Thisis a report from a news conference held to demonstrate a successful heat enginethat appears to work by using hydrogen, or more properly, an electron strippedhydrogen atom that finds its way into the crystalline matrix of the nickel to inducetransmutation of some sort.
As with all experiments on whatis called cold fusion, theory is a long way behind, but experimenters know thatit is necessary to pack as much in there as possible to obtain occasionalresults. The hope of course, is thattheory will catch up and we can improve efficiency.
Here though, experimentation hasgiven us a major leap in productivity. Sustaining an input of 400 watts per hour is producing an output of 15,000watts per hour.
This folks is a practical heatengine and it can be commercialized as such. They have also run a device for two years, likely while rounding upmajor support. Thus the prospect of aworking device in a few months must not be easily discounted.
I also have no doubt that theprocess will yield to analysis and simulation work once everyone piles on andgets to work. Expect massive increasesin efficiency rather quickly.
Curiously, when the cold fusionidea was first proposed, I conjectured that we were looking at unusual effectsbrought on by crystal structures and felt that we would have to wait for the computerpower. It really was the only optionthat provided the needed field strengths.
Another criticism has always beento ask for the gamma ray production, forgetting that if that could be detected,the production of related energy might have been seriously dangerous. Here we have useable output and barely noticeablegamma ray production. We are still along way from needing shielding.
Dumping the 15,000 watts into aheat engine will give us several thousand watts of usable power net of likelyconsumption. Not too bad for a firstsuccessful outcome.
JANUARY 15, 2011
Everyone is speaking italian but the instruments can be seen in thevideos. there are better answers from the online Q and A this morning.
Summary of some of Andrea Rossi's answers –
The commercialization timeframe is at most 1 year.
We have contracts in the USA and in Europe .
Mass productionshould escalate in 2-3 years.
I estimate that the cost of energy made with this system will be below 1cent/kWh, in case of electric power made by means of a Carnot cycle, and below1 cent/4,000 M J in case of thermal power production for heating purposes.
No radiation escapehas been detected, apart a slight deviation of gamma rays respect the groundvalues. [Separately they have stated they do not have a firm understanding ofthe processes but have some theories and are working to understand it]
Conservatively, I would say 0,01 g/kWh of Ni is the actual demand of Ni isnecessary, even if the mass that really reacts is in the order of picograms.
The ratio Output Energy/InputEnergy , conservatively, is always over 6 .
Dear Mr Daniel Zavela:
Yes, we can turn off the input current, but we prefer to maintain adrive and the reasons are very difficult to explain without violating myconfidentiality restraints.
The reaction becomes self sustaining.
Answer - the evidence of copper productionin past has been found using an atomic microscope inthe University of Bologna
2) Is there any evidence for isotopic anomalies?
Answer - in the past we found them by meansof the secondary ions massspectrometer of the University of Padua
3) How is the power switched on and off?
Answer - just [the same process] as [when]you turn on and off your television set
4) Is there evidence of consumption of a fuel
Answer - yes, by an analysis. To measure thedifference of mass you have to use the charge for months, because what youconsume in a day is in the order of picograms
How much Ni is in the cell?
Answer - In the cell there are severalmilligrams of Ni
How much total energy, heat and radiation, is produced per hour for a gram ofNi?
To make 10 kWh/h the consume of Ni and H isin the order of several picograms, but considering that not all the Ni in thereactor reacts, the actual consumption, to make 10 kWh/h is of about 0,1 g ofNi and 0,01 g of H
Are some other elements used to facilitate the reactions
Yes, other elements are used, upon which we have to maintain confidentialityuntil the patent pending becomes a patent
How small can a working cell be made — for instance, for home power unitsburied in the yard
The dimensions of a unit like the one youare thinking of, of course not considering the authorization issues, could beabout one cm 50 x 100 x 50 with the present technology.
Question from chrismb- I would still like to understand why you think Ni62could possibly have any exothermic reactions.
Collis Williams has attempted to reply, but it is naive to think that there canbe an exothermic reaction from a resultant 6.15MeV excited 63Cu, as its totalbinding energy is 8.7MeV higher than 62Ni. Where does the extra 2.6MeV comefrom? Surely you have to balance the total binding energy, as well as the totalmass, to analyse the energy flow?
The per-nucleon binding energy of 63Cu and 62Ni are around 8.7MeV. So it wouldbe thermodynamically unfavourable for an additional nucleon to be added to 62Niwith only 6.15MeV available from mass-energy alone.
This would have to be endothermic if you have only 6.15MeV, yet the totalbinding energy goes up by more than 8MeV.
I have given a more detailed account on;
http://www.talk-polywell.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=54883#54883 {whichalso covers each possible nuclear reaction(each of which cannot result in heat)}.
The question is; how can the 6.15MeV mass-energy increase of 62Ni+p->63Cuaccount for a total binding energy increase of 8.7MeV, and yet also beexothermic?
Dear Mr CHRIS:
I base my work on facts, than I work on theories.
The fact that we get 10 folds more energy at the output respect the inputimplies that something in contraddiction with what you are saying is going out.
As I said, we are working strongly upon the theoretical issues. I know that inthis field there are still contradictions with the rules as they are knowntoday.
Maybe you too can reflect on this and help us.
Question and answer condensed
What is the longest period of time that the apparatus was in operation? Answer- around 2 years.
On the Internet I found that you have been working on the device that wouldproduce MW of thermal energy. What is the progress with such a device? Answer -The device, made combining modules equal to the one tested yesterday, will bein operation in few months.
Did you find or are aware of any limitations of power density that could beachieved? Answer - 5 liters per kW, just for the thermal power.
In the demo there was a mention of the gamma radiation spike after the input powerwas switched off. How do you explain this? Answer - The gamma ray issue is avery interesting one. We have to work a lot to understand it. Sincerely, I havenot a clue, so far.
Here is an earlier Rossi-Focardi paper describing theirexperiments and what they believe is nickel being fused with hydrogen into acopper isotope
A process (international patent publication N. WO 2009/125444 A1) capableof producing large amounts of energy by a nuclear fusion process between nickeland hydrogen, occurring below 1000 K, is described.
JANUARY 13, 2011
Therewill be 10 kilowatt nickel hydrogen cold fusion demonstrations on January 14and 15th in Italy and peer reviewed papers
TheJournal Of Nuclear Physics (Peer Reviewed online journal) is announcing:
January 14th (Italian press conference) and then on the 15th on online pressconference Sergio Focardi and Andrea Rossi will make a press conference onlineabout the presentation of the 10 kilowatt module reactor: with 100 of suchmodules is made the 1 MW plant in construction.
January 14th (Italian press conference) and then on the 15th on online pressconference Sergio Focardi and Andrea Rossi will make a press conference onlineabout the presentation of the 10 kilowatt module reactor: with 100 of suchmodules is made the 1 MW plant in construction.
The press conference will start at 10 a.m. Italian Time.
UPDATE Translated transcript of live blogging reporter and a picture ofthe device from one month ago]
It is a public demonstration of a significant level of power. The Nissan Leafelectric car has an 80 kilowatt electric motor
A process (international patent publication N. WO 2009/125444 A1) capableof producing large amounts of energy bya nuclear fusion process between nickel and hydrogen, occurring below 1000 K,is described.
The Focardi-Rossi approach considers this shielding a basic requirementfor surpassing the Coulomb barrier between the hydrogen nuclei(protons) and the Nickel lattice nuclei, resulting into release of energy,which is a fact, through a series of exothermic nuclear processesleading to transmutations, decays, etc.
The reasoning presented in this note is based on elementary considerations of
· The hydrogen atom (Bohr) in its fundamental energy state
· The Heisenberg uncertainty principle
· The high speed of nuclear reactions (10ˆ-20 sec)
The hydrogen atom (Bohr) in its fundamental state, in the absence of energy perturbations,remains indefinitely in its stationary state shown below. This is due to thein-phase wave (de Broglie), which follows the “circular” path of its singleorbiting electron.The wave length and radius of the “circular” path are determined by thefundamental energy state of this atom.
When hydrogen atoms come in contact with the metal (Ni), they abandon theirstationary state as they deposit their electrons in the conductivity band ofthe metal, and due to their greatly reduced volume, compared to that of theiratom, the hydrogen nuclei (naked protons)readily diffuse into the defects of the nickel crystalline structure as well asin tetrahedral or octahedral void spaces of the crystal lattice.
It should be underlined that, in addition to the deposited hydrogen electrons,in the nickel massincluded are also electrons of the chemical potential of the metal. Jointlythese electrons constitute the conductivity electronic cloud, distributed inenergy bands (Fermi), and quasi free to move throughout the metallic mass.
it is conceivable that, for a very short time period (e.g. 10ˆ-18 sec), aseries of neutral mini atoms of hydrogen could be formed, in an unstable state,of various size and energy level, distributed within the Fermi band, which isenlarged due to the very short time (Heisenberg).
The neutral mini-atoms of high energy andvery short wave length – which is in phase with the “cyclic” orbit (de Broglie)– are statistically captured be the nickel nuclei of the crystal structure withthe speed of nuclear reactions (10ˆ-20 sec).
For these mini-atoms to fuse with the nickel nuclei, apart from their neutralcharacter for surpassing the Coulomb barrier, they must have dimensions smallerthan 10ˆ-14 m, where nuclear cohesion forces, of high intensity but very shortrange, are predominant. It is assumed that only a percentage of such atomssatisfy this condition (de Broglie).
The above considerations are based only on an intuitive approach and I trustthis phenomenon could be tackled in a systematic and integrated way through the“theory of time dependent perturbations” by employing the appropriateHamiltonian
The mechanism proposed by Focardi – Rossi, verified by mass spectroscopy data,which predicts transmutation of a nickel nucleus to an unstable copper nucleus(isotope), remains in principle valid. The difference is that inside theunstable copper nucleus, produced from the fusion of a hydrogen mini-atom witha nickel nucleus, is trapped the mini-atom electron (β-), which in my opinionundergoes in-situ annihilation, with the predicted (Focardi-Rossi) decay β+ ofthe new copper nucleus.
The β+ and β- annihilation (interaction of matter and anti-matter) would leadto the emission of a high energy photon, γ, (Einstein) from the nucleus of thenow stable copper isotope and a neutrin to conserve the lepton number. However,based on the principle of conservation of momentum, as a result of the backlashof this nucleus, the photon energy γ is divided into kinetic energy of thisnucleus of large mass (heat) and a photon of low frequency.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the system does not exhibit the Mössbauer*phenomenon for two reasons:
1. The copper nucleus is not part of the nickel crystal structure and behavesas an isolated atom in quasi gaseous state
2. Copper, as a chemical element, does not exhibit the Mössbauer phenomenon.
In conclusion, it should be underlined that the copper nucleus thermalperturbation, as a result of its mechanical backlash(heat), is transferred toits encompassing nickel lattice and propagated, by in phase phonons (G. Preparata),through the entire nano-crystal. This could explain why in cold fusion thereleased energy is mainly in the form of heat and the produced (low) γradiation can be easily shielded.
Further
The nuclear signatures that can be expected when contacting hydrogenwith nickel, were derived from thermal results recently obtained (Rossi energyamplifier), using the type of reaction paths proposed as the explanation of theenergy produced. The consequences of proton or neutron capture have beenstudied. It was shown that these consequences are not in line with theexperimental observations. A novel tentative explanation is thus described.Should this explanation be true, it is proposed to call pico-chemistry thenovel field thus opened.
Strong nuclear signatures are expected from the Rossi energy amplifierand it is hoped that this note can help evidence them.
It is of interest to note that in a mechanism is proposed, that stronglysuppresses the gamma emission during the run (it is the same mechanism thatcreates very low energy neutrons, subsequently captured by the nickel. Thisdoes not suppress the emission after shut-down, which should be observed,together with the transmutations described above.
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