A few weeks ago I mentioned that I think ganging together many small Rossi devices will call for some complicated engineering. Perhaps it will slow down the development of the 1 MW reactor. I'm sure that 100 units can be coordinated but it may take a team of engineers some time to design such a system.
Even if it is harder to engineer initially, as a method of generating energy I think this is a good approach. I do not think that a ganged system would be much larger than a single gigantic cell, and I do not think it would require much additional lead shielding. I do not think this will take up much additional volume (or sheilding) because I do not suppose the units will be individual discrete modules, but rather they will be manufactured altogether in one chunk. I envision something like a gigantic ice cube tray, or an engine block with cylinder holes in it. A large 4000 HP (3 MW) Diesel engine may have 16 cylinders. A large Rossi device might have an array of 10 x 10 similar holes in single large block, or perhaps for use in a narrow railroad locomotive chassis, a rectangular 5 x 20 array. The engine block would have to be heat resistant but it would not have to be as strong as an internal combustion engine block because it would not have to withstand the mechanical force of exploding gasoline. Each of the holes would be filled with nickel catalyst powder, and then a single large cover would be bolted down on top. Above each of the 100 holes would be a series of screw in access ports, like the ones you screw a spark plug into. These would be used to admit hydrogen from the cells. Electrical connections made with solid insulated wires (not screw holes) would also be built into the cover, for the resistance heaters and sensors in each cell. Aside from the engine block, all the other equipment you need is built into the top cover. This is similar to the design of a typical cold fusion cell, which resembles a ship-in-a-bottle. The anode, cathode and all sensors are attached to the lid. In addition to the 100 vertical pits, the engine block might have a series of horizontal holes drilled all the way through to admit pipes carrying the fluid you want to heat up (or perhaps the drilled holes can act as pipes). The horizontal holes would not penetrate the vertical holes; they would run through the walls next to them. The individual cells are fabricated together, right next to one another, in an array. It may be that the October prototype will consist of many small discrete modules, but I suppose a final manufactured version would be more like this. This would not take up substantially more volume than a single large cell, and it would make it easier for the cooling fluid to reach the individual cells. I assume the lead shielding could go around the entire box rather than around each individual cell. For a very large machine you would stack the arrays on top of one-another to form a 3-dimensional array. I do not know whether many small cells are inherently safer than one large one but I am willing to take Rossi's word for that. This is the way modern technology is often made: with many small units ganged together rather than a few large ones. Decades ago this would have been more expensive because it would have required more human labor, but nowadays things like this are fabricated by robots, so it does not matter. - Jed
