When the Cat-E was downsized, the reaction chamber was greatly reduced in size. So was the internal heater in like proportion. But the copper pipes in the water loop are standard commercial grade sizes and therefore stayed the same size. Remaining the same size, these pipes would take away heat by conduction at the same rate in all sized Cat-E systems. The smaller internal heater could not now overcome the thermal inertia that these copper pipes produce when the catalyst/ hydrogen is conditioned during startup.
The reaction chamber must get up to 400C to condition the catalyst with hydrogen when the hydrogen is initially loaded. The internal heater could not do that any longer since it would have been greatly downsized. A supplemental external band heater was added to heat these external copper piping in the water loop so that the internally heater wound not have to overcome that heat drain overhead imposed by the structure of the Cat-E. On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 5:18 PM, OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson < [email protected]> wrote: > From Akira > > >> From Steven V Johnson: > >> > >> The exterior copper pipe lining/jacket which encases > >> the external reactor "torus" wall might assist in the > >> transfer of reactor heat to the adjacent flowing water. > >> If the reactor "torus" had been built entirely outside of > >> the copper tubing holding the flowing water only > >> the internal "torus" wall of the reactor would be able > >> to transfer heat to the adjacent water. The external > >> wall of the "torus" configuration would not be able to > >> transfer ANY of its heat to the flowing water. > > > > I suspect the electric heater is not there to heat water, but to > > heat hydrogen and increase its pressure inside the reactor > > and therefore controlling the reaction together with water flow > > (which cools the reactor). Once the Ni-H reaction starts, water > > is heated by it. > > This is an intriguing hypothesis. I certainly agree with you that the > heater is NOT there to heat the water! > > > Increasing heater power and decreasing water flow probably > > stimulate Ni-H reaction, and vice-versa. > > I find it difficult to believe there would be any flowing water > between the heater element and the e-Kitten reactor. If water was > between them, it would be EXTREMELY difficult to raise the reactor > cell's temperature much above 100 C. The water would have to be under > tremendous pressure, like a pressure cooker, in order to increase > temperatures significantly. Why would any mechanical engineer want do > design a thermal transfer configuration like that! It's totally > counter productive. > > Therefore, and IMHO, the auxiliary heating elements is most likely in > direct physical contact with Rossi's e-Kittins. Therefore, a torus > shape does seem to be the likely solution. The apparent fact that > there is copper pipe lining between the heater and torus shaped > reactor will allow heat to transfer fairly efficiently. In fact, > having the copper between the heater and the reactor might help > transfer some of the reactor's internal heat to the adjacent water as > heat begins transferring /propagating down the copper pipe and into > the water. > > Now, whether the auxiliary heating element is there to heat the nickle > powder or the hydrogen - THAT is indeed a burning question! ;-) > > Regards > Steven Vincent Johnson > www.OrionWorks.com > www.zazzle.com/orionworks > >
