How to Make and Detect a FAKE Rossi/Focardi eCAT LENR

Alan Fletcher
Version 3.02, March 11, 2011

1. Introduction

A new "Cold Fusion" or "LENR" device -- the Rossi/Focardi Energy Catalyser or eCAT was recently demonstrated at the University of Bologna, Italy on Jan 15, 2011:

Rossi-Focardi Energy Catalyzer

Unlike the Deuterium/Palladium Pons and Fleischmann setup, this uses Hydrogen and Nickel, produces large amounts of energy (more than 10kW), and can be turned on and off on demand.

An additional experiment was performed in February, where the eCat ran for 18 hours.

This paper takes a "Devil's Advocate" position : if it's not real, how can the experiment be faked? And if it's faked, how can we detect it, or eliminate it?

And if all possible fakes are eliminated ... Sherlock Holmes' axiom applies.

2. Conclusion

Note : I'm putting the conclusion at the top for now.

Since the December/January experiments only recorded the inputs and outputs for a short time (30 minutes), almost ANY of the fakes could have produced the result.

For the February experiment Levi was allowed to inspect everything, including the 1-liter reaction chamber.

However, he did NOT record the volume of the reactor as a whole -- so we have to assume that the entire horizontal arm contained fake material.

There is at least ONE fake configuration (Boron burned in Air) which is NOT eliminated in the 18-hour February trial.

This could have run for 53 Hours.

The Rossi/Focardi eCat device has NOT been proven to be real in these experiments.

3. eCAT Demonstrator Apparatus

The basic setup is

                                              *======> steam 
                                              |        outlet
                                         *---------*
                                         |    :    |
                                         |    :    |
                                         | Vertical|
                            Main         | Arm     | 
                            Unit         |    :    |
                                         |    :    |
                           Horizontal Arm|    :    |
                           *-------------*    :    |
                           |    Reactor       :    |
                           |   * - - - - - -* :    |
                           |   :Shielding   : :    |
           *------*        |   *- - - - - - * :    |
Water  ====| pump |=======>|::>: Heat       :-*    |
           *------*        |   : Exchanger  :      |
       *--------------*    |   *- - - - - - *      |
AC:--->| Control Unit |===>|::>: Resistors  :      |
       *--------------*    |   *- - - - - --*      |
            *------*       |   : Chamber    :      |
Compressed  | H    |======>|::>: Ni/H       :      |
Hydrogen    |      |       |   *- - - - - - *      |
            *------*       |                       |
            ^^^^^^^^       *-----------------------*
            scale            ||                || metal legs
                        *============================* 
                                 board

The components are:

• Main Unit (Made up of a Horizontal and Vertical Arm)
• Horizontal Arm : Contains the Reactor Unit, reportedly made up of:


• Chamber -- contains Nickel, fed with Hydrogen
• Resistors -- used to "ignite" the reactor, then lowered to maintain the reaction
• Heat exchanger -- heats and/or boils the water.
• Radiation Shielding -- Lead


• Vertical Arm
• Water and Pump
• Control Unit powered from a wall-plug.
• Compressed Hydrogen bottle, weighed before and after.

The entire Horizontal and Vertical arms were enveloped in tinfoil for the December/January trials.

The presence or absence of any evidence of nuclear activity is NOT considered in this paper.

Operation:

• Load the reactor with hydrogen
• Apply 1 kW through the control panel until the reactor "ignites"
• Reduce the input power to 400 W (Jan)
• Pump water in at a measured rate and temperature
• Observe steam output, measure temperature and (January) dryness
• Accurately measure the weight of the hydrogen bottle, before and after

4. Equipment Sections

4.1. Control Box

The weight is unknown.
Villa reported the volume as 60 litres.
Levi looked inside the control box in February

Section	Abrev	Mass	Volume
Control Box	Ctrl	-	60.000

4.2. Horizontal Arm

The weight is unknown.
Villa reported the volume as 22 litres.
Levi reported in February that much of the volume is insulation.

He gives the volume of the Reactor CHAMBER, but not the value of the REACTOR as a whole.

Section	Abrev	Mass	Volume
Horizontal Arm	Horz	-	22.000

4.3. Vertical Arm

The weight is unknown.
Villa reported the volume as 9 litres.
Levi reported in February that there are no hidden components.

Section	Abrev	Mass	Volume
Vertical Arm	Vert	-	9.000

4.4. Reactor

The weight is unknown.

Levi reported in February that the volume of the Reactor CHAMBER, but not the value of the REACTOR as a whole.

Section	Abrev	Mass	Volume
Reactor	React	-	1.000

5. Methodology for FAKE eCATS and their Detection

6. Batteries and Chemicals

This section describes various techniques and materials which could be possibly used to construct a fake.

The materials are selected from Wikipedia Energy Density
(Unfortunately not all entries give the Energy by volume AND by weight.)

The materials selected represent the highest efficiency for any class.

These all have the characteristic that they contain a fixed amount of energy, and can therefor only run for a limited time. A fake made from batteries or chemicals simply has to be run for long enough to exhaust the material.

Batteries could be contained in the Control Box, and in the Main Unit..

Note: values of '-' mean the result is not available, values of '???' mean that I haven't fed them in yet.

6.1. Lithium Ion Batteries

Lithium-Ion batteries are listed as the most efficient by volume.

(Lead-Acid batteries are listed for comparison.)

Material	Abrev	Energy by Mass	Energy by Volume	Specific Heat
Lead-Acid Batteries	Lead B	0.140	0.360	-
Lithium-Ion Batteries	L-i B	0.720	3.600	-

Lithium-Sodium batteries are listed as a higher Energy Density by Mass -- but the volume is not given.

6.2. Hydrogen Fuel Cell

This method uses a Hydrogen Fuel Cell, which could deliver electric power from the Control Box to the Main Unit.

It could use compressed or liquid Hydrogen, in conjunction with external air, compressed Oxygen or liquid oxygen.

Material	Abrev	Energy by Mass	Energy by Volume	Specific Heat
Compressed Hydrogen/External Air Fuel Cell	HA-FC	143.000	5.600	-
Liquid Hydrogen/External Air Fuel Cell	LHA-FC	143.000	10.100	-
Compressed Hydrogen/Compressed Oxygen Fuel Cell	HO-FC	???	???	-
Liquid Hydrogen/Liquid Oxygen Fuel Cell	LHO-FC	???	???	-

Comments : the by-product is water, which could be vented, or, if burned with oxygen, condensed and stored.

6.3. Hydrogen burned with Air or Oxygen

THis could be used in the main unit only.

This method burns compressed or liquid Hydrogen with external air, compressed Oxygen or Liquid Oxygen

Material	Abrev	Energy by Mass	Energy by Volume	Specific Heat
Compressed Hydrogen/External Air	HA	143.000	5.600	-
Liquid Hydrogen/External Air	LHA	143.000	10.100	-
Compressed Hydrogen/Compressed Oxygen	HO	???	???	-
Liquid Hydrogen/Liquid Oxygen	LHO	???	???	-

Comments : the by-product is water, which could be vented into the outlet, or, if burned with oxygen, condensed and stored.

6.4. Boron Burned with Air or Oxygen

This method burns Boron, burned with external air, compressed Oxygen or Liquid Oxygen, forming solid Boron Trioxide, which can remain in the unit.

Material	Abrev	Energy by Mass	Energy by Volume	Specific Heat
Boron/External Air	Bo/A	58.900	137.800	-
Boron/Compressed Oxygen	Bo/O	???	???	-
Boron/Liquid Oxygen	Bo/LO	???	???	-

Note : the Wiki Energy density link goes to a partisan web site Boron: A Better Energy Carrier than Hydrogen?

The energy density needs to be confirmed.

6.5. Diesel burned with Air

6.6. Magnesium and Steam

6.7. Other Materials

7. Other Fixed-Energy Methods

7.1. Pre-loaded Heat Sink

7.2. Input Water Diversion

8. Unlimited-Energy Methods

These have the characteristic that they can run for an unlimited time. Instead of calculating how long they could run, one has to calculate how much is needed to produce the observed power.

8.1. Hidden Wires

8.2. Nuclear

9. Experiments

9.1. January Experiment

In December 2010 a team of scientists was allowed to examine the device, and performed a number of experiments.

In January a "press" demonstration was held -- though the reactor developed an internal problem (reportedly on the leads to an internal heating resistor), took a long time to "ignite", and ran at lower efficiency (higher inout power).

These two will be referred to as the "January" apparatus and experiment.

The things we know about the January apparatus as a whole are:

• The input power to the controller
• The input water volume and temperature
• The output steam temperature and dryness
• The amount of hydrogen used
• ESTIMATED volumes of the various elements
  (These could be confirmed from the photographs).

The things we do NOT know about the January apparatus include:

• The contents of the controller
• The power from the controller to the main unit
• The output steam volume
• The weights before and after, other than the hydrogen bottle
• Whether any air was taken in by the device, or combustion products released.

ASSUMING that ALL the water was converted to steam the total OUTPUT energy was computed:

• Heat water to boiling point
• Convert to steam
• Heat the steam

Given the rate of flow, the output power (kW) was calculated, and the INPUT power (kW) to the controller was subtracted.
The total excess energy (kWH) was computed from the Power (kW) times the runtime (H).

The volume of the various elements were estimated by Mauro Villa to be:

• Control Box 60 litres
• Horizontal Arm 22 litres
• Vertical Arm 9 litres

[ These could be conformed from photographs.]

The measured values are:

• Flow Rate: 17.5 L/Hr (292 ml/min)
• Input Power : 400W
• Excess Power 12.5 kWH
• Factor 12.5/0.4 = 31
• Duration: 1 hour, of which 30 minutes was steam-producing
  
• Hydrogen: less than 0.1 g of hydrogen was consumed.
  If the hydrogen had been burned it would have produced less than 14.3 kJ (xxx to follow)

9.2. February Experiment

The February trial reportedly had the same general structure, except that is was only used to HEAT water, not to convert it to steam.

The (sole?) observer of the February run, Prof Levi, was allowed to examine everything INCLUDING inside the cental cavity of the reactor, which he estimated to be about 1 liter in volume. He reported that a lot of the volume of the horizontal and vertical arms was insulation, and that lead shielding was visible around the reactor chamber.

Cold Fusion: 18 hour test excludes combustion

The things we know about the February apparatus as a whole are:

• The Control Unit and all parts of the Main Unit including the reactor were inspected.
• The input power to the controller
• The input water volume and temperature
• The output water temperature
• The amount of hydrogen used (Less than 0.4g), producing XX kWH is burned.
• ESTIMATED volume of the reactor chamber
• Very little water could be stored (see note)

The things we do NOT know about the February apparatus include:

• The power from the controller to the main unit
• The weights before and after, other than the hydrogen bottle
• Whether any air was taken in by the device, or combustion products released.

The measured values are:

• Flow Rate: 17.5 L/Hr (292 ml/min)
• Input Power : 80W
• Excess Power 16 kW
• Factor 16/0.08 = 200
• Run Time: 18 hours
• Hydrogen: less than 0.4 g of hydrogen was consumed.
  If the hydrogen had been burned it would have produced less than xxx kJ (xxx to follow)

Note: Since all of the system was visible except the central reactor, and a high rate of flow was used, we can reasonably assume that ALL the water was sent through the system.

10. FAKES by VOLUME

10.1. Lithium Ion Batteries

10.2. Liquid Hydrogen

10.3. Diesel Fuel

10.4. Boron

11. FAKES by WEIGHT

12. Rothwell's Razor

This is a variation of (the usually misquoted) Occam's razor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is very tempting to propose elaborate schemes by which the eCat could be faked. For instance, in the author's physorg.com posts he suggested feeding it a brew of various isotopes of water to make sure that the SAME water goes in and comes out.

However, in the Vortex mailing list Re: [Vo]:Hidden wire hypothesis redux

Jed Rothwell suggests in response to another comment:

13. Discussion

Note : some of this section needs to be merged with the experiment sections, above.

For the December/January STEAM version I'll clarify that the parameters for the ORIGINAL demonstration were:

For the February WATER version we need: For FUTURE WATER versions we need:

14. Calculations

All calculations in this document are performed with the PHP programming language which generates the document.

15. Physorg Posts

These ideas were first noted in PhysOrg (posting as alanf777)

The 1,000-character posting limit made my comments rather hard to read), so I have extracted and clarified them in Physorg v1

Version 3.02, March 11, 2011 AlanFletcher@FarCad.com Home