Andrea Rossi, the inventor and energy behind the E-Cat was interviewed by Gary Hendershot and Sterling Allan for the Smart Scarecrow Show last Saturday the 14th of January 2012. The headline remark was Mr. Rossi has sent prototypes to the Underwriters Laboratories (UL). As best can be determined, that remark is in the past tense.
The customary view is the UL accepts products destined for sale in the final form, which is a fact. However, the UL also offers governmental units assistance in establishing reasoned law, regulation and rules. For manufacturers the UL also extends more than just final product tests, they work with manufacturers at the design stage to assure that a final product will in fact achieve an UL label. It's a highly likely prospect that the design stage is where the UL and Mr. Rossi have started the process. A quick review of the UL policy suggests that the E-Cat is substantially interesting enough to begin the UL Process and that Low Energy Nuclear Reactions are a new field.
For the cheering section, The UL will have to have a working unit running to establish their parameters on the terms set by the UL. At some point, if an application for certification is made, the certainty the E-Cat will offer an alternative power source is essentially - a sure thing.
The UL involvement follows news that National Instruments (NI) is working with Mr. Rossi in designing new control systems for the one-megawatt and home size 10 kilowatt (kw) E-Cat. In the conversation Mr. Rossi offered that now great progress is being made and on his blog he's indicated that they have been able to achieve stable steam production of 400ºC. This will be important later for the efficient production of electricity.
The NI participation offers a technically proficient and sophisticated set of tools, expertise and products that will improve the E-Cat and impact favourably on its price. There are other hints in the conversation that suggest the operation of an E-Cat is going to be "Plug and Play", so much so that a home unit is going to come very soon.
First, the E-Cat is being designed to self-sustain itself after the first initial warm-up. For an hour the E-Cat is thought to need about 2.8 kw, or about the power of 28 100 watt bulbs. From initiation of self-power, the only requirement is going to be electricity for the electronics and control system. The home E-Cat will produce only heat for now.
It's going to be very cheap heat. Mr. Rossi is suggesting he can sell the E-Cat for $400 to $500 using the best engineering possible of the production line, automation of all aspects of the factory, and the use of robotics. The goal is to make this technology so affordable that everyone will be able to purchase a system.
The next revelation is E-Cat units would be capable of being re-fuelled by individuals, not by technicians - somewhat like changing the ink in a pen. After using a cartridge for 180 service days (counted up as the system is actively in use), the system will indicate it needs to be replaced. An old cartridge would then be sent to Mr. Rossi's Leonardo Corporation to be recycled as much of the remaining nickel could be salvaged, and it would only need to be re-processed. Previous information has made clear that opening a cartridge is not a good idea as nickel while safe in sizes like coins isn't when nickel is reduced to the particle size within a cartridge.
To begin with cartridges are expected to cost somewhat more than $10 and over time come down to the $10 regular recycled cost. If a home were to need one unit for both water and space heating at $500 upfront and lasting 5 years and $13 each six months the monthly cost would be $8.34 and $2.17 or $10.51.
The next revelation is the hydrogen needed to feed the reaction is going be sourced from within the reactor. The home E-Cat may utilize a material inside of the reactor core, which can release and absorb hydrogen. While the production of hydrogen isn't made clear, the reactor may be producing it as well as using it, or some means of scavenging is being used. However it's being done, very little in involved. A new core will be loaded with about 10 grams and only picograms are needed for driving the reaction.
The enticing clue for the disbelieving set is the proprietary radio frequency generator that has emissions to interact with the reactions inside of the core. Along with the catalysts this is information that will stay secret as long as possible. What did slip is Mr. Rossi compared the use of the radio frequencies to martial arts. Rossi explained that the radio frequency generator allows the forces that would normally prevent the fusion process from taking place (Coulomb forces) to work for you, and not against you. Rossi offers that the full theory of how the system works will be revealed, as he put it, "soon."
By all means have a look at the full video of the interview. Its does run over 1:50, but for those with cause to be interested, this is a very good use of a couple of hours. There is also a transcript available too.
The Rossi interview follows a video from NASA that discusses the importance of proceeding with LENR research. The over reaction by some of those reporting on the video release is making more of a note than the original news. Or simply put, jumping to the conclusion the NASA video somehow supports the Rossi E-Cat is just false. The gentleman at NASA, Dr. Joseph Zawodny does not mention Rossi name, just that the preponderance of research has become many reasons to get to work.
The NASA video does point out one important thing. While the first to market will be forever a leader, the technology is just now taking off and where it will lead in the decades to come is today anybody's guess.
By. Brian Westenhaus
Brian is the editor of the popular energy technology site New Energy and Fuel. The site’s mission is to inform, stimulate, amuse and abuse the… More
Comments
"Over 2 decades with over 100 experiments worldwide indicate LENR is real, much greater than chemical..." --Dennis M. Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
Second, energy from LENR will be much less than any other source:
"Energy density many orders of magnitude over chemical." Michael A. Nelson, NASA
"Total replacement of fossil fuels for everything but synthetic organic chemistry." --Dr. Joseph M. Zawodny, NASA
Finally, the market has not taken into consideration this new energy source emerging (probably because it seems too good to be true), so when Rossi's factory starts pouring out those LENR generators like sausages, predicably fossil fuel futures will drop immediately, dramatically affecting the value of fossil fuel assets.
Is there an idle mode where the unit runs at say 10% capacity and consume only 10% hydrogen and cartridge capacity indefinitely, without requiring re-initiation and offering fast ramp-up to 100% capacity?
-dk
It's sad that people take this e-cat seriously with Rossi's criminal background and his bizarre "demonstrations".
- Adam
Why not copper.?
Copper has 7 times the heat transfer rate than steel.
With more efficient heat transfer there is less chance of a meltdown of the powdered nickel'
Use copper from the dismantled Grid.
It's Thomas Kuhn all over again. The old scientists have to die before something new is tried, since they run the departments, administer the grants, and decide who gets a career or not. Apparently enough old scientists have died so people are no looking at this seriously instead of just pooh-poohing without investigation.
A theoretical physicist I used to correspond with confirmed this. He left academia because he said it was very political. The science was good, but the people who administered the money for the science were often old hacks who held back research without a fair and impartial investigation. Going on their emotions instead of being analytical.
NASA is nothing to sneeze at, and oil price review is pretty hardheaded - neither are new age fluffheads or conspiracists, that's for sure.
http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/media/CC/lenr/lenr.html
Then let the physicists who said it couldn't work scratch their heads over why it does work. If millions of these units are sold and they work fine, and science can't figure out why they work, who cares in the short term? It took almost 50 years for science to figure out about electrons and how they actually worked, although turbines, electricity over wires and light bulbs were working fine until then.
It is so easy, according to Rossi.
Yet he has failed to produce a simple convincing demonstration.
Just let the device run for a week. He has not done that. The longest he's done is 4 hours, and now he wants to jump to mass-production of millions of household appliances that sit in your basement for 20 years?
How about One Simple Demo first?
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. So far, there has been NO evidence.
The discussion about whether he should make 10.000 or 20.000 and whether they will cost $400 or $500 are strawman-arguments.
They are designed to lead everyone away from the elephant in the room:
This Free Energy device has not been demonstrated or verified.