He’s not giving too much away, but Andrea Rossi indicated today that there have been substantial improvement in hot cat design and performance, specifically mentioning ‘substantial’ improvement in power density. Here is a question and answer Journal of Nuclear Physics reader Mark Saker:
1. Does the newest 1MW prototype bear any resemblance to previous designs or is it a far departure. A: It bears any resemblance
2. What is the size of the 1MW product and what shape is the unit as a whole A. Confidential.
3. Are you looking at larger scale devices and if so what are the sizes in output and physical size. A. we have substantially increased the density of power, but I cannot be specific until the R&D and validation work is not completed and its results ( positive or negative) published
4. Are there still restrictions that the electricity/heat needed to ignite and control the device cannot be taken from the output of the device or have you found a way around this? A. I do not understand the question
5. How much would a 200MW device weigh? I’ve been looking at the VASIMR requirements for a 39day trip to Mars (I know it is a long way off but I can dream!) A. see #3
6. How long till the extended test is finished? Is there a specific date when they will finish the tests and then just have to write the paper? A. this does not depend on me. Maybe ( MAYBE) a month, plus the paper preparation and publication time.
I followed up with a question about whether there had been a corresponding improvement in COP, but he wouldn’t provide a response, except to say that he no longer liked the term COP which is used in describing heat pumps, air conditioners, etc., and would rather use the phrase “ratio between energy produced and energy consumed” — which I think is fine, because it describes the essence of what we are looking at when evaluating LENR.