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204) An Israeli Connection
Ludwik Kowalski (3/8/05)
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ, 07043
Israeli industrial researchers participated in both cold fusion conferences that I attended: ICCF10 and ICCF11. They did not represent well know
research centers, like Weisman Institute or Technion, they came from a small private company called Energetics Technolpgies. Here is how the company
activities were categorized in August 2003 by I. Dardik et. al. (ICCF10):
“Energetics Technologies (ET) was recently established to investigate possibilities for generating energy from
Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) using a new approach of wave excitation. The new approach involves use of so-called “waves-waving-waves”
or Superwaves for driving the processes that generate LENR. Four experimental approaches are being pursued: electrolysis (EC), glow-discharge (GD),
gas loading in catalyst cells (CC) and high-pressure high-temperature cell (HPTC) with ultrasonic wave excitation.”
And here is how their work was described in the January 10 issue of the New Energy Times <http://www.newenergytimes.com/news/8.htm>
Two groups who are relatively new to the ICCF conference series gained a significant amount of attention from the cold fusion veterans. The
first was the American-Israeli team of Energetics Technologies. The Energetics Technologies Ltd. laboratory is located in Israel and is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Energetics Technologies LLC in the United States. . . . [The company] presented data from its
three best electrolytic cold fusion experiments at the conference:
- Run #56 gave 80% excess heat over a duration of 300 hours with a total excess energy of 3.1 Megajoules. [generating heat at the mean rate
of 29 W]
- Run #64a gave 2500% excess heat over a duration of 17 hours with a total excess energy of 1.1 Megajoles. [generating heat at the mean rate
of 17 W]
- Run #64b gave 1500% excess heat over a duration of 80 hours with a total excess energy of 4.6 Megajoules. [generating heat at the mean
rate of 17 W]
[At the ICCF11] Ehud Greenspan of Energetics Technologies provided the following four points to summarize other key
aspects of their claims:
‘1. Excess energy generated was more than 25 times higher than the input energy. The next highest excess energy
reported in ICCF-11 was obtained by Roger Stringham.
2. The remarkable excess-energy to input-energy ratio reported by Energetics Technologies has been obtained at relatively high power levels of
several tens of watts and lasted for tens of hours.
3. It is instructive to compare the excess-energy obtained by Energetics Technologies to that of Mizuno quoted by Jed Rothwell as a remarkable
achievement -- 84 MJ from 100 g of Pd. These numbers correspond to a "specific excess-energy" of 0.84 MJ per gram of Pd. The specific
excess-energy obtained in the Energetics Technologies experiments reported at the ICCF-11 was ~20 MJ/g, i.e., more than 20 times higher.
4. The highest "specific-power" obtained in Energetics Technologies experiments -- ~70 watts per gram of Pd, is higher than the
average specific-power commercial fission reactors are operating at between 20 to 50 watts per gram of uranium.’
. . . Energetics Technologies and Mitsubishi may be the two most well-funded groups performing cold fusion research in the world. The angel investor
behind the company is Sidney Kimmel, . . . The greatest challenge they face is reproducibility. Certainly, their claims of excess heat and energy
appear to be among the highest ever seen in cold fusion experiments. The Holy Grail of clean nuclear power has not been obtained, however, because
they have not seen high reproducibility with their work. If they can find a way to readily reproduce 2500% excess power, commercialization for
electrical power generation is not far behind. But unlocking the secrets of nature to get to that point will not be an easy task. . . . “
Conference presentations of Israeli scientists -- they can be downloaded from the library at <http://www.lenr-canr.html> -- are very
impressive. The most spectacular successes reported by them (see above) were obtained in electrolytic cells whose electrodes were prepared in close
cooperation with a team of Italian scientists from the Frascatti Research Center. The current flowing through an electrolytic cells, or through a
glow discharge chamber, was a “superwave,” a mixture of several low frequency components. Browsing the Internet I found the following
description of superwaves (by Arik El-Boher at a Frescati seminar on April 22, 2004):
“Energetic Technologies (ET) was recently established in Omer (Israel) to investigate intensification of Low Energy
Nuclear Reactions (LENR) using excitation by SuperWaves©. SuperWaves is defined as a low frequency carrying wave with several successive
stages of amplitude and frequency modulation – waves waving within waves. All stages of modulation are interrelated non-linearly. The inventor
of the SuperWaves – Dr. Irving Dardik – has experimentally proven that these very special wave patterns are efficient in accelerating and
intensifying different processes in metallurgy, biochemistry, health and other fields.”
At the same Frescati seminar, entitled “Nuclear reactions through superwave excitation,” El-Boher reported that ”a
significant amount of excess heat was measured in the first glow discharge experiment. The power generated during the experiment was up to 3.9 times
the input power. When driven with SuperWaves the excess heat was higher than when driven with DC. A significant amount of excess heat was also measured
after the shutdown of the cell, lasting for approximately 10 hours following the cell shutdown.” Will the reported effectiveness of
superwaves be confirmed in other laboratories? This remains to be seen.
The primary interest of the Israeli company, as far as know, is excess heat; I am not aware of their attempts to identify the origin of that heat. The
essence of the cold fusion controversy, on the other hand, is not excess heat, it is its nuclear origin. I mentioned this recently to somebody who
reported generation of excess heat at rates exceeding 100 watts. The answer was typical: “Since you can't have more than 100% efficiency - it
must be nuclear.” No, it does not have to be nuclear; it might be something else. Let me say, however, that emission of nuclear particles from a
glow discharge chamber has been reported much earlier, as described in the unit #13.
Post Scriptum:
If the excess heat is nuclear then its generation can be described as an exothermic nuclear reaction:
A + B = C +Q
where A and B are masses of reacting nuclei and C, the product of the interaction, is usually the sum of masses of two or more nuclei. The Q stands
for the amount of energy generated. In the very first nuclear reaction observed (Cockroft and Walton, 1931) A was the accelerated ion of hydrogen
1H and B was a stationary lithium 7Li.
Fusion of these two nuclei produced 8Be which immediately decayed, producing two alpha particles, 4He. In the so-called hot
fusion A and B are rapidly moving hydrogen ions (in an ionized deuterium gas) while C stands for either (3He + 1n) or
(3H + 1p). These two outcomes occur with about the same probability. The third possible outcome, production of 4He,
is extremely rare. Positively charged atomic nuclei, A and B, always repel each other. For that reason nuclear fusion of A and B is generally believed
to be extremely rare at low temperatures. That is the essence of the controversy about cold fusion. The theory predicts that cold fusion of atomic
nuclei is practically impossible while many experimental scientists were able to detect it by observing nuclear particles: neutrons (1n),
tritium (3He) and alpha particles (4He).
If devices built by Israeli researchers generate nuclear energy then nuclear particles, or other reaction byproducts, should also be present. If it
was up to me I would look for such “signatures” of nuclear reactions. The rate ot which nuclear byproducts are produced should be directly
proportional to the rate of production of excess heat. Establishing this fact, in a highly reproducible setup, would finally resolve the cold fusion
controversy. As far as I know the major issue on which Israelis are focusing is irreproducibility. But this should not prevent them from trying to
demonstrate presence or absence of nuclear byproducts. How will cold fusion impasse be resolved? Will it be resolved by scientists or will it be
resolved by engineers? Scientists are primarily interested in solving mysteries, engineers are primarily interested in building useful gadgets, such
as airplanes and power plants. A 100% reliable gadget would stimulate scientific research, a 100% reproducible scientific setup would lead to
technological innovations. Healthy competition between scientists and engineers is desirable.
Post-post Scriptum:
Basic laws of flying “heavier than air machines” were not known when first airplanes were built. But many laws of electricity were already
known when first electrical power plants were built. The field of cold fusion, however, is still waiting for its Wylbur Wright, for its Michael Faraday
and for its James Maxwell. Why does it take so long to resolve the controversy? I tried to answer this question in the unit #203.
Addeendum (3/16/05)
Interesting internet items about Energetics Technologies:
<http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1143>
Excess Heat in Electrolysis Experiments at Energetics Technologies
I. Dardik, T. Zilov, H. Branover, A. El-Boher, E. Greenspan, B. Khachatorov, V. Krakov, S. Lesin and M. Tsirlin; Energetics Technologies P.O.Box 3026
Omer Industrial Park Omer, Israel
Using the electrolytic cells described in our ICCF-10 paper driven with Dardik’s modified SuperWaves, significant amounts of excess heat were
obtained in a number of experiments. The most successful of these experiments generated excess heat a couple of times: (1) Approximately 5 hours into
the first loading of deuterium into the Pd cathode – giving an average power gain of ~2500% during 17 hours. The average current density was 7
mA/cm2. (2) The same foil was deloaded after the excess heat generation stopped for no apparent reason and than loaded again. After 16 hours of loading
excess heat was generated again at an average level of ~1500% for 80 hours. The average current density was 8.4 mA/cm2. At the end of the two experiments
the tritium concentration in the electrolyte was 270% of its pre-experiment level. The total amount of excess energy generated is approximately 1.1 MJ
and 3.5 MJ in, respectively, the first and second experiments. This amount of excess energy corresponds to, respectively, ~4.8 KeV or ~15.3 KeV per Pd
atom. The corresponding average specific power is 71 or 48 W per gram Pd. For comparison, the average specific power in commercial nuclear fission
reactors is between 20 to 40 W per gram uranium.
The Pd cathode is a 50 µm thick foil that is 7 mm wide and 60 mm in effective length. It has been pre-treated by Dr. Vittorio Violante of ENEA
in Frascati, Italy. The anodes are two 0.1 ? 20 ? 60 mm Pt foils. The electrolyte is 0.1M solution of LiOD in D2O. After the experiments the cathode
was investigated using a number of probing techniques, including AES, SEM-EDS, TEM and SIMS. Significant amount of low Z contaminants were found on
its surface, extending to a depth of dozens of Angstrom. Their origin appears to be the lubricant used for rolling the foil in the pre-treatment process.
Their presence prohibited detecting nuclear reaction products with acceptable certainty on and near the surface. No transmutation products were found
at deeper layers. However, no measurement of He inventory was attempted.
The Super Waves Principle
Irving Dardik
Energetics Technologies P.O.Box 3026 Omer Industrial Park Omer, Israel
The results presented at ICCF10 of Glow Discharge experiments performed by Energetic Technologies (ET) researchers in Israel were described
as “dramatic”. I expect that no less will be said of the Electrochemical Cell results to be presented at this conference. It is the
purpose of this communication to describe the technical features of the ET results that distinguish them from prior cold fusion results, and
the governing principle and theory that guide these new experiments. This information is offered to assist others to make progress in developing
new energy technology.
Unique to the ET experiments is the use of a new understanding of wave modulation. Rather than dc, dc + ac, dc pulsed or bi-level perturbation,
the waveforms being subjected (successfully) to test by ET employ waves fractally nested in a specific non-linear manner designed to stimulate
intrinsic oscillatory processes across a wide range of scales. I call these SuperWaves©. When properly implemented SuperWaves have been
demonstrated to influence strongly processes in the realms of physics, physical chemistry, metallurgy and also in physiology.
Early validations of the SuperWaves principle were obtained in physiological studies and from theoretical and applied studies of the melting,
stirring and strengthening of metals. The current presentation will focus on the organizing principle of SuperWaves in the D/Pd both as a means
to improve the rate and extent of (D) loading, and to provide the stimulus needed to produce cold fusion heat (and nuclear?) effects.