Dennis Cravens wrote to me:
"I decided to send in a challenge idea to those X prize
people. They asked
for suggestions and some of their new releases even mentioned Cold
fusion."
See:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/15/MNGO39RK621.DTL
He filled out the X Prize form and told them to sponsor CF. His
application is attached. I think it is too ambitious, but he has the
right idea.
- Jed
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
First Name: Dennis
Last Name: Cravens
Job Title: professor
Company/Organisation: SCU
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: 505 682 3384
Suggested Name of Challenge (i.e. World Technology Prize for ****):
Excess Energy Challenge
Brief Description of Suggested Challenge (No more than 600 words
please):
Excess heat over that expected by their electrical input has been claimed
from electrolytic systems and has often been called "cold
fusion". However, the claims have lacked repeatable,
independently verified, and controlled examples.
The excess power challenge is to heat stirred tank of water in a way that
shows heat generation in excess by about 50% or greater than the
electrical energy supplied to the system. This must be done
successfully three times in a row within 30 days and to three independent
teams of judges. The judges will monitor the temperature of the
heated water and electrical input to the system in any manner they choice
and announce before the trial. A secondary test to verify the
measurement systems of the judges will be done by comparison of heat
generation by a joule heating of a resister. The challenge power
levels will be conducted near the magnitude of about 100
watts.
Suggested Potential Rules:
Suggested Potential Rules
1) All devices and systems may be required
to be extensively examined by judges after the conclusion of the last
trial.
2) Two devices may be destructively
examined after the trial. One will remain intact for historical
reasons and returned to challengers.
3) Excess energy must be shown on three
trials- all conducted within a 30-day period.
4) To show reproducibility, the three
trials must be conducted with separate but similar systems.
5) The tank of water will be rectangular
and have internal dimensions of at least 50 cm along each bottom
side. The tank including the top surface will be well insulated and
may be stirred by methods supplied by the judging team. One side of
the tank will be clear to allow for examination of system during the
challenge attempts. The height of the tank will be slightly higher than
50 cm to allow for water displacement due to the volume of the
device being tested. The tank will be filled with 125 liters of
pure
water.
6) No less than 5 temperature sensors will
monitor the temperature of the water within the tank and an average will
be taken to arrive at the heat gain of the tank of water. Judges
may place the sensors in the tank at their choice but with full contact
with the water. Judges may use an array of various sensors.
7) The electrical input power to the system
will be measured by judges in any manner they wish. However, the
choice of measurement must be later verified as valid by use of
calibration by use of a resistor in the same system and under similar
conditions. Calibration of measurement systems must yield values must
agree to within 5% of that expected from resistor joule heating of the
system.
8) The tank of water will start from a
temperature of 25 degrees C and
the air temperature around the tank will be maintained to within 0.5
degrees of 25 degrees during the trials.
9) Each trial will last 10 hours. In
which time, the tank of water must be heated to 35 degrees while the
electrical input power to the device averages no more than 100
watts. This is an excess of about 50% over
electrical input power.
10) The device must have a volume of no more than
5 liters, including all system items within the tank.
11) The device's contact from within the tank to
outside the tank must be only through electrical wires that are freely
accessible to judges for measurement connections.
12) The power to the device must not average over
100 watts over the 10 hours of each trial. In addition the
input power will be supplied through slow blow fuses to prevent continued
currents of over 10 amps.
13) The judges may be selected differently and
use different techniques to measure input power, monitor water
temperatures, and stir water on different trials.
14) The rules committee may choose to use
different teams of judges for each trial..
15) Calibration and verification of the
judges measurement system will be conducted both before the trials begin
and at the conclusion of the trial. This will be done by applying
100 watts of power to a resistor
system located within the tank to be used by the trials.
16) Each trial will begin with the
system placed in the tank and held without input power for at least 5
hours to assure the tank and system are at equilibrium and at 25 degrees
C.
Suggested Time Life of the Award (how long given to win?):
5 years
How Many Companies to Compete?:
12
Suggested Prize Amount:
$10,000,000
