On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 11:47 AM, Finlay MacNab <[email protected]>wrote:
> I disagree with your assumption about he common characteristic table. The > chart for the high temperature sensors lists a different accuracy for the > %RH than is listed in the common characteristics table. > OK, you may be right, but it seems a little ambiguous to me. Anyway, if the device can measure the RH of steam at 100C. I hope is reads 100%, or someone got taken. > > There is another explanation for the stable output temperature besides wet > steam that should be ruled out: > > If the reactor piping has a significant volume and the reactor is charged > with water prior to being energized then the temperature of the output steam > would be as observed even if the rate of steam production was not equal to > the input flow rate. For the short demonstrations so far this explanation > would be sufficient to explain the observed results if the assumptions are > correct. > I agree that in principle a reservoir of water in the reactor could regulate the temperature at the bp even if the power exceeded that necessary to convert all the input to steam. But it's hard to think of a practical design for this within the confines of the ecat as shown in the photos. The steam from the reservoir would have to join the flow of output steam, but it should not be replenished by the input flow of water, because then the mass flow rate would be constant, and regulation wouldn't work. They claim the reactor itself is only 50 mL, and some demos have gone on for several hours. The question is why would they do this. Letting the temperature go higher would be all the evidence they need that the steam is dry. And if there is some need to maintain the temperature of the fluid at 100C, they could simply adjust the flow rate to keep the steam a little wet. That is, they could first identify the flow rate at which the steam temperature exceeds boiling, in order to calculate power, and then increase it a little to keep the steam a little wet. A reservoir seems implausible to me. But still, you've identified a way the steam could be dry and still pinned to the boiling point. Unfortunately, evidence that it *is* dry is still absent. And in the Krivit video, the feeble puff of steam at the output is pretty good evidence that most of the liquid does not change phase.
