news from Greece — Ivy Matt June 22, 2011

The Defkalion website is live — Ivy Matt June 23, 2011

Low Energy Nuclear Revolution — Ivy Matt June 23, 2011

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“Eppur s’accende…”: Professors Levi and Ferrari on Italian radio

Città del Capo Radio Metropolitana, a Bolognese radio station, recently interviewed Professors Giuseppe Levi and Loris Ferrari of the University of Bologna on their research contract with Andrea Rossi.  A summary of the interview is here.

The contract is for €500,000 plus value-added tax, and Rossi will be providing the equipment necessary to run the experiments. The study will last for at least a year, and it will take at least another six months for the results to be published, so the earliest we can expect to see the final results of the study is the end of 2012. However, the University of Bologna group may release some preliminary results as early as December, 2011.

The scope of the study will be to measure the energy efficiency and any emissions of radiation from the device Rossi provides. Some aspects of the research may be subject to trade secret protections.

Professor Ferrari acknowledged the need for repeatable results to demonstrate that the energy catalyzer does, in fact, work. He also acknowledged that the internal mechanisms by which the energy catalyzer is able to produce energy are unknown and says this will be “one of the key aspects to be investigated”. Professor Levi, for his part, is already certain of the device’s repeatability:

“Every time I was witness to a start-up of e-cat that produced energy. I’ve seen it many times now: It seems to repeat itself with great regularity, but I want to be prudent …” –Giuseppe Levi

New research is always welcome, especially if it leads to a workable (and testable) hypothesis on the functioning of the Energy Catalyzer. The University of Bologna research is unlikely to do much to sway the online debates on the E-Cat, however, as even the preliminary results are not expected until after Andrea Rossi’s October surprise.

(The summary of the radio interview in the link above is an English machine translation of the original story in Italian, which can be found here. Any corrections or clarifications by speakers of Italian are welcome.)

Related posts:

Query interviews Giuseppe Levi by Ivy Matt June 23, 2011

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Krivit’s second report: Rossi evades scientific debate

For those who were wondering whether New Energy Times editor Steven Krivit was willing to burn his bridges with Andrea Rossi, the answer is an apparent “yes”. Krivit’s first report provoked a heated response from Rossi, who accused him of industrial espionage on behalf of an Italian competitor. Krivit’s second report, recently released, will likely do nothing to assuage Rossi’s feelings.

Krivit’s overall judgment on the E-Cat is that there could be “something real” about it, but that the “claimed quantities of excess heat have been exaggerated, possibly by as much as two orders of magnitude.” Krivit does not explain this claim in detail in this particular report, however, deferring such technical details until a later report, but he does summarize his technical concerns with the testing of Rossi’s device:

  1. Analytical error: possible mathematical error based on the assumptions of the energy capacity of the steam.
  2. Procedural error: possible use of an incorrect measurement instrument.
  3. Analytical error: possible failure to correctly interpret a signal from the experiment that is clearly visible using only the naked eye that was apparent during the experiments.

Instead, Krivit’s second report is mostly devoted to pointing out Rossi’s lack of scientific qualifications and what Krivit regards as his misuse of those who have such qualifications to bolster his own credibility, while at the same time attempting to evade the scientific debate that naturally arises as a result of his claims. In particular, Krivit is frustrated by the unwillingness or inability of the scientists closest to Rossi to provide specific details on the results obtained from the E-Cat tests.

Rossi, on the other hand, keeps himself busy responding to questions on his website, the Journal of Nuclear Physics, but either avoids or gives evasive answers to questions about results or experimental design, often simply promising that he will have a 1 MW reactor available in October, and telling the questioners they will just have to wait till then. That is his privilege as a businessman and a private citizen, but Krivit expects more from the scientists whose expertise he has sought, and who lend him their support.

If Rossi thought Krivit was working on behalf of an “Italian competitor” before, he will certainly find confirmation for that suspicion in this report. First, Krivit notes the similarity between Rossi’s device and that developed by Francesco Piantelli (a colleague of Rossi’s partner Sergio Focardi) in the ’90s. (The primary differences are that the E-Cat allegedly uses a catalyst of some sort, known only to  Rossi, and that it uses nickel in nanopowder form. Piantelli used nickel rods in most of his experiments, although he did mention the possibility of using “metallic powder” in his 1995 patent application.) Second, Krivit reports on the work of three researchers in Naples who have shown him an experiment—and scientific-data he regards as promising. Whether these researchers have any connection to Piantelli—or, indeed, to cold fusion research—is unknown, but Krivit promises to report on their findings after he is finished with his reports on the E-Cat.

Related posts:

Mr. Rossi talks E-Cat by Ruby Carat June 21, 2011

Mr. Rossi calculates the E-Cat’s energy by Ivy Matt June 24, 2011

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Mr. Rossi calculates the E-Cat’s energy

Steven Krivit, editor of the New Energy Times, has another video out from his visit to Bologna. In this video Andrea Rossi calculates the energy produced by the E-Cat used in his demonstration to Mr. Krivit.

To summarize the video, Mr. Rossi calculates that the total energy produced in the E-Cat is 4906.1 watt hours per hour. The total energy consumed is 770 watt hours per hour. Thus, according to Mr. Rossi’s calculations the E-Cat used in his demonstration achieved an energy output/input ratio of approximately 6.37. In hot fusion terms the E-Cat (the one used in this particular demonstration, at least) appears to have achieved Q =  6.37.

To put this claim in perspective, the Joint European Torus (JET) magnetic confinement fusion experiment achieved Q = 0.67 in 1997, which still remains the world record for fusion power in the high-energy plasma fusion realm. Right now the focus of hot fusion research is on achieving Q = 1, with somewhat less attention being given to the practical concerns of converting useful amounts of fusion energy into electrical power. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s  National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser fusion experiment is currently expected to achieve Q = 1 next year. The only other hot fusion experiment for which such a claim is made is dark horse Lawrenceville Plasma Physics‘ Focus Fusion-1 (FF-1), which is hoped to achieve Q = 1 in a similar time frame. What is widely regarded as the safest bet for fusion power, ITER, isn’t expected to achieve Q = 1 until at least 2026, assuming the current schedule holds.

By contrast, cold fusion researchers have been claiming an energy output/input ratio of greater than 1 for years now, though not to the extent that Mr. Rossi has. Rumors are that Francesco Piantelli, a former colleague of Mr. Rossi’s partner Sergio Focardi, will be announcing a similar claim soon, but for now it looks like Mr. Rossi is in the lead. The next hurdles: the University of Bologna’s tests on the E-Cat and the Greek authorities’ tests on Defkalion Green Technologies’ Hyperion products. If Mr. Rossi’s device makes it through these tests successfully it appears the way will be open for the final test: customer opinion.

Related links

Mr. Rossi talks E-Cat. — Ruby Carat June 21, 2011

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Defkalion internal tests


Defkalion Green TechnologiesA day after the press conference held by Defkalion Green Technologies S.A. there is still apparently no mention of it in the English-speaking mainstream media, the most prominent news outlet reporting on the event being Next Big Future.

Meanwhile, a company representative using the moniker Defkalion GT has begun answering questions on the company’s forum. In response to a question by forum member barbierir about Defkalion’s internal E-Cat tests, Defkalion GT answered that the company has conducted a large number of in-house tests on the E-Cat prototype over several months.

In addition, Greek authorities will be testing DGT’s Hyperion products for performance, stability, functionality, and safety during the first 10 days of July. The results of those tests will be released after the authorities certify the products. The results of any other third-party tests on the Hyperion products before the October launch will be announced by DGT and published on their website.

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