I would like to submit my speculation about the latest Rossi hotCat for discussion on Vortex-l.
- We are told that the central reactor core is a 310 stainless steel cylinder ( 3cm by 33cm). There is no port for introduction of H2. The ends are cold welded closed. - When the test device was sawed open, only a miniscule amount of powder came out. This cannot be the active powder - it would have melted as loose powder rather than conveying the heat out of the cylinder. - It is highly desirable to have high thermal conductivity between the NAEs and the outer metal cylinder. You wouldn't get this with loose powder on the inside. - 310 stainless is ~25% chromium, ~21% Ni, and the balance mostly iron Consider what Celani has done - taken a Ni-Cu alloy wire and etched out the Cu to realize the surface nanotexturing, thus creating NAEs on the wire outer surface. Suppose we took the 310 stainless cylinder and used a chromium etch on the inner surface. Chrome etches typically contain nitric acid which will also attack the iron, but not the nickel. The result could be a nanotextured Ni inner surface of the 310 SS cylinder with perhaps a micro-scale Ni "fur" in *high thermal contact with the cylinder*. There may be further chemical texturing of the inner surface or nanopowder added as part of a thermo-chemical modification of the surface to create the NAEs in high number on the inner textured Ni surface. Then, cold weld one end of the cylinder closed. Calculate the amount of metal hydride needed to release the desired pressure of H2 into the cylinder when it is heated and put this powder inside the cylinder. Cold weld seal the second end closed. Viola! You have a hotCat reactor core. Rossi has also described his "cat and mouse" where the "mouse" was added to enhance the performance of the hotCat. An easy speculation for this would be that he could take some of his previous Rossi micro-Ni + catalyst powder and add that as well to the hotCat as a means to help the reaction begin from a lower temperature. I believe the cylindrical outer heaters are just resistor coils embedded in a high thermal conductivity ceramic. Comments?
