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Casimir Boiler
Horace Heffner August 1, 2009
OBJECTIVE
The purpose here is to provide a means of extracting energy upon
demand from the zero point field (ZPF), by utilization liquid flow
of van der Waals force bound liquids through cavities sufficiently
small to reduce the Casimir force component and thus the boiling point.
METHOD
The Casimir force is hypothesized here to be at least part of the van
der Waals force that can bind noble gas atoms like Argon, or
molecules, especially symmetric molecules, like CCL4. This suggests
that moving van der Waals bound molecules through a Casimir cavity of
sufficiently small size will reduce the van der Waals binding energy,
and in the case of liquids, reduce the boiling point and enthalpy of
evaporation. Energy from achieving the boiling can be achived via
Carnot cycle engine and generator, and the liquid thereby condensed
and recycled.
SOME CANDIDATE LIQUIDS
The binding energy is reflected in the enthalpy of vaporization for
candidate liquids. The problem with noble gases is they have very low
boiling points and low enthalpies of vaporization.1
Table 1 shows some candidate liquids for Casimir cavity boiling.
Enthalpy of
Element/ Vaporization
Compound (kJ/mol) (eV/molecule)
Helium 0.08 0.000829
Neon 1.74 0.01803
Argon 6.52 0.0676
Krypton 9.05 0.0938
Xenon 12.7 0.1363
Radon 18.1 0.1876
CCl4 32.54 0.3373
CF4 135.7 1.406
Table 1 - Casimir cavity boiling candidates
Carbon tetrachloride, CCL4 and carbon tetraflouride
(tetrafluoromethane), CF4, may be good candidates for a Casimir
boiler because they are highly symmetric and relatively inert in the
expected operating conditions. CF4, with a boiling point of -127.8 C
has the same problem as the noble gases, the energy producing device
would have to be encapsulated in a cryogenic envelope. However, CF4
has a stellar 1.4 eV per molecule enthalpy of vaporization. The
problem in all cases is knowing just how much of the liquid state
binding energy is due to the Casimir force. This is best determined
experimentally.
Of the prospects examined, CCl4 is the most readily available, has
the best boiling point, 76.72 °C (350 K), and has a good enthalpy of
vaporization, 32.54 kJ/mol, or 0.3373 eV/molecule. It has a density
of 1.5867 g/cm3, and a molar mass of 153.82 grams. Except for
availability, and toxicity2 , it is good for amateur experiments.
CCl4 is a probable carcinogen. It was used by dry cleaners at one
time for spot cleaning.
PROPOSED EXPERIMENT
An experiment to evaluate CCl4 prospects for a Casimir force boiler
would consist of measuring any boiling point depression from imposing
a fine mesh barrier between the liquid and gas phases of CCl4. A
closed circuit with condenser would be used to recycle the CCl4. A
controlled heater and stirrer would be used to maintain the
temperature of the liquid phase.
The interesting part is deciding what to use for barriers, i.e. flow-
through Casimir cavities. One possibility is sintered fine metal
powders. Another is stacked fine foils, like gold leaf, with a
dielectric powder or micro-beads used as a plate separator. Plate
separation has to be under 10-7 m to obtain any effect.
POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE
Suppose 10 percent of the heat of vaporization is due to the Casimir
force for CCl4. That is 3.25 kJ/mol, or (1.5867 g/cm3)(3.25 kJ)/
(153.8 g) = 0.0335 kJ/cm3 = 33.5 kJ/liter boiled, or 33.5 MJ per 1000
liters boiled.
Looking at this from a practical standpoint, at 1 liter per second
boiling rate, that is 33.5 kW output, and at a 1000 liter per second
boiling rate 33.5 MW output. It would take a pretty large device to
produce 10 kW, enough to run a home, as that would require boiling
about 300 ml per second for that output alone. It would make an
improved efficiency home heater, but all of the electricity
generated would have to be fed back into the boiler just to achieve
a COP of 1.14. provided the electrical generation were 30 percent
efficient. It would only produce 1.14 times the heat over the energy
supplied.
If it turned out that 100 percent of the heat of vaporization is due
to the Casimir force, and Cavities small enough to release all that
energy were used (an unlikely possibility), then a home heater could
run by boiling a mere 100 cc per second, or 6 liters a minute. Using
a 30 percent efficient electricity generating system, a COP of 1+ 0.3
+ 0.32 + 0.33 + 0.34 + 0.35 = 1.42 can be achieved if all the
electrical energy is fed back to the boiler. If 51 percent of the
produced enthalpy, in the form of heat plus electrical energy, could
be recovered and fed back into the boiler for heating, then the
boiler would be able to sustain self operation plus produce
electricity. The Casimir supplied enthalpy is recovered as it heats
the gas as it condenses, by drawing molecules together via the
Casimir force, so this energy can be directed immediately toward
heating the liquid by heat exchanger.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
