We have been asked to do a fundamental test of the Celani wire. The details are in the experiment write up below and more details are in logs linked within that document. We have been busy getting it started and clarifying things a bit before talking about it. Here it is though. Let us know what we're missing.
Update Oct 11, 2013
We are in the calibration phase as we prove out the validity of the apparatus. We have seen a number of interesting surprises in the behavior of the cell. Some we have figured out and fixed, but others we are working on.
We have seen strange temperature curves each time we raised the power. The cell had air and the commercial, oxide coated constantan control wire. We found that the lid on the cell was not fully fastened on and we were seeing strange convection currents as the cell heated up. Once tightened, that went away and the curves were much more predictable.
When running in a vacuum, we noticed that small variations in vacuum level caused temperature differences. Presumably that is from variation of thermal conductivity.
And, we noticed gas leaks. We tracked them to the threads on the pass-throughs. While we have had extraordinarily good luck with the threads on the pressure sensors, apparently we have more to learn about threads in this case. Perhaps it’s the aluminum and the stainless differences, or possibly, the mere fact that the aluminum is changing temperature. We have tightened them further and we are about to test it again.
Despite the leak, we are seeing some interesting things. The table below is from a couple short tests in 1 bar of air and in 1 mbar vacuum.
|
Gas:
|
Watts
|
Copper Wrapped Temp
|
Delta Temp
|
|
Air
|
1.25
|
42.39
|
5
|
|
Air
|
2.5
|
48.41
|
7
|
|
Air
|
5
|
90.18
|
30
|
|
Vacuum
|
1.25
|
71.1
|
5.6
|
|
Vacuum
|
2.5
|
106.2
|
10.9
|
|
Vacuum
|
5
|
168.3
|
14.2
|
Less gas allows the thermocouples to get hotter. It’s probable that one of the thermocouples may be closer to the test wires, so a difference between the two thermocouples could be expected. In fact, that is the main reason for the calibration. Why does the platinum run so much hotter in air, though?
For the very latest test info, you can check out our experiment notes at this link:
2013-10-14
We bent the thermocouples around so they are now on opposite sides. We noticed a few things after switching the thermocouples around:
First the Pt thermocouple was hotter in earlier runs because of the position. In the test after we swapped the thermocouples, the Cu thermocouple became hotter.
We could see that the temperatures of the constantan wire were not uniform across the wrapped wires. It was localized on the right half of the screen, under the Pt thermocouple in the earlier runs and under the Cu thermocouple in the current configuration. We are wondering about an wrapping/positioning method or configuration to minimize a position effect or evenly distribute the heat from a wire.
We also wonder if the thermocouples are shifting when the cell is hot. They are held in place by spring tension alone. Perhaps we could get an anchor for the thermocouples so that we can be certain they won't deform during hot periods. This would also help if we ever wanted to swap the thermocouples and have them in the EXACT location as they were before.
The last issue we see is that the Cu is oxidizing and turning black. This will continue to affect the temperature reading. It may affect the catalytic recombination as well. Could there be another metal to use? Should we replace the copper each time, or should we only run without oxygen?
Update 3: Oct 25, 2013
The data for this experiment is streaming, now in test FC0408 LENR Cam/ Hydrogen splitting. Sorry we don't have the bandwidth to stream the thermal camera.
We have achieved good stability and predictability with the cell, finally, not to mention good tightness, finally. There was one interesting moment during the calibrations where the cell was operating steady at 15W with a commercial oxide coated constantan wire and the temperature of the thermocouples both dropped by roughly 80C. That still has us puzzled.
After seeing good, close, repeatable temperatures on the thernocouples for several runs in various gasses, we installed the Celani wire yesterday. Last night we tested it in a vacuum and got very close readings between the two thermocouples. that means the cell was reassembled well and the relationship between the wires and the thermocouples was not disturbed. At this moment we are doing a test run in He. The next step is try a run in Hydrogen and look for a temperature difference between the Platinum and the Copper wrapped thermocouples. We'll see if we can get one in this weekend. If not, probably first thing Monday.
Update 4: Oct 28, 2013
Over the weekend, we ran a 40 step test from 1 to 40 watts of input power. The cell started at roughly 1 bar H2. The resistance dropped well and then made an interesting rise and fall again.
We found that the power supply on the water reservoir failed. The event shows in the data. In the test cell, it shows as a pressure rise because the entire cell warmed up as the water in the reservoir warmed up. The water flow is only for making sure the cell walls and camera do not get too hot.
Regardless, the run was a negative result for monatomic hydrogen being present and preferentially recombining on the platinum. The temperatures of both thermocouples were within about 4C the whole time with Copper consistently reading warmer than the platinum. The dataset is attached.
Next, we will run a shorter test in about 0.1 bar H2 and see if that makes any difference because of mean free path being longer.
HUGnet.fc0408.csv
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We have been advised to silver plate the copper.
@charlie tapp
That is part of the point of this experiment, to establish the potential material point yield significance from this effect. That is why having a material that is very good at catalysing recombination (platinum) on one thermocouple and another that is bad will give help us understand the spread.
The last issue we see is that the Cu is oxidizing and turning black. This will continue to affect the temperature reading. It may affect the catalytic recombination as well. Could there be another metal to use? Should we replace the copper each time, or should we only run without oxygen?
In the Hokkaido experiments on H1 catalysis by glass (at 300c), selective gold plating was used to prevent recombination in the apparatus outside of the test vessel. Gold-plated copper wire is easy to source from jewelry supply outlets.
It is always worth noting that the Fleischmann Pons effect if it is in the Nuclear forces range of energy output obeys e=m c^2 and that total amount of Uranium mass that was actually converted into energy in the Hiroshima bomb was just 0.6 of a gram.
Incidentally that e=m c^2 seems to pass by many people who consider the amount of atomic mass that may be altered in say the Rossi apparatus, especially the ones who expect to make a killing on the nickel market.
Not that I think Nickel is a major contributor to the energy output by its transmutation.
The amount of Tritium being reported as out put and then sucked back in leads me to think the Fleischmann Pons effect is a Hydrogen Isotope Cascade to Helium.
IMHO When an energy differential is applied to a hydrogen loaded crystal lattice of sufficient strength, causing the looser hydrogen electrons and atoms to oscillate building up as a synchronized wave with increasing energy, the geometry of cracks and uneven surfaces acts to lens electrons and maybe whole protons and neutrons between a rock and a hard place, forcing then inexorably together. Possibly two or three adjacent columns of hydrogen reaching surface discontinuities geometrically tuned into a Goldilocks zone to spit out hydrogen up the next isotope in the chain until tritium and then H4 and then Helium.
Test tritium in a working LENR to see if it was quicker at producing heat.
H2 dissociation/re combination or water vapor splitting/refor mation are examples of chemical processes not unlike those in the rechargable battery above. We have to design our calorimeters to accumulate all energy (input + internal chemical reactions + LENR). thermalize it and vector all the resulting heat flux out a well defined and calibratable pathway. eg. conduction through solid layer a la water bucket test. We also have to design our experimental protocols to trigger and sustain the LENR effect for longer than brief transients to eliminate the possibility of false time shifted chemical reaction positives.
EDIT: it's 65.6 MB big, in fact. The other one is only 2.6 MB big.
As ever - good suggestions.
We know Celani has been employing Tungsten in his tests and your suggestion to have a known active source is a good one.
This is not just about addressing the critics on the Langmuir debate, there is a second, very positive reason for this study as mentioned in the google doc.
If mono-atomic hydrogen is important in LENR as many claim, and Celani is no exception, being able to create it in situ with controllable low input energies is very desirable. An apparatus that can determine the rate of H production and conditions for may help define optimum operating conditions and which wire processes create higher performing wires.
Indeed, not only that, it is what we set out to do... and record the whole story from beginning to end (frankly, we did not expect it to take this long... who were we kidding!)
If I recall correctly, Piantelli discusses in his patent that if there is too much pressure, 2H is recombined to H2. Running the experiment over a range of pressures will give a good indication of where to set the pressure in our definitive experiments such that any potential influence from this effect could be considered non-material.
It will be fun to see at what H2 pressure you start to see difference between the thermocouples.
Thankyou for your valuable contribution. Taking on board what you say, some influential scientists are suggesting that this effect could account for the apparent excess over control or calibrations, though they did concede that further runs of the Steel and Glass cells might settle this sticking point.
We are trying to find incontrovertibl e proof, hence why we are going to such extremes to settle this outstanding question.
@Bob
Detractors say that the energy is imparted into the splitting of H2, that may then get absorbed into the crystal at large quantities, then it gets released and recombines on the borosilicate glass, releasing the net of the binding energy. This can not occur in inert calibrations or with passive wires in H2.
I guess the claim is that the 'loading' energy is then released on de-loading.
The S&G cells demonstrated that there was a net gain, but we need to be thorough if we are going to make extraordinary claims and this is part of the scientific process.
The fact is that we are seeing differential or calibration based apparent excess heat for many weeks at a time - see the currently long running EU test as an example.
@Ecco
We are looking at implementing an auto generation of Google doc from the Evernote so that can be embedded using Zapier.com
Langmuir effect is a low pressure effect. If the pressure is high 1 bar H2 then dissociated H2 molecules recombine everywhere in the H2 gas. The thermal conductivity is high for H2 gas so there is no extra heating on the glass wall. The mean free path for Hydrogen at 1 bar H2 is 70 nm but 10cm at 10-3mbar so there is only concern if calibration is done at low pressures.
Sveinn
From my understanding of H2 in metal systems it is easy to visualize dissociated hydrogen happening upon adsorption to the surface and with absorption into the lattice. I can't see dissociated H existing in the gas phase however. So how will it migrate to your reactive surfaces?
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