WO1991015017A1

WO1991015017A1 - Deuterium energy accumulation

Info

Publication number: WO1991015017A1
Application number: PCT/US1991/001607
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jerome Drexler
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-03-23
Filing date: 1991-03-08
Publication date: 1991-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1992-09-23
Also published as: JPH05505875A

Abstract

Method and apparatus (11) for promoting electrolyte ionization of heavy water to thereby produce deuterium ions that are accelerated by an electric field and collected in the interior of an accumulator. Negative and positive electrodes (17 and 19 respectively), spaced apart, are immersed in the liquid (15) with an approximately constant voltage impressed between them. An ion accumulator (22, 23) substantially surrounds the negative electrode, is formed as an accumulator material through which the ions may flow, and has a metal that readily absorbs deuterium at its surface. The accumulator material can absorb a fraction of the deuterium ions that would otherwise flow to the negative electrode. Deuterium ions, absorbed into the accumulator material, may produce heat energy by cold fusion therein.

Description

Deuterium Energy Accumulation

Technical Field

This invention relates to a cell for production of thermal energy by conversion from other forms of energy.

Background Art

Electrically charged particles such as bare electrons or protons or muons are known to be Fer ions and to obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. Two like elementary charged particles, such as two protons, have like elec- trical charges so that they tend to repel one another.

Further, two like Fermions obey the Pauli exclusion prin¬ ciple so that, if the particles possess identical quantum numbers, the two identical particles will not occupy the same region of space at the same time, even if the iden- tical particles have no net electrical charge. The com¬ bination of two Fermions in a nucleus, such as a neutron and a proton, which together form the nucleus of a deu¬ terium atom or ion, behaves as another type of particle, called a Boson, which obeys Bose-Einstein statistics rather than Fermi-Dirac statistics. This has been dis¬ cussed recently by K. Birgitta haley, a theoretical chemist speaking at the Dallas meeting of the American Chemical Society in April, 1989.

Particles that obey Bose-Einstein statistics tend to accumulate in the same region of space under some circumstances, in preference to staying apart as like Fermions tend to do. This tendency of Bosons to accumu¬ late in the same region of space is indicated by a quan¬ tum thermodynamic expression for the pressure in a system of Bosons developed and discussed in Statistical Physics by L.D. Landau and E. . Lifshitz, Addison-Wesley Co., 1958, p. 159. In this expression for pressure, the pres¬ sure developed by a system of Bosons is less than the pressure developed by a system of particles that are nei¬ ther Fermions nor Bosons at the same concentration and temperature. This suggests that the Boson particles ex¬ perience a modest attraction for one another that has its origin in quantum mechanical forces. haley has speculated that, because of the quantum effect features of particles such as deuterium nuclei, the natural repulsion between two such nuclei can be blocked inside a crystal so that the deuterium ions are not held apart by the combination of strong coulomb forces and quantum forces. Some workers speculate that, because deuterium nuclei might be brought very close to¬ gether inside a crystal, the deuterium nuclei could com¬ bine in a fusion process at enhanced rates, as compared to the infinitesimal rates observed at ordinary fluid densities for deuterium nuclei.

It is known that some metals will readily ac¬ cept substantial amounts of hydrogen or its isotopes into the interior of such metals and that such metals can be used to filter hydrogen isotopes from a stream of other substances. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,065, granted Septem¬ ber 27, 1988 to R. Penzhorne et al., it is disclosed that a hot palladium membrane will filter tritium and deu¬ terium from CO molecules. The palladium membrane dis- closed by Penzhorne et al. was used to filter exhaust gas from a fusion reactor.

However, even where a metal such as palladium or titanium is chosen as an accumulation structure for deuterium ions, which shall be referred to as the "accu- mulator", these deuterium ions that pick up electrons at the accumulator will no longer behave as Bosons and may not manifest the desirable feature of high density accu¬ mulation within the palladium or titanium interior or lattice. One object of this invention is to provide ap¬ paratus that suppresses the tendency of the deuterium ions to pick up electrons as the ions approach the accu¬ mulator or enter the interior of the metal that serves as the accumulator.

Another object of the invention is to suppress the tendency of deuterium ions to be blocked by deuterium gas and atoms as the ions approach the accumulator.

Summary of the Invention

These objects are met by apparatus that en¬ hances deuterium ion formation in a liquid containing primarily heavy water in which most of the hydrogen ions found in ordinary water are replaced by ions of the hy- drogen isotope deuterium. The apparatus contains an anode and cathode with an approximately constant voltage therebetween. An accumulator structure is placed between the anode and cathode. The accumulator has a surface layer of metal that readily absorbs deuterium into its interior, or the accumulator may be composed entirely of this metal. The accumulator is electrically floating with the electrical charge on it being determined by deuterium ions which entered it and positive and negative ions in contact with it. With a suitable choice of accu- mulator geometry, a fraction of the deuterium ions that approach the accumulator will be pulled into the interior of the accumulator material and contribute to the produc¬ tion of energy therein. The apparatus promoting ion mo¬ tion here are the cathode and anode. The accumulator is made of a deuterium absorbing material such as palladium or titanium and intercepts deuterium ions as they move toward the cathode. A fraction of these deuterium ions are intercepted and absorbed by the deuterium absorbing accumulator material before they reach the cathode. Within the accumulator material, the deuterium ions may act as Bosons and may fuse to produce heat by the process called cold fusion. Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective cutaway view of a sec- ond embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3a is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3b is a top plan view of a second alter¬ nate embodiment of the invention. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a strand or fiber of material used in a screen electrode of Fig. 1.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are perspective cutaway views of three other embodiments of the invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

With reference to Fig. 1, the apparatus 11 in one embodiment includes a container 13 containing a liq¬ uid 15 that is primarily heavy water, D 0 or DHO, and small amounts of one or more salts to increase the deute- rium ion concentration in the liquid. Two electrodes 17 and 19 are immersed in the liquid 15 and spaced apart from each other and are connected by a static voltage source 21 that imposes a negative electrical voltage -V_ca on the second electrode 19 relative to the electrical voltage of the first electrode 17. The electrodes 17 and 19 thus serve as anode and cathode, respectively, for the apparatus 11. The D₂0 or DHO molecules in the liquid 15 are decomposed into negatively charged oxygen ions or hydroxyl ions, which are drawn to the first electrode 17, and positively charged deuterium ions, which are drawn to the second electrode 19. An accumulator 22 is immersed in the liquid 15 and is positioned between the first and second electrodes 17 and 19. The accumulator 22 is elec¬ trically floating. Preferably, the accumulator 22 extends between two walls of the container 13 so that the accumulator divides the container liquid 15 into a first portion that contains the first electrode 17 and a mutually exclusive second portion that contains the second electrode 19.

Fig. 2 illustrates in three dimensions an exam¬ ple of an accumulator 23 used in an approximately coaxial apparatus structure, also shown in Fig. 3a. Fig. 3a illustrates an alternative embodiment in which an accumu¬ lator 23 radially surrounds and is adjacent to the second electrode 19, with the distance betweeen the accumulator 23 and the second electrode 19 being smaller than the distance between the accumulator 23 and the first elec¬ trode 17. In this embodiment, the accumulator 23 again divides the container liquid 15 into two portions, and almost all deuterium ions in the liquid 15 must pass through the accumulator 23 in order to reach the second electrode 19.

In Fig. 3b the accumulator 23 radially sur¬ rounds the second electrode 19 and the first electrode 17 radially surrounds the accumulator. The anode and cath¬ ode may be tubular or may be helical. The accumulator 23 may be in the form of a mesh, as illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, or may be in the form of a helix or a squir¬ rel cage.

Deuterium ions are produced by ionization in conjunction with an electrolyte in the heavy water, which has a high concentration of deuterium atoms present in the form D₂0 or DHO. The two electrodes 17 and 19 in Figs. 1 and 3 may be of conventional design and materi¬ als, with an approximate voltage difference V_ac = -V_ca in the range of 1 to 100 volts impressed within the liquid 15 between the cathode 19 and the anode 17.

The accumulator 23 should have a surface layer 27 of a selected thickness as illustrated in Fig. 4, with the surface layer being composed of a metal such as pal¬ ladium, titanium, titanium-iron, magnesium, magnesiu - nickel, vanadium or lanthanum-pentanickel. The accumula¬ tor material may be entirely composed of one or more of the foregoing materials or may have a surface layer of such material that encloses an electrically conducting core 28 that is composed of a material such as copper, silver, platinum aluminum or iron.

In another embodiment of the invention, shown in plan view in Fig. 5, an anode 31 and a cathode 33 are immersed in a deuterium-rich liquid 35 that is contained in a container 37. As before, the liquid 35 also con¬ tains an electrolyte or salt to promote separation and ionization of the heavy water molecules into D⁺ ions and O or OH^" or 0D~ ions. The cathode 33 is positioned between the anode 31 and an accumulator 39 that is also immersed in the liquid 35, with the accumulator being positioned close to the cathode. A static voltage source 41 is connected between the anode 31 and cathode 33 as before, and the accumulator includes a deuterium- permeable material and is electrically floating. The cathode 33 is a grid-like or mesh-like body radially sur¬ rounding a solid accumulator, and the anode 31 may either radially surround the cathode, as shown in Fig. 5, or may be spaced apart from and not surround the cathode, as shown in Fig. 6.

In another embodiment of the invention, shown in plan view in Fig. 7, an anode 51 and a cathode 53 are immersed in a deuterium-rich liquid 55 containing an electrolyte, with the liquid being contained in a con- tainer 57. The container 57 functions as the deuterium accumulator and includes deuterium-permeable material. A static voltage source 59 is connected between the anode 51 and the cathode 53, with the cathode radially sur¬ rounding the anode and the container 57 radially sur- rounding the cathode and being positioned close to the cathode.

Reilly and Sandrock have discussed the use of metal hydrides as a storage medium for hydrogen and its isotopes in "Hydrogen Storage in Metal Hydrides", Scien- tific American (February 1980), pp. 119-130. These au¬ thors have noted that materials such as those set forth above for the surface layer of the screen have a higher hydrogen storage or acceptance capacity than an equal volume of liquid hydrogen or gaseous hydrogen maintained at a pressure of 100 atmospheres. Theoretically, palla¬ dium, which has characteristic valences of +2 and +4, could accept and store two to four times as many deuteri- um atoms or ions as the number of palladium atoms present. However, a more realistic ratio of the maximum number of deuterium atoms or ions present to the number of palladium atoms present may be about 0.6. The numeri¬ cal density of solid palladium is about 6.75 x 10²² Pd atoms cm^"3 so that a realizable average density of deute¬ rium atoms bound into a Pd-based lattice could be about 4 x 10²² D atoms or ions cm^"3. This density of deuterium within the lattice has the potential to produce substan¬ tial deuterium fusion reactions and excess energy. Jones et al. in "Observation of Cold Nuclear

Fusion in Condensed Matter", Nature (1989), reports on detection of neutrons resulting from deuterium-deuterium fusion in a metallic titanium or palladium electrode. These workers used as an electrolyte a mixture of 160 grams of deuterium oxide D₂0 plus 0.2 grams of each of the metal salts FeS0₄.7H₂0, NiCl₂.6H₂0, PdCl₂, CaC0₃, Li₂, S0₄.H₂0, NaSO₄.10H₂O, CaH₄ (P0₄)₂.H₂0, TiOS0₄.H₂S0₄.8H₂0. The pH of the electrolyte was ad¬ justed to less than 3.0 using the addition of HN0₃. After electrolysis was begun, oxygen bubbles were ob¬ served to form immediately at the anode. However, hydro¬ gen or deuterium bubbles were observed to form at the negative electrode (Pd or Ti) only after many minutes of electrolysis, suggesting the rapid absorption of deute- rium into this electrode initially. However, as the den¬ sity absorbed particles adjacent to the surface of the negative electrode increases, the rate of further absorp¬ tion of deuterium will decline, and more and more of the deuterium ions will accumulate outside the negative elec- trode. Among other things, this will reduce the effec¬ tiveness of the negative electrode to promote electrolyt¬ ic action within the electrolyte. The accumulation of deuterium ions adjacent to the negative electrode will also allow many of these deuterium ions to pick up an electron, thus becoming a deuterium atom that does not behave as a Boson in the interior of the negative elec¬ trode material. This will further reduce the tendency of the deuterium particles to accumulate in the interior of the electrode material.

The invention disclosed in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 physically separates the step of promoting electro¬ lytic action by the positive and negative electrodes from the step of accumulation of deuterium particles within the interior of the accumulator material that readily accepts and stores deuterium. The tendency for free electron pick up by deuterium ions that have accumulated at the cathode as in the prior art is made less signifi- cant by collecting the deuterium ions in a different structure called an accumulator which is electrically floating and is not connected to a source of free elec¬ trons. This arrangement permits more deuterium ions to enter the deuterium absorbing material of the accumulator as deuterium ions, which have the characteristics of Bo¬ sons.

Claims

1. Apparatus for production of energy through electro¬ lyte ionization of heavy water, the acceleration of the resulting deuterium ions by an electric field, and the collection of the ions in a deuterium absorptive material to facilitate deuterium fusion, the apparatus comprising: a container containing primarily liquid heavy water and an electrolyte; a first electrode immersed in the liquid; a second electrode, immersed in the liquid and spaced apart from the first electrode; a voltage source, connected between the first and second electrodes, to supply an approximately con¬ stant voltage difference between the two electrodes so that the second electrode has a lower voltage than the first electrode; and an accumulator having a deuterium-absorbing metal at its surface and immersed in the liquid at a po¬ sition lying between and spaced between the two elec¬ trodes.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said deuterium ab¬ sorptive metal is drawn from the class consisting of the materials palladium, titanium, iron-titanium, magnesium, magnesium-nickel, vanadium and lanthanum-pentanickel.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said accumulator radially surrounds said second electrode.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said accumulator has an electrically conducting core that is an electrical conductor drawn from a class of materials consisting of copper, silver, platinum, aluminum, and iron, with the conducting core being covered by said deuterium-absorbing metal at its surface.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said accumulator is electrically not connected to the first or second elec¬ trode, except through the electrical conductivity of said liquid.

6. Apparatus for production of energy through electro¬ lyte ionization of heavy water, the acceleration of the resulting deuterium ions by an electric field, and the collection of the ions in a deuterium absorptive material to facilitate deuterium fusion, the apparatus comprising: a container containing primarily liquid heavy water and an electrolyte; a first electrode immersed in the liquid; an accumulator having a deuterium-absorbing metal at its surface and immersed in the liquid; a second electrode, immersed in the liquid and spaced apart from and lying between the first electrode and the accumulator; a voltage source, connected between the first and second electrodes, to supply an approximately con¬ stant voltage difference between the two electrodes so that the second electrode has a lower voltage than the first electrode.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said deuterium ab¬ sorptive metal is drawn from the class consisting of the materials titanium, iron-titanium, magnesium, magnesium- nickel, palladium, vanadium and lanthanum-pentanickel.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said second elec¬ trode radially surrounds said accumulator.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said first elec¬ trode radially surrounds said second electrode.

10. A method for production of energy through electro¬ lyte ionization of heavy water, the acceleration of the resulting deuterium ions by an electric field, and the collection of the ions in a deuterium-absorbing material to facilitate deuterium fusion, the method comprising the steps of: providing a container containing primarily liq¬ uid heavy water; providing an electrolyte to ionize the heavy water constituents; providing two electrodes, spaced apart and im¬ mersed in the liquid; providing a voltage source connected to the first and second electrodes so that the second electrode has a voltage difference relative to the first electrode; providing an accumulator between said elec¬ trodes that includes a deuterium-absorbing material and immersed in the liquid at a position between the two electrodes and not electrically connected to either of the two electrodes, except through the conductivity of said liquid.