FacebookTwitterDiggStumbleuponGoogle BookmarksRedditTechnoratiLinkedin

Powder Cells still have a Pulse!

Scritto da Wes Baish on .

We're not 'pulsing' with electricity yet, but powder tests are still up and coming; we have much to do. 

Unless you've been watching the experiment log, there has been very little to say in the world of HUG powder tests. No pictures and, obviously, no blog posts. I've otherwise been fixing the SEM water chiller, testing software, and looking for reduction in R6's powder mix. Thanks to AlanG's suggestion to test for Barium oxides by reacting the mix with water. Fortunately there was no violent reaction or bubbling when samples of the powder were submerged. We hope this is a good indication that R3's powder mix remains un-reduced as well! 

In the last post, I briefly explained our software headache and how it left us high and dry. Our test computer, the resulting preventative measure to avoid breakdowns of that nature in the future, has glued me to the screen in attempts to accelerate the software testing process. The newest version of software, soon to be released, contains a resistance sensor driver essential to the completeness of the R3 test. Conventional methods of calculating impedance and power are insufficient when the powder's impedance ranges from several Ohms to several MegaOhms. Instead, the necessary driver in the new software senses only resistance, without needing Voltage and Current to calculate it. Oh how handy that will be.

There are several other advancements to the new software release, some that we have long anticipated. Keep watch for a mini blog (released in tandem with the software) to explain use of the new features. We're pretty pleased with the changes, barring the bugs that have accompanied them Laughing.

With the addition of the resistance driver in the new software release, R3's protocol can take off, soaring to step 2. Sounds pretty dismal, doesn't it? Not to worry. Once we have the data's nuts and bolts, we can knock down the remaining steps posthaste. 

Add comment


Security code
Refresh

Comments   

 
0 #6 Charlie 2013-06-27 09:12
I have some approx 80g Powdered Nickel I am willing to donate, Im not sure of the size but it is very fine, It is lab grade stuff.

Is this cell in the EU or US?

If your interested can you email me an address to post it to, it may take me a while to send it as I'm poor.
Quote
 
 
0 #5 Wes Baish 2013-06-19 15:55
R6's powder is sealed in a glass jar and is no longer in the cell - to protect from inhalation of airborne particles and oxidation. I've read though that Ni doesn't oxidize until ~400C? Can anyone confirm that?

Our Ni batches are from US research nanomaterials in Houston, TX. 40nm page here www.us-nano.com/.../169

They don't specify isotope mix, leading me to believe it won't exceed natural abundance. Bummer.
Quote
 
 
0 #4 Wes Baish 2013-06-19 15:46
@AlanG Yes, R5's data is a little messy at the moment because, as you mentioned, I'm still commissioning it. I'll post a more thorough blog today about the test and condition of the reactor. What seems to plague me now is a rift between the local computer and the streaming server. I changed a setting in the lab board after I started streaming the test, and they aren't quite in league. That'll be fixed this morning, yet.

The 60 C spike was due to power delivered to the band heater, however we found yesterday that one of the pins on my power board is lame and can't see voltage at all. Thus it didn't report any of the expected power readings to accompany the passive heating.

The powder parallel doc is relatively quite old and could use some brushing up. R6 has 5g Ni and 15g BaTiO3, a key distinction that slipped my attention last year. Thanks for catching that, even if you didn't mean to!
Quote
 
 
0 #3 Robert Greenyer 2013-06-19 05:02
Your posts are the best Wes!

Looking forward to the new software and the powder tests going live again.
Quote
 
 
0 #2 charlie tapp 2013-06-18 22:24
hydrobetatron.o rg ???????? cant access websight because of work computer someone check it out
Quote
 
 
0 #1 AlanG 2013-06-18 21:40
What is the live data actually showing at this point? I realize you're still commissioning the experiment but it's curious that T_powder increased from ambient to over 60 C while the heater was apparently off. Perhaps the sensors aren't all connected yet.

Does Cell 6 still have 20 g of 40 nm Nickel powder as noted in the documents? Any info on the isotope mix?
Quote
 

Here is your generous contributions so far towards our $500,000 target, thanks everyone! : $45,020   Please Donate
See the current state of our booked costs here