At 04:23 AM 10/9/2014, Teslaalset wrote:
I find it quite a coincident that after 32 days approximately all Ni
and Li were transmuted to Ni62 and Li6. I would have guessed that
running out of the original isotopes would create a reduced
performance which would be the reason for shutdown.
Why has this not been mentioned?
Although none of the tests show it, I still believe that the ECAT
will run, as advertised, for at least 6 months on one charge. The
time for this test was set by the experimental team (and most likely
by their host, which was paying for the power).
I'm beginning to think that this transmutation was a "burn-in"
secondary effect, particularly for the Lithium, which was there only
to provide the hydrogen.
If you ignore the bump when they changed the input power levels
(files 4 to 6) the COP increased almost linearly over the whole test.
So maybe the "long term" COP depends on these transmutations -- ie
the availability of (most likely) Ni62, and coincidentally Li6 -- and
would have stabilized just a few days later when the transmutation
was complete.
I wonder if Rossi knew this would happen. However, he usually runs
his Ecats at higher power, so the burn-in might be much quicker --
and he's never analyzed the ash that early.
He's also hinted that the 1MW "baby" at the "customer" has also
needed constant attention and adjustment (including being called out
in the middle of the night). Maybe it too is undergoing a settling-in
period --- it's also been running for less than a month.
But we won't get those results for at least a year, and they will be
purely internal documents.
In short, I think it IS coincidental that the Ni and Li transmutation
was nearly complete at the end of the run, but that some other
reaction continues beyond that point.
And even if the 1g charge DID have to be replaced monthly it would
probably still be economical.
