I would like to add a fourth theory that may be commonly applicable to Sapphire, Suncell and Ecat SK(L) to challenge @Director with the aim of a fair and calm discussion.
As some forum members might recall I am an admirer of the works of Leif Holmlid.
I've expressed earlier thoughts (April 2016) that Rossi and Holmlid might have in common that they both deal with Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium.
I'd like to add now other LENR related companies and researchers to that thought (e.g. Sapphire team, Suncell team).
In my thoughts the following components play an important role:
- Atomic Hydrogen/Deuterium
- Suitable catalyst(s) to form Rydberg/Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium
- A (controlable) energy trigger source to release high energy particles from Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium.
1. Atomic hydrogen/Deuterium
This can be produced in many different ways. A few to mention here:
- at the surface of specific metals that are able to absorb/desorb hydrogen/deuterium
- an arc/plasma method. Such method is commonly used for atomic hydrogen welding, where a sustained (AC powered) arc is produced between two hollow tungsten electrodes. Heat produced within the arc separates molecular hydrogen into atomic hydrogen. In the case of metal welding, the atomic hydrogen is recombined at the metal surface of the to be welded parts while releasing high temperatures caused by the recombination energy of hydrogen atoms to molecular hydrogen. The hydrogen arc welding method does not consume the tungsten electrodes.
2. Suitable catalyst(s) to form Rydberg/Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium
These catalysts are well known. Holmlid did use a particular commercial Royal Shell catalyst (potassium doped FeO).
The use of Pottasium, Lithium is commonly mentioned in patent (applications), scientific articles.
All parties, Rossi, Sapphire project team and Suncell team have mentioned at least the use of Lithium if I recall well.
3. A (controlable) energy trigger source to release high energy particles from Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium.
Holmlid indicated the use of a laser that can be controlled very accurate. But, he also indicated that Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterum is emitting high energy particles spontaniously or influenced by even the light of his laboratory ceiling lights. This shows that the emission of high energy particles from Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium is difficult to control.
The stream of ions or electrons in a plasma would also be a useable trigger source, be it not very controllable since this plasma is also used to generate atomic hydrogen/deuterium.
Infrared radiation would also be a possible source for the release of high energy particles from Ultra Dense Hydrogen/Deuterium (think Mizuno R20).
All parties, Rossi, Sapphire project team and Suncell team, showed they have all 3 components mentioned above in their setups available and they heavily struggle with control of their process because the trigger energy applied to UDH/UDD is hardly controlled in their setups sofar. This is where Holmlid is much more in control with regards to his process to release high energy particles.
In particular Rossi has shown remarkable steps to improve his methods. He started with using Nickel powder (suitable of creating atomic hydrogen by absorb/desorb hydrogen), but suffered probably huge problems caused by sintering of nickel powder. Remember that Rossi mentioned in the early days (2011-2013) that the excess heat was generated in the (borium/lead) shielding of his reactor tubes, probably because of absorption of high energy particles. Now he seems to use plasma only avoiding sintering issues and allowing for more control.
The control issue using plasma is obvious if my theory is correct: there are two parameters that needs to be controlled while using plasma, the first one being the generations of the precise amount of atomic hydrogen (to form UDH) and the second one being the amount of trigger energy. With plasma methods shown by Rossi, Sapphire- and Suncell teams, both parameters are not controlled independantly. This might be the key challenge for all involved parties.