New Energy Times

For a detailed description of the cold fusion calorimeter shown in these photographs, please refer to "EarthTech International Inc. Announces the 'Mother of All Calorimeters'" in the Sept. 10 New Energy Times newsletter, issue #12.

Letts cell in the calorimetric chamber. The red laser light illuminates the cathode. The row of pellets seen around the top of the cell are the Pt catalyst pellets that act to recombine the electrolysis gases.

Dennis Letts in front of the plywood box, called the environmental enclosure, which houses the Earthtech cold fusion calorimeter chamber. The closed section on the left is the thermoelectric air conditioner and the section on the right, with the big door with window, is the experiment area where the working parts of the calorimeter are located (flowmeter and calorimeter chamber).

Dennis Letts fiddling with something inside the calorimeter chamber. The design of the calorimeter and environmental enclosure provide easy access to the cell when installed in the chamber. This is unique among other high-performance calorimeters where the cell is "locked away" and hard to get at.

This view shows the automatic flowmeter (a.k.a. the Goldberg Device). Under computer control, a solenoid valve diverts the flow into a special weighing cup (top left) that sits on an Ohaus Scout balance for precisely 30 seconds (controlled by a crystal-based counter board). The computer reads the weight of the cup just before filling and just after filling to obtain an accurate measure of the weight of the water collected. After the measurements, a gearmotor actuates a custom valve at the bottom of the cup to drain it. The valve actuation mechanism only contacts the cup during the actual draining process. When the valve is closed and the cup is ready for sampling again, there is no contact with the gearmotor mechanism.

Also visible in this shot are the perforated active insulation plates that form the floor and ceiling of the experiment area. Environmental enclosure air enters the experiment area through the holes in the floor and drifts upwards exiting through the ceiling carrying heat evolved from the apparatus with it.

Also visible in this shot are the thermistor support boards with their ultra-precision voltage sources. All calorimeter temperatures are sensed with thermistors.

[Scott Little reports an update: The mechanism at Earthtech has evolved since this photograph was taken. We no longer use a 600 mL beaker for a reservoir, instead, we use a one-gallon water jug. Also, the FMI water pump (almost completely hidden behind the reservoir in this shot) is mounted to the ceiling of the experiment area and driven by a long vertical shaft connected to a synchronous motor mounted on top of the environmental enclosure. The FMI motor and controller did not provide a sufficiently stable rotation rate (it needs to be better than +/- 0.1%).]

This photo shows the interior of the calorimeter chamber. On the far left is the fan. It is mounted to the liquid-to-air heat exchanger. Then there's the cell, sitting on a stand that permits air circulation all around it. On the right you can see the 1/4" diameter borescope snout entering the calorimeter chamber and just behind that, the optical port that admits the laser beam (it has a red glow about it).

The vinyl hose is attached to the cell and leads down and to the left. That hose leads all the way out of the calorimeter chamber and environmental enclosure to a pressure-sensing system that monitors cell pressure and relieves it if it exceeds safe levels. Cell pressure is recorded and plotted on the calorimeter's screens and provides an excellent indication of the behavior of the recombiners.

This photo shows the active insulation panels in cross section. Each face of the cubical calorimeter chamber is independently controlled so that the delta-T across the styrofoam between the two active insulation plates is essentially zero. The inner active insulation plates are completely passive and rise to whatever temperature the dynamics of the heat exchage process dictate. It's only the outer active insulation plates that are driven (heated) to match the temperature of the inner plates.

Dennis Letts and John Bockris, cold fusion pioneer and author of Modern Electrochemistry.