In the wake of Saturday’s cold fusion conference in Viareggio, Italy, Roy Virgilio has released more details on the Piantelli group’s research on the Italian renewable energy forum EnergeticAmbiente. Virgilio is an administrator on the forum with the username eroyka. Akira Shirakawa has provided an English translation on the Vortex mailing list here and here. To summarize:
- Experiments are being performed in a lab near Siena, Italy.
- Older units worked continuously for months and produced 2× to 4× energy gain, but the actual energy balance was higher, as the cells reached self-sustaining mode.
- Several unnamed third parties have confirmed that the older units worked in self-sustaining mode for long periods of time.
- Several of these older units were recently reactivated. After some maintenance they turned on easily and produced 2× to 3× energy gain, but they haven’t yet been pushed to high excess energy levels.
- New units with new fuel should be completed in about two months, and are expected to produce 200× energy gain.
- The new units will be tested gradually in several steps of increasing power, beginning from a few hundred watts up to high levels of power on the order of kilowatts.
- The scale-up will take as long as is necessary. Smaller devices will be ready for sale first.
- No catalyst is necessary. The trick is in the preparation of the nickel.
- Piantelli has a theory that doesn’t require exotic reactions, but can be explained using known physics and mathematics. A semi-complete theory has been provided to the University of Siena and will be published shortly. The complete theory will probably be disclosed after the first commercial units have been sold.
- No Italian public institutions are involved in the current research, but a US government agency that has had the opportunity to review the research will probably validate and certify the reactor, as well as contribute to its development.
- Piantelli’s group is also in talks with several large industrial corporations to develop generators operating at certain power levels.
- The research is protected by three pending patents, the latest of which was filed last week.
- Piantelli’s group will create a supporters’ trust. In two to four months the public will be able to buy shares in the trust to support the research, to prevent the technology from suddenly disappearing, and to share in any future revenues. Piantelli’s group doesn’t need money: the aim is protect the technology by putting it under the control of a multitude of stakeholders and enthusiasts, but there is no guarantee the shares will make a profit. [Emphasis added. —Ivy Matt]
Thanks, Akira!
The three patents mentioned above probably do not include Piantelli’s 1995 patent application. The Piantelli group filed an Italian patent application, “Method for Producing Energy and Apparatus Therefor”, on November 24, 2008, which was published on May 25, 2010. More recently, on April 26, 2011 they filed an Italian patent application, “Method and Apparatus for Generating Energy through Nuclear Reactions of Hydrogen Adsorbed by Orbital Capture to a Metal Crystalline Nanostructure”, which is due to be published on October 27, 2012. And then last week they filed a third patent application, the title of which is not yet known, and which should be published in January of 2013.
It looks like 2011 will be the year cold fusion attempts to make it on the commercial stage, and with at least two competitors. Piantelli’s group appears to be starting off at a disadvantage to Rossi and Defkalion, as Defkalion claims to have already achieved a 6× to 30× energy gain. (See Section 3: “Product Status” in the white paper.) However, Piantelli professes to have a comprehensive theory of the hydrogen-nickel reaction, which may speed up his group’s research. Cold fusion is not exactly suffering from a lack of explanatory hypotheses, but if Piantelli’s hypothesis fits well with the available evidence and, more importantly, if it makes predictions that can be tested experimentally, it will be worthy of the notice even of detractors of cold fusion research.
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Viareggio Cold Fusion conference: science, politics, and an Italian competitor — Ivy Matt July 23, 2011
Looking at the website of http://www.starscientific.com.au it is fairly apparent that there is another competitor who is offering an even more complete Fusion solution using muon catalysed fusion.
Using the proven science of muon catalysed fusion, Star Scientific appear to have created a pion factory (pions decay into muons) and claim to be able to generate an unlimited quantity of pions/muons, enabling an ongoing, and totally controllable fusion reaction.
As to efficiency of the reaction, the following is a quote from their website
“How has Star Scientific addressed the issue of energy input vs output in creating fusion energy?
Energy input versus output is an issue with plasma fusion, not muon catalysed fusion. Plasma fusion consumes 18 times more energy than it produces. The Star Scientific system requires very little energy to run, which means 99% of the energy liberated by the fusion reaction is available for use.”
Andrew Horvath, the CEO of the company says in his blog “Fusion is the future. Not only because it will save our planet and solve the energy crisis once and for all, but because fusion energy will change our lives in ways we can barely imagine – from electricity to transport, technology to medicine.
Fusion offers us a glimpse of a brave new world. To get there we need to think big – and we need to do it now.”
http://www.andrewhorvath.com.au/
2011 does indeed look like the year that Fusion Energy is going to become a practical reality.
http://www.youtube.com/user/starscientific#p/u/3/G7RqT9i5f4c
Interesting! I hadn’t realized people were still looking at turning muon-catalyzed fusion into a viable energy source. It’s nice to see people attacking the fusion problem from all angles.
I’d be interested to know in some more detail how far along Star Scientific is in developing a demonstration reactor that shows a net energy gain. The input power is practically nothing, so that shouldn’t be hard to do, right?
Also, I think there are a couple issues Star Scientific should address more plainly in their FAQ: neutron activation of the containment vessel and tritium production. Does the tritium all get converted to helium, or does some tritium residue remain in the vessel?
On the upside, looking at the videos it looks like this could be a good source of helium-3, which could be useful in other fusion reactions.
They have been answering questions on their blog, and seem to welcome questions of a technical nature. Why don’t you ask them? You can send a message on their youtube video site http://www.youtube.com/user/starscientific#p/u/3/G7RqT9i5f4c or email the chairman from his blog on andrew@andrewhorvath.com.au
http://www.andrewhorvath.com.au/
I look forward to seeing their answers to your questions.
So do I.
Have you got any, as of August 2011?
The Piantelli work, as with Rossi, may prove NOT to be nuclear.
See E-Cat + at http://www.aesopinstitute.org for a technical explanation.
As with Rossi, if it is not nuclear, the built in delay which could takes years for approval by the NRC is eliminated.
This is amazing news — again from Italy.
Let the cold fusion begin!
Lasciate che la fusione fredda abbia inizio!
Great update..! thanks
At last incompetent science, administraters and (nothing beyond known science)peer review journals are being side-stepped and left in their own crazy little world of denial and stagnation.
The only two areas of science moving are drugs and quantum computers one for insane profits, the other after being ridiculed for years by the same scientific “experts”, because instant classical code breaking is certain.
The sooner all science becomes open, like Rossi then real progress can start to be made in all areas, instead of every closed-mind shouting it cannot be done, lets talk about the Carnot Cycle where I feel safe.
Even on this site georgehants is ranting, raving and rambling. Go look for UFOs landing in crop circles, aliens eating fried placebos made by A.Rossi on his cold fusion BBQ
I don’t know about fried placebos, but I’ve heard they’re quite fond of liver and onions.
Ooooh, low blow, but very valid based on my personal, visual observation of the people involved.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I do have a fondness for liver and onions myself, as a craving that strikes about a couple of times a year.
I’m not sure what you mean. It was not my intention to strike a low blow, but I’m afraid I couldn’t resist making the obvious (to me, anyway) X-Files reference:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0751208/quotes?qt=qt0402269
Ah, sorry, Canadian reference to the “older” gentlemen who seem to have so much time on their hands at the end of their scientific careers and populate these “new and wonderful” technology boards/live demonstrations/etc…, the joke being that older people mostly order liver and onions when they go dining out…
I stopped watching the X-files when they left Vancouver, the small pleasure (?) of spotting local places was gone as well so…
Mr. memoryman is now going to explain to everybody how well main-line science has acted over Cold Fusion.
If he does not justify in detail his attack, then one would think he is a very shallow commenter.
No sense of humor, George?
I observe that after >55 years of research, there is no product for sale; that is no proof either way whether it’s possible/feasible. My impression is that governments spend too much on huge projects (such as space) but I am not qualified to judge the merit of fission/fusion research project and I am certainly not willing to take that up as a cause.
BTW George, independent of the merit of your causes, your approach to them is ineffective. But this forum is inappropriate for this conversation.
Lets remember these are unsubstantiated claims all riding on the back of Rossi’s public demonstrations which were not even indisputable. So lets not get too excited. A little excitement is ok though.
Are you saying Cold Fusion is unsubstantiated, Rossi is irrelevant, Cold Fusion is fact as are UFO’s THE PLACEBO EFFECT etc. etc.
Closed-minded science researches nothing outside known science, it fought Quantum Computers tooth and nail until Mathematicians proved they where feasible.
hey guyz! i must have to let roy ( a friend of mine here in italy and we have ussually conctats ) to see this article… then i would ask him to leave some commentz here — see good guyz!
Prayer and Physics are two very separate and distinct applications of Human insights and disciplines.
In the issue of the LENR or Cold Fusion promise for a sustainable safe power source for a energy dependent world; perhaps a spiritual catalyst would be of significant importence in moving foreward at Godspeed.
Jon Dee