1 MW E-Cat Cold Fusion Device Test Successful

Pure Energy Systems ^ | October 28, 2011 | Hank Mills

[Kevmo]

1 MW E-Cat Cold Fusion Device Test Successful
On October 28, 2011, Andrea Rossi demonstrated his 1 megawatt E-Cat system to his first customer, who had engineers/scientists on hand to test/validate its performance. Due to a glitch, it provided 470 kW of continuous power for 5.5 hours during the self-sustained mode.
Here I am with Andrea Ross after the test of the 1 MW E-Cat plant in the background.

By Sterling D. Allan (who was present), with Hank Mills
Pure Energy Systems News
Well, the big day has come and gone. Andrea Rossi's one-megawatt-capable E-Cat cold fusion device has been tested in Bologna, Italy; and the unknown customer, who ran the test, is apparently happy.


There were some issues, so it couldn't be run at full power in self-looped mode, but what it did do was plenty impressive.


It ran for 5.5 hours producing 470 kW, while in self-looped mode. That means no substantial external energy was required to make it run, because it kept itself running, even while producing an excess of nearly half a megawatt. Rossi explained the reasons for this in the presentation he gave, which I videotaped and will be posting later.


That's half the rated capacity, but it is still a major accomplishment for the device that was completed earlier this week -- the first of its kind on the planet.


Early in the day with a glitch showing up, Rossi said that they had to make a decision about whether to go for 1 MW output, not in self-sustain mode, or with self-sustain mode at a lower power level. The customer opted to go for the self-sustain mode. Nothing was said about the prospects of a follow-up test, though I would imagine that the customer will be running many tests to understand this gadget they have purchased, and that information will be conveyed to Rossi.


When I asked him during the Q&A session if the customer was satisfied with the test, Rossi responded, "Yes, I think they are satisfied."

Here is a brief video excerpt highlight from Rossi during his 1-hour reading of the public report from the customer, followed by a question and answer session. I recorded the entire presentation, and we'll post that tomorrow, hopefully along with a transcription. Half the time was in Italian, as he would address each item in Italian as well as English.


In this excerpt, Rossi responds to the question, "So, is this a breakthrough?"

Here's a transcription of the excerpt video:
Mister Sonya has asked me if I think that the test of today is a breakthrough. I think yes, because I think today we have seen enough. No more small five or ten kilowatt units, but now we have overcame the [cannot understand].... disconnected. The basic engineering to make something that....

You know, to go in self sustain mode and make 400 [actually 470] kilowatt hours per hour... To understand that this is a breakthrough...

You can also think that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to try to have a COP of 1.1 with nuclear fusion. Today we have made a theoretically endless COP making 470 kilowatt hour per hour of completely free energy, free of fuel. Yes, I think this is a breakthrough.

Of course this is the first step, but it is a very important first step....
Early this year Andrea Rossi announced his plans to construct and test the world's first one megawatt cold fusion plant. The plant would utilize his E-Cat (Energy Catalyzer) technology that utilizes tiny quantities of nickel powder and hydrogen gas as fuel, while producing large amounts of energy in the form of heat. Importantly, the energy is produced without emitting any pollution, utilizing any radioactive materials, or producing any nuclear waste. Simply put, the E-Cat offers the world a source of cheap, safe, and clean energy. Although the exact plans for the launch of the technology were adjusted a few times throughout the course of this year, October 28th, 2011 was settled on for the date of the official test of the one megawatt plant by the first customer.


These first plants will cost around $2,000 per kilowatt to build one at a time, but once they are mass produced, Rossi expects the price to drop to around $100 per kilowatt installed.


Attendance at this test was limited for several reasons. First, the customer does not wish to be known at this time, nor to have its test engineers/scientists identified. I did not inadvertently discover the customer's identify, nor did I try to find out. I gave that group their space and did not probe. Second, the device is a nuclear device, and the regulations for a public demonstration are extremely stringent; so by making the event private, and only bringing one or two at a time to see it was a way to get around the safety requirements.


Most of us (around 30 guests total) arrived between 9 and 10 am; and by around 11 am, Rossi began taking people back to see the device while it was in operation, in self-sustained mode. Here's a video I shot, with Rossi's permission, during my 2-3 minute chance to see the unit during operation:

A neighboring facility, coincidentally, is named "Rossi", which is a common name in Italy.



Here I am with Mats Lewan and other Swedish associates.


Here I am with Peter Svensson from the AP

Professor Levi, who was Rossi's right-hand man today, will be heading the Bologna research on the E-Cat. Power for start-up (resistive coils that provided heat to the reaction chambers) was provided by the large and loud genset (was making all the noise) you see that is nearly as large as the small shipping container in which the 1 MW E-Cat plant was arranged. Once the reaction chambers got up to temperature, they were maintained by the heat produced by the reaction. I'm not sure why they kept the generator running after that, but I would guess it was for back-up or safety. I'm sure the engineers testing the system made sure what the power levels were at all times.


There were 100 E-Cat modules, each with 3 reaction chambers in them, for a total of 300 reaction chambers. An additional 20 or so units had been installed on the top of the shipping container, compared to the earlier photos and videos we had seen. Steam was produced by the units and exited through the back in the bottom of the two pipes. The steam was not put to use to run a load but the heat was dumped via two radiators, distilled, and circulated back into the system. When looking inside the plant, I noticed that one of the E-Cat units had a little steam escaping from the front of it.


The top pipe in the back, which was closed, was for emergency cool-down, if needed.

Each unit was run independently through a computerized control. The input and output temperature readings were recorded by computer, and the data will be provided to us probably later this evening or tomorrow morning. When I went by there, I think the input was measuring 19 C, and the output was 109 C.


Radiation measurements were taken by Dr. Bianchini David, from the University of Bologna. He said no extraneous radiation was detected at any time emanating from the reaction chambers, or from the piping, or from the water tanks, or in the vicinity of the apparatus. Apparently, gamma radiation is produced during the reaction, which is shielded by water, iron, lead, and a final coating on the apparatus. David said that he has not measured gamma radiation from the device, because he has not had access to the reaction chamber while it has been unshielded.


None of the units were taken apart following this test, as was the one back on the October 6 test. I asked Rossi whether any radio frequencies were used in the test, and he said "no".


I would estimate that there were about 12 people assisting with the test arrangement, including: 3-4 security guards, 1 caterer, 2 receptionists who checked to make sure everyone was invited and wore the required badges, 3-4 engineers helping take measurements, Foccardi was helping take guests 1-2 at a time back to see the unit.


I especially enjoyed mingling with the other guests, including: Mats Lewan from NyTeknik; Irene Zreick from Focus.it; Peter Svensson, Technology Writer for the Associated Press, NY, who told me that the reason the mainstream press hasn't been covering this is because Rossi has been very picky about who he lets in; Enrico Billi, a nuclear physicist and friend of Rossi's, who is presently living in China and helping to open doors there for this technology; Professor Christos Stremmenos, from the University of Bologna, who told me all about his theory of how the technology works; Pierre Clauzon, nuclear engineering professor from France, who told me about several theoretical physicists trying to understand cold fusion in general and the E-Cat in particular; Uzikova Irina, a nuclear plant designer from Russia; Stefan Heglesson, representing a Swedish interest in the technology; Loris Ferrari, Associate Professor of Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Bologna, who will be one of the five professors to do the two year test of the E-Cat, which hopefully will be funded as a result of today's test. They will study both the "how" and the "why" of the technology.


Mats and I agreed to post our stories at the same time. Peter was going to go first, having been given an exclusive by Rossi, but it's going to be a few days before he gets the necessary info and editorial approvals before he's able to run a story in the Associated Press.

Probably the biggest opening for skeptics will be the continually running genset that is probably rated for 500 kW (my guess), and appears to have been connected by cables to the E-Cat. "Where's the mystery?" So knock yourselves out, skeptics. It's the customer who has to be happy, and apparently this one was satisfied that those cables were not contributing to the 470 kW output during self-sustaining mode.


Here's a video where Rossi talks to us briefly following the test, saying that a report will come shortly; and giving us the reason for why we couldn't go back during the test except 1-2 at a time.

And here's a video of a couple of 1 MW generators that were in the room where we were hanging out, which were from an earlier project Rossi was involved with, running on biofuel.

# # #
Links
News:October 28, 2011 Test of the One Megawatt E-Cat (Our index page at PESWiki)
http://db.tt/wu4OLbgk - a link to download a file which contains the report about the test
http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/energi_miljo/energi/article3303682.ece - Mat Lewans' story

[PapaBear3625]

Wired UK just picked up the story 20 minutes ago:

Success for Andrea Rossi's E-Cat cold fusion system, but mysteries remain

Against all the odds, Andrea Rossi's E-Cat cold fusion power plant passed its biggest test yesterday, producing an average of 470 kilowatts for more than five hours. (A technical glitch prevented it from achieving a megawatt as originally planned). The demonstration was monitored closely by engineers from Rossi's mysterious US customer, which was evidently satisfied and paid up.

The energy was output in the form of heat, measured by the quantity of water boiled off. The results are reported in NyTeknik and Pure Energy Systems News, who both had reporters present for the test. Associated Press also sent a correspondent who should be filing a story in the next few days (one suspects his editors might have some questions).

But this does not mean we can crack open the champagne and celebrate the end of fossil fuels quite yet. Skeptics have plenty of grounds to doubt whether the new test really takes us any further forwards.

....[more at link]

[Little Ray]

Okay. That’s nice.
Now put the thing in a car and have it power electric motors propelling the car and drive it around the track for five or ten hours at high speed.
Then we’ll know we have something.

[aruanan]

Talk to us after 5.5 days, weeks, and months of producing continuous power during the self-sustaining mode. The 5.5 hours is too short a time to produce credible results.

Always something, huh? Kitty Hawk: you call that a test flight? Talk to us after you've come up with a supersonic transport that will carry hundreds of people at a time anywhere on earth they want to go; then you will have credible results. Stagg Field: you call that little thing under the bleachers a successful test of a self-sustaining nuclear reaction? Talk to us after you've come up with something that will either power or blow up the world, then you will have credible results. Phonograph: you call that a successful test, that scratchy-sounding Mary had a little lamb? Talk to us when you've got a 2000 watt surround sound system that will blow your clothes off, then you will have credible results. You call that a test batch of cookies? Until you have a test batch that will feed the whole world forever, it may be edible but it won't be credible.

[Titus-Maximus]

You are mixing capital costs vs operating costs.

A new coal plant will be $2000 per KW, to build, but depending on the price of coal can produce power at 3 cents per KW or $30 per MWhr.

This Focardi-Baloney machine will cost $2000 per kw to build but have .0000001 cent per KWhr oprating costs. Too cheap to meter, and too cheap to pay attention.

[sasquatch]

1KW-hr/hr=1KW

[PapaBear3625]

These first plants will cost around $2,000 per kilowatt to build one at a time, but once they are mass produced, Rossi expects the price to drop to around $100 per kilowatt installed.

Assuming it can run for a year with minimal operating cost over the install cost (big assumption, yes I know), it would generate (24 * 365 =) 8760 kWh(thermal) per kW of installed capacity. This means that the first plants will generate heat at a cost of $2000/8760 = 23 cents per kWh, which is not terribly exciting. If he can really get installed cost down to $100/kWh, then it becomes one cent per kWh, which is a hell of a lot more exciting.

A payback period of under one year would make this technology VERY viable. Again, lots of assumptions, including that it really works.

[PapaBear3625]

The Wired UK article has:

NyTeknik did discover one possible clue to their identity. The customer's controller, one Domenico Fioravanti, apparently reports to a man whose title is "Colonel". This suggests that the mystery customer might be DARPA, the Pentagon's extreme science wing which, as Wired.co.uk has previously noted, has expressed interest in Rossi's work -- but which might not be quite ready to explain to its political masters why it spent millions on a cold fusion device.

[bkepley]

So the only detail left to conquer is that nKW output ECat requires nKW input power for the generator pumps?

[PapaBear3625]

This Focardi-Baloney machine will cost $2000 per kw to build but have .0000001 cent per KWhr oprating costs. Too cheap to meter, and too cheap to pay attention.

A lot would depend on how much of a hassle it will be to replace the nickel cartridges (every 6 months, and the tested unit had 300 reactor chambers), and how much the replacements will cost. If we're talking about needing a complete teardown/rebuild every 6 months, then the maintenance costs may be high.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[Kevmo]

Well, it looks like a bunch of FReepers already responded to your post. Eventually the agreed facts will be there for everyone to proceed from.

[Kevmo]

I can’t remember who posted it once, but it was clever. They said something to the effect that a new time unit would be generated, which is how fast Obama will take credit for this if it turned out to be real. Not a millisecond, nor a nanosecond, nor even a femtosecond, but an Obamasecond. Something like that.

[Kevmo]

The usual loose ends that Rossi leaves lying around for skeptics to chew on. The guy changes the world and gets his customer to sign off on buying the first LENR plant, but there’s all this accompanying baggage that he doesn’t address. Maybe he does it on purpose.

[Kevmo]

If his paying client is a million dollar company,
***Perhaps you meant $Billion company?

[Kevmo]

So while skepticism is justified, sarcasm isn’t.
***One of the reasons why I started calling them seagulls.

[Kevmo]

Maybe no worse than old fashioned TV sets, but people will be skittish about having one sit just anywhere.
***I used to be skittish about the microwave oven. Now I feel like I couldn’t function properly without having one.

[Kevmo]

This hamster runs on something as ubiquitous as weeds and only needs to be fed twice a year, a few grams of weeds.

[Kevmo]

Thanks. If there’s a quick trick to that, I might be willing to try. But then you would need some other way to bump the thread with something useful, right?

[SunTzuWu]

Nah, skeptics probably won't even notice.

I guess you missed this part:

"Andrea Rossi demonstrated his 1 megawatt E-Cat system to his first customer, who had engineers/scientists on hand to test/validate its performance."

I do understand however that you have a lot of time and effort invested in shouting down Rossi. No amount of evidence will ever change your mind so, why do you keep stalking these posts?

[Kevmo]

Doesn’t anyone see this a at least slightly suspicious?

***Sure. But wouldn’t the customer have to be incredibly stupid to sign off on Rossi’s device? If you were the customer, wouldn’t you focus on that?