MFMP: Automated experiment with Ni-LiAlH

Wyttenbach about Superwave I citate Bob Greenyear for MFMP:

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We understand that whilst everything else was transferred to SKINNR - "SuperWave" remains protected IP of Dardik.

As I understand it, it is a key frequency and side bands and the side bands are treated as key frequency and side bands and so on in a pattern structure that is similar to a 2D fractal and can be applied as pressure, light, electromagnetic.

Mathieu has spent quite a bit of effort getting to the bottom of it - even having long conversations with Arik Boher and buying the exact same power amplifier they use.

As for what it is used for, I asked Arik on a tour of Skinner what it was for and he said (to the best of my recollection) cleaning the electrodes.

I have a video recording of that somewhere.

"

Quote from Alan Smith

Perhaps, but more likely an inverter system, as used to drive AC motors at variable speeds.

From the attached document below:

Quote

В первых опытах электроэнергия для разогрева реактора бралась непосредственно из электросети с использованием тиристорного регулятора.

В дальнейшем применялся трансформатор с переключающимися обмотками. Переключение как ручное, так и автоматическое с использованием регулятора, управляемого сигналом термопары.

Google translation

Quote

In the first experiments, the electric power for the heating of the reactor was taken Directly from the power grid using a thyristor regulator.

In the future, a transformer with switching windings was used. Switching both manual and automatic using a regulator controlled by a thermocouple signal.

So both interchangeably?

Mats002

The "superwave" you are describing was the electrical stimulus applied to an electrochemical Pd-D system by the Israeli team. A similar unique waveform stimulus is being applied by Brillouin in their Ni wire reactor.

Quote from Mats002

Because magnetic flux is proportional to current change (dI/dt - steepness of the curve) an asymetric EM-signal could make a difference.

The magnetic flux is (average magnetic field strength)*(area). The magnetic field strength is proportional to the current, not dI/dt. The stronger the current, the greater the magnetic field; and since the area is a constant, the magnetic flux is proportional to the current.

That doesn't mean that rapid changes in the magnetic field won't induce an effect. Rapid changes in the magnetic field are hard to create because the fundamental characteristic of an inductor is that it wants to keep its current flow constant. This usually means that stimulating a wide bandwidth magnetic field is really inefficient.

Why RF to the coil and not just try DC and steady B field first?

Thanks for corrections Bob, new learnings every day. About dI/dT - From a physical perspective, with no current change, there will be a steady magnetic field generated by the inductor. With no change in magnetic flux (dΦ/dt = 0 Webers per second), there will be no voltage dropped across the length of the coil due to induction. With current change - From a physical perspective, the gradual increase in current results in a magnetic field that is likewise increasing. I might use the wrong terms but dI/dT and magnetic field should be correlated.

https://www.allaboutcircuits.c…5/inductors-and-calculus/

Quote from oldguy

Why RF to the coil and not just try DC and steady B field first?

Two reasons - the first, the practical. There are some other magnetic materials in the vicinity and I am worried about the DC field causing forces that will make these things move. In the long term, if it proved desirable, I can rework the system to avoid irons in the area.

The second reason is that it has been an AC stimulus that was used in the experiments so far that showed excess heat. This is not going to be RF in that it is not electro-magnetic - just magnetic at an audio frequency. RF is another stimulus that I know how to add, but is more expensive to add.

Mats002

Ok, I think I understand where you are going with this. There will be a sinusoidal I(t) from the sinusoidal V(t). Therefore there will be a dI/dt and it will be a sinusoid. The advantage of the sinusoid is that it fits in the bandwidth of the resonant L-C circuit. If I drive the coil without the capacitor, the current will be 17x lower at 4kHz, hence the magnetic field with be 17x lower.

I understand your goal of maximizing current and that is a neat solution. If a somewhat asymetrical signal would be applied the current would be lower but maybe - who knows - that would affect ions for the better. Again - just a thought. Thanks for your time and effort.

Quote from Mats002

We understand that whilst everything else was transferred to SKINNR - "SuperWave" remains protected IP of Dardik.

The term Superwave and its shape are patented. But the shape must be exactly the same and that's no easy to prove...

The fact is: The magnetic force is proportional to (charge)² . If you want to directly shape the coulomb cloud, then you need a square force. For other purposes like enhancing phonon resonances etc. the frequency is more important than the exact shape!

For the past couple of days I have been stalled in producing an AC current sensor to add to the system. It had to be isolated. In the future, I may revise my sensor to use a Hall effect device (like Melixis), but here is what I have made for now with parts I have:

One of the leads of the field coil around the reactor will pass through the center of the little toroidal transformer. This will directly sense the AC current. The opamp is a rail-to-rail input and output. The rails are 0V and 5V, but the input will be AC around 0, so only one half of the cycle will generate a response at the opamp output. This will have a DC component and that is filtered by R5-C2. I will feed the output of this sensor into a presently un-used single-ended voltage input in the DAQ.

Alan Smith

That ACS712 Hall effect IC would be a good choice for the application. I will have to buy a couple in my next order to Digikey. I was hoping to be able to make a quick isolated sensor from parts on hand - I did make it but it wasn't as quick as I hoped.

Today I will make a few cables and re-assemble everything with a null reactor tube. I want to do a calibration run with the coil in place and test my modified Labview script with some .wav commands as part of the calibration. I need to see how much the presence of the coil and the electrical stimulation affects the calibration. It will be a good time to look for unexpected interferences from the AC magnetic field - for example, affecting the PMT in the scintillator.

Almost everything is hooked up now: Field coil, audio power amplifier, dummy reactor core, and the neutron detector. The reactor area is starting to look pretty cluttered. After a few minor details tomorrow, I will start the whole system tests, and then run a calibration that will include the 4kHz bursts in the calibration cycle.

BobHiggins

A quick question. Why not tie the CT through a bridge rectifier? If I understand correctly, the CT should act like a current source so a bridge rectifier shouldn't affect the reading. That should allow you to read positive and negative swings. It should make the output filtered signal a little smoother.

GlowFish

I wish it would have been that simple. I was trying to work with parts I had, and I began with a simple half-wave rectifier and filter cap. Unfortunately, with the number of turns I could make on the small toroidal core, there simply was not enough voltage to turn on the diode (I tried with a 1N4148 signal diode) and charge the capacitor. With a full wave bridge, there would have been twice the diode drop to overcome. So, I began SPICE modeling until I got something to work with a small number of components. The better solution would probably be use of a Hall effect IC like the ACS712 in the 20A version. This IC would replace the CT, but would still have internal isolation. Using the ACS712 IC would be easy for DC and still a pain for AC - I would still need an opamp precision rectifier to get a measure of the AC peaks.

BobHiggins

Will you have the opportunity of doing a quick calibration test with a ferromagnetic load such as an iron or magnetic steel bar/cylinder?

can,

That will probably be a natural part of an actual experiment since the Ni is a magnetic material. My plan of the moment is to step and regulate the temperature as before, but at each step have a "hold, wav excitation, hold" pattern. This will allow the effects of the .wav excitation to be evaluated at cold temperatures where the effect should be no more than heating and then see how the effect changes at more elevated temperatures.

The first calibration will be done without a magnetic load in the reactor cell (alumina instead). This will evaluate the effect of the magnetic stimulation on the thermocouples and instrumentation. I also need to make sure that the coil is not going to get too hot and smoke. If the coil is getting too hot, changes may be required to the convection around the coil.

Can you clarify what information you would be looking to gather during the test you propose? Magnetic losses will be material and temperature specific.

BobHiggins

The information I'm looking to gather is how a "worst case scenario load" composed of a solid core of high magnetic permeability would affect the system during the excitation part, in particular below the Curie temperature. I realize that it would not be high priority relatively to your experiments.