One thing we can be pretty sure of is that any Ni in this reactor at 1300-1400C will have no nano-features. The nano-scale portions melt at about half the temperature of the bulk material. So what would happen is that if there was Ni with nano-scale features, these features would melt before the bulk and cease to be nano. Long before you get to 1000C, Ni particles (if that is what he used) would sinter themselves together and to the wall of the reactor.
I do suspect that nano-features are still required for the reaction. In order for them to exist at these temperatures, Rossi must have substituted a new metal, perhaps zirconium. Previously he said he had experimented with other materials, but they didn't work as well as Ni. Well, in his quest to get the temperature hotter, he may have switched to one of these alternate formulations. This switch caused the hotCat to work at a higher temperature, but probably with a lower COP than his original recipe, colder eCats. Zirconium is a refractory metal which melts (bulk) at 1855C. This is still borderline for maintaining any nano-scale features at the Lugano hotCat temperatures. Rossi may have put the catalyzed zirconium particles in a ceramic washcoat inside the inner ceramic tube as is done for catalytic converters. The washcoat may prevent proton conduction just by itself, and will hold the zirconium particles close to the wall for best lowest thermal resistance. When you open the reactor to take out the "ash" there won't be any active material that comes out. The heater wire is probably Kanthal Super or the like which is good to over 1500C when encapsulated in a ceramic coating to prevent air from reaching the wire. On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 3:13 PM, Bob Cook <[email protected]> wrote: > Axil, David etal-- > > I would have guessed that a vapor of Li metal (I am not sure a plasma > would occur) may be a fairly good heat transfer agent, much like He works > as a cooling fluid. I would be surprised if there were a 200 degree delta > T between the edge of the reactor and its center. > > Delta T across the alumina vessel may be that 200 degrees, if the energy > transfer is by photons generated by the reaction directly, rather than by > lattice stimulation of the reacting material with its IR radiation, most of > the heat may deposited in the reactor vessel (alumina) or escape through > the vessel to the outside surroundings. Maybe Dave's calculation would be > able to say what the delta T across the alumina would be with a given heat > flux assuming published heat transfer coeff's for alumina. > > Helium gas is a good heat transfer agent and Li, being of low mass, would > be almost as good. > > My thought about the reactor design is as follows: > > 1. The reactive material, Ni or some alloy of Ni is free in the vessel > along with Li metal. > > 2. The external energy supply is an inductance heater as well as supplying > an oscillating magnetic field--which is controlled to effect resonant > conditions. > > 3. The reactants, Li and Ni nano particles, reach a temperature where the > LENR happens when the magnetic field is appropriate and resonances match. > > 4. The reaction causes the release of photons of determined energy (a > function of the magnetic field) with a change in the nuclear structure of > the Li and the Ni isotopes reacting. These photons are relatively low > energy and not gammas seen in classical nuclear transitions associated > with high kinetic energy reactions or transitions of excited radioactive > isotopes. > > 5. The temperature, or the combination of temperature and magnetic field > strength, in the Ni nano particles control the rate of the reaction via a > negative temperature coeff. much like a water cooled, U fueled, fission > reactor. > > 6. As the free reactants are used up or become "glued" to the reactor > vessel so that free mixing of the Ni and the Li is no longer possible, the > LENR stops. > > 7. The electrical leads are not inconel, but are tungsten or other high > temperature electrical conductor. I would not expect that corrosion is an > issue with the alumina or the reactants. The wire conductors would have to > hold up in a Li, nano Ni hot gas environment, however. Free O would be a > problem for corrosion and may change the Ni so as to become non-reactive. >
