26 uploads later, an open-beaker, plasma-initiated, electrolytic cell has evolved into the Confined Plasma Water (CPW)-type Inertial Fusion Reacteur that “solves the problems of the Z-machine” and “can produce a sustainable fusion”.

Working for 14 years in the pharmaceutical industry allowed him “to gain experience in a variety of fields, electronics, chemistry, microbiology, manufacturing process, ISO, production in explosive environments, etcetera.”

“Quite by chance”, he says, “during my thesis in Computer Science in 2008, I realized many autonomous robots polymorphic multiprocessor machines had one common deficiency: lack of battery life. So I looked for a way to feed my models by an energy other than the batteries.”

“I am interested in the lost discoveries of modern science, and at the time, I conducted many experiments on the work of Nikola Tesla, including the transmission of electrical energy without wires, and particularly on electrical plasmas.”

I stumbled across a publication Transmutation of metal at low energy by a confined plasma in water by D.Cirillo, A.Dattilo, and V.Iorio. It was a revelation.

Transmutation of metal at low energy by a confined plasma in water by Domenico Cirillo and Vincenzo Iorio.

“After a careful reading, I decided to realize the experience described in Tadahiko Mizuno Anomalous Energy Generation falling on conventional electrolysis.”

Charles François now utilizes a high-voltage electrode immersed in a water-solution to initiate excess heat and transmutation products, according to his video release. Watch LENR-CPW Three Years of Research in 8 Minutes for an overview of the various types of reactors.

In section 6.25 of The Science of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction, Edmund Storms describes Electrolysis Under Plasma Conditions as “When voltage in excess of about 100 V is applied to an electrolytic cell, a plasma forms. This creates a high-energy environment, broad spectrum light emission, destruction of the cathode, chemical changes in the electrolyte, and heating of the solution. Occasionally, extra energy and transmutation products are observed.”

This cell-type has been reproduced in multiple labs around the world and at least as early as 1993 by T. Matsumoto. Two of these early experiments are described in papers linked here:

Cold fusion experiments by using electrical discharge in water by T. Matsumoto (on page 10-1 of the EPRI Proceedings part b)
Confirmation of heat generation and anomalous element caused by plasma electrolysis in the liquid by Tadahiko Mizuno, Tadayoshi Ohmori, Kazuhisa Azumi, Tadashi Akimoto, and Akito Takahashi.

A few of the specifics about his new proto-type steam generator were released by Charles Francois on 12/12/12 in REACTEUR INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY TYPE CPW [.pdf], though most of the data gathered here is garnered from the video annotations.

A solid nickel metal cathode 4 grams or less, in a light-water solution with an input of 200 Wh will purportedly generate 2.5 kWh “conventional electrical resistance”, which FuturProbable calls “consumption divided by 10”.

Asked what he uses for an anode, he said “… different materials, Copper, Silver, Gold, Tungsten, Stainless Steel, Iron, Nickel, Aluminium, depending on the intended use.”

“For example, a boiler for the production of steam heat, the production of high-temperature steam for steam turbine power generation, or the nucleosynthesis and applications of a type Z Machine – for each of these applications, a particular type of electrode is best.”

François says the generator is under complete control and the power-adjustable unit can be turned off and on at will.

Steam production from the compact design begins in less than 5-minutes yielding “a thermal efficiency of 98%”.

The proto-type steam boiler can operate at plasma temperatures between 500 – 3500 degrees Kelvin on average, and 5000 – 6000 degrees K at maximum power.

Watching his videos on the FuturProbable channel, you can see color and intensity changes of the emitted light, despite some of the video being filtered and treated with special effects.

He explains in the video Electric Sun Technology C.P.W. that “variation in voltage = variation in mass = variation in color”.

Electrolytic cells are more difficult to quantitatively analyze than other types of LENR cells, like gas-loaded. The complexity of reactions between chemical and nuclear must all be factored into the excess heat measurements, and the computations are long.

Storms wrote in 2007 The Science of …, “Study of this method has been difficult because conditions are very chaotic and the local temperature is very high. Voltage and current spikes occur, making applied power measurement difficult. Decomposition of the electrolyte makes a chemical balance hard to achieve. More attention needs to be applied to improving the design of the apparatus so that the many corrections presently required need not be made.

But Storms adds, “Of the various methods, this is the most spectacular and the one for which the highest power production has been reported.”

Excess heat by electrolysis under plasma conditions can be so great, calculations of chemical energy are moot.

In the video Explosion in a Plasma Reactor, FuturProbable notes the paper by Tadahiko Mizuno and Yu Toriyabe Anomalous energy generation during conventional electrolysis where they describe a plasma cell generating 800x energy out in an explosive burst.

A similar instance occurred with François’ CPW generator.

After operating “normally” with a stable plasma at 230 Watts power input, a warning for sudden temperature change occurs, and at 2480 degrees Kelvin, a sudden, sputtering burst vaporizes the “arm” of the electrode, and the cell goes dead.

Cirillo and Iorio describe a model for the formation of plasma in their paper Transmutation of metal at low energy by a confined plasma in water.

Applying it to their cell, they observe positively-charged potassium ions from the potassium-carbonate K₂CO₃ electrolyte solution appear to “condense around the cathode, without depositing on it, thereby generating a screen with a positive potential that holds itself a few nm from the electrode.”

Increasing the voltage causes hydrogen ions to block the cathode (they are so small, they pass right through the potassium-screen) which increases the resistance of the electrode.

“Once the region near the cathode acquires a sufficiently high resistance, the voltage drop between the potassium-ion shield and the cathode can cause a plasma to form, thereby forming a gaseous dielectric”, write Cirillo and Iorio.

Charles François believes that a “stable plasma in the electrolyte” is capable of catalyzing electron capture by protons, and the subsequent neutrons then initiate reactions that cause the transmutation, the source of the heat.

Self-described as “fully-independent, financially and intellectually,” Francois exemplifies the citizen scientist, capable and curious. After 24 years of incubation “underground”, the explosion of interest and wider-geography of experimentation, of young and old working together, independently, simultaneously, facilitated by the digital environment, is bringing new vigor to the field. While Youtube videos won’t generate clean, dense energy, or replace a concerted federal effort to understand and develop this energy lifeboat, they do inspire others to try and reproduce the results, and answer the dogged questions that have prevented this science from becoming a usable technology.

“We are currently in a phase of compiling our recorded data,” says FuturProbable. “2012 was a year full of lessons.”

As he prepares to move into a new lab space in the summer of 2013, “New experiments are emerging”.

“We plan to use the process to improve Celani gas recycling fusion. We would also like to explore new avenue of research including thermo-acoustic application integrated into our new reactor CPW.”

“This has profoundly changed my worldview and our “knowledge”, and more particularly, on what we understand. My work on wireless power transmission had prepared my mind for this phenomenal encounter with cold fusion, because I am still convinced that we live in a world electrical.”

There is no stopping the FuturProbable.

Published on November 11, 2012 at FuturProbable LENR-CPW Letter for Cold Fusion reads:

Cold Fusion is not a dream but a reality.

We must stop showing beautiful laboratories unable to make a concrete demonstration, always conducting research that shows little results, and has led the public to believe the negative myth of Cold Fusion. We should not be content to remain in the shadow of giants missing out on this great discovery of 1989, and who live in fear of the independent laboratory, and lack the motivation, or worse lack the skills, to confirm our calculations and measurements.

I welcome the masterly demonstration of Mr. Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi, and for the development of this extraordinary device E-CAT, I support their fantastic discovery and hope that they bring it to fruition soon.

Cold Fusion is. We must now end this pointless debate. Scientific timidity has always been throughout history, and when great minds come to show us the extent of our ignorance, we must learn to question and learn. That which can not be explained today, will shake tomorrow.

Published on Nov 11, 2012, in Français:
La Fusion Froide n’est pas un rêve, mais une réalité.
Il faut arrêter de montrer de beaux laboratoires incapable de réaliser une démonstration concrète , toujours dans l’exercice de la recherche qui n’aboutit pas ou si peu , cela est négatif et fait croire à l’opinion publique que la Fusion Froide est une vue de l’esprit . Il ne faut pas se contenter de rester dans l’ombre des géants disparus qui sont à l’origine de cette grande découverte en 1989 et vivre dans la crainte du laboratoire indépendant qui par manque de motivation ou pire manque de compétences ne puisse confirmer nos calculs et mesures.
Je me félicite de la magistrale démonstration de Mr Rossi et Focardi pour la mise au point de cet appareil extraordinaire E-CAT, je soutiens leur fantastique découverte et l’espoir qu’ils apportent.
La fusion froide c’est maintenant il faut en finir avec ce débat stérile. Le monde scientifique manque d’audace il en a toujours été ainsi, tout au long de l’histoire. Et quand de grands esprits viennent nous montrer l’étendue de notre ignorance il faut savoir se remettre en question et apprendre. Ce qui ne s’explique pas aujourd’hui le serra demain.

Charles François can be contacted through his website here.