Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Pure steam, hotter than 100C, is a stable effluent: If the power
output varies a little bit, you'll still be making pure steam at some
temperature above 100C.
Pure steam, at 100C, is *not* stable: If the output power varies just
a little, you'll either be making a mixture of water+steam (if the
power drops) or superheated steam (if the power increases).
To maintain the output in an unstable state you either need phenomenal
good luck or you need active feedback.
Yes, but this is not hard to arrange. When you steam artichokes for an
hour, you have to peek into the pot from time to time to make sure the
water level is not too low (add more water), or it has not stopped
boiling (raise the heat). Rossi does this by watching the temperature.
When it starts to drop, there's too much water so he turns up the heat.
When it starts to rise, he turns down the heat. You do not need
second-by-second adjustments to do this.
The shape of the e-Cats is telling. There is plenty of space for boiling
liquid water at the bottom, a large chimney, and the temperature sensor
is at the top. Very little unvaporized water will escape from this
system. It would be easier to keep the water level right with glass tube
on the outside or a water-level sensor, but Rossi tends to do things the
hard way. It is certainly not impossible to do it by listening and
watching the temperature. I have enough experience steaming artichokes
to know that.
The Defkalion reactor primary cooling loops are all liquid phase, and
they stay liquid even when the application calls for water steam. They
use glycol or some other liquid with a high boiling point. This makes
much more sense than Rossi's manual minute-to-minute adjustments for
boiling water.
- Jed
