I will attempt to address this question from Aussie Guy E-Cat:
“He would need another naked, so to speak, element heater to boil off the electrons needed to form the H- ions, once they were broken apart from the supplied H2.” I don’t think that this “boiling off” is required. First some background quoted from ecatrepor: “although one might first think “the finer the better” because the finer the powder the more surface area per volume you get, this is not the case. Because in order to reach useful reaction rates with hydrogen, the powder needs to processed in a way that leads to amplified tubercles on the surface of his nano-powder. The tubercles are essential in order for the reaction rate to reach levels high enough for the implied total power output per volume or mass to reach orders of magnitude kW/kg – this level of power density is required for any useful application of the process. Rossi tells that he worked every waking hour for six months straight, trying dozens of combinations to find the optimal powder size for the Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat. He further stresses that specific data about the final optimal grain size cannot be revealed, but can tell us that the most efficient grain size is more in the micrometer range rather than the nanometer range.” I remember seeing a picture of the Rossi stippled catalyst surface in pictures of his catalyst shown in his patent. This surface was bumpy and lumpy; and in my opinion, it was the surface wall of the reaction vessel and not an image of a pile of nano-powder. My current opinion is the micro powder is affixed to the walls of the reaction chamber through the use of some powder coating technique. This coating is porous and allows hydrogen to circulate in and among the micro-powder and at the same time provide a good thermodynamic heat transfer path with good conduction properties to the walls of the reaction chamber. For example, I believe that Rossi could produce such a mottled nickel surface by using a technique commonly found in the fabrication of artificial joints by medical device manufacturers. This technique produces the rough bone facing surface of metal knee or hip joints. The process involves “Inorganic Nanoparticles as Protein Mimics”. There has been a recently developed biomedical technology that produces metal surfaces that bond well with bone; a metal surface scaffold that optimizes bone growth onto and into the surface of these artificial joints. But there are many ways to skin a cat. There may be an easier way to get to the same result: a scaffold of micro sized nickel particles that extend out from the walls of the reaction chamber a fair distance (centimeters) which allows for a good circulation of hydrogen gas in and around the micro-particles. These micro-particles support a coating of nano-sized tubules that do all the work in the Rossi reaction. Why is this rough surface so all important? Now for some theory; a bumpy surface of the lattice wall is required to activate the Rossi process because such a surface will ionize the exotic hydrogen molecules that the pressurized hydrogen envelope will produce. The bumpy surface of a nickel lattice will “field-ionized” the Rydberg atoms in a highly excited hydrogen envelope that hug the surface of the reaction vessel. This phenomenon may be visualized as arising from the interaction of the Rydberg atom with the electric fields due to its electrostatic “image.” Compared to a hydrogen atom in the ground state, a Rydberg atom has an enhanced susceptibility to these fields. This is because the Rydberg electron experiences a greatly reduced electric field from the ion core due to their larger average separation. Polycrystalline metal surfaces of the nickel lattice will generate inhomogeneous “patch” electric fields outside its surface. These electrostatic fields also influence Rydberg atoms, potentially causing both level shifts and ionization and competing with the more intrinsic image charge effects. In general, patch fields arise from the individual nano-grains or “tubules” of a polycrystalline lattice surface exposing different crystal faces of the individual nano-crystals. Each of these faces has a different work function due to differing surface dipole layers. For example, Singh-Miller and Marzari have recently calculated the work functions of the (111), (100), and (110) surfaces of gold and found 5.15, 5.10, and 5.04 eV, respectively. These differing work functions correspond to potential differences just outside the surface beyond the dipole layer. Consequently, charge density must be redistributed on the surface to satisfy the electrostatic boundary conditions, producing macroscopic electric fields. While patch fields were first discussed extensively in the context of thermionic emission they are present near polycrystalline metal structures of any type, including electrodes and electrostatic shields. A bumpy nickel lattice surface provides Rydberg atoms with the same spill over ionization function that palladium does for ground state H2 atoms and it keeps the ionization localized on the surface of the nickel lattice. My advice to you is to dimple the stainless steel surface of your reaction vessel with micron sized powder. Then further treat this powder to form nano sized whiskers to optimize the reaction. This is one important innovation that Rossi has given the Cold fusion process. At days end, until the workers that are attempting to replicate the Rossi e-cat recognize how extremely important that surface preparation of the reaction vessel is, no reaction results close to what Rossi reports will be forthcoming. If you are interested in this subject read this paper for more theoretical background: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1008/1008.1533v3.pdf To amplify the production of Rydberg atoms, I would use potassium or lithium Mills catalysts as a dopant in the hydrogen envelope and away from the nickel coated reaction vessel surface. Rossi has put together many different mechanisms that all work together to amplify the cold fusion process. The secret catalyst is only one of his tricks. It will not function on its own hook unless optimally combined with all the other mechanisms; catalyst surface preparation being a very important one. The evidence for nano-powder welding as one of Rossi’s secrets is strong but circumstantial in the 10kw unit we have good info on whose reaction vessel volume is 1 liter. First, the 100 gram pure nickel nano-powder fills only 1% of the volume of this one liter reaction vessel. This small amount of powder cannot be “packed” in such a large volume. A 100 gram pile of nano-powder would form a small clump at the bottom of the reaction vessel. If all the heat came from this small 100 gram pile of powder, the pile would burn a hole in the reaction vessel through the formation of a very hot spot. Second, Rossi said that the powder can reach a temperature of 1600C. Nickel Nano-powder will melt and/or degrade well below this melting point (1000C?) of the bulk material at 1350C. Third, the ash of the Rossi reactor he gave to the Swedes contains 10% iron that Rossi said was not produced through the action of transmutation from the reaction,,, but was produced by “scrubbing”; a Rossi quote. Forth, the nuclear heat that will have been produced by a pile of nano-powder throughout the entire though minuscule volume of this powder will be poorly conducted through that volume. This is caused by the randomized surface structures and associated protuberances and irregularities of each nano-powder particle. This porcupine like tubules will keep the surfaces of each nano-particle from mating flush with its neighbors to make efficient transfer of heat impossible to all the surrounding walls of the reaction vessel; in sum, any heat conduction through the volume of such a powder will be very poor. By contrast in support of the powder coating case, Rossi is using tubercles to increase the cross-section of his reaction well over what can be produced in a well ordered smooth nickel lattice. A tubercle is atomic mound of randomized topology created on the metal’s surface. Rossi is using these tubercles to disrupt the regularity of the nickel lattice to increase the strength of the atomic bonds of the nickel atoms. When there is a lattice defect on the surface of a lattice, the coordination number (CN) of the atoms that form the defect decreases. As a result, the remaining atomic bonds shorten and deform; this increases the strength of the remaining bonds of the nickel atoms on the walls in and around the tubercles. These atomic CN imperfections induce bond contraction and the associated bond-strength gain deepens the potential well of the trapping in the surface skin. This CN reduction also produces an increase of charge density, energy, and mass of the enclosed hydrogen contained in the relaxed surface skin imperfection. This increased density is far higher than it normally would be at other sites inside the solid. Because of this energy densification, surface stress and tension that is in the dimension of energy density will increase in the relaxed region of the disruption lattice bonds. For example, when a nickel wall lattice phonon wave breaks upon the surface imperfection, it is amplified by the abrupt discontinuity in the lattice and is concentrated by the increased bond-order-length-strength (BOLS) of the nickel atoms that form the walls of the cavity. His phonon behavior is highly improbable is a simple pile of nano-powder. This tight coupling allows the thermodynamic feedback mechanism to control and mediate the reaction. It also amplifies and focuses the compressive effects that phonons have on the hydrogen (Rydberg atoms) contained in the lattice defects. These defects increase the intensity of the electron screening because of the increased bond tension inside the defects. Nano-defects are very tough. This toughness and associated resistance to melting and stress is conducive to the production of high pressure inside the defect. Penetration of hydrogen into a polycrystalline surface is ten times that on a smooth nickel surface due to spill over catalytic effects and crystal defects in and among the tubules. Rossi has stated that his temperature of his nano-powder can reach 1600C before it melts. Nano-powder usually melts well below the 1350C melting point of bulk nickel in a regular lattice. This revelation informs us how much Rossi has increased the strength and available atomic bond tension in his nano-powder. The smaller the dimensions of the lattice surface defect, the greater is the multiplier on the hardness and the resistance to stress compared to the smooth bulk material. These multiplier factors can range from 3 to 10 based on the properties of the bulk material. Multilayer sites that penetrate down through many lattice layers are more resilient than surface defects. Their toughness is proportional to their detailed topology and therefore not generally determined. There is a certain minimum size which one reached reduces the hardness of the nano-defect site. This size is on the order of less than 10 nanometers. If you are interested in this subject read this paper for more theoretical background: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/ecqsun/rtf/PSSC-size.pdf PS. I have run across a way to make polycrystalline fibers or tubules on nickel if you are interested. In steadfast service to our community; AXIL On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 1:17 AM, Aussie Guy E-Cat <aussieguy.e...@gmail.com>wrote: > While considering the fabrication of my Ni-H cell, several points > concerning the Door Knob Rossi LENR reactor have come to light. > > 1) Rossi used a wrap around external heater to bring the core up to > operational temperature. > > 2) This external heater could not be the source of the necessary electrons > needed to create the H- ions needed to be captured by the Ni atoms. > > 3) He would need another naked, so to speak, element heater to boil off > the electrons needed to form the H- ions, once they were broken apart from > the supplied H2. > > 4) Vacuum tubes do this by using a thermionic emissive coating on the > cathode tube structure surrounding the heater element. > > 5) In vacuum tubes a positive charge on the plate causes the electrons to > leave the cathode and to travel to the plate. > > 6) Rossi may be using a voltage difference between his cathode and the Ni > powder to control electron availability and to control the reaction. > > 6) He seems to have the ability to disable sections of the 3 core reactor > assembly. > > Maybe Rossi's catalysis is nothing more than a selected thermionic > emissive coating on a thin metal tube surrounding the electron source > buried deep in the heart of each of his reactor cores? > > This may imply that his "Frequencies" are a variable pulse width, selected > polarity, signal that can increase the effective release of electrons from > the cathode with a positive polarity pulse train or retard them with a > negative polarity pulse train. This would make it relatively simple to > control the strength / heat gain of the reaction. > > In the middle of the heater power wire feed module, there is a removable > plug that may allow Rossi to disable selected reactor cores by using a > small 3 pole slide switch block that may be accessible behind that plug. > See attached photo. > > Comments? >
