Two readers of CMNS have objected to my posting of a non-nuclear energy technology, so this will be my last message to CMNS, at least for a while.
The demo was of effects, not working systems. Expectations of energy gain ratios are premature, for the power requirements of necessary support systems were not included. Useful detains are given in the updated Technical Presentation, available on the website. Disappointments that Mills did not show a plug-and-play commercial system are *very* premature. I have log personal experience with the rough road between a laboratory 'effect' and a commercial product in my 38 years as a senior engineer at the former RCA corporation. It is much more difficult than expected, full of nasty surprises. I suspect that few members of the Vo/CMNS audience have any real conception of that world. Mills postulates a compact machine that positions pellets of fuel between the interlocking teeth of two meshing gears, electrically charged, which heat the pellet to its activation temperature in less than a millisecond. The resulting plasma explodes into two MHD converters, on either face of the meshing gr=ears. Residue of the pellets is collected and transported to a module which reconstructs and re-hydrates the pellets for re-use [reusable firecrackers, anyone? J]. Personally, I doubt that this function will be flawless, which implies a maintenance function: such is not a show-stopper, for even machine guns need cleaning. Activating the pellets at a rate of 1000 per second requires significant peak power, which can be achieved by known means, but must come out of the energy budget. Mike Carrell
