Friendly Fire

I am sure that very few people imagined that the aftermath of the Zurich E-Cat conference would end the way it did. An event that was intended to shed more light on the E-Cat has given way to a state of confusion as Hydrofusion, one of Rossi’s licensees, issued a press release casting doubt on the veracity of the high temperature E-Cat.

It is not unusual to hear criticisms of Andrea Rossi from various outside sources, but to receive such a vote of no confidence from a close associate is certainly a public relations blow for Andrea Rossi and Leonardo Corporation — perhaps reaching to others in the LENR movement.

It should be noted that Hydrofusion has not disavowed E-Cat technology altogether. Indeed its own web site, Ecat.com, is still marketing the E-Cat, and taking pre-orders for E-Cat products. It looks like their problem is with the hot cat technology only.

To summarize, the problem arose when on September 6, a Swedish testing group tested a hot cat reactor in Bologna, and according to NyTeknik, measured input electrical power of two to three times higher than that reported in the recently published document released by Leonardo Corp., which, if true, would cancel out any excess heat produced from the reactor.

Andrea Rossi made multiple comments explaining the situation from his point of view, the latest of which is here (Caps in original):

DEAR READERS:
TODAY A BIG MESS IS POPPED OUT FROM A SHORT MEASUREMENT THAT HAS BEEN DONE THE LAST WEEK. I REALLY HAVE DIFFICULTY TO UNDERSTAND WHY SOME PERSONS HAVE TOTALLY IGNORED WHAT I CLEARLY SAID IN MY PRELIMINAR STATEMENT IN THE REPORT PRESENTED IN ZURICH: I SAID THAT ALL THE DATA ARE NOT FINAL, THE VALIDATION, THE R&D, THE CERTIFICATION OF THE HIGH TEMPERATURE REACTOR ARE IN COURSE AND THE FINAL REPORT WILL BE RELEASED WITHIN MONTHS. NOW, A GUY COMES HERE (INVITED FROM US) MAKES SOME HOUR OF MEASUREMENT, GOES AWAY AND A WEEK AFTER MAKES A PRESS CONFERENCE LIKE HE HAS MADE A PROCESS OF VALIDATION THAT TAKES MONTHES: DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE? I AM VERY CONFUSED. ANYWAY:
THE EXTERNAL SURFACE OF OUR REACTOR IS 933 CM^2
THE TEMPERATURE WE REACH WHEN IT IS STABLE IS 1050 CELSIUS ON THE EXTERNAL SURFACE. THE GUY IS ESCAPED FROM US BEFORE THE REACTOR REACHED THE DUE TEMPERATURE SAYING HE HAD SEEN ENOUGH ( ENOUGH OF WHAT?).
THE MAX POWER OF THE RESISTANCE IS 8 kW
WITH THESE NUMBERS ONLY, THE ENERGY PRODUCED IS ABOUT 17 kWH/H, WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE ENERGY FROM THE INTERNAL CYLINDER (WHATEVER IT IS), THE CONVECTION ENERGY ( WHICH IS A LOT).
NOW: IN THE NEXT 2 MONTHS WE HAVE TO ARRIVE TO A PRECISE DETERMINATION OF THE MAXIMUM COP, BUT JUST FROM THESE VERY BASIC ANC CONSTANT NUMBERS ( INDIPENDENT FROM THE MEASUREMENTS OF AMPS AND OHMS) WE HAVE A COP AROUND 2.
THE ITER PROGRAM, TO MAKE ENERGY WITH NUCLEAR HOT FUSION, IS COSTED 100 BILLION OF EUROS AND GOT NOT EVEN 1.01 OF COP.
SO, WHAT ?
IN THE FINAL REPORT YOU WILL SEE A LIST OF MANY PROFESSORS AND ENGINEERS WHO ARE MAKING ALL THE NECESSARY MEASUREMENTS FOR MONTHS.
LET ME WORK, AND LET THE TEAM OF PROFESSORS AND ENGINEERS WHO ARE MAKING THE VALIDATION ANDE CERTIFICATION WORK. THIS TIME, ANYWAY, WE GOT FRIENDLY FIRE, IT APPEARS.
ANDREA ROSSI

So, with regards to the E-Cat, it appears we are pretty much where we have been for a long time, waiting for more information. There are some differences following the Zurich report. We now know the name of a certifying agency that has been involved in testing — SGS — and the nuclear engineer who has done some of the testing: Fabio Penon. From the report we have many new details about the hot cat, but the impact of the report has been muted by the report out of Sweden.

One report from the conference mentions the installation of an E-Cat plant in an industrial setting. On Dr. Myron Evans blog is a report from a conference attendee named Horst who writes:

I am back now from the congress. This was a big succuss with about 200 participants. Rossi attended all sessions and gave an extensive evening talk with myriads of details. Main topic of the congress however was not the technique but market introduction aspects and comparisons with other technologies.

The situation with the E-cat is as follows: Currently a 1 MW version in a container is going to be shipped. A first installation at military exists but cannot ve visited. In about 3 months a company in North Italy will have a first machine from series production which can be studied by interested buyers and investors. The 1 MW version has been certified for industry usage.

This is what everyone following the E-Cat story is really waiting for. Until we can see an E-Cat working there will room for debate and doubt. Andrea Rossi has always maintained that there will be no mass media attention until that point, and right now he is probably glad that there relatively little media attention.

So the wait for more information continues. As always we will be following the story here.