Alan J Fletcher wrote:
The radio24 pics show the heat exchanger outside. The "corrugated"
section inside the eCat is part of its internal core-to-steam heat
exchanger.
I don't get it. Please explain. Are there two heat exchangers?
One to condense the steam maybe?? I thought that's what the secondary
loop exchanger does.
This is the pic Lewan posted :
http://www.radio24.ilsole24ore.com/Foto/articoli/ecat071011-3.jpg
"corrugated"
I presumed (wrongly) that THAT was the heat exchanger between the
primary (steam) and secondary (water) circuit
Okay I read the report again, and watched this video more carefully:
http://media.shootitlive.com/talentummedia/1/GruKSTyuBVhX8hi2ZTaKGPjV3Wq_768.mp4
This makes it easier to understand. The video inspires confidence.
There are definitely two heat exchangers, #1 for the water loop, and #2
inside the reactor.
1. The external one is a commercial heat exchanger that transfers heat
from the steam to the secondary cooling water loop. After the test,
Rossi removes the insulation and shows the equipment more clearly. He
points to where the thermocouples are mounted. You can see them during
the run but the position is more clear after the insulation is removed.
The position of the thermocouples looks fine to me. No problem.
They are using a laboratory grade handheld dual thermocouple to measure
the temperature difference, similar to this one:
http://www.omega.com/pptst/HH11B.html. Cravens, I and others have
purchased various models of these things and we have found them highly
reliable. During the video the thermocouple indicates a 6°C Delta T.
As shown in the video, the water condensed from steam in the external
heat exchanger is not recycled back into the cell. It goes out the hose
into the drain. So it is not accounted for in the flow calorimetry. In
the plans for this test, someone mentioned that the condensed water
would be recycled back into the cell. This would reduce heat loss. I am
sure that the condensed water is still quite hot. As I said, this is not
detected by the flow calorimetry. It is not "recovered."
2. There is a "crinkly" internal heat exchanger inside the reactor. I do
not understand what its purpose is. Lewan told me it transfers heat from
the cell to the steam primary loop. Why do you need a heat exchanger for
that? . . . The design of this thing baffles me. It is a mistake to jump
to conclusions about a machine when you do not understand the design.
Rossi is not good at doing demonstrations, but he sure does understand
thermal engineering and he probably has a good reason for using the
reactor heat exchanger.
Anyway, Lewan described the crinkly heat exchanger:
"After cooling down the E-cat, the insulation was eliminated and the
casing was opened. Inside the casing metal flanges of a heat exchanger
could be seen, an object measuring about 30 x 30 x 30 centimeters. The
rest of the volume was empty space where water could be heated, entering
through a valve at the bottom, and with a valve at the top where steam
could come out.
Inside the [reactor] heat exchanger there supposedly was a layer of
about 5 centimeters of shielding, and inside the shielding the reactor
body, supposedly measuring 20 x 20 x 1 centimeters and containing three
reactor chambers. . . ."
Unfortunately the reactor heat exchanger obscures the view of the
equipment below it. I asked Lewan if he thinks there is room in there to
hide something a battery or butane canister. He said no. He added that
it would be very dangerous. There is very little room unaccounted for.
- Jed
