We are progressing on many fronts.

• Julian gave notice that Community Interest Company status for Quantum Heat has now been confirmed by Companies house in the UK. This means we are now in the right legal structure to launch our Kickstarter. This is a not for profit entity, the directors can not receive a dividend and if there is a problem the assets are legally obligated to be donated to the international charity "Save the Children".
• Celani confirmed that he is finishing the wires 25/02/13 we need for the US and EU Dual V2 protocol experiments in the V1.3 cells.
• Mathieu was baking all the Mica 25/02/13 and was testing the Macor pressure cut end pieces for the V1.3 cells.
• Ryan is working on the steel cell and a new calorimeter - more on that soon.
• Recent donors can expect to start receiving their draw sequence numbers soon.

Nicolas has been assembling the components from Ryan and the engineers in switzerland for the steel and glass hybrid cells. He says they will be put together 26/02/13 after which the cells will be run through a number of weeks of pressure and other testing and tweaks. Here are a few photos for your to feast your eyes on.

UPDATE#1 - Celani has shipped the 400+ layer wires!

We have a tracking number and they are on their way to France. Some will need to be sent to US along with the Mica and Macor parts Mathieu has made and there are a few components to ship from US to EU, but it is all coming together.

UPDATE#2 - Strange things happening

Whilst we wait for the delivery of the 400+ layer wires and other elements to enable the construction of the cross atlantic dual duelling differential tests, we are going to periodically be maintaining the pressure of the existing two US cells in their calibration range. It is now the second time we have done this and we are seeing some interesting results.

In the graphs below, you can see the Pin and the Pout based on Central European Time. In these graphs - the pressure was reset just after 20:00 hours on the 26/02/13, we would encourage you to look at the Pxs and Pressure graphs over the same kind of time period and think about what might be happening. In both cases the cells produced a transient dip before getting on with their usual cyclical variance. It is too early to call and a few more re-pressurisations and patience will tell us more - but the trend seams to be positive.

Of course, when we do have two identical cells running side by side, with no gas issues and only one loaded, things will be easier to rationalise.

UPDATE#3 - Surprise wire

The wires have arrived - and there are 4 X 400+ layer wires in the package - enough to perform our dual duelling differential tests... however... Celani gave us all a present...

One wire is 720 layers

Now we REALLY want to test this wire... However, we were intending to have 400+ layer wires in each of the cells with the difference in layers between a cell pairs being no more than 10%.

Since we are running one cell loaded and one cell unloaded as a control - for that part of the v2.0 protocol - it actually matters little what wire the control cell is running, just that it is running in every other way the same. The purpose of having the control cell containing a Celani wire is that it can be loaded later down the line and hopefully show Pxs so adding weight to the evidence.

So the question is, should we say run the initially active cell in the EU with a 720L and the other with a 400+L wire.

You opinion is valued

UPDATE#4 - Heat flux?

We want the best determination of energy output in calibration and active runs right? We don't want to have to think about moving TCs, TC contact issues, temperature gradient effects, stability over temperature range. We also want to know that the TC is accurately representing the energy averaged over a decent sample area without any worries about Infra Red (IR) thermalisation clouding the debate. 

In our coming V2.0 Celani protocol experiments, we don't have to worry about convective and gas conduction effects. The active and calibration runs are both reliant on IR output from the wire only. This makes thermalisation of IR even more important for the experiments accuracy. So what to do?

Well as mentioned previously a few weeks back, a site follower called "bobicanprogram" did a bit of web searching and came up with the following device family that seams to solve many of our outstanding issues and is particularly suited to the new protocol. You can see information about it here:

RdF Heat Flux Sensors, for the precise measurementof heat loss or gain through materials.

But there is a catch - given that they have the patent on this tech - it is 2 orders of magnitude more expensive that our normal themocouples for the ones we need that operate up to 260 degrees centigrade.

Here is their cost sheet.

So should we go for them? We need the 20457-TC variants so it will cost $2960 for just 4! Should we just get 2 and run them on one dual cell set-up? Then we can have a comparison with normal TCs to assess their added value and cross reference measurements. 

We could have them in 1 week and they would then be part of these key experiments.

What do you think? Should we go for them?

UPDATE#5 - PXs vs Pressure

The cells are continuing to produce some really great data that will help us to understand things in the fullness of time. We are now going to periodically re-set the pressures in the two cells and in the graphs below, you can see the cells response to these events. As we do more and more cycles like this, we might even be able to draw some conclusions. Let's see what happens.

UPDATE#6 - You win some...

So Mathieu goes to the lab to retrofit the first EU cell for the V2.0 Celani protocol. When he arrives, he finds out he has not got his wallet with him, so he will not be able to buy the syringes from the Pharmacy to glue in the pass-throughs! Doh!

Anyhow, he calls a friend to borrow the money which goes well and he finds himself at the local pharmacy. There he is confronted with the Spanish inquisition about why he wants them, because, like, he has a beard and so is clearly a user! Not offended by the line of questioning, Mathieu explains all about the collaborative project, its purpose, hope and aims. The pharmacist was so inspired by the endeavour, she said it fully made her day and gave the syringes for free! Big win!

Then... following clear instructions. Mathieu found out it was not always easy to handle rapidly polymerising resin. In his own words...

"Gluing the passthrough did not go well.

The epoxy didn't get into the tubing on both flanges, it stayed on top of the ceramics. My heat gun worked at 350C, so I kept it at good distance. I don't know what I did wrong!

One the second time, my syringe spilled glue on the flange, that's my bad. I attached the picture.

Connections are good. It should be able to maintain pressure/vaccum normally

Do you think I should redo this?"

Life is not always plain sailing when you are a doer!

UPDATE#7 - Did we ignite?...

In the past six and a half days we have seen a few bursts of PXs and re-pressured the cells twice, as of 2 - 3 days ago, both of the cells appear to have switched to a different mode and PXs is now trending upwards with a more focussed direction - we are about due for another re-pressurisation - let's hope it does not break this move higher.

UPDATE#8 - Coming together

Nicolas has been working hard on assembling the Glass/Steel hybrid cells ready for the critical pressure testing. Ryan and Nicolas will be working together to upgrade the software on the data acquisition boards and laptop.

UPDATE#9 - Getting connected

As you can see below - Nicolas has been busy hooking everything up! One down, one to go!

UPDATE#10 - Pressure testing going well

Nicolas reports that the pressure testing of the steel/glass cells is going well, this was a major area of concern that is melting away right now - way to go nico!