Posted on 12/10/2013 4:25:13 PM PST by Kevmo
METHODS OF GENERATING NON-IONIZING RADIATION OR NON-IONIZING 4He USING GRAPHENE BASED MATERIALS US 20110255644 A1
Abstract
There is disclosed a method of generating non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, or a combination of both, the method comprising: contacting graphene materials with a source of deuterium; and aging the graphene materials in the source of deuterium for a time sufficient to generate non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms. In one embodiment, graphene materials may comprise carbon nanotubes, such as nitrogen doped single walled or multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Unlike an alpha particle, the non-ionizing 4He atoms generated by the disclosed method are a low energy particles, such as one having an energy of less than 1 MeV, such as less than 100 keV. Other non-ionizing radiation that can be generated by the disclosed process include soft x-rays, phonons or energetic electrons within the carbon material, and visible light. Images(11) Patent Drawing
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Claims(42) 1. A method of generating non-ionizing 4He atoms, said method comprising: contacting graphene materials with a source of deuterium; and placing said graphene materials in said source of deuterium for a time sufficient to generate a plurality of non-ionizing 4He atoms.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein 4He is generated in an amount of at least ten non-ionizing 4He atoms per hour per microgram of said graphene materials at 0° C.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphene materials comprise monolayer graphite, multilayer graphite, single walled carbon nanotubes, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, buckyballs, carbon onions, carbon nanohorns and combinations thereof.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the source of deuterium is in a liquid, gas, plasma, or supercritical phase.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the removal of contaminates from the surface of the graphene materials by heating the graphene materials prior to the contacting step, wherein said heating is performed at conditions sufficient to remove unwanted material from the surface of the graphene materials.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein said unwanted materials comprise H2O, OH, H2, atomic hydrogen (protium), polymers, oils, amorphous carbon, O2, solvents, acids, bases, and combinations thereof.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein said conditions comprise a time up to 18 hours and a temperature up to 400° C.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said conditions comprise a time ranging from 1 to 8 hours and a temperature ranging from 80 to 250° C.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphene material comprises carbon nanotubes, and said method further comprises heating the carbon nanotubes prior to aging at a temperature and for a time sufficient to promote absorption of the deuterium into or onto the carbon nanotubes.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the temperature and time sufficient to promote absorption ranges from 30° C. to 300° C., and from 30 minutes to 8 hours, respectively.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein said aging is performed at or below room temperature.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein said aging is performed at a temperature ranging from 20° C. to −100° C.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphene materials comprise carbon nanotubes that are functionalized and/or doped with nitrogen.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein said non-ionizing 4He atoms have an energy of less than 1 KeV.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein said non-ionizing 4He atoms have an energy of less than 100 eV.
16. The method of claim 1, wherein said graphene materials are placed in the source of deuterium for a time ranging from 30 minutes to 48 hours.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said graphene materials are placed in the source of deuterium for a time ranging from 1 to 18 hours.
18. The method of any one of claim 1, which comprises generating non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation chosen from electromagnetic radiation, phonons or energetic electrons within the graphene material or a combination thereof, wherein said non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation has an energy totaling 23.8 MeV.
19. A method of generating non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, or both, said method comprising: providing graphene materials in a sealable vessel; evacuating the sealable vessel to a pressure below atmospheric pressure; adding deuterium gas to said vessel to achieve a pressure above atmospheric pressure; performing at least one heating step that further increases pressure inside the vessel; cooling said vessel; and placing said graphene materials in said vessel at room temperature or below for a time sufficient to generate non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, or both.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein 4He is generated in an amount of at least ten 4He atoms per hour per microgram of said graphene materials at 0° C.
21. The method of claim 19, further comprising heating the graphene materials prior to adding deuterium gas.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein said heating is performed in a sealed chamber and a temperature to bake-out unwanted materials, said method further comprising evacuating the sealed container to remove the unwanted materials from the sealed container.
22. The method of claim 19, wherein said at least one heating step is performed at temperature ranging from 50° C. to 500° C. for a time ranging from 20 minutes to 6 hours.
24. The method of claim 19, wherein said aging is performed at a temperature ranging from 20° C. to −100° C.
25. The method of claim 19, wherein said non-ionizing radiation comprises x-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves, radio waves or combinations thereof.
26. The method of claim 19, wherein said graphene materials are placed in the source of deuterium for a time ranging from 1 to 18 hours.
27. The method of any one of claim 19, which comprises generating non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation chosen from electromagnetic radiation, phonons or energetic electrons within the graphene material or a combination thereof, wherein said non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation has an energy totaling 23.8 MeV.
28. A method of generating non-ionizing radiation, said method comprising: contacting graphene materials with a source of deuterium; and aging said graphene materials in said source of deuterium for a time sufficient to generate non-ionizing radiation.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein said non-ionizing radiation comprises x-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves, radio waves or combinations thereof.
30. The method of claim 28, wherein said graphene materials comprise monolayer graphite, multilayer graphite, single walled carbon nanotubes, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, buckyballs, carbon onions, carbon nanohorns and combinations thereof.
31. The method of claim 28, wherein the source of deuterium is in a liquid, gas, plasma, or supercritical phase.
32. The method of claim 28, further comprising the removal of contaminates from the surface of the graphene materials by heating the graphene materials prior to the contacting step, wherein said heating is performed at conditions sufficient to remove unwanted material from the surface of the graphene materials.
33. The method of claim 28, wherein said graphene material comprises carbon nanotubes, and said method further comprises heating the carbon nanotubes prior to aging at a temperature and for a time sufficient to promote absorption of the deuterium into or onto the carbon nanotubes.
34. The method of claim 28, wherein said graphene materials comprise carbon nanotubes that are functionalized and/or doped with nitrogen.
35. The method of claim 28, wherein said non-ionizing radiation 4He atoms have an energy of less than 1 KeV.
36. The method of claim 35, wherein said non-ionizing 4He atoms have an energy of less than 100 eV.
37. The method of any one of claim 28, which comprises generating non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation chosen from electromagnetic radiation, phonons or energetic electrons within the graphene material or a combination thereof, wherein said non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation has an energy totaling 23.8 MeV.
38. The method of any one of claim 28, which comprises generating non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation chosen from electromagnetic radiation, phonons or energetic electrons within the graphene material or a combination thereof, wherein said non-ionizing 4He and non-ionizing radiation has an energy totaling 23.8 MeV.
39. A method of inducing local nuclear fusion, comprising the steps of: contacting graphene materials with deuterium; and placing said graphene materials in said deuterium for a time sufficient to generate primarily a plurality 4He atoms and energy.
40. The method of claim 39, wherein said graphene material comprise carbon nanotubes.
41. The method of claim 39, wherein said graphene materials further include nitrogen.
42. The method of claim 39, wherein said deuterium is a gas. Description
This is a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 12/898,807 filed Oct. 6, 2010, which is a Continuation of Ser. No. 12/258,568 filed Oct. 27, 2008, which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/633,524, filed Dec. 5, 2006, and claims the benefit of domestic priority under 35 USC §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 61/427,140 filed Dec. 24, 2010, 60/777,577, filed Mar. 1, 2006, and 60/741,874, filed Dec. 5, 2005, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Disclosed herein are methods for generating non-ionizing radiation or non-ionizing 4He, by contacting a graphene material with a source of deuterium. In one embodiment, there is a method of generating non-ionizing 4He by contacting deuterium with a graphene material, such as carbon nanotubes. There is also disclosed methods of generating non-ionizing radiation, such as visible light, using the described method.
There is a need to generate new sources of energy not based on fossil fuels. While nuclear energy remains a valuable alternative, various types of damaging ionizing radiation may be produced by radioactive decay, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. For example, it is known that the negatively-charged electrons and positively charged ions created by ionizing radiation may cause damage in living tissue. If the dose is sufficient, the effect may be seen almost immediately, in the form of radiation poisoning. In contrast, non-ionizing radiation is thought to be essentially harmless below the levels that cause heating.
With this in mind, Applicants recognized that a need exists for an alternative source of energy to alleviate our society's current dependence without further impact to the environment or to living organisms associated with nuclear waste or ionizing radiation. The present disclosure describes a method of meeting current and future energy needs, producing commercially valuable non-ionizing radiation and isotopes, namely 4He, in an environmentally friendly way. SUMMARY
In one embodiment, there is disclosed a method of generating non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, or a combination thereof, the method comprising:
contacting graphene materials with a source of deuterium; and placing the graphene materials in the source of deuterium for a time sufficient to generate non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, such as from 30 minutes to 48 hours, more particularly 1 to 18 hours.
For example, in one embodiment, 4He is generated in an amount of at least ten 4He atoms above background per hour per microgram of the graphene materials at 0° C. In another embodiment, 200-300 ppm 4He were produced, leading to an average calculated power generation value of 2-3 Watts over a one month period.
As used herein, graphene materials may comprise monolayer graphite, multilayer graphite, single walled carbon nanotubes, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, buckyballs, carbon onions, carbon nanohorns and combinations thereof.
The source of deuterium can be in a liquid, gas, plasma, or supercritical phase.
In one embodiment, the method further comprises the removal of contaminates from the surface of the graphene materials by heating the graphene materials prior to contacting them with a source of deuterium, wherein the heating is performed at conditions sufficient to remove unwanted material from the surface of the graphene materials. In one embodiment, the unwanted materials comprise H2O, OH, H2, atomic hydrogen (protium), polymers, oils, amorphous carbon, O2, solvents, acids, bases, and combinations thereof.
The conditions used to remove contaminants may comprise a time up to 18 hours and a temperature up to 400° C., such as a time ranging from 1 to 8 hours and a temperature ranging from 80 to 250° C.
In one embodiment, the graphene material comprises carbon nanotubes, and the method further comprises heating the carbon nanotubes prior to placing them in contact with the source of deuterium at a temperature and for a time sufficient to promote absorption of the deuterium into or onto the carbon nanotubes. For example, the temperature and time sufficient to promote absorption ranges from 30° C. to 300° C., and from 30 minutes to 8 hours, respectively.
In one embodiment, aging is performed at or below room temperature, such as at a temperature ranging from 20° C. to −100° C.
In one preferred embodiment, the graphene materials comprise carbon nanotubes that are functionalized and/or doped with nitrogen.
Unlike an alpha particle, the non-ionizing 4He atoms generated herein are a low energy particles, such as one having an energy of less than 1 KeV, such as less than 100 eV.
In another embodiment, there is disclosed a method of generating non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, or both, the method comprising:
providing graphene materials in a sealable vessel; evacuating the sealable vessel to a pressure below atmospheric pressure; adding deuterium gas to the vessel to achieve a pressure above atmospheric pressure; performing at least one heating step that further increases pressure inside the vessel; cooling the vessel; and keeping the graphene materials in the vessel at room temperature or below for a time sufficient to generate non-ionizing radiation, non-ionizing 4He atoms, or both.
Non-limiting examples of the non-ionizing radiation that can be generated by the disclosed process include x-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves, radio waves or combinations thereof.
In yet another embodiment, there is disclosed a method of inducing local nuclear fusion, comprising the steps of:
contacting graphene materials with deuterium; and placing graphene materials in the deuterium for a time sufficient to generate primarily a plurality 4He atoms and energy.
In one embodiment, the graphene material consists essentially of carbon nanotubes, such as nitrogen-containing carbon nanotubes, placed in a deuterium gas.
Aside from the subject matter discussed above, the present disclosure includes a number of other exemplary features such as those explained hereinafter. It is to be understood that both the foregoing description and the following description are exemplary only.
Meh. That’s not how I do it.
I guess graphene based non-ionization radiation generation is OK, though, if you’re just starting out, but I’d be embarrassed to let anyone know I was doing it that way.
How would you do it, then?
We are at the point in LENR where patent wars are going to be going full swing. These guys have an unusual approach, which is an advantage in a patent war.
By posting theoretical patent claims on a politically-inclined website?
Then again, iffen I had enough pure graphite (or graphene-based units using Cxx substrates, I’d get lots of He 4 isotopes by fissioning the carbon back into its He components, but I’d be un-doing what was done a couple of billion years ago in the various couple of billion supernova’s that are claimed to running around unobserved at that time.
Would your way generate alpha particles?
From the patent...
Unlike an alpha particle, the non-ionizing 4He atoms generated by the disclosed method are a low energy particles, such as one having an energy of less than 1 MeV, such as less than 100 keV.
That is a LENR process, and energy is generated. Note that with this patent, LENR isn’t mentioned, nor cold fusion, nor any of the hot button phrases that the USPTO filters out of their patent process. That’s the way LENR patents are generated these days.
I can’t disclose that information as it is proprietary.
But can it heat up my frozen engine block this winter?
I could tell by the title that I would not understand this thread!
bump
I felt the same way when I saw this: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2788588/posts
Note the placement. This is NOT posted to "News/Activism". Or hadn't you noticed that there are topic areas that don't directly involve politics. If you're not interested in the posting, ignore it.
The main "takeaway" from this patent is that modified carbon nanotubes can thermalize the energy from the 2D2 --> He4 reaction by direct conversion into the graphene matrix, rather than having it show up as kinetic energy in a high velocity alpha particle, as is the case in hot fusion.
This has major ramifications for the possibility of directly converting the fusion reaction energy directly into electric power.
Meh. That’s not how to do it.
I don’t know why I clicked on it, either.
I can’t disclose too much, but let’s just say that if you have a generous supply of dilithium crystals and cat feces, you’re halfway there.
I’m not telling you what I use as a catalyst. That’s patented information.
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