Commentary – Page 7 – COLD FUSION NOW!

October 9, 2011April 23, 2012

Steam Punk

Our greatest blessings come by way of madness, indeed of a madness that is heaven-sent.
–‘Socrates’ on the Oracle of Delphi in Phaedo

A test of the first commercial cold fusion technology held on October 6 at the University of Bologna, Italy continues to draw debate on just how much excess heat was generated.

Excess heat is the condition of more heat energy created than equivalent energy put in a device and is the sought-after effect in cold fusion research for its potential to generate ultra-clean power to replace dirty fossil and dangerous radioactive fuels.

Energy Catalyzer 1 Megawatt — E-Cats link together to scale up for a 1 MW unit. Photo: Daniele Passerini

Andrea A. Rossi‘s Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat as it is called, is essentially a hot-water boiler expected to be marketed as a thermal energy device. A small version of the reactor, which can be scaled to various levels, was the object of the test last Thursday that brought scientists from around the world to observe and measure its properties.

Preliminary data revealed that excess heat was produced; though just how much will remain unknown until reports from the various scientists in attendance are released.

An early tweet from Robert Zreick and subsequent report by NYTeknik science journalist Mats Lewan showed a lower limit of excess heat between 2-3 kilowatts. This value is a lower limit as a small amount of hot water and steam were removed from the system without measurement. Had that heated mass of water and steam been measured and the energy added to the system, the total excess heat measured would be higher.

In this particular demonstration, a heat exchanger cooled and condensed the steam emitted from the E-Cat transferring the heat to a secondary flow of water. The change in temperature of that secondary flow of water gives one measure of the energy provided by the E-Cat.

This video posted by ecatdotcom channel has an overview of the test.

Using the data provided by Mats Lewan, this graph generated by Eric Hustedt (see below; my addition includes the arrows and text.) Both the input energy curve and the output energy curves are plotted together. Input power is in the form of electrical power and used to start the reaction between the fuel of hydrogen and its nickel powder environment. Output power was measured by the difference in temperatures of the water in a secondary loop of heated water.

At first, it appears the input power is turned on and off a few times. The output power drops during this initial (loading?) period, then begins to rise rapidly, settling on a bumpy plateau. After about four hours, around mark 15:37, the output power appears to increase rapidly again, rising almost vertically to over 6 kilowatts. The input power is then turned off to zero.

October 6 E-Cat Data Graph — E-Cat input and output power October 6, 2011. Graph: Eric Hustedt

After the input power is turned off, notice the output power eventually reaches a maximum of 8 kilowatts. After a short decline, there are two more instances of increased output power, with a final decline after which the demonstration is ended.

The total area underneath the power output curve appears greater than the total area underneath the input power curve. Therefore, we conclude that excess heat was generated. However, the up-and-down nature of the power generated may show possible instability. Until reports from scientists who attended the demonstration are released, these musings are merely speculations.

One of the best features of cold fusion research is that there are many such systems that generate excess heat, not just nickel and hydrogen.

Excess heat graph for Pd-D system from JET Energy

Here you can see a graph of excess heat production from a palladium-deuterium system from Dr. Mitchel Swartz‘ Jet Energy, Inc. lab using his Phusor.

Notice the blue line of the output power is above the red graph of the input power. The difference in height of the two curves represents the excess heat energy generated; the Phusor cell is producing more energy than it is consuming.

The LENR-CANR Library contains thousands of papers from scientists worldwide investigating the properties of multiple types of similar energy-producing systems. Editor Jed Rothwell has a graph from Dr. Michael McKubre‘s lab at SRI International on the homepage.

For this palladium-deuterium system, a steady increase in measured current (in red) is compared with no increase in electrical current using a hydrogen and palladium system (in blue) control cell.

Both Dr. Swartz and Dr. McKubre are just two cold fusion researchers who have repeatedly witnessed the creation of large amounts of energy in small, tabletop ‘cells’ that use a fuel of hydrogen and/or its isotopes, and various transition metals as host to the reaction. There are many other labs, and many other scientists on the verge of unlocking the power of these systems. The enigmatic theory behind the effect may elude researchers, but the results are empirical and undeniable despite mainstream science’s refusal to acknowledge this field.

Mr. Rossi is the first to bring this science into the realm of a usable technology. Yet, even among the cold fusion community, ostracized as it is from conventional scientific circles, Mr. Rossi is an outsider, criticized for lacking discipline and method. Tensions are elevated as the emotional investment over two decades, with a corresponding lack of financial support, has reached the limit of tolerability, and the need for this technology is so great.

27 kilowatt E-Cat module. Photo: video frame by Mats Lewan

You don’t like those ideas? I got others.
–Marshall McLuhan

The fact is there is no map outlining the process of rolling out a revolutionary breakthrough technology. The personal computer was dispersed into the population under the noses of Mainframe, Inc. by two young guys with their parents in the next room. The New Fire is emerging from a just-as-unconventional lone inventor who plays jazz drums and knows a good samba when he hears it.

Early-steam-engine-scan — Early steam engine diagram scanned from single sheet bought for $1.

Yes, this engineer of The New Fire demonstrates the energy of humanity’s future using a carburetor-sized heat exchanger, bathroom scales, and duc tape. A perfect scientific method performed on ideal spheres has encountered the spontaneity of jazz drums and electric tweets in a science fiction environment of artificial intelligence so pervasive it goes unnoticed. Science is being done in a world-wide lab where all times are happening at once.

Marrying high and low technologies from various ages has a name – Steampunk. The Steampunk artist rides the collision of centuries and translates that reality into objects that fuse hand-made efforts with factory-made design and modern electronics.

Steampunk Computer Photo: Steampunkworkshop.com

As our world is increasingly medievalized with parochial legislation and stiffened standards attempting to prop-up a declining civilization, Steampunk retrieves the early industrial efforts before fossil fuels, painting the Josephson junctions and digital chips with a veneer of human scale.

Steam Punk Andrea Rossi has brought world attention to a new energy technology that is in its first stages of actuality and which draws on the simple elements of hydrogen from water and a metal powder that combine to create a powerful energy that defies conventional theories of “modern” physics promising clean, abundant energy for the whole world.

Whether the device demonstrated on October 6 generated power of X kilowatts or Y kilowatts pales to the fact that we have a new energy technology – confirmed by science – that needs support for development, and promptly.

It is our best chance for a technological future on Earth.

Cold Fusion Now!

Related Links

What is Steampunk? http://www.steampunk.com/what-is-steampunk/

New test of the E-cat enhances proof of heat by Mats Lewan from NYTeknik

E-Cat October 6 Test: Questions on the Day After by Raymond Zreik from Focus.it

22 Passi d’amore e dintorni Daniele Passerini from http://22passi.blogspot.com/

Leonardo Corporation homepage

Jet Energy, Inc homepage

LENR-CANR Library homepage

September 18, 2011November 16, 2013

Protected: World Wide Lab

September 16, 2011

Cold Fusion Now Weekly Wrap + Updates

This week brought more action on the E-Cat front with promising news, and views, of a new test performed and insight into the one megawatt plant.

Our friends at Pure Energy Systems have a new write up published today which includes some posts by Andrea speaking about household units, finances, and future tests, one very important one in Uppsala . Check out their post here – “The Ultimate N-H Cold Fusion E-Cat Test”

“THE BELIEVERS” update:

Here’s an update from 137 Films on their upcoming documentary on Cold Fusion, called “The Believers”:

Update: 9/13/11

The Believers: Finishing Act III. Cut to-date sent to POV for consideration for their upcoming 2012 season. Assembling film festival calendar. Partial screening at Northwestern University’s School of Engineering September 27.

Translation: They’re sending the as of edited version to the popular PBS based documentary series “POV” for a hopeful inclusion, which would be a huge deal for getting it seen thoughout the TV landscape. Though I’m guessing they are still leaving an editing gap open in Act III, for say, some end of October results. If anyone attends Northwestern and can go to the September 27th screening, let us know how it goes and what the discussion is like afterwards.

Finally, back to the E-Cat and the mystery partnership; while everyone has been talking the nostalgic giant NASA, have they been forgetting the current giant ruling the digital environment? Here’s a bit about why Google could be the real partner – “Cheers and See You At Google Next Month”

Giuliano Bettini on the E-Cat facebook page adds to the above,

I add that the test early September with that customer, which has been much talk in here and said that they had done in the U.S. at NASA, were actually carried out in Bologna. Add that, from what I’ve been told, the test was successful: the American customer is satisfied and does not doubt that the E. Cat represents a new source of energy and not a scam, and I repeat is NOT a customer bamboozled in any way.
Mats Lewan has achieved its video after the test with the American customer had already been concluded (again positively)

All for now, stay well and add any updates/insights in the comments.

September 9, 2011

Cold Fusion Now Weekly Wrap

A brief weekly wrap of events and commentary. Feel free to add other news of the week in the comment section.

First, the whole NASA – ROSSI connection. This has been whirled about all week and links can be found in a prior post, here. Bottom line is it’s unconfirmed as of now.

And speaking of prior posts, a reminder that some excellent transcriptions were made on the blog this week by Ruby, definitely worth checking out if you haven’t yet. The first transcription is from a James Martinez interview with David J. Nagel, and the second is a very informative transcription from another James Martinez interview, this time with David French who discusses the whole patent process and relates it to Cold Fusion. Definitely worth listening to (follow the links on the posts for the audio) or reading the transcriptions.

Finally, some more Rossi news; bits and pieces culled together from his brief responses on his blog. Some interesting nuggets of info from his responses this week are the following:

Potential big news could be coming out in the next few days or early next week.
Small E-CAT units for personal use are now entering into the picture more so than before, according to Rossi and what he’s learned through tests etc.
Confirmation for the testing of the 1 MW plant has been set for the last week of October.
Select visitations to the plant will be set up in November.

http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/?p=510

As is likely, more drama will build in the next few weeks awaiting the late October test date into the November aftermath where the results get dissected and viewing is scheduled.

August 3, 2011April 29, 2012

Are you a Believer?

The following guest posting has been written by a retired intellectual property attorney with 35 years of experience: David J. French LLB, BEng, PEng.

It has been over 22 years since professors Fleischmann and Pons of the University of Utah announced they had discovered a new effect: the anomalous production of heat, obtained by driving deuterium, the heavy form of hydrogen that makes up part of “heavy water”, into the metal palladium in an electrolytic cell. They speculated that this novel generation of heat arose from a nuclear phenomenon which the press labeled as “cold fusion” but this postulated mechanism was rapidly discredited and ridiculed after their March, 1989 announcement. Cold Fusion is now the subject of a documentary film “The Believers,” currently under construction by the Chicago production house 137 Films. Believers are those who feel that this promising discovery should not have been neglected.

Criticism came principally from physicists familiar with the fusion process. Fusion was recognized as a process occurring in the high temperatures of the center of the sun. Fusion, as they knew it, always produced highly penetrating gamma rays. None of these signatures of classical fusion emanated from the demonstration electrolytic cell. Furthermore, the procedures for replicating the Fleischmann and Pons effect were uncertain and difficult to achieve. Many other laboratories trying to duplicate the results were unsuccessful. This unfortunate technical glitch, combined with the criticism from physicists who “knew” that fusion could not occur at ordinary temperatures, led many to condemn this concept to the dustbin of bad science. This criticism led to a 22 year “Ice Age” respecting initiatives to explore the phenomenon they had identified.

Believers in this field are, however, those who feel that there is really something here worth exploring. They believe in the fabulous consequences for mankind if this process were to prove real. One commentator has said that the optimum scenario would be as meaningful for mankind as the original discovery of fire.

Since 1990, researchers from around the world have consistently reported the detection of unexplained amounts of excess energy. The focus is on “excess” energy because it seems that some energy is needed to turn-on a mysterious process that puts-out even more energy than is being injected initially. This is akin to striking a match in order to light a fire.

In a colloquium held over the weekend of June 11-12, 2011 on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the sponsor, Dr. Mitchell Swartz assembled some 40 individuals for a review of recent developments in the field. Interesting additional consequences were identified, including the presence of new elements in the “ash” of the reaction. Experiments starting with palladium or pure nickel have been found to contain traces of copper, silver, zinc and iron after they have been allowed to run for some time. This is akin to the alchemist’s dream of converting lead into gold. How such a result could be occurring may be a valuable clue to the source of the reaction.

Once the mechanism producing the additional heat is finally identified, the next step will be to apply this phenomenon to the service of mankind. On January 14, 2011, Italian scientists Sergio Focardi and Andrea Rossi demonstrated the production of up to 10 kilowatts of steam by exposing nickel powder to pressurized hydrogen on a table top, initiating heat by providing an electric current. The amount of energy said to be produced would be enough to boil simultaneously several kettles of water on the kitchen stove indefinitely, or as long as the reaction continued.

The reported successes of Focardi and Rossi have aroused Believers around the world. This may be the first commercial application of the renamed phenomena of: the Low Energy Nuclear Reaction – LENR. Rossi is reported to have obtained a contract to install multiple numbers of his individual reactors in 2011-12 at a location in Greece to provide a megawatt of steam heat. This would be enough energy to heat 50 typical Canadian homes during the coldest winter months.

If Fleischmann and Pons had merely announced their identification of a process for generating excess heat, without intruding into the world of physicists who know better when it comes to matters relating to fusion, they might be basking in world renown today. Vast government and commercial resources might have been invested over the past 20 years to get to the root of this incredible discovery. Successes such as those of Andrea Rossi might already have been achieved 5, 8 or even 10 years ago and the coming dilemma presented to mankind by the arrival of Peak Oil could already have been addressed in the form of a wonderful new energy source that produces no radioactivity and consumes only such readily available substances as nickel and hydrogen.

But investments on the required scale have not taken place. Researchers laboring in their very modest facilities have done so at minimal cost and investment, often their own. The shadow of doubt and accusations of unreputable behavior heaped on the original Cold Fusion premise by critics, have taken their toll.

Potential benefits suggested by this not yet fully understood new phenomenon are so great that significant investments should be made, despite the fact that the prospects for producing real and tangible industrial benefits may be considered by many observers to be modest.

For Believers there is no doubt: there is really something here worth exploring. They look forward to the day when this new technology will revolutionize life for human beings on the planet Earth.

David French is the principal and CEO of Second Counsel Services, which provides guidance for companies that wish to improve their management of Intellectual Property. For more information visit www.SecondCounsel.com.

Supporting Links:

The Believers from 137 Films

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2011 Cold Fusion/Lattice-Assisted Nuclear Reactions Colloquium Review by Jet Energy Inc.

Jet Energy Inc. Home

Cold Fusion Times MIT 2011 Cold Fusion/Lattice-Assisted Nuclear Reactions Colloquium organizer Mitchell Swartz’ Home

Defkalion Green Technologies, licensing the first commercial applications of Energy Catalyzer technology Home.

David French of Second Counsel Home

July 30, 2011April 24, 2012

Cold fusion, confusion and the mad left.

Ian McGilchrist explains in his book The Master and his Emissary that brain studies have shown that the Left brain is responsible for creating models of reality. This is a vital task that the Emissary has to undertake for the Master, the Right Hemisphere.

It seems odd to talk of my Left Hemisphere as “it” when it is more accurate to say “my other half.”

It is a feature of the Left hemisphere that it cannot differentiate between it’s re-presentation and reality. If cornered it will confabulate rather than say “I don’t know.”
Three other things need to be considered when discussing the Left’s function.

It is malfunctioning. Tony Wright argues the case cogently in his book Left in the Dark
It thinks that it is charge, and
It is typing this message that you are reading with your Left now.

Wow.

So when people are confronted with cold fusion their Left takes over and it prefers its model to reality. If the facts are laid out before them the Left will begin to confabulate wildly.

I hope that this has given you some insight into what is going on.
Insight is a Right brain attribute.

It is for this reason that religious teachers advocate a stilling of the constant chatter of the Left to allow space for voiceless insight. Einstein said that an Idea had to be “beautiful” and then he left the maths to his undergraduates. That is the nature of the workings of Right.

These days one can take a short cut and shut the Left up with powerful directed magnetic fields. The result of this measure is to unleash your suppressed genius.

New Scientist article:

“Some participants received a stimulating current over the right hemisphere of the brain and inhibitory current over the left, while others experienced the opposite pattern or a sham treatment.”

Please consider counterbalancing the Left with a bit of here-and-now Gestalt.

I am afraid that we are all in this together, so I urge you to have compassion with those who do not have this insight, and are tyrannized by their Left.