AFC and SS Cell Update + Vertical Cell Changes [UPDATE#2 - The nano powder kegs!]
Our Calibration tests on the Stainless Steel cell within the Air Flow Calorimeter were long and slow. Unfortunately, they were also somewhat inconsistent.
We did two calibration runs. The first one was nice and clean. <data here>
The second one <data here> had some flaws in it, though. We have not taken the efforts to fully analyze the causes because of limited man power and, frankly, more promising tests just around the corner.
That whole apparatus has many undesirable attributes including a very long time constant and a complicated and unique set-up for the air flow calorimeter. Despite the fact that we could see power changes as small as 50 mW with the AFC during some tests, we don't feel that it is the optimal path going forward.
We learned a lot in the development and commissioning of this test setup, though. Much of what we learned is going into the next generation of calorimeter and test cell.
The next version calorimeter is smaller, simpler, more responsive, and more accurate. The test cells to go into it are similarly simpler less expensive and more conducive to rapid testing. This new design basically made the Air Flow Calorimeter obsolete before we had even worked all the bugs out of it.
The new version is what we are calling the Concentric Tube Calorimeter. It is described here. More on this progress as we commission it.
UPDATE#1 - New calorimeter video
Paul Hunt talks through his new calorimeter design that promises to have good accuracy with fast time constants at the same time as being small, cost effective and able to test both powders and wires.
Also - It is pretty, it will visually give an indication of what is going on in the cell!
In Other News:
We are in the midst of rearranging our lab room to allow for the new dual V1.3 cells. We will be giving the new cells the premium space under the air hood. The current apparatus will be relocated to a new counter. Because the air flow patters are different, however, the calibrations done earlier will no longer be valid. Any suggestions on what we should do with it, now?
V 1.3 Cells:
New parts from Mathieu for the V 1.3 test cells arrived today, triggering a flurry of activity finishing construction of the new cells.
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UPDATE#2 - The nano powder kegs
Hi all, a new mini project on nano powder experiments has been launched over at:
http://www.quantumheat.org/index.php/collaborate/219-fishing-on-the-reef-powder-reactors-at-hug
join in - this is your time!
Comments
Are you looking at an average or history? I can see that something is wrong with the averages. The server is catching up the averages to the live data as we type, It should be caught up later today or tomorrow.
The data viewer is an awesome tool for looking at the amount of data available. Thanks for all your hard work.
When I look at the last hour of data I get no data and the date is at 1970. Is there something I need to do on my end?
When we powered down the cells last, we updated the software and firmware. You can see the version number of a couple components on the bottom of the UI by the copyright dates. A good portion of my day while I'm not assembling cells is testing the new versions of software and firmware. We have made leaps and bounds with different areas of the software in the past few weeks and we are not slowing down any!
Is it possible to put a revision number on the UI screen of the data collection system to report/track bugs??
There was a bug in the software that basically turned the data collection off on both cells. It didn't turn the cells power down, but to fix it I had to reset the HUGnet lab board configuration and therefor lost our control for a time. I think it was 5 min or so. It is happening currently and Scott is taking a look at the bug.
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3/21/2013 8:16:24 Had to restart the power in the Celani Wire (Red). It cooled off a little.
Which cell? any idea what happened with the data collection?
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Please correct me if I am misunderstandin g. Thanks.
Ed
I found a very interesting pressure sensor with high accuracy and RS485 communication protocol.
keller-druck.com/.../...
The documentation is near perfect !
I will talk to the product specialists of this company tomorrow to check if these sensors are compatible with hydrogen applications.
Update: The type 33X is used in hydrogen environment in some applications and is also available with a gold sputtered measuring cell to avoid the diffusion of hydrogen into the cell.
Br Dieter
That does make sense. Thanks
@Bob,
When the fan was turned on, why did the ambient rise 1.5C?
You would think it would go down?????
Hydrogen leakage through glass may be accelerated by exposure to IR in the presence of Cu ions. With the cell power off, such leakage would be reduced.
www.osti.gov/.../674639.pdf
Hagelstein recently showed that accumulated He can take days or more to permeate out of active sites in the lattice. The accumulated He might suppress the LENR reaction, which would then increase after the He escapes.
The recent cycle seems to support both these hypotheses.
So... there was a systemic error! No air movement.
What we have done is moved the vertical cell rack with both cells still attached outside of the ventilation hood and we upgraded some of the components on the power supplies. We also, upgraded the software. Besides that, we move a few pieces in the lab around to make room for a 12 foot counter top along one wall. This gives us more work space for future experiments. It also screws up our calibration with these older cells because of different(i.e. less) airflow currents.
@ Ron B
Both cells did lose some pressure (0.2 bar) but that was better than I expected. While the cells were cooled down we saw the pressure inside each reactor to be close to 0.87 bar, which could have caused a leak into the cells. This could explain why we didn't see as much of a pressure change.
As of a few minutes ago, I turned on a fan out in a lab to stir up the air in the room to make the air around the cells more constant.
The resistance in the Mica cell is still dropping. We should see some significant increase in Pxs when this is reversed.
I do find it very odd (and telling) that it appears that no H2 was lost when the cells were cold. Since we've seen the cells go negative pressure when in operation, the fact that it doesn't change when cold seems that it should be very important.
@ Ecco,
Maybe you're right for absolute values, but in general it seems we could use the information to draw some conclusions?
I don't think Pxs calculations should be relied anymore if yes.
Celani found that having left his cell cold with a Hydrogen in for a few weeks, he saw even better PXs at NI week. He put this down to the ability if Hydrogen to "fracture" materials and he suspected it had done something like that to his wire. In so doing, it was surmised that it heightened the effect.
Maybe that is what we are seeing here... 5 - 8.5% PXs, whilst not the highest we have seen from these cells, it is getting into the interesting range and so short after switch on. Maybe there is some systematic error and this cannot be fully discounted until we start our differential experiments, that is why they are so important to meeting our primary aim.
As I see the data, no H2 pressure was lost during the several days that the cells were sitting idle. Any idea why this would be so (if it's true)?
The Mica cell is getting pretty close to 10W Pxs! Hopefully by the 20th it will be at 10W and I can claim the bragging rights!
The intent is they will be re-started.
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