Andrea Rossi is already manufacturing and selling his industrial-sized E-Cat power units. The high temperature units currently under development promise steam power in large applications. With steam power, you get steam engines, and with steam engines and turbines, you get electricity.
Many people are eagerly awaiting the certification of his domestic units, designed to provide heat and hot water for individual homes. This, alone, will be a economic boom for homeowners and landlords alike. However, the concept of having steam engines or steam powered turbines seems to have little application in a domestic setting. Is it possible that the heat from a domestic E-Cat be used to provide electricity through use of a steam turbine?
With the right turbine or engine, the answer is yes. The domestic E-Cat does not produce enough heat to run a typical steam engine – hence the excitement over Rossi’s high temperature E-Cat. However, According to Scott Beach, who recently posted on Rossi’s site, Journal of Nuclear Physics, a low-heat steam engine has been built that would serve the purpose of working with the domestic E-Cat.
The Cyclone Waste Heat Engine is a steam engine that is designed to run on left-over heat, or wasted heat from industrial applications such as flares, exhaust pipes, and commercial ovens. The domestic E-Cat would certainly emit enough heat to run this type of engine. The smaller E-Cat emits about 400 degrees C, and this waste heat engine can run on 316 degrees C. This steam engine is supposed to be able to operate a 10kW generator – capable of providing electrical power to an entire home. The unit itself is about the size of a bathtub.
If these two technologies can be combined, the individual’s ability to manufacture their own electricity will finally be realized. With the power supplied by the E-Cat and the generation supplied by the WHE, We may all be able to get “off the grid” within the next few years.
Jeff Clark
July 11, 2012
Ive been reading a lot of talk about 600 C. There is a lingering concern that I have. Its like this… A single match, when burning, has a temperature somewhere around 1500 F. That seems to be high enough to make steam. Temperature alone does not dictate if steam can be made. It is not possible to generate enough steam to make electricity from a single match flame. It does not make sense to me that a 600 C element the size of a size D battery will produce enough steam to make popcorn (let alone electricity). Likewise, I dont see the same 600C element heating my house. I can light 10 or 15 candles each at 1200 F (total flame size much bigger than a size D battery)…this will not heat my home. The question is this…how many reactors are going to be necessary to heat my home? Will they all be in the samme box?
administrator
July 11, 2012
The 600 C e-cat is the latest reactor in testing and it’s different from the home e-cat (the 10kW device) which is certification-pending and its purpose is heating homes.
Iggy Dalrymple
July 21, 2012
Rossi has mentioned that one domestic E-Cat will produce sufficient heat to keep a 1,000 sqft house warm in winter. Larger homes, poorly insulated houses, and homes in especially cold areas will heed more than 1 unit.
I plan to use a Rheem Marathon Electric 105 gallon water heater which hopefully will provide a big enough reservoir of hot water to heat my 2,000 sqft N Florida home on extra cold nights. If 1 E-Cat proves insufficient, I’ll add a 2nd.
http://www.menards.com/main/water-heaters/residential/richmond-105-gal-electric-lifetime-tall-water-heater/p-200254.htm
psi
July 11, 2012
In other words, Jeff, the size of the 600 c unit is much, much larger than you assume.
marcel pilatte
July 11, 2012
be careful with your calculations. At 600°C a steam engine or turbine will have an efficiency of +/- 35% . With an 1 MW heat output you get 350 Kw electricity.
With a COP of 6 you need 167 Kw of electricity to run the E-cat
The real electricity output is 170 Kw minus water pump and cooling system
The total efficiency is 17% and the rest is waste heat
compare this efficiency with coal power plant 35%, gas turbine 55%
More researchs are needed to obtain a COP of 20 or 40 to limit the waste heat and the consumption of cooling water
The E-cat is a good prototype wihch need improvements
Alain
July 12, 2012
right for the computation, but comparing efficiency is nonsense.
LENR heat is easier to produce, since no fuel cost.
with LENR the cost of energy it self is negligible, but the cost of power is noticeable.
the only comparison having any sense are power per $, and power per kg…
see my computation
http://www.lenrforum.eu/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66&p=1021#p1021
the COP limited to 6 is only a claim of rossi, and defkalion talk more of 20+, which is rational.
note that with MW sized turbines, the isentropic relative efficency can get around 90%, and isentropic efficency is more around 66% at 600C to 30C …
smaller engine are much worse,and except for vehicles I don’t think they will develop.
marcel pilatte
July 12, 2012
I agreed with your posts in lenrforum.eu ; excellent posts
power per Euro is the key for future production
note : for small steam engine the QUASTURBINE (canada) is a good option with lower rotational speed
the fuel cost (nickel / hydrogen) is low but the cooling (waste heat) will be the big problem in urban location without a nearby river (cooling towers)
Joe Shea
July 12, 2012
I agree with the idea, but I think any domestic use should await the production of the hydrino reactors from BlackLight Power, which are designed to supply 10 kW of electricity friom thermal energy to a home. Once you get into steam engines and steam turbines, as history tells us, you also get into devastating explosions. A far more intelluigent approach would be to use the industrail E-Cat to supply heat and hot water to an entire condominium building, where the cost could be pro-rated. An apartment landlord would also be able to provide hot water by substituting an apartment building’s boiler with an E-Cat and supplying hot water himself while saving 90 percent on his cost for fuel. With the hydrino reactor, a couple of them could supply the building’s electricity, and he could charge for that at the same rate the utilities charge, making a huge profit. There is a lot of money that can go sideways in these devices.
Bruno
July 22, 2012
Hydrino reactor? Are you kidding? Hank Mills at BLP has been promising hydrino power for the better part of a DECADE. He has missed every deadline that he has ever set. Nor has he ever conducted a validated 3rd party demonstration of a working unit. Mills has had more than enough time to show us something, but he has not. He’s a scammer.
kwhilborn
July 12, 2012
There are hundreds of various electric generators in homes around the world harnessing wind power. Converting technology is a non issue.
administrator
July 12, 2012
Could you elaborate?
Mike Phalen
July 13, 2012
Has anyone noticed that Rossi’s Florida office is about an hour away from Clylone Power?
DeMac
July 15, 2012
You state that: “Andrea Rossi is already manufacturing and selling his industrial-sized E-Cat power units”; however, I have not seen any authentication of this.
Can you provide proof that this has occurred?
If so, this would be great news in itself!
administrator
July 15, 2012
From the Journal of Nuclear Physics. This is just one example:
http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/?p=666&cpage=1#comment-271463
Mark Stockman
August 13, 2012
Even the lower temperature E-Cat has potential for power generation, using the technology from low temperature geothermal. 600 C / 1100 F is not the relevant figure in steam production; that would be BTU/hr. Need that figure to calculate the pounds of steam per hour at what temperature. Then it’s easy enough to figure what HP/KW of steam engine any given E-Cat will operate.
Tim Stockman
August 13, 2012
I have been following Rossi and his E-Cat since January 2011 when the first public tests were done. The patent process is time consuming but necessary and Rossi has been right to want to protect his rights as inventor. It seems like a slow process but meanwhile, the E-Cat is evolving rapidly. When the home unit finally becomes available it should be well designed and tested. To me the value of this technology is in its simplicity. By giving the homeowner the ability to generate heat for home heating (at a fraction of current costs) is reason enough to celebrate. Eventually, an E-Cat capable of generating electricity for a single home will truly place the “power” in the hands of the homeowner rather than the power companies. Oh happy day.
DDearborn
September 27, 2012
Hmmm
It would seem to me that this is a tailor made application for a sterling engine based electrical power generation system.