Some Q & A with Lenz on New Russian Report (Updated — Aug 2: More Q & A’s)

I sent some questions to Lenz & Co regarding the report just published about the experiment in Russia.

Here are the questions, and the answers provided by Lenz.

1. Can you say what material you used for your reactor? Also the type of nickel and LiAlH4 used in the testing?
Stainless steel for the thick(8/4/70mm) tube in the presentation. There were also ceramic. nickel, molybdenum and other tubes. Nickel powder(PNK-OT2) and LiAlH4 are the same as Parhomov used. Looks like we bought them in the same store.

2. The kind of heating method used in your experiment?
3. The method of heat measurement, and location of the measurement instrument.
 I used controlled(feedback from one of TC) DC power connected to the Kanthal coil on the ceramic tube. Hope I answered your question.
4. What kind of input wave signal used — AC? DC? Waveform (sine, chopped, pulse, etc,)

Just DC. See typical voltage&temparature figure attached. (posted below)

5. How many times have you done this experiment — is this the first results, or are there more?
Not sure but looks like more than 30 times started from April.
6. Can you say anything about members of your team?
Ideas generator, do-all(and also ideas) person and 2 or 3 assistant. I’m leader and dirty worker for everything).
Voltage&Temparature typical

 

UPDATE: (Aug 2, 2015) Here is another set of questions and answers with Lenz about his experiments:

About the process of Hydrogenation:

1. Do you do any hydrogen loading of the nickel before the heating process?

I didn’t do any hydrogen loading into Nickel except using reused Nickel(tube or(and) powder).

2. Do you know how much pressure is in the reactor?

Only estimation: 2-7 atm. it depends. I did several pressure tests but results are not sustainable to publish them. Actually in that tests I noticed that reaction occur with reused Nickel. Also looks like pressure behaviour depends on using reused Nickel in the reactor. I recommend to put no more than twice more LiAlH4 in the laser brazed metal tube in comparison with Parhomov recommendations. Check brazer joint for sustainability. I used air compressor up to 7.5 atm. Fortunately I have such results and everything is OK. Bricks set up saved me). Looks like that time it was more than 50 atm. Below 600 degrees is danger area, keep temperature increasing not high.

3. Do you evacuate the chamber before hydrogenation?

Not any evacuation. Just cleaning and drying reactor. Keep Nickel and LiAlH4 dry.

4. How did you process the fuel before loading into the reactor — did you mix it, grind it, or do anything special to it?

Just mixing.

5. About how much empty space did you have in the reactor after the fuel was loaded?

Usually I follow Parkhomov reccomendations. I that cases there are enough free space. Several times fuel occupied almost all internal space. Nothing special happened if you use correct temperature profile.

6. Do you have any thoughts about why the excess heat might start at lower temperatures with thinner reactor walls?

For today I suppose there are at least two important things. First thing is reused Nickel. Reusing Nickel is actually described in Focardi paper at 1998. They did several hydrogenation cycles before starting the process and have COP about 1.7 at around 500 degrees. Second thing is heat conductivity of the fuel surround(reactor etc). 0.2 mm thickness of Nickel tube conductivity is close to 2.5 mm of ceramic tube (10/5) of Parhomov experiment. As I remember heat conductivity difference for Nickel and ceramic is 10-15 times (depends on ceramic types) at 1000-1200 degrees. Wall thickness differs 12.5 times- so close. Thick tube I put inside ceramic sockets at the ends. So air is around center.

7. Have you any experience using AC and other wave forms — for example square waves? Any plans to experiment with this?

Not any experience with AC. Hope AC could help to protect from green rust of Nicrome or FeCrAl at negative end. We will use AC If we switch to inductive heating like Denis Vasilenko test set up.

8. Have previous tests shown excess heat?

Several times with thin Nickel tubes like described in presentation. Additional two times with the same set up with thick Stainless steel reactor. However TC were failed before reactor and heater started to melt. I checked different places of second TC( above the reactor and wired to the reactor end opposite to main TC).

9. What are your plans for future tests?

Nearest plan is to achieve sustainable heat generation during at least several hours. Test several different tube materials. Prepare inductive test set up like Denis Vasilenko style.

10. Do you have any theoretical ideas about what might be causing the reaction?

I read several papers and discussions about it. However I have not found from theoretical papers any practical recommendations about reactor, surround design, fuel structure, hydrogenation and excitation of Nickel. So everything is as usual).