These are science essays on the energy theme which features throughout these Web pages, whether directed at cosmological issues or technological topics. The intention is that, apart from a few Essays in the initial stages, the Essays will have more content of interest to the academic community and so will tend to be addressed to a more technical audience, one familiar with following an argument presented in mathematical terms. The Lectures to be added henceforth will aim at the more general audience, but the subjects addressed will always concern ENERGY and the AETHER SCIENCE on which the important phenomena and processes discussed most assuredly depend. Inevitably, I shall need to direct criticism at some scientific beliefs which dominate certain disciplines in science. Where those beliefs stand in the way of developing new energy technology there is no time to be lost. We must sweep such obstruction out of the way. I cannot do it alone, but what I can do is to describe what I see in the rotting foundations which underpin some aspects of thermodynamics and electrical science.

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The sun is but a star; he will meet with the fate of his sisters; suns, like worlds, are born to die. … May we conclude, then, that in these successive endings the universe will one day become an immense dark tomb? No: otherwise it would have already have become so during a past eternity. There is in nature something else besides blind matter; an intellectual law of progress governs the whole creation; the forces which rule the universe cannot remain inactive. The stars will rise from their ashes. The collision of ancient wrecks causes new flames to burst forth, and the transformation of motion into heat creates nebulae and worlds. Universal death shall never reign.

This Essay is essentially the basis of a contribution presented at the 28th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC) in 1993 in Atlanta.

These addresses are those applicable in 1993 at the time of the conference. Dr. Aspden compiled the paper and gave a verbal account of this work at that conference in Atlanta.

This paper reports progress on the development of a new solid-state refrigeration technique using base metal combinations in a thermopile. Thermoelectric EMFs of 300 microvolts per degree C are obtained from metal combinations such as Al:Ni, assembled in a thermopile of novel structure. By providing for thermally driven Thomson Effect current circulation in loop circuit paths parallel with the temperature gradient between two heat sinks and also for superimposed transverse current flow driven through a very low resistance path by Peltier Effect EMF, an extremely efficient refrigeration process results. With low temperature differentials, one implementation of the device operates at better than 70% of Carnot efficiency. It has the form of a small panel unit which operates in reversible mode, converting ice in a room temperature environment into an electrical power output and, conversely, with electrical input producing ice on one face of the panel while ejecting heat on the other face. An extremely beneficial feature from a design viewpoint is the fact that the transverse excitation is an A.C. excitation, which suits the high current and low voltage features of the thermopile assembled as a stack within the panel.

A prototype demonstration device shows the extremely rapid speed at which ice forms, even when powered by a small electric battery, and, with the battery disconnected and replaced by an electric motor, how the ice thus formed melts to generate power driving the motor.

The subject is one of the two innovative concepts which were the subject of the paper No. 929474 entitled “Electronic Heat Engine” included in volume 4 of the Proceedings of the 1992 27th IECEC.

The technology to be described is seen as providing the needed answer to the CFC gas problem confronting refrigerator designers. From a conversion efficiency viewpoint this device, which uses a solid-state panel containing no electronic components and a separate solid-state control unit which does contain electronic switch and transformer circuitry, outperforms conventional domestic refrigerators. Since it has no moving parts and contains no fluid, its fabrication and operational reliability promise to make this the dominant refrigeration technology of the future.

However, the scientific research and development of the underlying principles have a compelling interest and pose an immediate challenge inasmuch as recent diagnostic testing has pointed to a feature inherent in the prototype implementation that has even greater promise for future energy conversion technology.

This paper will address the subject in two parts. Firstly, the prototype will be described together with its performance data. Then, the ongoing development arising from the new discovery will be outlined.

The research was based on the use of a commercially available dielectric sheet substrate which had a surface layer of aluminium bonded to a PVDF polymer film by an intermediate layer of nickel. This gave basis for the idea of applying a temperature differential edge-to-edge to promote thermoelectric current circulation by differences in the Peltier EMFs at the opposite edges of the film.
However, the nature of this material, which was intended for use in a piezoelectric application and so had a metal surface film on both faces, gave scope for crosswise A.C. excitation, as if it was a parallel plate capacitator. Of interest to our research was the question of how the transverse A.C. flow of current through the bimetallic plates would interact with the thermoelectric current circulation.

Our finding was that the underlying D.C. current circulation which tapped into the heat source thermoelectrically was affected to an astounding degree once the A.C. excitation was applied. Whether we used frequencies of 500 kHz or 10 kHz, the thermoelectric Peltier EMF generated by the Al:Ni thermocouple was of the order of 300 microvolts/^oC, which was 20 times the value normally expected from D.C. current activation.

It may be noted that, with the thermoelectric aspect in mind, the PVDF substrate film used was made to order, being specially coated with layers of nickel and aluminium to thicknesses of the order of 400 and 200 angstroms, respectively. This was intended to provide a better conductance matching for D.C. current flow in opposite directions in the two metals, it being optimum to design the test so that heat flow from the hot to the cold edges of the film would, by virtue of the Thomson Effect in these respectively electropositive and electronegative metals, suffice to convey equal currents in the two closed path sections without necessarily drawing on the tranversely-directed Peltier EMF action.

It was hoped that the latter would contribute to the A.C. power circuit by a push-pull oscillatory current effect whereby heat energy and A.C. electric energy would become mutually convertible.

A full explanation of the commutating effect obtained by combining matched current flow of the transverse A.C. and the in-film circulating D.C. is given elsewhere (Aspden and Strachan, 1990 and, Aspden, 1992). However, Fig. 1 may suffice to represent schematically the functional operation.

Fig. 1(a) shows how bimetallic capacitor plates separated by dielectric substrates are located between hot (T’) and cold (T) panel surfaces with electrical connections at the sides of the panel. Some of the plates are floating electrically, being coupled capacitatively in series, whereas the connections linking an external circuit through an SCR oscillator switch circuit form a parallel-connected capacitor
system.

Fig. 1(b) shows how D.C. current circulates in two bimetallic plates with a matching superimposed transverse A.C. current.

Fig. 1(c) applies when the A.C. current flow is in the upward direction.

The point is that, in alternate half cycles of the A.C., the current flow operates to block the D.C. flow at one or other of the thermocouple junctions whilst segrating the Peltier heating and cooling on their respective sides of the panel.

This has several very interesting consequences.

Firstly, it is found that the Peltier EMF is directed into the A.C. circuit, which being tranverse to the thin metal film, is a low resistance circuit with high but virtually loss-free capacitative impedance.

Secondly, by diverting the electric power generated thermoelectrically, the D.C. current flow in the planes of the metal films was virtually exclusively that of heat-driven charge carriers. The current was sustained by the normal heat conduction loss through the metal and so did not detract from thermoelectric conversion efficiency by drawing upon the generated electric power.

Thirdly, and most unexpectedly, it was found that the current interruption precluded the formation of what we termed ‘cold spots’ at the Peltier cooled junctions. These latter spots arise in any normal thermocouple owing to concentrations of cold by Peltier cooling in a way which escalates so that the junction crossing temperature of a current is very much lower than that of the external heat sink condition. This stifles the thermoelectric power in the D.C. thermocouple and it was our discovery that the cyclic interruption of the flow by the transverse excitation technique accounts for the transition to the very high 300 microvolts/^oC thermoelectric power. The latter has been observed consistently in all three prototypes built to date and in diagnostic test rigs using the Al:Ni metal combination.

Fourthly, however, the eventual testing of operative devices, though performing overall within Carnot efficiency limitations, awakened special interest because there had to be something most unusual about the temperature profile through the device if the best performance measured was to be bounded by the Carnot condition.

Our research is now casting light upon that latter aspect and may herald a major breakthrough in energy conversion technology generally. However, even without the latter, the technology as developed to date does already justify commercial application in refrigeration systems and that is the primary focus of this paper.

The project has been slow to progress from its inception. One of us, Edinburgh scientist, J. S. Strachan (formerly with Pennwalt Corporation) assembled the device as a small flat module with 500 layers of bimetallic coated PVDF film. It was formed in a 20 by 25 series-parallel connection array which was a design compromise to enhance the capacitor plate area, whilst matching the A.C. excitation voltage and the current rating to the switching circuitry and dielectric properties of the PVDF.

The device performed remarkably well when first tested, without requiring transitional stage-by-stage development to overcome problems. This had the effect of putting in our hands an invention which worked better than we had a right to expect but left us at the outset not knowing precisely how the different elements of the device were really contributing to the overall function.

More important, however, though the thermoelectric operational section of the device was at the heart of the action, the implementation which used the PVDF dielectric and a capacitative circuit posed problems that were seen as formidable but yet were only peripheral to the real invention. There was also some doubt as to whether the properties of the PVDF had a direct role in the energy conversion. There was difficulty in planning in cost terms the onward scaling-up development, owing to the perceived problems of switching high currents at the necessary voltage level and frequency.
Commercial pressures and the limited resources involved in what became a privately sponsored venture to develop the invention, combined with the barrier posed by the switch versus thermoelectric design conflict, halted R & D and led, sadly, to the project falling into a limbo state. This was until interest was aroused by the publication in the latter part of 1992 of the above-referenced 27th IECEC paper (Aspden, 1992) and by the article in Electronics World (Aspden 1992).

Sponsorship interest in the R & D concerning heat-to-electricity power conversion has now revived, led also by a demonstration made possible by the building of a third prototype which incorporates 1,000 PVDF substrate thermocouple capacitor plates and which provides the following test data.

All three prototype devices built to date exhibited a remarkable energy conversion efficiency. They all operated with different switching techniques and different design frequencies.

The first prototype was dual in operation in that it was bonded to a supporting room-temperature heat sink block and the application of ice to its upper face resulted in the generation of electricity sufficient to spin an electric motor. Conversely, the connection of a low voltage battery supply to the device resulted in water on the upper surface freezing very rapidly.

Had this first prototype been assembled the other way up it would have been easy to use calorimeter techniques and measure heat-electricity conversion in both operational modes. As it was, an attempt to chemically unbond the device from the heat sink resulted in corrosion damage which destroyed the device.

The second prototype was built, not for self-standing dual mode operation, but expressly to test the heat to electricity power generation efficiency with variable frequency. It was not self-oscillating and, as it did not function in refrigeration mode, it offered no test of refrigeration efficiency. It gave up to 73% of Carnot conversion efficiency in electric power generation with room temperature differentials of the order of 20^oC.

The recently constructed third prototype is superior in its electronic switching design and works well in both electric power generation and refrigeration modes.

There is, however, a circumstance about its operation which means that, for this particular demonstration prototype, according to its intrinsic magnetic polarization state, it works more efficiently in one or other of its conversion functions. This particular third prototype operated with higher Carnot-related efficiency in the electric power generation mode than in the refrigeration mode. Also, for the same reasons, and an additional factor concerning the power drawn by the electronics and impedance matching internal load circuitry, the overall external efficiencies are very much lower than can be expected in a fully engineered product implementation.

The refrigeration performance data presented below is, therefore, a worst-case situation and will, without question, be improved upon in the months following the date when this text is prepared.

The device included an SCR switching circuit which was self-tuning and ran as an oscillator powered from electricity generated from melting ice in power generation mode or drawing on a battery supply in the refrigeration mode. However, the power taken up by this circuitry was factored into the overall performance, meaning that the thermoelectric core of the device had to be functioning at higher efficiency.

Because the electric demands of the circuit were high in relation to the small demonstration thermoelectric core unit to which it was coupled.

The active heat sink area of the device was about 20 sq. cm and a typical test involved a frozen block of 6 ml of water. A test performed after the lower heat sink had settled to a temperature of 25.6^oC involved pressing the block of ice in a slightly melting state onto the upper heat sink with a polystyrene foam pad. The output voltage generated was fed to a 3 ohm load. It took 9 minutes for the ice to melt, during which time the measured output was a steady 0.67 V. These data show that a heat throughput of 3.7 watts generates electric power of 0.15 watts with temperatures for which Carnot efficiency is 8.6% This indicates performance overall of 47% of the Carnot value.

It is noted that the 73% value obtained with the second prototype applies to a device which did not incorporate an oscillator demanding power but had simple electronic switching controlled by, and drawing negligible power from, an external function generator.

To test the refrigeration mode, 3 ml of water was poured into a container on the upper surface of the device and a battery supply of 7.2 V fed to the SCR resonator with a limiting resistor now switched into circuit to protect the SCR during its turn-off. This resistor reduced the efficiency further. The circuit drew 6.3 watts and the water froze in 73 seconds. Since convection was minimal the water closest to the surface froze first and this immediately formed an insulating barrier which would mean operation thereafter at a significant subzero temperature at that heat sink during most of those 73 seconds. However, the overall temperature difference ignoring that temperature drop in the ice was 26^oC, associated with a cooling power of 13.7 watts for an electric power input of 6.3 watts. This represents a coefficient of performance of 2.17 or 21% of Carnot efficiency. Cooling action at below minus 40^oC has been demonstrated.

Based on such worst-case data, which neverthless applies to a simple solid-state device and compares well with the coefficient of performance data of domestic refrigerators, it can be assumed that the technology is capable of meeting production requirements of non-CFC refrigerators and domestic air conditioning equipment.

Diagnostic test work has proved that the device operation is independent from the piezoelectric or pyroelectric properties of the PVDF substrate used. Given that the action is truly that of the Peltier Effect, there should be current circulation in the bimetallic thin film productive of magnetic polarization. By detecting such polarization as a function of the applied temperature differential one can verify this situation.

It is to be noted that our early research had shown that the thermoelectric EMF could, under certain circumstances, be greatly affected by the application of a magnetic field to the thermocouple junctions. Accordingly, the tests aimed at sensing thermoelectrically-generated magnetic field effects had a particular significance. Furthermore, we had some interest in the Nernst Effect by which a temperature gradient in a metal in the x direction, with a magnetic polarizing field applied in the y direction can develop electric field action in the mutually orthogonal z direction.
It has become, therefore, a subject of research interest to examine how a bimetallic interface subjected to a transverse magnetic field and a temperature gradient in the interface direction affects the circulation of thermoelectric current between the metals.

What we have discovered that is of great importance to the development of the solid-state thermoelectric refrigerator is that the setting up of a temperature gradient in the bimetallic interface plane between two contiguous metal films will produce a magnetizing field which readily saturates the metal if ferromagnetic. Thus the nickel film in the prototypes tested becomes strongly magnetized in one or other direction according to the direction of the temperature gradient.
When this magnetic field is considered in the context of the Nernst Effect it is seen that it can lead to a transversely directed EMF governed by the product of the temperature gradient and the strength of the magnetic polarizing field. This tranversely directed EMF then contributes a bias active in the individual metal and, being in the same transverse direction, supplements or offsets the Peltier EMF in the prototype implementations.

Remembering then that the heating and cooling actions in the operation of the prototype devices are governed by current flow in metal which is, adjacent the respective heat sinks, in line with or opposed to the action of an EMF, one can see how something new has appeared on the technology scene of thermoelectricity. By using heat to generate current circulation, which in turn generates a magnetic field to provide ferromagnetic polarization, a powerful Nernst EMF set up in the metal can act as a catalyst in supplementing the junction Peltier heat transfer action associated with EMF across a metal interface.
This may well be the action which accounts for the very high thermoelectric conversion efficiency we have measured.

In order to quantify this as it may apply to the prototypes we have built, note that a 400 angstrom thickness of well magnetized nickel subjected to a temperature drop of 20^oC across a metal length of 2.5 mm, implies a Nernst EMF of the order of 6 mV across the 0.04 micron nickel thickness.

Though small, this is significant alongside the Peltier EMF across a junction, but the really important point is that this Nernst EMF is set up in the metal and not across a metal junction interface. In that metal, owing to the free-electron diamagnetic reaction currents within the nickel and around its boundary, which offset in some measure the atomic spin-polarization of the ferromagnet, there is then scope for some very unusual thermodynamic feedback effects. Those diamagnetic reaction currents which are themselves powered by the thermal energy of the electrons have a strength related to the magnetic polarization and so exceed, by far, the thermoelectric current flowing across junction interfaces. The heating and cooling processes transfer power between the heat sinks in proportion to current times voltage and the in-metal action within the nickel could therefore generate very significant thermal feedback, thereby greatly enhancing the efficiency well beyond that of the normal thermoelectric bimetallic junctions.

This action only results where one of the metals is ferromagnetic and the configuration of the device is such that an applied temperature gradient promotes internal circulation of thermoelectric current around a closed circuit able to develop a magnetic field in the nickel directed transversely with respect to the temperature gradient.

The exciting prospect for future development of refrigeration techniques centres on the possibility that the feedback process can be greatly enhanced by using thicker metal films. It is hoped, therefore, that the research reported here will soon advance to probe the limits of efficiency that are possible with this new solid-state refrigeration technology.

In this connection the truly exciting prospect arises from the possibility that the efficiency barrier set by the Carnot criterion can be penetrated.

To understand this, note that the Peltier EMF on the hot side of a thermocouple is proportional to the higher temperature T’ and that at the cooler side is proportional to the lower temperature T. For a given current circulation the heat energy extracted by a refrigeration action is proportional to T and the net input of electrical power is proportional to T’-T.

This is why the coefficient of performance has a Carnot limit of T/(T’-T).

Now, if there is a thermal feedback action that is regulated by a Nernst EMF and we can contrive to assure that the forward transfer of heat arises from a uniform temperature gradient in the ferromagnetic metal, then the Nernst EMF is the same on both sides and the amount of heating on the hot side is, in theory, exactly equal to the amount of cooling on the other side.

There is conservation of energy with negligible net energy input but heat transfer from the cold to hot heat sinks and this implies a very high coefficient of performance not temperature-limited according to the Carnot requirement.

This, therefore, is the challenging possibility that looms in sight and is heralded by the rather fortuitous discovery of the surprisingly high performance characteristics of the Strachan-Aspden base metal thermoelectric power converter.

The Strachan-Aspden device uses what the inventors see as conventional physics, albeit with the innovation of combining transverse A.C. excitation with D.C. thermocouple excitation. However, it does seem that in some curious way the device happens to have features which bring some new physics to bear. By producing a thermally-driven current crossing a strong magnetic field in metal the Lorentz forces on that current develop a transverse reaction EMF in that metal. The combination of that transverse Nernst EMF with a circulating current confined within the metal can, it seems, operate to transfer heat thermodynamically, working through the underlying ferromagnetic induction coupling in the metal. This is somewhat analogous to the way heat energy is somehow diverted into electricity in being routed between the hot and cold heat sinks in a conventional Peltier thermocouple circuit. It does, however, introduce new physics to the technology of refrigeration and offers great promise.

Aspden, H.; Strachan, J. S., European Patent Application No. 0369670,1990.
Aspden, H., SAE Technical Paper Series No. 929474 1992.
Aspden, H., Electronics World, July 1992, pp. 540-542.


This Essay is essentially the basis of a contribution presented at the 28th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC) in Atlanta in 1993

This paper reports on the design feasibility of a thermodynamic panel in which a multi-layer array of convex reflecting surfaces transports radiant heat with the object of focusing the radiation in a way which elevates its temperature. This innovative concept was one of two themes discussed in paper No. 929474 entitled “Electronic Heat Engine” included in volume 4 of the Proceedings of the 1992 27th IECEC. This paper reports on the development of that concept.
The generally accepted theory of heat radiation has certain rules which govern the calculation of heat transfer, but these tend to be dominated by the second law of thermodynamics, which precludes the upward transfer of heat energy through a temperature gradient. The important technological question at issue is whether the action of mirror focusing can overcome the dictates of this law. The clear evidence to be presented in this paper is that the accepted mathematical rules for the analysis of heat radiation phenomena do lead us into such a conflict.

On this basis, there is scope for studying the feasibility of designing a multilayer panel which can concentrate heat radiation stage-by-stage, using appropriate surface grading of absorption and reflection properties and mirror shaping. The result of the study is that, in principle, the concept is technologically feasible and one should, at least tentatively, consider the prospect of building panels which, of their own accord, can develop a temperature difference between their outer surfaces.

Although this may seem absurd to a trained engineer or physicist, the price paid by society generally for turning our backs on this potential future environmental energy source is too great to justify sparing the effort needed just to be sure of the facts. This paper is a reasoned analysis of the author’s perception of what is here suggested and the showing that, in design concept and analytical detail at least, a panel of 10 cm thickness could be fabricated which should elevate heat at outside winter temperatures to room heat temperature or conversely function to extract room heat in summer to provide cooling.

The thermal radiation from a black body surface at room temperature may seem insignifant but with a multilayer microcell structure any net thermal radiation transfer from one surface layer to the next that produces a temperature increment can be compounded to enhance overall temperature gain. The focusing geometry within each microcell of the structure determines the temperature gain per cell and that geometry does not depend upon the overall dimensions of the cell.

A microcell fabrication is conducive to design which reduces any degradation of performance caused by reverse thermal conduction and can involve cells from which air has been evacuated to thereby avoid convection problems.

Provided one is assured that there can be temperature gain on a per cell basis, one can be confident that technological implementation by multilayered panel fabrication is a feasible proposition.

A general summary of evidence of prior record is contained in the statement of the ‘Background of the Invention’ in the author’s U.S. Patent Specification No. 5,101,632. Quoting from that: “In the journal Nature, 345, p. 802; 1990, there is a report sourced in the Enrico Fermi Institute in Chicago announcing that terrestrial sunlight has been concentrated, by a two-stage system including a mirror, to an intensity which exceeds that at the surface of the sun.”

Now, we regard the sun as our prime heat source. The heat radiated to Earth comes with a frequency spectrum determined by the temperature at the sun’s surface. As the radiation disperses on its way to Earth its intensity diminishes to levels commensurate with the surface temperature of the Earth. However, the scientists at the Enrico Fermi Institute have found that by mirror focusing they can concentrate that radiation from the sun back to intensity levels which exceed those at the solar surface.

This means that, by the magic of mirrors, heat from a radiating surface can be focused onto an absorbing surface to heat that absorbing surface to a temperature higher than that of the source.
This defies the spirit of the second law of thermodynamics, because that mirror does no work. It is a passive agent which merely diverts the flow of heat to cause it to go uphill against a temperature gradient.

Similarly, as many will know, light from a laser can be focused to produce temperatures that exceed those occurring within the laser. There is no sensible way of bringing the second law of thermodynamics to bear to deny the possibility, therefore, of fabricating a laminar sheet which, of its own accord, can get hotter on one side than the other. The only question is: “Hotter by how much?”

The question at issue is the technological feasibility of fabricating such a sheet with a laminar microstructure, including textured mirror-surfaces, blackened radiant areas on metal foil and possibly incorporating translucent material which is not too dispersive at the heat radiation frequencies involved. This is a design question within the discipline of materials science and not a question of fundamental scientific principle. In short, it should be technically possible, but is it commercially feasible?

For those who may still wonder why Establishment scientists insist on adhering to their belief in the second law of thermodynamics it may help to point out that that the endorsement of that belief is slowly being eroded. For example, very recently (Zhang and Zhang, 1992) have shown that even explicit mechanical models breaching the second law of thermodynamics can exist if there is what they term ‘a non-vanishing robust momentum flow’. This causes the author to stress the point that there is ‘a robust momentum flow’ carried by radiant heat energy where a curved mirror sits at the control centre directing that flow.
What is intended here is to introduce and justify the concept to show that investment in the appropriate design effort is warranted.
To prove, as an academic exercise, that there is temperature gain in a cell, a mirror-in-cell configuration will be chosen, not because it is optimum from a design viewpoint, but because it is easy to summarize here the simple but rigorous analysis which avoids the computer calculation of a developed design.

It will be shown that, given no absorption by any intermediary substance filling the cell or depletion of heat generated, a heat radiating configuration, as governed by a concave mirror, can, in theory, set up a 15% temperature differential (temperature in Kelvin) when in thermal equilibrium.

The diagram in Fig. 1 shows the cross section of two long cavities separated by a partition having a slit at A. The upper cavity is empty and enclosed by a surface at uniform temperature, with the result, as is well known, that the radiation emerging from the cavity through the slit is blackbody radiation. The lower cavity is also empty but is bounded by a concave mirror on the side facing the slit so that in this cavity heat radiation is absorbed and emitted by the blackbody surface of the partition but reflected by the mirror. The area of the partition is that of two coplanar sections, each of length B, whereas the slit has an aperture width A.

To simplify our analysis of the radiant heat transfer within this system, the mirror is assumed to have a parabolic form with the slit at the focus of the parabola. The dimensions of the upper cavity are not relevant to the problem because the radiation through the slit from this cavity is that expected from a blackbody surface having an area equal to that of the aperture formed by the slit and a temperature equal to that within the cavity. It suffices, therefore, to consider a section of unit length and to now assume that A and B are radiating surfaces, and though we begin by deeming that both sides of the partition are at the same temperature, it is presumed the partition contains heat insulation which permits the two sides to adjust to different temperatures.

Fig 1. Microcell cavity arrangement

Virtually all heat radiation from the surface A goes to surfaces B because A is much smaller than B. Consider heat radiation from surfaces B, confining attention to that bounded by two nearby planes of the cross section and radiated from an elemental strip of section dx, where x is the distance shown. The proportion �/� of the total radiation from section dx of each B surface is radiated from B to A if radiation is uniformly spread over the angular field, � being measured in radians. However, we know from the observed temperature uniformity of the solar disc that the angular distribution of heat radiation from a radiating surface has to be a cosine function, being of greatest intensity normal to that surface. Accordingly, since the analysis of radiation from B to A involves a path normal to the radiating surface, we so need to qualify �/� by the form factor �/2 to obtain �/2 as the proportion to be evaluated.

As shown below, the parabola is characterized by p+q being constant, in this case equal to B. The value of �/2 is therefore (A/2B)cos�. Therefore the total heat radiation to A from the two equal B areas (assuming A and B are at the same temperature) is, in relation to radiation A from A to B:

and there is imbalance in the rates of heat transfer between A and B if the above integral differs from A when integrated for all elemental strips dx.

Since we can rely on the validity of the assumption that net radiation is, by symmetry, confined to bounds set by notional non-absorbing and non-reflecting cross-sectional planes, the question concerning the validity of the second law of thermodynamics then reduces to whether the above expression equals A.

Our onward analysis concerns the geometry of a parabola having its focus at A and we need to formulate a value for �.
The shape of the parabolic mirror is specified as being such that B/2-x2/2B is the distance p from the radiating surface to the mirror at x. The gradient or slope of the mirror at x is the differential of this distance with respect to x and so is -x/B as seen from the radiating surface. The angle � is the angle through which the heat ray from B is reflected at x to focus onto A. Accordingly � is double the angle between the normal to the mirror surface at x and the normal to the radiating surface. From this it follows that:

� = 2tan-1(x/B)
The angle � is also the angle subtended by the side of length x of a right-angled triangle formed by corresponding ray paths p and q by reflection of the mirror at x so that:

x2 = q2-p2 = (p+q)2-2p(p+q)
However, from the formula for the mirror contour:
2p = B-x2/B
we can then match x2 of these two equations to deduce that:
B2-2pB = (p+q)2-2p(p+q)
and this clearly shows that q+p is equal to B, as relied upon earlier.
Since tan(�/2) is x/B:
dx = (B/2)sec2(�/2)d�
and the criterion we are examining then reduces to whether:
which, by the expression:
reduces to:

Upon evaluation this becomes, simply, a requirement that �-2 is equal to 2, and, since this is not the case, by a ratio factor of 4:7, there is, in theory, a breach of the second law of thermo-dynamics, if that law is asserted where there is mirror focusing.

In principle, however, from this analysis, A should cool down relative to B until there is a 15% temperature differential in Kelvin. This applies the fourth-power Stefan-Boltzmann radiation law.
The second law of thermodynamics can therefore be disproved by theory alone. Furthermore, that temperature differential can, in principle, be harnessed in a regenerative process using input heat at room temperature.

In order to exploit this situation, the primary task is to devise an improved optical geometry which enhances the temperature differential of an equilibrium state under circumstances where there is less reflected heat transfer from B back to B and so better overall throughput of heat. Here one must keep in mind that we have assumed the area A to be much smaller than the area of B and this is a practical consideration in a power application.

The optimum design structure will be one for which heat energy is transferred forward from surface layer to surface layer to convey a much greater proportion of heat energy, though accepting a smaller temperature increment in each stage or cell layer of a multi-layered fabricated sheet assembly.

Computer modelling of such a design arrangement shows that the theoretical net transfer of energy can be quite substantial but it is critically dependent upon the design parameters. Very extensive analysis of this kind is needed before determining the optimum design and the data now to be presented can be taken only as an indication of the potential we can expect.

In order that the analysis should have a certain and secure foundation it was decided to run the calculations for a worst-case scenario, so far as the radiation theory is concerned.

It is known that thermal radiation from a distant surface is emitted normal to the surface, even though many think that energy is transferred by photons each following their own trajectories. Energy quanta, when emitted from a radiation surface, do not take their bearings from a prior survey of that radiating surface. Therefore, if energy really is radiated by photons those photons must set off in directions which have a whole spectrum of possibilities governed by the way the emitting atoms sit as part of an emitting surface. If, on the other hand, the emission is regulated by standing waves and wave overlap then there is a case for understanding how the radiation is generally normal to the emitting surface. From the viewpoint of our proposed mirror focusing action, the randomly directed emission is ‘worst-case’ and, though solar radiation as such does concentrate in the way assumed in the above analysis, being sensed by absorbers well removed in terms of wavelength, it is a prudent design precaution to assume that the ‘worst-case’ scenario applies in the close-range microcell technology here investigated.

A microcell-mirror configuration as shown in Fig. 2 is the one chosen as offering practical possibilities. It is reproduced four times to show different modes of heat radiation energy transfer, the angle subtended by each element of radiating heat sink surface being a measure of the heat rate emerging from that source. The integration of these various angles over the range x applicable in a particular design configuration gives a measure of the total heat radiated in that mode. The graphical indication of these angles by the side diagrams serves to show, by the area below the curve, the heat energy transfer rate involved, assuming temperature equilibrium.

Note that a concentration of heat in the absorbing cavity will occour if the integration over an appropriate range of x (depending upon the spacing D) of � plus � is greater than � plus � plus �, assuming that the underside of the barrier is a blackbody radiator. Otherwise, if this latter surface is a reflecting surface, � will replace �. It can be seen by inspection that the design having the dimensions shown, with the reflecting underside of the apertured barrier, gives a better performance and that there is certainly a significant balance indicating transfer of heat from the upper cavity to the lower cavity.
Rigorous analysis shows that a much greater heat transfer rate can be obtained if the apertured barrier is placed nearer to the upper radiating surface. By using dimensions which have the ratios: W = 2.5, r = 1.75, A = 0.5, B = 3.5 and d = 0.25 the summation of the energy radiation rate balance (angles in degrees with x at 0.05 intervals) is 2162.89 from x = 0 to x = 3.0. This uses the reflecting lower surface of the apertured barrier. With the blackbody undersurface of this barrier the summation is 1850.31.

To calculate the total heat radiation rate from the first heat sink surface over the same range of x from 0 to 3.0 one simply needs to multiply 180 by 3.0 by 20 to obtain a base reference of 10800. It follows that some 20% of the heat radiated is captured in the lower absorbing cavity, meaning that, if allowed to, the temperature of that smaller absorbing and re-radiating surface of the lower heat sink will rise, by as much as 4% on the absolute Kelvin scale, until there is equilibrium.

A design aspect that needs to be addressed in the onward development of what is proposed is that the Stefan-Boltzmann radiation constant sets a limit on blackbody radiation of 460 watts per square metre at 17o C. One may need, therefore, to devise ways of enhancing this to take the fullest advantage of this new technology.

It can, however, be concluded from such analysis that it is feasible to contemplate a multilayered panel assembled by microfabrication techniques so that the temperature could be elevated by a few degrees in each of several stages. A one cm thick panel sandwiched between supporting metal plates with five layers should suffice for normal room heating and cooling purposes. The panel assembly would comprise alternate layers of metallic film having blackened stripes on both sides interspersed between layers of translucent material having reflecting areas on both sides apart from the aperture portions. The metallic film would have contoured reflecting ribs providing the convex mirror surfaces or the mirrors could be formed by silver wire set in juxtaposition with the apertures. The emissivity or areas of the blackened surfaces would need to be graded from layer to layer to assure the progressive temperature profile with suitable spacer means locating the layers in a composite structure.

To enhance the heat transfer capacity one could use a 10 cm thick assembly with the radiating areas enhanced internally by staggered heat sink couplings and transverse multilayered components.
However, one may conclude that a practical end product in the form of a thermodynamically active panel does seem possible.

Zhang, Kechen; Zhang, Kezhao, Physical Review A, 1992, Vol. 46, pp. 4598-4605.


This Essay was first published in 1974 by Sabberton Publications, P.O. Box 35, Southampton SO16 7RB, England.

ABSTRACT

The atomic nucleus is shown to have a form determined by the quantum structure of a Dirac-style vacuum. Nucleons occupy a series of holes in the structured vacuum forming a shell about a core region of unoccupied holes. These nucleons are linked by electron-positron chains. The lattice spacing can be related to the binding energy of the nucleus in precise quantitative terms. The special position of Fe 56 in the nuclear packing fraction curve is explained in terms of the cubic symmetry of the lattice system, the optimization of interaction energy with the core charge and the energy minimization of the chains.

INTRODUCTION

This paper has been prompted by recent developments in elementary particle research having bearing upon a theory published in 1969. Chapter 7 of the author’s work ‘Physics without Einstein’ incorporated some new ideas about nuclear structure. It was argued that nucleons are located at fixed lattice positions in a cubic structure and are linked by chains of electron-positron pairs. Each chain had association with what are now called partons. The mass deficit due to the negative interaction between a proton-sized parton and a pion-sized parton was deemed to balance the mass of the chain of electrons and positrons. Indeed, it was the energy of combination of these two heavy particles to form a nucleon at a nuclear lattice position which was the source of energy creating the electron-positron chain.

These ideas have progressed over the past five years and it is appropriate now to publish some of these developments. The author is indebted to Dr D M Eagles of the National Standards Laboratory, Sydney, Australia for helpful communications and encouragement. Dr Eagles recently drew to the author’s attention a paper entitled ‘Parton Chains in the Nucleus’ by Wojciech Krolikowski, at p. 2922 of Physical Review D of 1 November 1973. It is this which has stimulated the publication here of some interesting advances of the chain nucleus theory at this stage of its development. The theory proposed offers scope for very detailed computational analysis of the structure of individual atomic nuclei.

A preliminary note about quark theory is appropriate before the structure of the atomic nucleus is analysed. This is important because it is the author’s contention that the proton does, indeed, comprise three particles as demanded by quark theory. Such a structure of the proton was presented in ‘Physics without Einstein’ but in the form of a positive particle having the charge of the positron and associated with an electron-positron pair.

THE QUARKS

From a study of electron and neutrino scattering from protons Feynmann, writing in Science at p. 601 of the 15 February 1974 issue, has been able to show that protons have structure as if they comprise a plurality of particles of more fundamental nature, the so-called quarks. His paper entitled ‘Structure of the Proton’ has the introduction:

Protons are not fundamental particles but seem to be made of simpler elements called quarks. The evidence for this is given. But separated quarks have never been seen. A struggle to explain this seeming paradox may be leading us to a clearer view of the precise laws of the proton’s structure and other phenomena of high energy physics.

Feynman explains how, on quark theory, there are three kinds of quark denoted u, d and s. The s and d quarks have charge -(1/3) and the u quark charge +(2/3) that of the positron. The s quark has higher mass than the d and u quarks which have the same mass. From this he presents a diagram showing how three quarks can combine to produce ten different particles:

Now the unsatisfactory feature of quark theory is this concept that charge can be quantified in units which are one third or two thirds that of the electron or positron. It would be so much more satisfactory if Nature gave us a system of basic particles based exclusively upon charges which are measured in terms of the unit charge of the electron or positron. A little speculation shows how this is possible, provided we pay attention to some of the ideas presented to us by Dirac. It is well known that Dirac has proposed that the vacuum state is an aether permeated by quantum states filled by negative mass electrons. This implies that the vacuum has states with which particles can be associated and in which a negative charge of -1 electron units will pass undetected, being somehow neutralized by the vacuum medium. In these states the vacuum appears to add the charge +1. A particle can exist independently and not occupy such a state. Then we need add no charge to its own charge. On this basis, consider the following diagram:

Given a combination of three charges, each of which can be -1 or +1, and recognizing that stability criteria forbid three negative charges and three positive charges from combining, we must have a net charge of +1 or -1. Also, if we can have a free particle or one occupying a vacuum-polarized position, effectively adding +1, we see scope for four different charge entities. It follows that if the s, d and u quarks have charges +1 or -1, but masses as assumed on normal quark theory, we can have ten particles satisfying the observed charge system, but without recourse to the fractional charge features of quark theory.

It is therefore submitted that, since no experimental evidence exists supporting the fractionally-charged quarks but since experimental evidence does support other features of quark theory, then the alternative is to accept that some features of Dirac’s aether theory need scrutiny.

ATOMIC MASS

Bernstein writing in Annals of Physics, 69, 1972, p. 19 has recently pointed out the need to incorporate ‘holes’ as constituents of an atomic nucleus. His reason is coupled with the explanation of energy levels and the inadequacies of the existing shell models. The approach we will take here is to examine the possibility of substituting nucleons for electrons in the Dirac continuum. We will presume a hole structure forms around the charge core of the nucleus and that the holes are occupied by negatively charged nucleons. This imparts mass to the nucleus but the charge of these nucleons is merged into the continuum. Interesting quantitative verification of this principle is available.

It is generally believed that an isolated electric charge will attract an equal charge of opposite polarity and so one imagines that two equal and opposite charges will pair together and form a neutral aggregation. Yet Earnshaw’s theorem denies that two equal and opposite electric charges can rest adjacent one another in stable equilibrium unless they are immersed in an enveloping electrical medium. Dirac’s continuum would, in effect, be such a medium. The observed vacuum polarization adjacent an atomic nucleus supports the exception also. Therefore charge neutralization should occur. Why then is the atomic nucleus itself not a neutral entity?

The answer is found from classical electrostatic theory. Laplace proved that the outward forces due to mutual interaction of a surface charge on a conductor are only half the forces exerted by the field on similar free charge just outside the surface. Thus, when an electron is added to the surface of a conductor to charge it, a free electron migrates from the atomic lattice system of the conductor and joins the added electron. Together the electrons form a surface charge just outside an inner charge of opposite polarity and half the magnitude. This latter is the residual charge left by the ionized lattice. This is a displacement phenomenon. The field on each electron is zero because the displaced electron has created positive and negative influences which cancel. The field away from the conductor is that due to the single added electron. In our atomic case, however, we have no displacement. Instead, a spherical shell of charge can centre upon a core of opposite polarity of half its strength and be held stable. A core of Ze charge can and will form a stable aggregation with a surrounding shell of -2Ze charge. If these added charges are not electrons but are negative nucleons then the atomic mass number A should be 2Z. If the nucleons are uniformly distributed over the volume of a sphere because they form in a structure of some kind then the same principles of Laplace apply except that a charge of -2.5Ze can be aggregated and held stable. This tells us to expect the ratio A/Z to increase from 2.0 to 2.5 as an atomic nucleus formed in shells increases in size.

In line with Bernstein’s ideas we need to recognize that ‘holes’ are part of the nucleus. These cancel the effects of the nucleon charge. From another viewpoint we might say that space is pervaded by an electrically-neutral continuum which nevertheless contains discrete negative charges (electrons or the like) in a positively charged background continuum. Heavy negatively charged nucleons can occupy holes from which the negative charges are displaced. However, these nucleons tend to nucleate, if only by stronger gravitational effects, in regions immediately surrounding the atomic core charges Ze. Thus the atomic nucleus is formed, and it may have structural form characteristic of the properties of this pervading medium.

The analysis relating A and Z just presented has bearing upon nuclear stability. Z sets a limit upon the value of A, but one may expect the exact relationships to depend upon the structural links between the nucleons.

This concept has already been presented in the author’s 1972 book ‘Modern Aether Science’. The relevant part of chapter 14 of this work is reproduced below.

THE NUCLEAR AETHER

The physics of the aether is to many minds the physics of the nineteenth century. The twentieth century has so far been concerned with the physics of the atom and its quantum behaviour. Physics has assumed importance in industry primarily because electrical technology in the semiconductor field has become the province of the physicist rather than the electrical engineer. Also, physics has now an undeniable place of importance because everyone is all too aware of the energy hidden inside the atomic nucleus. For this reason the minds of many research physicists are technology-orientated. Theoretical physics is complicated, the aether is dead and who has the time anyway to be concerned with such an antiquated topic! The more open minded may say that if the aether has a place it is in cosmology; it is certainly not in the field of the nucleus. But let us see if we can dispel this belief.

Is there anything about the atomic nucleus we cannot explain? The atomic mass does not increment in proportion to the atomic charge. It seems that over a range of atoms of low atomic mass the number of nucleons is approximately twice that of the number of proton charge units in the nucleus. The nucleons comprise the protons and neutrons believed to form the nucleus. At high mass numbers the ratio of two increases roughly to about two and a half. An explanation of this would help our understanding of nuclear physics. Does the reader already have such an explanation? If not, perhaps the following analysis will have some appeal.

Consider an electric charge surrounded by a concentric uniform spherical distribution of discrete charges of opposite polarity. Now calculate the electrostatic interaction energy of such a system. This quantity will be found to be negative until the spherical charge distribution has a charge exactly double the magnitude of the central charge. Thereafter we would have positive interaction energy signifying instability, because the ‘binding’ energy associated with the negative polarity has ceased to ‘bind’. We may expect, therefore, an entity to form as a stable aggregation in which the central charge acquires an enveloping double charge of opposite polarity, assuming the spherical distribution. If we consider instead a central charge with a uniform spatial charge distribution surrounding it, bounded by a sphere, then instability sets in when the surrounding charge is two and a half times that of the core. Between these two limiting examples, we could have, say, charge distributed in two concentric shells of unit and double unit radius, the charge content being proportional to the area of the spherical shell form. This gives a ratio of 2.166 for stability.

It needs little imagination to recognize the relevance of this to our nuclear problem. The atomic mass number is a measure of the number of negative nucleons clustered around a central core of charge. This charge has negligible mass compared with the nucleon mass contribution but the charge is the positive charge we regularly associate with the atomic nucleus. We need not speak of a combination of neutrons and protons to explain qualitatively the numerical difference between atomic number and atomic mass number. Somehow the charges of the nucleons are not detected, because we well know that the atomic electrons only react to the central charge. They ignore the nucleon charges just as they ignore charges in the aether medium. Indeed, the electrons may see these nucleon charges as they see the aether. In fact, the nucleons may be deemed to be arrayed in a structure and to have displaced negative aether charge so as to substitute themselves in the structured form of the aether itself. Their charge is undetected just as the mass of a buoyant body goes undetected in a fluid of equal mass density.

Hence, we need to invoke our aether. Also, we see support for the cubic lattice distribution of aether charge. An oxygen nucleus can be adequately populated by a single shell of discrete charges. There are 26 charges disposed in a regular cubic system about a central charge and 16 of these are presumably replaced by negative nucleons. The two to one ratio applies, because the oxygen atom has a atomic number of 8. Now take chromium, for example, which has an atomic number of 24. Here, we might expect charge to be distributed over another shell as well. The stability condition, calculated for idealized spherical distributions, requires 2.166 times as many nucleons as units of central charge. Hence an atomic mass number of 52, as is found. Similarly, for heavier atoms we find an appropriate relation between the two quantities conforming with this theory.

It has to be accepted from this that the nucleus consists of a central charge surrounded by a cluster of regularly spaced nucleons of negative charge. As the author has explained in his book Physics without Einstein, the nucleons form into a lattice structure with bonds joining the nucleons and, additionally, pions contributing to the energy of the bonds also derive their energy from an interaction with the nucleons. These features of the nucleus modify the mass and add some complication. Different isotopic forms may depend upon alternative structure configurations rendered possible by the different bond positions available. This is a matter for further analysis. When the above-mentioned book was published the author supposed the nucleons to be formed as a system of neutrons and protons, as is conventional. The later realization of the stable charge system introduced in this chapter, however, has led to a revision of the model. All the nucleons are the same. They are negative particles of mass approximating that of the proton.

Contrary to established theory, the author’s proposal is that the enveloping nucleons are neutralized by the occupancy of vacuum states. The mass of the atomic nucleus is essentially that of these neutralized nucleons and their related electron-positron chains.

Some recent experimental evidence from research at the
Brookhaven National Laboratory was reported by Bugg et al in
Physical Review Letters, 31, 1973 at p. 475. This research indicates an abnormally-high probability that a tenuous halo of neutrons may surround the central charge of the atomic nucleus. This seems to add support to the role of the vacuum state in compensating charge effects due to nucleons and gives strength to the author’s ideas concerning a Dirac-style aether. Also encouraging is the reported activity of Lee and Wick of Columbia University in studying the effects of the properties of the vacuum upon the atomic nucleus. This is mentioned in Science at p. 51 of the 5 April 1974 issue.

NUCLEAR RADII

It is interesting to digress to examine a recent proposal by
Ross writing in Il Nuovo Cimento, 9A, May 1972 at p. 254. Ross interprets the muon as an electron orbited by a massless spin-1 wave and we will contrast this with a classical electron concept.

Ross has suggested that a particle might orbit the electron at its classical radius. By regarding the particle as having zero mass and applying the principles of General Relativity, Ross then shows that this orbit would be a null geodesic and is able to calculate the energy involved. Though at pains to show that the massless particle is not a normal photon, Ross rnust have contemplated this possibility. He derives the quantitative result that:

where alpha is the fine-structure constant. This gives the muon mass m_μ as 206.554 times the electron mass m_e, in comparison with the observed ratio of 206.767. It is interesting then to note that had we regarded the electron as a mere sphere of electric charge of radius b and presumed a disturbance of some kind to ripple around it at this radius but at velocity c, we would have reason to derive a disturbance frequency of c/2πb. Multiplied by h this could represent energy, particularly if we are alive to the possibility that the mechanism of the photon may be involved in this model. Such energy, in mass terms, when added to the mass of the electron, gives a total mass of:

Then one can see by analogy with the Ross result that the muon mass could be derived with the same quantitative success if the rest mass energy of the electron were 2e²/3b. It is interesting then to note that this is exactly the rest mass energy found in classical works from the study of the electromagnetic properties of the electron.

The purpose of this is to show that we need not appeal to General Relativity to derive quantitative results in accord with Ross discovery. On the other hand Ross has come to his result by careful qualitative analysis and has argued that his muon should not affect the applicability of quantum electrodynamic theory. Our object in this paper is not to treat the problem of the muon, but rather to take the classical model of the electron and, guided by the quantitative result emerging from this analogy with the Ross speculations, examine how the classical model can be tailored to suit larger particle structures, particularly the atomic nucleus. We can be encouraged also by a statement made by Dirac in Scientific American in May 1963. He wrote:

I might mention a third picture with which I have been dealing lately. It involves departing from the picture of the electron as a point and thinking of it as a kind of sphere with a finite size…. the muon should be looked on as an excited electron. If the electron is a point, picturing how it can be excited becomes quite awkward.

The method of reverting to a physical model of the electron also takes strength from observations made by Grandy on the classical Lorentz-Dirac theory of electrodynamics. Grandy was writing at p. 738 of the February 1970 issue of Il Nuovo Cimento, v. LXV. Referring to the problem of Schott energy*, he said that an insight into its nature was outside the scope of classical electrodynamics and also that ‘no relief is to be found in quantum electrodynamics, either, which is totally unable to account for the structure of the electron’. However, Grandy’s comments about the impossibility of quantum electrodynamics helping an understanding of electron structure prevail, though this does not preclude the photon-electron interaction or combination to account for elementary particles or atomic nuclei.

Footnote:

* The problem of Schott energy has been discussed by the author at p. 97 of his book Modern Aether Science.

The muon can behave as an atomic nucleus. In muonium a positive muon replaces the proton in an ordinary hydrogen atom. Also, the muon can replace the electron in normal atoms. A study of such so-called exotic atoms is reported at p. 148 in the March 1972 issue of Physics Bulletin by Kim who refers to evidence of vacuum polarization effects and data showing that the charge radii of nuclei are given by R = r_oA^1/3, where r_o is approximately 1.2×10^-13cm and A is mass number. It is standard to relate the radius with the mass number, but since we are referring to charge radii it is very interesting to examine more detailed data and perform a conversion putting R proportional Z^1/3, where Z is the charge number. Such data is available from Condon and Odishaw’s Handbook of Physics, 2nd Ed. at pp. 9-13. According to these data, the core appears spherical and the charge has a root mean square radius R given by the formula in r_o, where r_o ranges between 0.91 and 1.05 in units of 10^-13 cm as A varies between 12 and 209. We may instead express R as s_oZ^-13 cm to find that s_o would vary between 1.22 and 1.32×10^-13 cm, a variation of less than 4% about the mean, in contrast with r_o, which varies more than 7% about the mean.

These data show that it is better empirically to look for
dependence upon Z rather than A. This may well be the outcome as better measurement data are forthcoming.

Numerous writers* have formulated the energy of the electron of charge e and radius b as 2e²/3b. In the author’s book ‘Physics without Einstein’ it is shown at p. 209 that this indicates a uniform field within the radius b and corresponds to a charge density in cgs. units of e/2(pi)xb² at radius x. The root mean square radius of such a charge distribution is b/(2)^1/2. The value of b calculable from the rest mass energy of the electron 8.2×10^-7 ergs, and the value of e of 4.8×10^-10 esu, is 1.87×10^-13 cm and its root mean square is 1.32×10^-13 cm. There is a remarkable comparability between this electron radius and s_o particularly for smaller Z values.

Footnote:

* Larmor, Phil. Mag. , xliv (1897) p. 503 is but one example.

It seems obvious from this that if we take the classical formula given above for the size of the electron and then apply this also to the positron we have only to conceive the charged core of an atomic nucleus as an aggregation of Z positrons occupying the same volume as Z separate positrons and the root-mean-square radius of the resulting core is 1.32xZ^1/310^-13 cm. This fits the experimental data quite well.

One is led to suspect that the hydrogen nucleus will be the same size as a positron, which makes the Ross observations about the nature of the muon all the more intriguing. However, accepting the empirical implications just presented, there is need for caution in interpretation. One may wonder how the inner electrons screening the atomic nucleus really escape involvement with the measurement of the core radius.

Collectively the majority of the electrons associated with the atomic nucleus happen to exhibit an aggregate volume of just the right order to conform with the measurements of core size.

The interesting feature of the analysis is the applicability of the classical formula for the size of an electric charge. Also, the table above indicates a relationship between A and Z such that as Z increases A/Z varies from 2 to a value close to 2.5. This satisfies the theoretical proposal already made.

NUCLEAR CHAINS

It is appropriate to reproduce next an extract from the author’s ‘Physics without Einstein’, noting that some of the views expressed are subject to modification below. The text preceding this material involved a rigorous analysis of the structure of the vacuum and the computation of a lattice dimension d, which was found to be 6.37×10^-10 cm. It is also noted that since that work was published, Dr D M Eagles and Dr C H Burton have made careful calculations using the computation facilities of CSIRO in Australia and the results reported in Physics Letters at p. 423 of the 23 October 1972 issue support the value just given for the lattice dimension d of the likely aether structure.

Nuclear Bonds

Fig. 7.8

What is the form of the nuclear bonds? Each of the six nucleons in Fig. 7.8, three protons, say, and three neutrons, identified by the full bodied circles, has a bond of its own providing one of the links. These bonds are the real mystery of the atomic nucleus. We will assume that their most logical form is merely a chain of electrons and positrons arranged alternately in a straight line. The reason for the assumption is that electron-positron pairs are readily formed in conjunction with matter, and we have seen how an in-line configuration of alternate positive and negative particles has proved so helpful in understanding the deuteron. Stability has to be explained. Firstly, the chain is held together by the mutually attractive forces between touching electrons and positrons. Secondly, it will be stable if the ends of the chain are held in fixed relationship. This is assured by the location of the nucleons which these bonds interconnect. In Fig. 7.9 it is shown how the bonds connect with the basic particles. In the examples shown, the nucleons are positioned with a chain on either side and are deemed to be spinning about the axis of the chain. Intrinsic spin of the chain elements will not be considered. It cancels as far as observation is concerned because each electron in the chain is balanced by a positron. In Fig. 7.10 it is shown how, for the neutron, for example, the spin can be in a direction different from that of the chain. Also, it is shown how another chain may couple at right angles with this one including the neutron. Note, that the end electron or positron of the chain does not need to link exactly with the nucleon. Therefore, it need not interfere with the spin.

Fig. 7.9

We will now calculate the energy of a chain of electrons and positrons. For the purpose of the analysis we will define a standard energy unit as e²/2a. This is the conventional electrostatic energy of interaction between two electric charges e of radius a and in contact. Since 2e²/3a is mc², as applied to the electron, this energy unit is 0.75 mc². On this basis a chain of two particles has a binding energy of -1 unit. If there are three particles the binding energy is the sum of -1, 1/2 and -1, since the two outermost particles are of opposite polarity and their centres are at a spacing of 4a and not 2a.

Fig. 7.10

For N particles, with N even, the total interaction energy is:

-(N-1) + (N-2)/2 – (N-3)/3 + …. 2/(N-2) – 1/(N-1)

which is -Nlog 2, if N is large. If N is odd, the last term in the above series is positive and the summation, for N large, is I – Nlog 2. To find N we need to know how many particles are needed for the chain to span a distance d. This distance d can be related to m by eliminating r from equation (4.1) (in ‘Physics without Einstein’), namely:

r = h/4πmc

combined with equation (6.60), namely:

hc/2πe² = 144π(r/d)

Then d/2a is found using 2e²/3a = mc². It is 54π, so N may be, say, 169, 170 or possibly 168, particularly if N has to be even and there has to be space for any nucleons. For our analysis we will calculate the binding energy of the chain and the actual total energy of the chain for all three of these values of N. The data are summarized in the following table.

Chain Binding Energy

		N	168	169	170
		-N log2	-116.45	-117.14	-117.83
		Binding Energy (units)	-116.45	-116.14	-117.83
		Binding Energy (mc2)	-87.34	-87.11	-88.38
		Add Self Energy (mc2	168	169	170
		Total Chain Energy	80.66	81.89	81.62
		Ground State Correction	0.61	0.62	0.62
		Corrected Energy (mc2)	81.27	82.51	82.24

In the above table the binding energy has been set against the self energy of the basic particles and a correction has been applied of αmc² per pair of particles to adjust for the fact that mass is not referenced on separation to infinity, as was discussed earlier in this chapter. The total mass energy of the chain is seen to be about 81 or 82 electron mass energy units, depending upon its exact length.

This shows that while the electron-positron chain proposed will provide a real bond between nucleons linked together to form an atomic nucleus, it will nevertheless add a mass of some 81m per nucleon. This seems far too high to apply to the measured binding energies. Furthermore, it is positive and the nature of binding energy is that it must be negative. This can be explained by introducing the π-meson or pion, as it is otherwise termed.

The Pion

When an electron becomes attached to a small but heavy particle of charge e, the interaction energy is very nearly -e²/a or 1.5 times the energy unit mc². This means that the mass of the heavy particle is effectively reduced when an electron attaches itself to it and becomes integral with it. If we go further and seek to find the smallest particle which can attach itself to a heavy nucleon to provide enough surplus energy to form one of the above-mentioned electron-positron chains, we can see how this nucleon plus this particle plus this chain can have an aggregate mass little different from that of the initial nucleon. This can reconcile our difficulties. The fact that an electron can release the equivalent of about half its own mass indicates that to form the chain of mass 81m we will need a meson-sized particle of the order of mass of the muon or pion. To calculate the exact requirement we restate the inverse relationship between the mass m of a particle of charge e and its radius a:

2e²/3a = mc²

This applies to the electron, but it can also be used for other particles such as the meson and the H particle.
It may then be shown that if two particles of opposite polarity charge e are in contact, their binding energy, e² divided by the sum of their radii, is 3c²/2 times the product of their masses divided by the sum of their masses. Let M_o be the mass of the meson involved and M be the mass of the H particle. The following table then shows the value of the surplus energy E_s:

3M_oMc²/2(M_o+M) – M_oc²

in terms of units of mc², for different values of M_o/M and a value of M of 1836m.

Meson Energy of H particle

		Mo/m	***	Es
		230		76.4
		240		78.3
		250		80.0
		260		81.5
		270		83.0
		280		84.5

Starting from this basis, we will now seek to improve this 1969 account. Firstly, a very important advance emerges if we take the latter equation and find the solution which gives maximum surplus energy. Thus we put the expression at a minimum with M set at 1836m and M_o variable. Simple analysis then shows that for this condition M_o is M(3/2)^1/2 – M or 0.225 M or 413m. This is higher than the pion mass contemplated above. The energy released is found to be (0.225)²M or 93m. Thus subtracting the chain energy of about 81m we find that each chain together with the parton pair represented by that equation will contribute mass some 12 electron units m less than that of the proton.

If our atomic nucleus comprised simple chain bonds and had one per nucleon we should find that the mass of a nucleus would be 1824 times the number of nucleons when measured in terms of electron mass units. In fact this mass varies. As the number of nucleons increases the unit mass rapidly decreases through a minimum of about 1820 for iron and then rises gradually until it is 1823 for the largest nucleus.

There is a very interesting explanation for this effect. Note that the energy of a chain is proportional to its length. Then ask how three nucleons arranged as below can be linked by chains. Three configurations are shown in Fig. 1.

We now assume that the configuration adopted will be that of minimum energy, that is minimum total chain length. Simple analysis shows that 2x+y can be less than 2d. The minimum value is 1.933d when z is approximately 0.2d. This means that at the corner of the nuclear lattice the energy of a normal chain of length d is effectively reduced to 0.967 of its normal value, that is, from 81m to 78m. There is a decrease of three electron mass units whenever a chain is able to cut a corner so to speak as in Fig. 1(b).

Now consider a nucleus of iron and let us suppose that the charge of the nucleus is due to 26 vacancies in the vacuum structure, an absence of 26 electron-sized charges which normally neutralize the vacuum state. This core will be surrounded by nucleons occupying other lattice sites, 56 in number. Now note that a 3 by 3 by 3 array of a cubic lattice system comprises 27 sites and that there are 6 faces to this cubic array each having a 3 by 3 array in adjacent lattice planes. This is 54 sites. We thus see how iron can be close to an optimum state of symmetry. Also note how most of these 54 sites are associated with a chain of minimum energy. This is evident from Fig. 2.

It seems likely that in the iron nucleus of atomic mass number 56 there are 6 arrays of 8 nucleons as depicted in Fig. 2 and that four of these arrays have, as illustrated in Fig. 3., central nucleons linked both to a nucleon in an outer lattice position and to one of the nucleons at P in Fig. 2.

In every respect, therefore, iron with an atomic mass number of 56 is the nucleus for which every chain is at the low energy. Hence it is not surprising that it appears to be a most stable nucleus. Also, our theory has shown the unit mass to be three electron rrass units below the extreme of having all chains lie on the lattice lines. Such an arrangement can be expected to be more nearly applicable in very large nuclei where multiple shells of nucleons exist and we have seen how such large nuclei have a unit mass higher by three electron masses.

But it is of interest to ask about the Helium 4 nucleus. This appears to have four normal chains in its most natural configuration. The unit mass of the Helium 4 nucleus is about 12. 5 electron mass units below that of the proton. This compares with the figure of 12m deduced on the basis of the chain energy of 81m.

CONCLUSION

From such analysis it is concluded that we are arriving at results which encourage rigorous calculation of detailed structure. The fact that the value of 80.5m is indicated from the Helium nucleus as the mass contribution of a chain of standard lattice length checks very well indeed with the data given in the reproduced tabulation from the author’s ‘Physics without Einstein’. By analysing the atomic nucleus and the dependence of its mass upon its size we can deduce the lattice dimensions of the structured vacuum state and check a theory which has independently afforded an exact evaluation of Planck’s constant, as reference to the above-mentioned paper by Eagles will show, and an exact evaluation of the Constant of Gravitation. For the latter refer to the full text of ‘Physics without Einstein’ or a new work ‘Gravitation’ due to be published by the same author early in 1975.

The author is, of course, interested in any work which may
advance the ideas presented above and invites correspondence.

June 30, 1974 H. Aspden

This concludes the text of that 1974 paper. It will be of interest to some readers to examine how that theory has evolved from that point, especially in respect of the development of the theory of the proton from 1975 onwards.

Harold Aspden

27 May, 1998

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Introduction

My Lecture No. 23 is a record of the notes I compiled in preparation for my participation in a meeting in London on May 10, 1998 at which we discussed developments concerning the New Energy field.

It was at that meeting that I met another speaker, Nick Hawkins, who described something quite extraordinary. It is of such interest that I feel it necessary to present this brief commentary and offer my own thoughts on the subject.

His topic concerned some experimental work involving cold fusion that had taken him to China to perform experiments in an active thunderstorm region. His thesis was that, in thunderstorm conditions, there is something present in the atmosphere that can enhance the activity in a cold fusion cell. His experimental findings in his Chinese venture, where Chinese university facilities were deployed to assist in his project, were said to be positive, with cathodes melting owing to excess heat and other effects occurring that one hears about from reports on cold fusion research elsewhere.

Abrikosov Vortices

I had never heard before of something called ‘Abrikosov Vortices’. According to Hawkins they are ‘rotating strings of electrons’ and ‘their rotation gives them an axial magnetic field’.

He writes, in a hand-out distributed at the meeting:

“In the 1970’s Geert Dijkhuis pointed out that, just as individual electrons adopt quantum-mechanical orbits round positive nuclei, so positive nuclei will adopt quantum mechanical orbits round Abrikosov vortices; and, unlike electrons, nuclei will collide there and fuse.”

His argument then develops along the following lines. It was noted that Dijkhuis thought that those vortices are created in electric storms and Hawkins related the fusion theme with the cold fusion discovery of Fleischmann and Pons, concluding that it was of interest to try to correlate the erratic data reporting success on cold fusion claims with whether the laboratories involved were located in very active thunderstorm regions.

Hawkins’ assessment of available data in 1989 assured him that the positive outcome of cold fusion experiments was very much in favour of electric storm areas, the negative outcomes from such experiments being those concentrated in non-storm areas.

Now, with that general introduction, Nick Hawkins proceeded to explain how he had convinced academic interests in China to support his experimental pursuit in trying to verify his hypothesis. He had gone to Beijing, a notorious storm area in summer, having continuous lightning every other night, and had performed a series of cold fusion experiments in apparatus set up on the roof top of a university building.

He reported: “We got gamma radiation at 4 times background and a rather melted cathode – but only on good storm nights and under certain conditions.”

So, in summary, that being the state of my information on this subject at the time I write this, I can but express my interest and convey my own thoughts on this rather curious situation.

The Aether and Its Spin

Now, if you have read the previous Essay No. 13, you will have seen that there is every reason to expect a state of spin to develop in a plasma when the radial electric field is set up by some means or other. That plasma spin has a counterpart phenomenon in the vacuum itself, owing to aether being a kind of cold structured plasma, and there is good reason to interpret this action as accounting for the thunderballs generated in electric storms. Those thunderballs can exist unseen if they lack the energy concentration that otherwise develops ionization in coextensive air. They may float around everywhere at times when thunderstorms are prevalent. They can be set up by the electrodynamic pinch action in the channel of a lightning flash which in turn produces transiently a radial electric field condition about the axis of the lightning discharge. Alternatively, under certain conditions a very miniature version of aether spin globules could arise from spurious radial electric fields set up in an electrolytic cell which happens to have an elongated cathode within a concentric anode structure.

I do not need therefore to understand the theory of the ‘Abrikosov vortices’ to see scope for connecting enhancement of cold fusion activity with the presence of thunderstorm conditions. I just need to imagine that the aether spin involved, which is a condition in which aether charge of one polarity sits inside an ionic material system of charge of opposite polarity, can penetrate into a cathode of a cold fusion cell. It might then set up within the cathode a negative space charge sufficient to bring two positive deuterons close enough to induce a fusion reaction.

On the other hand, one must wonder whether performing experiments on a roof top in an active thunderstorm area might be a little reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s kite flying and attract discharges which could melt a cathode owing to a lightning strike. One must, however, discount that possibility because the test apparatus would have suffered greater damage than that in such a case.

On balance, therefore, I find Nick Hawkins’ report interesting and relevant and suggest that it points the way forward by which one can explore how best to trigger the cold fusion reactions in a host cathode.

As to those ‘rotating strings of electrons’ that are said to be ‘Abrikosov vortices’ that seems a speculative theoretical notion. I can imagine instead the existence of strings of electrons and positrons linked in an alternate sequence and forming a loop which could amount to a vortex configuration. Yes, I know that electrons and positrons will annihilate one another in pairs, but they might then only recreate electrons and positrons in positions advanced around the loop. Indeed, if, in their merry dance of changing places, the electrons and positrons of each charge pair interchange positions at the same instant there will be a flow of positive charge one way around the loop accompanied by a flow of negative charge the opposite way around the loop and one then has that ‘rotation which gives them an axial magnetic field’.

I am intrigued all the more so by this notion of the ‘Abrikosov vortices’, given the latter interpretation, because in 1974 I published a paper entitled The Chain Structure of the Nucleus, based on something I disclosed about nuclear theory on pp. 147-149 of my 1969 book Physics without Einstein. My subject there was precisely the closed electron-positron chains which I regard as necessary in nuclear structure to bond nucleons together. As I see the atomic nucleus it comprises, in the main, antiprotons which have taken up sites in the aether lattice structure by displacing the normal negative aether lattice charges. Those sites need to be bonded together by neutral strings, those electron-positron chains, and so we have then a neutral composite nuclear form, with those antiprotons having fallen into the positive holes left by the displaced lattice charges. To complete the atomic nucleus one then needs a positive core charge plus the usual entourage of electrons, but certainly one can develop a very effective nuclear theory on this basis.

The key task is to develop a nuclear theory which explains why the mass per nucleon decreases from hydrogen to chromium in the Periodic Table of Elements and then increases steadily as one progresses on to uranium and beyond. That was the subject of that 1974 paper: The Chain Structure of the Nucleus. It warrants inclusion in these Web pages and it will be duly entered as the next Essay.

Introduction

In the January 30, 1998 issue of SCIENCE, vol. 279, pp 675-676 and pp. 686-689, there are two articles concerning the discovery that ions can form into a crystal-like cubic array in a cold plasma. The experimental technique by which the crystal structure is detected is quite interesting as is the fact that it has an intrinsic tendency to rotate.

Now, this is particularly interesting to me because I have, over the years, been advocating the belief that the vacuum itself is a very cold ionized medium having a crystalline structure and that it is the rotation or rather spin of a small 3x3x3 cubic element of such a structure that really constitutes what we know as the ‘photon’.

Furthermore, I have, in my writings, drawn attention to the fact that it is the rotation of large spherically bound forms of such a vacuum structure that accounts for the rotation of stars and, indeed, planets, as well as explaining their magnetic properties. I have regarded the event of the cooling of that ionized world of ‘free space’ as forming the crystal structure, which by analogy with the onset of ferromagnetism as iron cools below its Curie temperature is the event which initiates the related action we refer to as ‘gravitation’. Indeed, the onset of gravitation is the event which, in lieu of the so-called ‘Big Bang’, nucleates the protons dispersed throughout space and forms the stars. The initial concentration of positive charge in that way sets up the radial electric fields which act upon the cold and structured space plasma to promote the rotation which is imparted to stars at birth.

All that is mere theory, but theory from which I have developed a truly wonderful unifying account of the fundamental features of the aetherial world which we inhabit.

In recent times I have seen developments on the ‘New Energy’ front which have further encouraged my efforts and provided what I regard as confirmation of my theoretical efforts. So it was that I developed a particular interest in claims concerning the anomalous generation of electrical power as if by tapping the energy of the environment by techniques using plasma discharges of a special kind. One such technique reveals ionized plasma spheres, charge clusters, which seemingly defy what can be expected using standard physical principles.

In my own experiments in which I had a magnetic rotor spinning I sensed an anomalous inertial effect which I could attribute in quantitative and qualitative terms to the induction of a radial electric field which in turn induced ‘aether spin’ or what one could call ‘vacuum spin’.

That said, it came as a pleasant surprise when I received a letter dated April 10, 1998 from Dr. Gerald Lindley of Manchester, Connecticut, USA, drawing my attention to those two articles in the January 30, 1998 issue of SCIENCE. He claimed that what is disclosed in those articles is “enough to falsify and disprove the charge cluster hypothesis of Jin and Fox plus Shoulders, King and Aspden.”

I use the word ‘pleasant’ because it is pleasing to be informed that the model of the simple cubic structure that I developed for the old but yet energy-active vacuum has been found to have an analogous counterpart in the ionized matter form. It is pleasing to see that rotation develops naturally in such a medium. Also, in some respects, it is pleasing to receive criticism, rather that being ignored, because that then excites a greater interest in one’s onward efforts to unravel whatever it is that hides us from the truth.

This, therefore, is my introduction to this Essay No. 13. I feel that I can now present my comments concerning aether, photons and ‘vacuum spin’ energy with more chance of being given a hearing than hitherto and I appreciate Dr. Lindley’s consideration for drawing those SCIENCE articles to my attention, notwithstanding a certain lack of grace in his assertion that “The charge cluster hypothesis of … and Aspden is totally absurd” and that “The entire charge cluster hypothesis is falsified, disproved, demolished, torn to shreds, blown to pieces, smashed, annihilated and obliterated.”

The Crystal Structure of the Vacuum Medium

The ‘vacuum medium’, otherwise known as the ‘aether’, is a cold neutral ionized plasma that has such a perfect crystalline form that it cannot be ‘seen’ or ‘felt’ as a medium resisting force. In fact it responds so easily in its reaction to invasion by matter that it dissolves its structure and reforms that structure in the wake of matter that does move through it. These are mere words, but they will be converted into a formal physical description once we explore the structural form of the aether and connect that to observable phenomena.

I will build my case by reference to the second of those articles in SCIENCE, namely that by Itano et al at p. 686 of Vol. 279, 30 January 1998.

That article begins by saying:

“Plasmas, the ionized states of matter, are usually hot and gaseous. However, a sufficiently cold or dense plasma can be liquid or solid. A one-component plasma (OCP) consists of a single charged species embedded in a uniform, neutralizing background charge. Aside from its intrinsic interest as a simple model of matter, the OCP may be a good model for some dense astrophysical plasmas, such as the crusts of neutron stars or the interiors of white dwarfs, where nuclei are embedded in a degenerate electron gas.”

Well, that is a good introduction to an interesting topic in physics in this year 1998. However, something very similar was seen by me, back in the early years of the 1950s, when I was trying to devise a model which I could apply to a ferromagnetic crystal in a way which could account for the magnetic polarization of the magnetic domains inside the body-centred crystal structure of iron. That model had a version that regarded one solitary electron in each atom as moving in synchrony with corresponding electrons in adjacent atoms, each contributing to the ferromagnetic saturation in the host domain.

My model was an ‘OCP’, a one-component plasma, that being initially the easiest case to treat mathematically. I did, however, abandon the ‘OCP’ model when I saw that two electrons per atom had to cooperate in the co-ordinated motion. I was not worried about the fact that the 3d electrons in the atom are the ones responsible for the ferromagnetic state, but only have an orbital motion able to contribute two Bohr magnetons per atom. My reason was that I knew (a) that the measured value was 2.221 Bohr magnetons and (b) that there was something wrong with the existing theory and that in fact that magnetic moment was really double the value normally assumed. So, I had my sights on a contribution per atom of 8 Bohr magnetons which my intuition, based on the need to keep magnetostrictive strain within the bounds of sensible theory, said was flipping between the three axial directions in the body-centred structure. That meant that, on average, there would be 2.667 Bohr magnetons developing the primary polarization in one crystal axis direction, with the lateral transient polarizing effects compensating to zero. It further meant that, since I had established by my theoretical probing that the prevailing primary polarization effect would set up a half-cancelling reaction confronting the instantaneous 8 Bohr magneton field, then half of 2.667, divided by 3, would be the true mean offset. That said that the 2.667 Bohr magnetons per atom of the iron crystal would be offset by 0.444 Bohr magnetons to give, overall, a net effect of 2.222 Bohr magnetons.

The experimental value was 2.221 Bohr magnetons and so, as you can imagine, I was rather pleased with this discovery, especially when I got similar results for nickel and cobalt which have a different crystal structure. That work was eventually published, but it was frowned upon by the referee physicists who saw themselves as experts in magnetism. After all, I was suggesting that there is a universal reaction to any primary magnetic field and that it acts to half-cancel that field.

To me, given that a unit measure is unity, it is not that outrageous to suggest that unity is 2 minus 1, especially when that unity reaction can be the action which feeds inductance energy back to a solenoid when power is switched off. However, those experts had somehow convinced themselves that ferromagnetism in iron comes from something called ‘electron spin’ and here I was suggesting it all came from the orbital motion of electrons! Add to that the fact that a discerning referee could well have sensed that I was talking about a real field reaction seated in a real aether and it is no wonder that I was left to wander in the scientific wilderness.

I did wander and I also wondered about that ‘OCP’ model of mine, eventually seeing this, not as the kind of structure to expect in a neutron star, whatever that is, but rather the very structure that must exist in the aether itself!

That is how my all-embracing unified ‘field’ theory was born, because that ‘OCP’ model of the vacuum medium, with its structural features, yielded a valid theoretical account of the fine-structure constant.

A point vital to this onward discourse, however, is that I discovered that the structure of the vacuum is not body-centred-cubic, as it is in the ionized plasma of the experiments reported in that article in SCIENCE. No, the vacuum has a simple cubic structure, not body-centred (bcc) and not face-centred (fcc)! If you wonder why, then ask yourself what determines the (bcc) structure in the real crystals we see around us.

The answer is that atoms in a solid bond together owing to some overlap in the electron entourage and so, in effect, all crystals are, in some respects, ionized plasma forms, though one does not use that terminology. In the cold plasma experiments of that article in SCIENCE, one can assert quite authoritatively that the crystal structure that develops is governed by ‘least energy’ considerations.

Now the problem with applying such theory to real matter is that we can build material systems in which the internal electric potential has a negative value. Take a cube of positive charge which is distributed uniformly throughout that cube and put a particle having a compensating negative charge at the very centre of that cube and you have a model of a material cell in that ‘OCP’ plasma form. Work out the electric potential energy attributable to the interaction between the positive and negative charges and the self-interaction as between the distributed elements of that positive charge. This net energy potential governs the position adopted by that negative charge within that cubic cell. It has a minimum when the charge is at the centre of the cell, but that minimum value is a negative quantity!

One needs to do work to displace the negative charge from the centre of that cube, but you will find that the overall potential becomes positive before the negative charge reaches a cube face. However, if the potential can be negative then that negative charge will come to rest at the cube centre.

If negative potential is permitted and there are numerous negative charges all seated in a corresponding cube of positive charge, then they will pool their energy potential and not just take up positions each at the centre of a simple cubic structure. Instead, the (bcc) structure is adopted by the plasma, such as we see in our material systems, typically iron. However, underlying the real world there is that backcloth or sub-structure of the quantum world of the aether. If the aether is intolerant of the negative energy potential state there can be no way in which it can tolerate the presence of matter in (bcc) or (fcc) of other structural form. Yet, as we well know, it does tolerate those (bcc) and (fcc) crystal forms and the aether itself cannot have regions of negative potential.

So here was my breakthrough, made in the mid-1950s, the realization that the aether is a cold plasma, essentially of that ‘OCP’, one component plasma, form and it has the one structure which corresponds to least electric energy potential, provided that potential is a little greater than zero everywhere. It has to be sufficiently greater than zero for it to outweigh the negative energy potential densities that accompany the (bcc) and related crystal structures in matter present locally. This tells us that the lattice spacing as between the charges constituting the aether itself is very much smaller than those we see in crystalline matter. Indeed, there are of the order of tens of millions of aether lattice cells within every lattice cell of an iron crystal, for example.

The resulting structure of the aether is simple-cubic and every one of the charges which are that ‘one-component’ constituent must be displaced from the centre of the compensating charge cell in which it is located. Yet its energy must remain minimal and positive. That can only be if all those charges orbit their cell centres in unison so as to preserve their relative structural arrangement. This in turn introduces the features we associate with quantum theory, the Bohr magneton quantization in particular.

Such then was my introduction to the mysterious realm we call the ‘aether’ and it will take a great deal more than criticisms of the kind raised by Dr. Gerald Lindley to knock me off course, bearing in mind that I am now more that 40 years on from these initial discoveries and onward research during those years has reinforced my position.

The Lindley Criticisms

This particular Web page is not the place in which I wish to spend time explaining details concerning my theory. I will therefore concentrate on the specific attack mounted against my work by Dr. Lindley.

The case he puts is that the experiments reported in the SCIENCE articles prove that an ion plasma in its lowest energy state has a maximum ion density experimentally measured as being of the order of 2.15×10⁸ to 4.53×10⁸ per cc. He concludes from this that “the charge cluster hypothesis of Jin and Fox plus Ken Shoulders, Moray B. King and Harold Aspden requires a charge cluster density that is fifteen orders of magnitude greater than the physically possible maximum density.”

Now, that, without him having elaborated further, is his total case. He declares that whatever I and these other worthy individuals have said in our quite independent utterances on this charge cluster topic has to be in error by an enormous factor, solely because something measured in very cold plasma involves an ion concentration that does not square with our independent assertions.

Now, firstly, so far as I am aware Ken Shoulders has not claimed that the charge clusters appearing in his experiments have any crystal structure. Furthermore, I have assumed that those experiments were performed in a laboratory using vacuum tubes that would no doubt get rather warm in their operation. I note that the SCIENCE article experiments were performed on plasma that is cooled, not just to a very low temperature near absolute zero Kelvin, but down to 10 mK, that is one hundredth of a degree absolute!

There is no comparison between the energy states in that cold plasma experimental work and the energy levels involved in the research aimed at generating excess energy from spinning plasma. However, I have just used the word ‘spinning’ and here we do have something that warrants comment.

First, I make the simple point that if, by cooling an ionized plasma down to 10 mK, it is possible to slow the ions down to the level at which they can each stay within an orbit confined to a single cell volume of that plasma, then that is the basis on which the cubic structure can form. As I have read the SCIENCE articles the plasma is a very rarified state set up in a vacuum environment as otherwise there would be more ions present than some 4.53×10⁸ per cc. This measure of the uniformly dense plasma was what was dictated by the criteria needed to permit formation of that cubic structure.

Surely, if one ionizes a gas that is at a normal or moderate pressure, as in a lightning discharge, there will be a higher concentration of ions per cc than that 4.53×10⁸ figure relied upon by Dr. Lindley in his criticism. No one is suggesting that there will be structure, cubic or otherwise, in the plasma formed in that way.

I can only assume, therefore, that Dr. Lindley has misdirected his comments by including names other than mine in his attack.

I will, however, concede that I have suggested in my writings that it is the structural crystal-like form of the vacuum state that gives scope for its exploitation as a source of energy in those plasma cluster experiments that do concern Dr. Lindley. I need therefore to clarify why Dr. Lindley’s remarks are utterly absurd in that connection.

Vacuum Spin

When I realized that the vacuum medium, the aether, had a cubic structure owing to there being within it a crystal-like array of electric charges uniformly distributed in a background continuum of opposite charge, precisely that (OCP), one-component plasma, system mentioned in the article in SCIENCE, I was interested in how spherical sectors of that medium could spin, as with body Earth. How would the rotation affect its cubic structure? Keep in mind that, besides there being that cubic distribution of charge, each such element of charge describes a small orbit to ensure that it stays displaced from the position of minimal, but negative, energy potential and holds itself at a positive level of potential.

That orbital motion or quantum jitter, as I have called it, ensures that those charges keep in synchronism in their jitter motion. Now, to do that, it works out that they must suffer a slight radial displacement with respect to the spin axis. This is because, if the rotation is in the same sense as that orbital jitter motion, the charges are travelling faster at their outermost positions than they are at their innermost positions and, relative to the centre of charge about which they orbit, they must therefore be displaced inwardly in order that they can stay in synchronous motion throughout their orbital jitter motion.

In short, this meant that if, for some reason, there was a radial electric field set up by a concentration of electric charge, then the enveloping aether would develop a spin motion about that charge concentration. That was what my theory predicted and it caused me to understand how astronomical bodies develop their rotation. I presented the theory in mathematical terms in a small 48 page printed booklet, the preface of which bears the date 22 November 1959. That is nearly 40 years ago. My aether theory not only gave the theoretical value of the fine-structure constant, meaning the dimensionless constant combining Planck’s constant, the electron charge and the speed of light, all parameters of the vacuum itself, but it gave, both qualitatively and quantitatively the value we observe as the Earth’s magnetic moment.

That convinced me that the vacuum medium was as I suggested, namely a simple cubic array of charges set in a uniform background continuum of opposite charge.

It has led me in recent times to suggest that the setting up of a radial electric field about an axis will develop aether rotation about that axis, something I have called vacuum spin. More than this, however, it meant that, in constraining those orbital jitter motions to keep in step, the external enveloping system of charge which is all part of the same dynamic system, must supply energy as necessary to assure that the charges do not get out of step. This is a one-way process in that energy converges on the focal point or rather the system at the focus or centre of this activity. Here then is a mechanism by which excess energy can be expected to creep into plasma discharges or other physical systems which develop electric fields directed radially with respect to a spin axis.

Naturally, although my theory concerning this dates from the 1950s, I could not, merely on the strength of this theory, contemplate such a breach of the kind of physics I had been taught in my early academic years. However, when I did hear of claims concerning experiments that implied generation of excess energy, I then started to wonder and began to see a connection with the theory I had been developing since the mid 1950s.

So now in early 1998 when Dr. Gerald Lindley draws my attention to an experimental discovery reported in SCIENCE, one which he says disproves my theory but yet which on my reading indicates otherwise, I am more than just interested.

I have said above that my case as published in my copyrighted work back in 1959 was that a radial electric field acting on a cubic charge array would cause it to spin owing to a phase-lock acting throughout that structure. So I say that my prediction is confirmed when I read in the Itano et al SCIENCE article:

“In our experiment the ions were confined in a cylindrical Penning trap, consisting of an electrostatic quadrupolar potential and a uniform magnetic field. The radial electric field leads to a rotation…”

Yes, the plasma not only developed its cubic structure, but it then began to rotate about a spin axis owing to the setting up of a radial electric field inside that plasma. The test data indicated that the spin speed was determined by the strength of that radial electric field.

Now, how can it be that an ionized plasma will spin bodily about a central axis merely because there is an electric field radial from that axis? Surely it will only do that if it is a least energy state for that spin to develop. The magnetic field will no doubt help to keep the charge orbits in mutually parallel planes, but that will not account for that plasma spin. In fact the magnetic field acting alone would merely develop a reacting motion of charge in tiny helical paths. The data concerning the strength of the magnetic field then tells us that such helical motion would be at frequencies far in excess of those observed for the plasma spin.

In summary, therefore, the SCIENCE articles support the proposition that the combination of a cubic charge structure in an ionized plasma plus the presence of a radial electric field will assure that plasma spin develops.

That said, I am now left to contest Dr Lindley’s assertion that the charge densities observed in those plasma experiments are far less than those deemed necessary to assure excess energy gain in charge clusters formed by experiments such as that of Ken Shoulders or, one presumes, those of the PAGD (Pulsed Abnormal Glow Discharge) experiments performed by Paulo and Alexandra Correa in Canada.

Well, first of all, I am looking at cubic charge structure in the vacuum medium, whereas Dr. Lindley is looking at a cubic charge structure generated in an extremely-rarified ionized plasma, which by some very freak conditions of extreme cooling to incredibly low temperature happen to permit such structure to develop.

I know that the charge density of that (OCP) vacuum medium itself is very nearly 4×10³⁰ per cc. If it were as low as Dr. Lindley suggests as the maximum value then the spacing between the charges in the cubic structure would be about 1.35×10^-3 cm. That means that the aether, which contains charge needed to explain Maxwell displacement currents and the energy storage in the electric field, would have to get by on having its charge components, if of electron size, spaced so far apart that one could, for example, not set up electric fields in logical circuitry on the microscopic scale now prevalent in the computer industry.

So I simply cannot understand how Dr. Lindley can question the need for the very substantial ion densities that go with normal electrical activity in plasma generally and in the aether in particular. There are of the order of 10²³ free ions per cc in copper at room temperature, but they do not form into any structure. However, if I set up a strong flow of current through a copper rod, I well know that those electrons will experience an electrodynamic pinch effect, meaning that they will set up a radial electric field with respect to the central axis of that rod. I suspect that the effect of that radial field upon the structured aether ‘plasma’ inside that rod will promote rotation of that ‘plasma’, but it makes no sense at all to hear from Dr. Lindley that, because the ion density in a rarefied plasma in a Penning trap with no copper core present is quite low, notwithstanding the presence of that plasma rotation, so one cannot have plasma ion densities any greater in that copper rod or in a normal room temperature plasma glow discharge.

I submit that the SCIENCE articles to which Dr. Lindley has referred help my case in asserting that the setting up of a radial electric field in a conductive medium, be it of metal or plasma, will induce what I call ‘vacuum spin’. That spin arises because of a phase-lock enforced by the constraints set up by the cubic ion structure and the need for synchrony in the motion of those ions to conserve that structure. Such constraints exerted as between charges constituting a real aether medium are then likely to be effective in drawing energy from the enveloping environment in order to keep the charge motion in a phase-locked state.

So long as physicists accept that an ionized plasma can contain more that 4.53×10⁸ ions per cc, the case presented by Dr. Lindley has to be considered meaningless. Numerous chemical solutions that are subject to ionic dissociation have far more free ions per cc than Dr. Lindley suggests as being the possible maximum.

The thunderball could not exist if Dr. Lindley’s assertion was true. In a book Modern Aether Science, that I wrote in 1972, I drew attention to the experiments, in 1963, of D J Ritchie of the Bendix Corporation. (Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, p. 202 (1963). Ritchie was experimenting on the assumption that the thunderball is an ionized sphere of gas energized by the induction of short-wave electromagnetic oscillations produced in a thunderstorm. As the years went by it came to be recognized that the energy densities inside thunderballs based on measurement of their capacity to heat water when terminating their stable existence upon falling into a water barrel was between 2×10⁹ J/m³ and 5×10⁹ J/m³. This was reported by M D Altschuler et al in Nature in 1970 at p. 545 of v. 228. Later, in 1979, one could read in Reviews of Modern Physics at p. 417 of v. 51 that Nobel Laureate P L Kapitza had recognized that the energy densities of the thunderball are of the right order for application in fusion reactors and that he sought to create them artificially by radio frequency techniques.

Dr. Lindley would have us believe that such phenomena are not possible because he has read about an experiment in a Penning trap which shows that the maximum ionic density in a plasma that can create a spherical charge cluster having cubic structure is 4.53×10⁸ ions per cc.

I will therefore adhere to the opinion which I expressed on p. 14 of my 1972 book Modern Aether Science:

If a spherical volume of the unseen aether medium rotates, it may result in an electric displacement effect radial from its axis of rotation. It is well known from Maxwell’s work that a vacuum exhibits electric displacement properties so we are not making an unreasonable proposition. Rotation of a sphere of aether would then develop a magnetic field. It is easy then to say that if such a sphere housed an ionized plasma rotating with it, then both the radial electric field and the magnetic field would be cancelled. However, we know that the sun has a magnetic field and we also know that “lightning balls have been known highly to magnetize metallic objects such as gun-barrels” [Here there was a footnote reference to that above-mentioned paper by Ritchie]. Therefore, the cancellation may only be partial and we can examine with justified curiosity the properties of the rotating aether medium.

In conclusion, do keep in mind that those experimental results reported in SCIENCE do show that ions in a cold plasma can form into cubic structure and that not only may have relevance to there being a kind of crystal structure in stars, but undoubtedly must have relevance to the prospect of there being such a charge structure in the vacuum medium itself, meaning the aether!

In this Essay I suggest a suitable theme for the research student in search of a project worthy of a Ph.D.

Introduction

One of the most fundamental problems confronting the physicist is the understanding of the forces that act on electrical charge in motion. If you think the answer is all wrapped up in something called the Lorentz force law, then you need to sort out your ideas! I will address this discussion to the professors of physics who have a special interest in the theories which relate to electrodynamics and the forces at work in the interaction of moving electric charges.

The specific issue that concerns me is not so much the electrodynamic forces which act on charge moving as a visible transporter of electric current, but rather the forces on the charges moving as if they are hidden in an electrically neutral, but ever-active, ionized medium. This medium is not necessarily one in which there are ionized atoms, but can be the subtle background medium of the multitude of conduction electrons in a block of copper, for example. It could even be the medium we call the ‘vacuum’, given some latitude in our perception of the physical world and remembering that Maxwell did introduce us to an arena of scientific interest that we have neglected and pushed aside as we ‘bask’ in the cool shadow cast by the Einstein monument.

If you think I am ignorant of the orthodox methods of explaining why there appears to be no overwhelming ‘free electron diamagnetism’ in copper, for example, then take note of the above reference to ‘methods’. Years ago, when I surveyed this subject I counted some three quite different ways in which this anomalous phenomenon is explained in the scientific literature. They were all different and mutually inconsistent, which I saw as evidence that the subject was wide open and still in need of clarification. You see, the problem was that physicists knew something as an experimental fact but yet their theory, as confirmed by several other experimental facts did not fit with that absence of ‘free electron diamagnetism’. It seemed that any odd-ball theory that could slide over the problem could be accepted, given that other more interesting problems attracted one’s research interest. So, all I am saying is that it is time to put things in order.

I have already, in Lecture No. 17, hinted at the subject I now introduce. I declared towards the end of that Lecture that I had long wondered why it is that the magnetic field of a permanent magnet can penetrate through a block of copper without the numerous free electrons in motion within that copper reacting to screen such fields virtually in their entirety. I said that the answer I adopted long ago, is the following:

When an electron in motion reacts to a magnetic field it is a quantum event, meaning that maybe it will and maybe it won’t, this being determined by whichever affords the optimum response from an energy equilibrium viewpoint.

This, therefore, is the subject I commend as a worthy research project for a budding Ph.D. student. It is a pursuit that offers enormous potential and one I would have welcomed as my indoctrination process in my younger years. There is a bridge that needs to be constructed as a link between the quantum world and what is of practical importance in electrical science. It would be foolish to think that no mistakes have been made in interpreting certain phenomena in electrodynamics, and one should not live in awe and be overwhelmed by the alleged power of quantum theory or the theory of relativity, given that, notwithstanding the contributions of Paul Dirac, there are so many mysteries that seek solution.

So, I will venture here to pursue, in outline, the topic that I raised in Lecture No. 17 and I hope that it will arouse interest and warrant being taken up by someone as a Ph.D. research project.

Force or Energy?

Which would you rather believe, (a) that there are laws which tell you the force which is exerted on an electric charge moving in a magnetic field or (b) that there are energy-dependent factors which govern how a charge moves in a magnetic field? Well, you can say that the choice is irrelevant if the answers are always the same and serve us well in their practical application. However, you will, I hope, have doubts if I can draw your attention to certain anomalies that our physics fraternity has chosen to ‘sweep under the carpet’, as it were.

When quantum physics took root in the early decades of the 20th century, we found that we had to break faith with the natural logic and experience of physics, as based on what we could see and denmonstrate in our hands-on bench-type testing of electrical apparatus using standard electrical measuring instruments. We were, in effect, asked to rely as much on certain abstract theoretical notions as upon measurement data and regard such notions as fact, if they seemed to work, notwithstanding the lack of sense and logic in the formulations involved.

What seems to me to be a curious circumstance is that physicists persist in declaring their belief in the validity of the Lorentz force law, notwithstanding their admission that their efforts to relate the force of gravitation and the electrodynamic force, their Holy Grail of a ‘unified field theory’, is still eluding their efforts. Force equations are surely not the way Nature goes about regulating its affairs. Energy is what counts! If, in Nature, the optimum energy deployment implies action of some kind, then that action is what one sees and it could well be something that contradicts the predictions based on man-made laws of physics.

What sense is there is studying the effects of a magnetic field on an electron moving as part of the electron beam in a cathode-ray tube and then applying that knowledge to determine the effects the magnetic field has on a neutral plasma of electric charge. Overall, there can be no net electrodynamic force on a neutral plasma, but yet there is action and deployment of energy in some way, especially if the strength of that magnetic field changes.

Read about this in your textbooks and you will perhaps find the kind of comment that says, there is no energy transfer if the magnetic field is changed very slowly. To a practically-minded person this almost suggests that the author of such an idea does not know the difference between ‘energy’ and ‘power’. Einstein is one of the culprits on this account. He once declared that there could be no radiation of energy if an electron was accelerated slowly and used this to justify how electron mass increased with speed according to his relativistic formula, the point being that energy had to be conserved to get the right answer. Do you believe that an electron has a mass that can vary, not just according to its speed, but according to the history of its acceleration? This is the sort of thing that has been ‘brushed under the carpet’ and it is no wonder there are so many unanswered questions in fundamental electrodynamics.

Consider, for example, the Neumann Potential. Is this something historic or is it of importance in modern electrodynamic teaching? Well, I could go on, but I am not going to develop this into that thesis I hope some student will undertake. So, I will move rapidly now and plot the research path that I would recommend.

The theme is to concentrate on energy, not force. Then one does need to explore the physical basis of the Neumann Potential. It is the subject of Tutorial Note No. 4 in these Web pages. It concerns energy potential and leads to an inverse-square law of attraction force as between moving electric charges that share mutually parallel motion.

From there one needs to move on to the formulation of a generic force law that includes the Lorentz force as a special case, one avoided by gravitation, which is a special case of a different kind, still embraced by the generic force law. That leads the student to what I described in my paper in the Journal of the Franklin Institute 1969a. Then, to jump directly into the problem at hand, the next scientific paper to inspect is one entitled ‘Instantaneous Electrodynamic Potential with Retarded Energy Transfer’, Hadronic Journal, v. 11, pp. 307-313 (1988). This paper is also to be found in the book ‘Aether Science Papers’, published in 1996,and is of record in these web pages as [1988a].

The derivation of the Neumann potential from first principle analysis is presented on p. 310 of the paper as equation (5). As an energy expression it is:

and it corresponds to a force:

where v and v’ are the velocities of electromagnetic charges e, e’, respectively, r is their distance of separation and [r] their vector distance of separation.

This is an inverse square of attraction force for interaction of charges of the same polarity moving mutually parallel. It is the basis of the gravitational force and the electrodynamic force, but in the latter case we have the complications which arise from the presence of numerous other charge interactions, ever present in the scenario of what we call the ‘magnetic field’. The experience on which we formulate the laws of electrodynamics stem from an observation that an electric charge subjected to a magnetic field will move in a helical path so as to have a component of motion in a reacting circular orbit. The reaction opposes the ‘action’ of the magnetic field, but extracts no energy from that field, given that the field is not varying in strength.

Now, what this really means, as is fully explained in those background references just mentioned, is that, in addition to that force F just formulated, there are two separate force components acting on the charge that are induced by a kind of inertial response which ensures no net transfer of energy between the Neumann potential and the kinetic energy of the interacting charges, meaning the charge in question and those that are the source of the magnetic field. The three force components feature in Maxwell’s famous treatise on Electricity and Magnetism but you do not see this explained in modern textbooks, which develop the Lorentz force law by adoption of Einstein’s ideas. In fact, the Lorentz force law drops one of the three force components and is really an abbreviated vector-product version of what is, in reality, an expression including the current element vectors as two scalar-products. By dropping that third term, possible if the problem at hand is restricted to interactions involving current flow around a closed circuit, the scope for developing the link with gravity vanishes and takes with it all prospect of field theory unification. It further destroys the basis for energy transfer as between the field medium and real matter. Therefore, it is not surprising that physicists have lost their way and cannot make sense of the efforts of those of us who talk about gaining access to the sea of energy that pervades the field medium which they call ‘space-time’.

The point at issue concerning those two additional force components, which I labelled [A] and [B] on p. 310 of that Hadronic Journal paper, is that these two forces can assume the directions v and v’, respectively, if they are to set up the inertial effects that result in the electrodynamic actions we observe. However, that is an optional reaction and it is this prospect that I am now saying warrants special research. The key words that apply here are those at the bottom of p. 310 where I wrote:

“There is nothing to be gained by writing [A] as -[B], as that denies the induction process that we know exists, so we now look at the alternative. … This is where I developed the argument that led to the full formulation of the electrodynamic law generic to the force of gravity and the Lorentz force.“

Now, clearly, seeing this in retrospect, I erred in saying ‘there was nothing to be gained’ by pursuing that alternative case. Indeed, the argument now developed turns on this very point. If the deployment of energy involved in the electrodynamic actions between charges in motion can optimize by taking advantage of the option as between bringing those force components [A] and [B] to bear or by not invoking the inertial reactions implicit in those forces, then the action will be so determined. That, plus a condition that no system of electric charge can develop rotation solely by virtue of its internal electrodynamic self-interaction, is the basis of a comprehensive understanding of electrodynamic phenomena.

By admitting that an excess of energy seeking transfer to the reacting system of charge in the field medium will set those [A] and [B] force components in a mutually cancelling mode, we have introduced that quantum scenario into the electrodynamic interaction.

To explain this, imagine you hold a magnet and it produces a magnetic field in a region of vacuum, or near vacuum, as inside an evacuated thermionic tube. Ignoring the ‘matter’ aspect of the problem, suppose I say that there are electric charges inside the space within that tube, all dashing around as a kind of neutral-overall gas. You see that as something in the ‘aether’ if you wish or you can give it meaning by thinking of the charge which accounts for Maxwell dispacement current. The question is whether those charges react or not to the presence of that magnet.

Well, I am sure they will react and do so to the precise extent that they half-cancel the applied magnetic field, in the manner already explained above. (The half-cancellation theme is my discovery that 2 minus 1 is 1, meaning that if all magnetic fields are twice as strong as we think they are based on their known source but are alyways half-cancelled by an unknown reaction then 1 suffices as an answer until we confront the gryomagnetic ratio factor of 2, when 2 minus 1 has to become the right answer!) However, what precludes them from all reacting together so as to swamp the applied field and virtually kill it completely?

The answer to this lies in that Neumann potential, because the sum of all the Neumann potential terms applicable to those reacting charges that exist unseen and undetected inside the space within that vacuum tube will be zero, once they have adjusted to the presence of the magnet. Therefore, there is no action able to induce reactions that demand a transfer of energy from the source of that magnetic field. Those [A] and [B] force components must all then cancel one another, meaning that there are no forces acting to speed up or slow down the vacuum charges and no corresponding reaction forces on the charges within the magnet. In short our quantum hypothesis is vindicated and explained by formal electrodynamic analysis as developed from that Hadronic Journal paper.

Discussion

The scope for onward study of the theme suggested here is enormous as it opens an unexplored avenue in orthodox physics. The standard theory of quantum-electrodynamics, with its Feynmann diagrams and assumptions that are melded into a mathematical framework with little relevance to energy as such, deals with certain abstruse phenomena. Yet it cannot account for gravitation. Nor can it explain the process of electriomagnetic induction discovered by Michael Faraday. How is energy fed into a solenoid by a current stored in the space within that solenoid so as to be returned on demand when the current is switched off?

The answer lies in what I have described above. So I am saying that a magnetic field acting on what you see as empty space is really governing the reaction of charges moving around unseen in that space. I am saying that a magnetic field need not act on electrons moving though it, meaning that they need not be deflected at all, if the reaction energy in that field is already sufficient to feed the return of the field energy when the field is switched off. That is a breakthrough in our way of thinking about electrodynamic phenomena.

If I were a Ph.D. student interested in this theme I would research it in two ways, initially. I would ask if there are instances where an electron can be affected by a magnetic field when moving in near proximity with the field but not through it, which seems just as unorthodox as saying that there are instances when, moving though the field, it is not affected by it. Also, I would ask how the reaction might be affected when reacting charges of different properties are present.

The first of these topics would cause me to consider the Aharanov-Bohm effect. The second topic would cause me to consider the Nernst Effect, as introduced in Lecture No. 17. However, I would also study the whole background history of what is called ‘free electron diamagnetism’, which is surely a chapter of errors, given what is here proposed. Last, but not least, the argument must converge on the energy of the field medium and that challenging question of whether we can harness it for useful purposes.

The theme here, given that the case is made for the presence of the half-field reaction condition, is whether one can do anything to take that energy from the field environment and apply it to useful ends, before needing to restore the field equilibrium. Look at this with a lump of iron in mind. The quantum underworld keeps the iron fully magnetized in its internal system of magnetic domains. If I apply a magnetizing field I will augment that state of magnetism but the effort in storing energy in the reacting charge moving as free conduction electrons in the iron or in the space underworld will be shared by that quantum activity. Therefore, something must happen to the energy involved. The iron must get hotter or cooler and whatever I do is augmented by action of the ‘free energy’ world.

What all this means is that more research needs to be directed into ‘magnetocaloric phenomena’, with an eye to something that might be practical on the energy front.

That, in summary, is the pursuit which I commend to someone looking for a worthy project for investigation in an academic environment. My hope is that there will be those who engage in such research. If your professor thinks that what I am suggesting is wrong, then ask him to tell me why. Where does my analysis fail? If your professor says that he, or she, is unaware of my writings on this subject and is far too busy to spend time studying such writings, then you must weigh that response for what it is worth.

My onward efforts to take this theme forward will be recorded in these Web pages as I proceed. The following links will take you to: Main Index, Essays Index, and Lectures Index.

Abstract: This Essay will discuss the feasibility of harnessing the ‘Maxwell Demon’. What is proposed involves the technological development of composite panels having a microscopic structure that can concentrate electromagnetic wave energy. This is something for those in the Research Departments of major corporations involved in fabricating optical structures or electronic microcircuit boards to think about, but it does not involve electronics, just the design and assembly skills that go with high technology fabrications of panel structures having special micro-features.

The topic is the subject of a U.S. Patent which I abandoned because its filing was premature and because I had no way of taking the project forward myself. Nevertheless, the invention warrants consideration as a future energy development. The Patent is U.S. Patent No. 5,101,632 issued April 7, 1992.

The grant of this U.S. Patent is also something that is quite remarkable when considered alongside the saga of my efforts in trying to secure grant of a patent on energy conversion having relevance to what has become known as Cold Fusion.

The reason I say this is something that will become evident as you read Claim 13 of the patent. Note that the patent was granted without any objection from the Examiner except for directing my attention to the need to correct a ‘blurred’ line in one of the drawings! Then note, that the invention claimed, particularly in Claim 13, is one that declares that it is possible to connect two ‘heat engines’ back-to-back as it were, with ambient heat being converted into useful heat at a higher temperature. This, ostensibly, is a clear contradiction of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

There is, however, no faulty reasoning in the technical proposition presented. Indeed, apart from a verdict that says it will not work because there is that ‘Second Law of Thermodynamics’, the two technical elements that are combined are both separately feasible. I can further say that when I first published the proposal, what I wrote was seen by the U.K. government officials who fund research projects in universities. Then, to the surprise of the head of the university department to which I belonged at the time, one of those officials actually contacted the university and intimated a willingness to provide government funding of the project, even though no such request had been submitted.

The publication of mine to which I refer appeared in the journal Nature on September 6, 1990 at p. 25 of volume 347. See 1990h.

I was a member of staff there in my capacity as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow and you might think that I would have readily undertaken such a project, but, whilst I would have been content to consult on such a development I was not prepared to divert my full attention to it and relinquish my effort to further my basic theoretical work or relinquish my related patent interests to the university system. Besides that, the development of such a project demands the resource which is only found in the corporations who can fabricate microstructures, as in the computer industry, and at my age time was not on my side. So, in the event, I published the proposal in more detail, as by the subject patent and, soon thereafter, allowed the patents to lapse, so that those corporations that might see its potential could pursue the technology at their will.

However, as we know only too well, there is something called the ‘NIH’ factor, the ‘not-invented-here’ factor, and so many researchers lack the conviction or perhaps the wisdom needed to challenge orthodoxy and urge their directors to venture into such uncharted territory.

In this regard I often wonder whether IBM, which does have a research facility in USA at Yorktown Heights, where quite a few research scientists are given free rein to work on their own pet projects, could develop interest in this direction. The world of computing is, however, very far removed from the world of power generation. Yet, there is that common technological feature concerned with microfabrication of cellular units in panel form.

I also mention this because, at this time (March/April 1998) someone reading these Web pages, namely John Allan, E-Mail: energy@gold.globalcafe.co.uk, has drawn my attention to a recently granted U.S. Patent No. 5,590,031 entitled: ‘System for converting electromagnetic radiation energy to electrical energy’. He gave an access Web address of http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?patent_number=5590031 and this caused me to wonder if this patent might be one belonging to IBM. However, that would appear not to be the case. It would seem that the address is a U.S. patent search facility of general coverage.

In any event, the patent in question is interesting in that its inventors:

Mead, Jr.; Franklin B., Lancaster, CA 93535
Nachamkin; Jack, Poway, CA 92064

have secured grant on Dec.�31,�1996 for an invention, the abstract of which reads:

A system is disclosed for converting high frequency zero
point electromagnetic radiation energy to electrical energy. The system
includes a pair of dielectric structures which are positioned proximal
to each other and which receive incident zero point electromagnetic
radiation. The volumetric sizes of the structures are selected so that
they resonate at a frequency of the incident radiation. The volumetric
sizes of the structures are also slightly different so that the
secondary radiation emitted therefrom at resonance interfere with each
other producing a beat frequency radiation which is at a much lower
frequency than that of the incident radiation and which is amenable to
conversion to electrical energy. An antenna receives the beat frequency
radiation. The beat frequency radiation from the antenna is transmitted
to a converter via a conductor or waveguide and converted to electrical
energy having a desired voltage and waveform.

Now, I see this as evidence that there are those who do believe that there is future prospect in tapping energy from the environment and generating useful electrical power. However, it is one thing to talk about ‘zeropoint energy’ as well as resonant interference aimed at developing radiation at a low beat frequency and quite another to think in terms of tapping ambient heat as a source of radiation in the manner I have described in my U.S. Patent No. 5,101,632. So I stress here that, whatever you may have heard about ‘zero-point’ energy, notably from papers such as that of Dr. Hal Puthoff entitled: ‘Source of Vacuum Electromagnetic Zero-Point Energy’, Physical Review, v. 40, No. 9, November 1, 1989, and his other writings on this subject, the invention I describe below in the subject patent does not depend upon tapping that kind of aether energy. Indeed, I shall now introduce you to three energy conversion routes, two of which do depend upon that aether energy resource but one, the one I am concerned with here, only involving the normal thermal background energy resource.

Introduction

In these Web pages I aim to guide those who are responsible for research that will lead us to new methods of generating energy to take stock of three possibilities. I classify these as ‘TEC’, ‘MEC’ and ‘HEC’, which are, respectively, abbreviations for:

(a) Thermodynamic Energy Conversion, (TEC)
(b) Magnetohydrodynamic Energy Conversion (MEC) and
(c) Hadrodynamic Energy Conversion (HEC).

My case is based upon the realization that there are some fundamental flaws in what physicists have come to believe concerning the creative forces at work in Nature and how Nature deploys its energy.

They tell us how the Sun is powered as a kind of hot fusion reactor which, for some curious reason, does not explode and disintegrate. They admit that their theories do not embrace the unifying link that relates gravitation and electrical action and they admit that they really do not know how the electron and the proton, the components of the hydrogen atom, are created. They cannot, for example, gave a theoretical basis for deriving the proton-electron mass ratio or G, the constant of gravitation, in terms of the electron charge-mass ratio. Yet, they are so overwhelmingly confident that they know what they are talking about when it comes to pronouncing on energy issues on this grand scale!

I have shown in these Web pages, as in the Tutorial Notes, that I can give answers to these questions, including that elusive derivation of the proton-electron mass ratio and G, but I can only do this by building my theory on energy activity latent to the medium that we otherwise see as empty space. So, if a physicist tells you that Einstein eliminated the need to contemplate a real medium filling space and substituted the notion of something called ‘four-space’, then you have the choice of putting your energy future in the hands of physicists of that calibre who thrive on abstract mathematical notions or those who have their feet well rooted in the real energy world of the engineer.

I have never lost sight of my early education as a professional engineer, much as my interest in electrical science has made me also a professionally-qualified physicist. I know that, so far as energy is concerned, there are options which the physicist rejects as contrary to his ‘beliefs’, whether those beliefs are concerned with Einstein’s teachings or those preached as a result of misdirected knowledge of thermodynamics.

To put my case on a firm base I will declare those options as being ‘TEC’, ‘MEC’ and ‘HEC’, as listed above.

In this section of these Web pages I will concentrate attention upon ‘TEC’. Eventually, I will deal quite thoroughly with ‘MEC’, which concerns magnetism and electric motors. As to ‘HEC’ I am now watching developments, because this is really the ‘cold fusion’ theme. I have shown my interest in that in the Web pages to be found in Cold Fusion Index. Note that that subject is all about the dynamics of ‘hadrons’ which are the heavy ions involved in the energy transactions that one encounters in the so-called ‘cold fusion’ research. As anyone who reads the specification of my U.S. Patent No. 5,734,122 can see, I have good reason for challenging the beliefs of those who see a Big Bang energy syndrome as the only creative event followed by our perpetual decline. However, I will bring things ‘down to Earth’ by concentrating here on ‘Thermodynamic Energy Conversion’, beginning by reference to my U.S. Patent No. 5,101,632.

U.S. PATENT NO. 5,101,632

Abstract

Thermal energy radiation is converted into another energy form by setting up a temperature differential between two heat sinks forming part of a conventional converter or heat engine, but the warmer heat sink derives its input energy by collecting opticallyfocused thermal radiation from a primary heat sink within the converter structure. Heat rejected by the cooler heat sink is recycled to the primary heat sink to enhance the thermal efficiency above the Carnot level set by the base temperature conditions. The power rating of the converter is enhanced by combination with a reverse heat engine which elevates the temperature of heat input to the primary heat sink and so the temperature of the radiating surface.

Field of Invention

This invention relates to the conversion of thermal energy into a form that has greater potential for application in powering heat engines subject to the Carnot performance criterion.

By using mirrors or lenses the radiant energy from a thermal source is concentrated to heat or cool the thermal heat sinks which activate a heat engine.

Background of the Invention

By establishing a temperature differential between two heat sinks which interface with a device categorized as a heat engine or its equivalent, it is possible to derive mechanical or electric output power, subject to a limit set by the efficiency of the perfect Carnot cycle.

Boltzmann derived the Stefan-Boltzmann law, by which the rate of heat radiation is proportional to the fourth power of absolute temperature, by deducing the connection between temperature and the energy density of black-body radiation. This involved the conception of an ‘aether engine’, a Carnot engine without any working substance, driven by the pressure of radiation.

In principle, radiation admitted to a cylinder expands to drive a piston and so does mechanical work as the temperature of the radiation reduces. The temperature reduction is argued on the basis that if work is done and removed as useful output then radiant energy has to flow in to replenish the system at the end of the cycle and this could only occur if the temperature had, in fact, reduced.

Such argument derives from the second law of thermodynamics, but one wonders about that reference to the temperature of radiant energy. We have come to accept that radiation comprises photons having a spectrum of frequencies and do not regard photons as having a temperature. Only radiating matter can be said to have a temperature, usually related to the thermal energy of its molecules via the Boltzmann constant.

Thus radiation has an intensity characteristic of its energy concentration and it has a quality representing its source by virtue of its frequency spectrum. Blackbody radiation from sources of lower temperature contains photons having frequencies which are the same as those from higher temperature sources. It is the distribution of energy as between these different frequencies or the number of photons at a particular frequency which characterizes the temperature of the source. Therefore, if that radiation from the cooler source can be concentrated in some way it can heat an absorbing surface to a higher temperature.

The formal statement of the second law of thermodynamics is very carefully worded to make it clear that heat cannot travel from a cooler body to a warmer body of its own accord, but the intervention of a means for focusing photon energy, as by use of a lens or mirror, or as by the fanciful textbook notion of the intervention of the Maxwell demon can affect that self-accord.

The use of mirrors or lenses to reflect or refract thermal radiation, whether sourced in a heated or cooled surface, was a curiosity in early scientific experiments. Indeed, one such notable experiment was performed by Count Romford in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the year 1800. He repeated the experiment of Pictet, by which the radiation and reflection of cold was demonstrated, to show that objects seated at one focus of a concave mirror could be cooled by a cool object seated at the other focus. See article entitled: ‘Pictet’s experiment: The apparent radiation and reflection of cold’ by J. Evans and B. Popp, American Journal of Physics, vol. 53, p. 737 (1985).

The point about this experiment was that there is heat transfer until there is equilibrium between the radiation exchanged by the two surfaces as governed by the areas of the two surfaces put in juxtaposition by the mirror focusing. The temperatures adjust to keep the radiation in balance, unless some is absorbed and conducted away in the apparatus.

From a technological viewpoint these phenomena are traditionally deemed to be of little consequence, though they do find application in the design of bolometers.

So far as this inventor has been able to ascertain, it has not been foreseen in the prior art that, by combining optics and heat engines and focusing radiation in the manner suggested, the concentration of heat radiation driven at the speed of light can develop temperatures at an absorbing surface which exceed those of the radiating source and can be used to convert heat into engine power. Nor, so far as the inventor is aware, has it been suggested that useful power could be generated by combining a heat engine and an optical system to concentrate heat radiation sourced in a radiating surface which is within the fabricated structure of the converter.

It has been suggested to combine a heat engine and a parabolic mirror, with the flow of heated fluid used to power the engine passing through a tubular heat exchange element at the linear focus of the mirror. Such an arrangement for caputuring solar radiation is disclosed in ‘Solar Electric Systems’, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, USA (1984), Editor George Warfield. See paper by Jean-Pierre Causse entitled ‘Solar Thermal Power Plants’ at pp. 101-113. Also, the paper by Jerald D. Parker entitled ‘Components of Solar Thermal Electric Systems’ at pp. 89-100 is relevant because it suggests the use of a Stirling engine. However, these specific proposals relate to solar power, that is heat energy sourced in the sun at a temperature of 6,000 K. There is no teaching in these prior art disclosures suggesting that the heat engine can be driven by radiation sourced at a temperature that is less than that of the input to the engine.

Indeed, it would not be feasible to power a heat engine from the solar source if the proposals of the subject invention were applied to that purpose, simply because no practical heat engine can be built to operate at that 6,000 K temperature.

The subject invention was the basis of a priority filing dated 16 November 1989 and the inventor notes that John Maddox, the Editor of the journal Nature, has had occasion since that date to raise the subject of possible breach of the second law of thermodynamics in his editorial ‘Maxwell’s Demon Flourishes’ (Nature, vol. 345, p. 109; 1990). Also, in this same journal (Nature, vol. 346, p. 802; 1990), there is a report sourced in the Enrico Fermi Institute in Chicago announcing that terrestrial sunlight has been concentrated by a two-stage system including a mirror to an intensity which exceeds that at the surface of the sun.

It is clear, therefore, that by the astute use of mirrors or lenses, two thermally radiating surfaces at different temperatures and of different area can be caused to maintain a state of equilibrium at those temperatures, simply because the same rate of heat is radiated by each surface. The proviso is that the radiation is guided both ways through the optical system so as to be confined to exchanges restricted to those surface areas.

On this basis, since some heat energy can be drawn off by conduction from the hotter surface, one can contemplate radiant transfer of heat from the cooler body to the warmer body, notwithstanding the validity of the second law of thermodynamics as correctly worded. Here the proviso is that heat is continuously extracted from the hotter body via a separate channel and replenishment heat is continuously supplied to the cooler body also via a separate channel. Energy has, of course, to be conserved, a requirement of the first law of thermodynamics.

Brief Description of the Invention

Stated in simple terms, the invention involves the use of optics to concentrate radiant heat and so feed it to a heat sink at a higher temperature. Then a heat engine uses the temperature differential to generate power in a useful non-thermal form. In practical terms the preferred implementation depends upon the ability to build into a system a very large radiating surface area, which in turn demands a miniature form of compact heat engine preferably built into each cell of the system structure. The engine, furthermore, must have a high efficiency as measured relative to the Carnot condition. To enhance the power output in terms of the size of the system, the invention further provides for some sacrifice of overall efficiency, by using a reverse heat engine in an auxiliary capacity to input heat at higher temperature to the radiating surfaces.

According to the invention, a thermally powered energy converter comprises a first heat sink having a surface from which heat is radiated, a second heat sink having a surface at which heat is absorbed, optical focusing means arranged to capture radiation from the radiating surface of the first heat sink and to focus it upon the smaller absorbing surface of the second heat sink, a third heat sink, thermodynamic energy conversion means activated by a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks and operative to supply a non-thermal power output, means for supplying an inflow of heat energy to the first heat sink and means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink.

The word ‘focus’ as used in this specification is intended to mean the general action of a mirror or lens by which it causes radiation reflected by the mirror or refracted by the lens to be concentrated in intensity in being directed onto a receiving surface. A significant degree of concentration requires positioning of the surfaces in relation to the optical system so that the focusing power of the system is utilized, but perfect image focusing is not the essential requisite. Maximum rate of energy transfer from a larger radiating surface area to a smaller radiating surface, as determined by the design criteria, is the objective of the focusing action. The optical focusing means may be a mirror and, in embodiments of the invention designed to operate by reflecting heat radiation from radiating surfaces at temperatures of 500 or 600 K, a metal reflector of parabolic section is the preferred implementation. However, depending upon the design temperature and the materials used, the invention can use a lens system for focusing the radiation.

According to a feature of the invention, the means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink comprises a thermally-conductive connection between the third heat sink and the first heat sink, whereby heat energy exhausted at the lower heat sink temperature of the thermodynamic energy conversion means augments the inflow of heat energy supplied to the first heat sink.

This requires that the third heat sink will be at a slightly higher temperature than the first heat sink, but, since all the action stems from the amplification of temperature differential between the first and second heat sinks owing to the action of the optical system, there is still a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks.

According to a further feature of the invention, the converter comprises an auxiliary thermodynamic energy conversion means operative as a reverse heat engine and connected to be powered by a portion of said non-thermal power output, this auxiliary thermodynamic energy conversion means operating to preheat fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first heat sink.

The object of this is to sacrifice some efficiency in the generation of useful net power output as measured in terms of the amount of heat circulating in the system, in order to elevate the temperature of the radiating surface. This is a very significant technological factor, where the temperature of the primary source of heat input is low and, for example, close to normal ambient temperature. By doubling the temperature in degrees absolute and sacrificing just over half of the non-thermal power generated to drive the reverse heat engine, the radiation capacity of the surface of the first heat sink can, on the basis of the Stefan-Boltzmann law, be enhanced by a factor of 16. There is then a significant gain in power output capacity for a given area of radiation surface of that first heat sink, notwithstanding the sacrifice of the power drawn by the reverse heat engine.

According to another feature of the invention, the optical focusing means comprises a lens system formed by a curved transparent bounding structure with the space intervening the structure and the heat radiating surface of the first heat sink defining a duct for fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first heat sink.

The lens system may incorporate in the space intervening the bounding structure and the heat radiating surface a transparent liquid, which may be water, arranged to flow via an external heat exchange circuit to carry the inflow heat to the first heat sink.

According to another aspect of the invention, a thermally
powered energy converter has a multicell structure having a cross-section which comprises a lattice-like array of converter units, each of which comprises a first heat sink having a surface from which heat is radiated, a second heat sink having a surface at which heat is absorbed, optical focusing means arranged to capture radiation from the radiating surface of the first heat sink and to focus it upon the smaller absorbing surface of the second heat sink, a third heat sink, thermodynamic energy conversion means activated by a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks and operative to supply a nonthermal power output, means for supplying an inflow of heat energy to the first heat sink and means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink. Alternatively, instead of each cell of the array comprising a converter unit including its own thermodynamic energy conversion means, such a means may be shared by a plurality of converter units. This applies especially where these conversion means are engines having a working fluid which is subjected to a temperature cycle, rather than solid state ‘engines’ using the thermoelectric Seebeck effect.

According to a further feature of the invention, the thermodynamic energy conversion means comprise a Stirlingtype heat engine shared by a plurality of converter units and operating on heat energy drawn from a gas heated by a second heat sink and rejecting exhaust heat to a third heat sink.

According to a further feature of the invention, the thermodynamic energy conversion means comprise a Stirlingtype heat engine shared by a plurality of converter units and operating on heat energy drawn from a gas heated by the second heat sink and rejecting exhaust heat to the third heat sink, which heat is conveyed to the first heat sink by gas flow activated by the cyclic operation of the engine.

According to another alternative feature of the invention, the thermodynamic energy conversion means comprise a thermoelectric element utilizing the Seebeck Effect, there being one such element in each converter unit, the heated surface of the element being the second heat sink and the cooled surface being the third heat sink, heat from which is conveyed by thermal conduction through metal to the first heat sink.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a part-section of a multicell structure in which convex lenses are used to focus heat radiation in an thermoelectric energy converter incorporating the invention.

Fig. 2 shows a part-section of a multicell structure in which concave mirrors are used to focus heat radiation in a thermoelectric energy converter intended to operate at higher temperatures than are applicable in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a part-section of a multicell structure in which concave mirrors are used to focus heat radiation in an energy converter using an external heat engine for power generation.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic system in which the energy converter operates in conjunction with a reverse heat engine.

Detailed Description of the Invention

It is well known in thermodynamics that, if a temperature differential is maintained between two heat sinks, an engine operating on the Carnot cycle can operate to convert that heat into another form, whether mechanical or electrical, with an efficiency limited to that set by the Carnot efficiency. This is a factor which is the temperature difference divided by the absolute value of the higher temperature involved. In practice, it is possible to achieve as much as 80% of the Carnot efficiency.

Heat engines usually involve fluids which are subject to
expansion and compression, but solid-state devices working
on the Carnot principle also exist. The latter tend to have lower performance, but it is foreseen that much improved efficiencies will soon be available from thermoelectric devices using the Peltier and Seebeck effects.

On this basis it can be expected that compact, maintenance-free, solid-state thermodynamic energy converters operating at near-to-Carnot efficiencies will soon be commercially available. Indeed, the prototype technology for such thermoelectric devices is already of public record in the published specification of UK Patent Application No. 2,227,881 A. (Corresponding U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 07/439,829).

The Carnot efficiency limitation is set by the temperature of the heat sinks of the thermodynamic energy converter and not by the temperature of the primary heat source. If, therefore, the heat has the form of radiation from a surface replenished by the primary heat source and such radiation can be concentrated by optical focusing, then the higher temperature of the thermodynamic energy converter can be increased. This will give an overall increase in thermal efficiency of the system, meaning that a greater proportion of the heat energy available can be converted into useful energy, whether of mechanical or electrical form.

In the following description the specific form of the thermodynamic energy converters will not be described, but they can be deemed to be planar thermoelectric units operating by the Seebeck or Peltier actions to convert heat into electricity or vice versa if working in reverse heat engine mode. Alternatively, they can be fluid driven heat engines, such as a Stirling engine in which a piston and cylinder system causes air under pressure to be oscillated between a warm heat sink and a cool heat sink, with thermodynamic action allowing mechanical power to be drawn from the piston movement at the expense of heat transfer between the two sinks. The thermoelectric version can have the form described in the above referenced patent application, whereas the Stirling engine can have the form described in the above-referenced paper by Jerald D. Parker.

Referring to FIG. 1, a cross-section of what appears to be a kind of honeycomb structure of a thermally powered system of energy converter units is shown. It comprises numerous planar thermoelectric elements 10 mounted with their lower temperature heat exchange surfaces in contact with heat-conducting metal plates 11, which are assembled mutually parallel in the structure to divide the cross-section into an alternate sequence of two different spatial forms. One such space form constitutes a passage way or duct 12 for fluid at the lower temperature. The other such space form constitutes a heat radiation cavity 13.

Intermediate the elements 10 on the side of the plates 11 within the heat radiation cavities 13 there are lenses 14. These direct radiation emanating from the contact faces of plates 11 on the radiation cavity side to a linear focus centred on the exposed heat exchange surfaces of elements 10. Support struts 15 maintain the spacing between the plates 11 and spacer means (not shown) locate the plates 11 to maintain the spacing defining the ducts 12. To minimize convection and unwanted heat conduction the cavities 13 can be exhausted of air to form a vacuum or partial vacuum, but the pump structure for this is not shown. The struts 15 are of heat insulating material and are of such design that they do not prevent air flow from cell to cell in the cavity and so there is a passage way for air to be pumped from the cavities.

The thermoelectric elements 10 have external electric output leads (not shown) but which are mounted on the plates 11 and connect the various elements 10 in a suitable parallel-series network to suit the voltage/current design requirements of the system.

In operation, input heat is fed to the surfaces of plates 11 by air flow through the ducts 12. Heat radiation from the first heat sink, the surfaces of plates 11 within the cavities 13, is refracted by the lenses 14 and converges at an increasing intensity onto the smaller heat-absorbing surfaces of the elements 10. This heat then passes through the thermoelectric junctions to generate electrical power, some of which is fed as electrical output into the external output power leads, but much of which is rejected as heat at a lower temperature and conducted into the metal of the plates 11.

The convex form of the lenses 14 focuses the radiation to increase its intensity and so elevate the temperature of the absorbing surface. Assuming little heat dissipation by convection, the heat energy absorbed by elements 10 will only be very slightly less than that radiated by the plates 11. The result of this is that the third heat sink, which is defined by the parts of the plate 11 in contact with the elements 10, will be very nearly at the same temperature as the absorbing surface, the second heat sink. This means that so long as heat is supplied via the fluid in the ducts 12, there will be an electrical output from the thermoelectric elements.

Note that this process of heat conversion into electricity is one which recycles the heat not converted into electricity. This means that the overall thermal conversion efficiency can be close to 100%. The power rating, meaning the amount of power that can be produced from a system of a certain size with a given heat input temperature, is affected by the percentage efficiency in relation to the Carnot criterion. The closer the performance of the thermoelectric elements to the Carnot value, the smaller the cyclic iteration sequence and the faster input heat is converted into electricity. Similarly, the stronger the optical concentration and so the temperature enhancement, the smaller the cyclic iteration sequence. The greater the temperature of the heat input, the greater the heat transfer by radiation, by a factor scaled up by the fourth power of absolute temperature. Therefore, the greater the power rating.

Bearing in mind that the thermoelectric converters based on the suggested prototype design can operate at ambient (atmospheric temperatures) with some 70% of Carnot efficiency and with an absorbing heat surface of millimeter width and no more than 3 millimeters in length, one can contemplate multicell structures of lattice dimension of a few centimeters. This means that as many as 1000 cells can be present in a 1 meter square crosssection and a radiating surface acting as what has been termed ‘the first heat sink’ can be as great as 60 square meters in a cubic meter structure.

Blackbody radiation from 60 square meters at 300 K occurs at a rate of 25 kW. If the intensity of this radiant energy is concentrated to 500 K at the second heat sink, then, allowing for a 70% of Carnot efficiency of conversion, one has the potential for generating 7 kW output as electricity per cubic meter of converter structure, based on heat input at ambient temperature.

Essential to such performance, however, is that high conversion efficiency in relation to the Carnot criterion plus the availability of technology for building miniature solid-state thermoelectric converters on the scale suggested. This technology is, however, already demonstrably proven and is the subject of the patent applications already referenced.

The structure shown in FIG. 1 can be modified by using plates 11 common to adjacent cavities and eliminating the ducts 12. This saves on space and allows even more compact design and so enhanced power rating. However, to input the heat energy in this case, the lenses 14 can be formed as an acrylic Fresnel lens defining a fluid duct between the lens and the radiating surface of the plate 11. Air could then flow through the lens structure to sustain the temperature of plates 11. Alternatively, the lens could rely mainly on the refractive index of a liquid, such as water, and a flow of this liquid through such a duct could be the means for heat input.

A preferred implementation of the invention is one which uses concave parabolic mirrors with the thermoelectric elements at the linear focus. Two complete cell units and two halves of cell units of such a structure are shown in FIG 2. Here the space between the back of concave mirrors 16 and metal plates 11 defines the ducts or passage ways through which a fluid flows to supply heat to the plates. The radiation flows as shown by the arrowed lines and heats the surface of the thermoelectric elements 10 to generate electricity as already described by reference to FIG. 1.

Note, however, that a multicell structure can be constructed using metal reflectors as parabolic mirrors and these can be assembled back to back to define the ducts for heating fluid, and the heat can be conducted through the metal of the reflectors to the radiating surfaces. This configuration is not shown in the drawings, because the operability of such an alternative embodiment of the invention is deemed evident from what has already been described.

The invention does extend to the use of conventional heat engine technology as the means for generating power output from the radiant heat collected from the optical focusing. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the thermoelements 10, which are elongated structures extending the full length of the main converter structure at right angles to the cross-sections shown in Figs. 1 and 2, can be replaced by small bore copper pipes mounted on plates 11 but heatinsulated from those plates by their supports and by appropriate shielding. Similarly, the heat input, instead of being supplied via the ducts formed between the mirrors and plates 11 could be provided by fluid flow through small bore copper pipes mounted in good heat conducting contact on the opposite face of plates 11, but otherwise heat-insulated to minimize convection if not part of an evacuated structure.

FIG. 3 shows a modified version of FIG. 2 including pipework. Copper pipes 17 brings heat into the system and copper pipes 18 takes heat from the system. These pipes connect to an external heat engine which uses the heat supplied to power the engine and returns back to the converter system, as input heat, the lower grade heat rejected by the engine plus some additional heat supplied to replenish any converted into electricity or mechanical power output.

To enhance the power generating capacity of a system using the invention, it is desirable to operate at higher temperatures, because heat radiation is proportional to the fourth power of absolute temperature. If the heat source is low grade but abundant and freely available, such as a geothermal water source, then efficiency of energy conversion is primarily related to the more effective use of an installation and its capital expense. As already stated, it then becomes feasible to operate a heat engine in reverse mode with the object of elevating the operating temperature of the system. Then some of the power produced has to be deployed into powering the reverse heat engine.

If such higher temperatures are used the structure of FIG. 2 or 3 has advantages because of the possibility of its fabrication by use of metal and ceramics to the exclusion of liquids or plastic materials, which can feature in the structure of FIG. 1.

A schematic system using a reverse heat engine is depicted in FIG. 4. This diagram is used to depict operation based on a thermoelectric converter implementation or an implementation in which non-thermal output power is generated by a conventional heat engine, such as by Stirling engine. The main converter including the optical focusing means is denoted 20. The system shown includes a heat store 21. If the main power output is produced by the thermoelectric elements such as 10 in FIG. 1, then the converter 20 includes such elements and produces electrical power supplied as shown along a cable connected to the external power system 22. Alternatively, if the main power output is produced, for example, by a Stirling engine 19, the electrical power output supplies the external power system 22. In either case, however, the system shown depends upon the operation of the reverse heat engine 23, which is either powered by electrical power drawn from the power cable feeding the system 22 or could be powered by a mechanical coupling (not shown) linking the Stirling engine 19 and the engine 23.

The reverse heat engine 23 may be of any conventional form, provided it has a high near-to-Carnot efficiency. Its role is to take heat input from a low grade heat source (denoted as heat input H) and bring this up to a much higher temperature. This heat at an elevated temperature is fed as output by a suitable fluid flow means to provide input heat to the first heat sink in the converter system 20. Thus such heat is supplied to the metal plates 11 in Figs. 1, 2 or 3, which are part of the structure of system 20.

If the Fig. 3 construction is used, the heat inflow is via fluid, eg. hot air, supplied through pipes 17. In Fig. 4 these pipes are common to three circulating loops, one passing through a heat exchange system in the Stirling engine 19, one passing through the heat store 21 and one passing through a heat exchange system in the reverse heat engine 23. The temperature of the fluid flowing in these circuits is that of the first heat sink of converter 20. A single loop circuital flow connects the converter 20 and the Stirling engine 19. This flow through pipes 19 involves the fluid, eg. hot air, which is at the high working temperature produced by focusing the radiation inside converter 20, that is, the temperature of the second heat sink. The lower temperature heat exchange in the Stirling engine 19 occurs at what is termed in the claims as the ‘third heat sink’ and such rejected heat is conveyed by the circulating fluid to the first heat sink in converter 20 by the pipes 17.

The output of the system 20, which incorporates the features of the invention already described, is either heat at an even higher temperature carried by a fluid flow or electricity supplied by the thermoelectric elements. Heat output could be supplied for use as heat, as for support of some chemical process, for example, or, in the system under discussion, fed as input to the heat engine 19. Any heat rejected from the engine 19 at the lower temperature matching that of the elevated heat output from reverse heat engine 23 is combined with that reverse heat engine to be fed back as input to the converter system 20.

Such a system would not be technologically practical were it not for the ability to construct a multicell structure incorporating miniature cells of centimeter dimensions, each associated with its own warm and cool heat sinks, the temperature differential of which powers the system. For this reason the preferred implementation of the invention is one which builds on the technology of the thermoelectric invention, which is the subject of the above-referenced patent applications.

To understand the benefits of the mode of implementing the invention using the reverse heat engine combination, consider one practical implementation which input heat at 300 K and uses the reverse heat engine to enhance this to 500 K.

Note first, however, that what is at issue is not the overall thermal efficiency, which has to be virtually 100% with the recycling feature, but rather the scale or power rating of a particular system.

500 K is the temperature of the first heat sink or radiating surface. The optical focusing system concentrates the intensity of this radiation by a factor of 20, corresponding to the ratio of the radiating surface to that of the absorbing surface. In consequence the temperature of that second heat sink, or absorbing surface, is, say, 800 K. The loss of energy by reradiation is then, in theory, 33% of the incident radiation, owing to the fourth power effect of temperature on a surface 5% of that of the primary radiation source. Therefore, assuming perfect blackbody radiation, 67% of the source energy can be deployed in a single throughput cycle to power the heat engine or the thermoelectric converter.

The latter rejects energy at the 500 K temperature and so it has an ideal Carnot efficiency of 37.5%, but, in practice, its efficiency is 27%. This is energy converted into useful work, such as electricity or mechanical power and some of this is needed to power the reverse heat engine. For each unit of heat energy supplied at 500 K, the input power to that reverse heat engine is 0.5 units, assuming an 80% of Carnot efficiency of performance. All of the input unit of heat eventually finds its way to the 800 K level via the concentration of the optical system, because reradiated energy cannot degrade below the 500 K level inside the structure.

Therefore, since 67% of 27% of the energy radiated from the 500 K surface converts into useful work, with the rest being recycled, half or 9% of the radiated energy is available as net power output after supplying the reverse heat engine. Whatever the radiation capacity of that 500 K surface, only 9% of that radiated power can contribute to the power rating of the system.

Given the 60 square meter radiating surface in a cubic meter structure, as already specified, and noting that blackbody radiation at 300 K is 25 kW from such an area, there is potentially a radiation rate of 164 kW at 500 K. With a 9% overall conversion rate into electricity or other form of useful net power output, this is approximately a 15 kW rating for a cubic meter of structure. This may seem a large structure to generate a mere 15 kW but it is generated from low grade heat deemed to be at the ambient temperature level of 300 K and the advantages of the invention have to be measured in terms of the saving of reliance on fossil fuel.

The above are not optimum design data, because higher efficiency can be achieved by operating with a higher temperature differential in the reverse heat engine stage and the economics of the conversion into electricity depend upon the cheapness of mass fabrication of the miniature thermoelectric elements. Also, there are advantages not found in conventional power generating systems, in that when output non-thermal power surplus to demand is being generated it can be converted into heat in the reverse heat engine stage and stored as heat in the heat store 21 for later use at times of peak load. This relieves the electrical power feedback to the reverse heat engine at such times and so makes the counter-productive combination of heat engine and reverse heat engine, not just a means for enhancing radiation temperatures and so power rating, but also a means for matching that rating to variable load conditions.


Claims

1. A thermally powered energy converter comprising a first heat sink having a surface from which heat is radiated, a second heat sink having a surface at which heat is absorbed, optical focusing means arranged to capture radiation from the radiating surface of the first heat sink and to focus it upon the smaller absorbing surface of the second heat sink, a third heat sink, thermodynamic energy conversion means activated by a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks and operative to supply a non-thermal power output, means for supplying an inflow of heat energy to the first heat sink and means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink.

2. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 1, wherein the means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink comprises a thermallyconductive connection between the third heat sink and the first heat sink, whereby heat energy exhausted at the lower heat sink temperature of the thermodynamic energy conversion means augments the inflow of heat energy supplied to the first heat sink.

3. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 1, comprising an auxiliary thermodynamic energy conversion means operative as a reverse heat engine and connected to be powered by a portion of said nonthermal power output, this auxiliary thermodynamic energy conversion means operating to preheat fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first heat sink.

4. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 1, wherein the optical focusing means comprises a lens system formed by a curved transparent bounding structure with the space intervening the structure and the heat radiating surface of the first heat sink defining a duct for fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first heat sink.

5. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 4, wherein the lens system incorporates in the space intervening the bounding structure and the heat radiating surface a transparent liquid arranged to flow via an external heat exchange circuit to carry the inflow heat to the first heat sink.

6. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 1, wherein the optical focusing means comprises a mirror system formed by a curved reflecting structure with the space intervening the nonreflecting surface of the structure and the heat radiating surface of the first heat sink defining a duct for fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first
heat sink.

7. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 1, wherein the optical focusing means comprises a mirror system formed by a curved metal reflecting structure with the space bounded by surfaces including the non-reflecting surface of the structure defining a duct for fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first heat sink, the metal reflecting structure being in heat conducting relationship with the heat radiating surface of the first heat sink.

8. A thermally powered energy converter incorporating a multicell structure having a cross-section which comprises a lattice-like array of converter units, each of which comprises a first heat sink having a surface from which heat is radiated, a second heat sink having a surface at which heat is absorbed, optical focusing means arranged to capture radiation from the radiating surface of the first heat sink and to focus it upon the smaller absorbing surface of the second heat sink, a third heat sink, thermodynamic energy conversion means activated by a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks and operative to supply a non-thermal power output, means for supplying an inflow of heat energy to the first heat sink and means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink.

9. A thermally powered energy converter incorporating a multicell structure having a cross-section which comprises a lattice-like array of converter units, each of which comprises a first heat sink having a surface from which heat is radiated, a second heat sink having a surface at which heat is absorbed, optical focusing means arranged to capture radiation from the radiating surface of the first heat sink and to focus it upon the smaller absorbing surface of the second heat sink and a third heat sink, the converter further comprising thermodynamic energy conversion means, shared by a plurality of converter units, which energy conversion means are activated by a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks and are operative to supply a nonthermal power output, there being means for supplying an inflow of heat energy to each of the first heat sinks and means for extracting heat energy from each of the third heat sinks.

10. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 9, comprising a Stirling-type heat engine shared by a plurality of converter units and operating on heat energy drawn from a gas heated by a second heat sink and rejecting exhaust heat to a third heat sink.

11. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 9, comprising a Stirling-type heat engine shared by a plurality of converter units and operating on heat energy drawn from a gas heated by a second heat sink and rejecting exhaust heat to a third heat sink, which heat is conveyed to the first heat sink by gas flow activated by the cyclic operation of the engine.

12. A thermally powered energy converter according to claim 8, wherein the thermodynamic energy conversion means include thermoelectric elements utilizing the Seebeck effect, there being one such element in each converter unit, the heated surface of the element being the second heat sink and the cooled surface being the third heat sink, heat from which is conveyed by thermal conduction through metal to the first heat sink.

13. A thermally powered energy converter comprising, in combination, a converter system supplying non-thermal power output, a heat store and an auxiliary thermodynamic energy conversion means powered by at least some of said non-thermal power output to generate heat, the converter system comprising a first heat sink having a surface from which heat is radiated, a second heat sink having a surface at which heat is absorbed, optical focusing means arranged to capture radiation from the radiating surface of the first heat sink and to focus it upon the smaller absorbing surface of the second heat sink, a third heat sink, primary thermodynamic energy conversion means activated by a temperature differential between the second and third heat sinks and operative to supply said non-thermal power output, including a residual output for use external to the converter, said auxiliary thermodynamic energy conversion means being operative as a reverse heat engine operating to preheat fluid conveying the inflow heat to the first heat sink and there being means for extracting heat energy from the third heat sink and feeding this into the heat store, which provides a reserve source of heat used to supplement the inflow of heat to the first heat sink.


In the above Web page presentation I have introduced the first chapter of my story about ‘TEC’ (Thermodynamic Energy Conversion). I will progressively add more chapters. These ‘chapters’ may be Lectures or Essays, depending upon their style and detail of presentation. In my onward discourse I will refer to the above ‘chapter’ as ‘TEC I’. To progress to the next Chapter press TEC II.

Here we will describe the contest for survival, as between protons and deuterons, that is ongoing in water. There is no absolute winner. The proton proves itself dominant but declares a truce once it outnumbers the deuteron by factor of the order of 6,700. Until this state of equilibrium is reached, this is a heated contest. Our task is to explain why the deuteron is not the sole survivor, given that energy as well as a positive beta particle are released when two protons merge to create the deuteron. Here we have the secret of cold fusion. The technological consequence is the evidence we see from the Patterson cell, the subject of U.S. Patent No. 5,672,259. This was issued on September 30, 1997 and its full text is featured in the July-November 1997 issue of ‘Infinite Energy’ Nos. 15 and 16 at pp. 13-17.

The Patterson Invention

The feature of the Patterson invention that is important from the viewpoint of this author’s commentary in these Web pages is the disclosure, in the patent specification, of an electrolytic cell through which water flows and which produces an amount of heat energy far in excess of the electrical energy input.

The disclosure is somewhat deceptive, because it explains how the cell contains tiny spherical beads of a polymer coated with a conductive metallic actinide material. The beads are trapped in a tube between two electrodes and water flows around them as it passes through the tube, there being a small voltage impressed between the electrodes. The ‘deceptive’ feature is the role played by the radioactivity in generating heat.

The primary thrust of the disclosure is to show how, in a matter of a few hours, the radioactive state of those actinide coatings decays through some three half-lives, from 150 to 20 counts per minute in the measure of radioactivity detected. There is the utility of the invention that the U.S. patent examiner would recognize, namely a technique for accelerating radioactive decay. It seems, however, that a cell operating in that manner is just running itself in as a producer of excess heat unrelated to the radioactive rate of decomposition, because, as the radioactivity goes down and down over the initial nine hours of the test reported, the current input can be increased, whilst always sustaining an excess heat energy generated over electrical input of some three-to-one.

Here then is a patent which tells the world something of interest concerning the accelerated deactivation of radioactive materials, but at the same time records experimental data which very clearly shows that ‘cold fusion’ is a reality.

Moreover, its specification contains the fascinating observation made under the heading ‘ELECTROLYTE’ which reads:

The preferred embodiment of water is that of either light water (H₂¹O) or heavy water (H₂¹O). The purity of all of the electrolyte components is of the utmost importance.

Now, what does that tell you? Simply that you can expect to generate heat from the conversion of hydrogen oxide into deuterium oxide or from the conversion of deuterium oxide into hydrogen oxide. It tells you, as clearly as anything can, that the two forms of water interact to find equilibrium only when the normal condition of water is reached, meaning when the two components, light water and heavy water, exist in the appropriate proportion. That is the proportion we know from the standard observations of abundance ratios as we see them in our Earthly environment.

For my part, I see here the very clear proof that the transmutation of protons into deuterons is not a one-way fusion process, but one involving the possibility of fission. It is a two-way process. I am not discounting the fact that deuterons in deuterium oxide could be involved in transmutations which form atomic nuclei of higher atomic number. That would be ‘cold fusion’ if that occurs in an electrolytic cell, but with that comes the dilemma concerning neutrons. Nuclear physicists think that a deuteron includes a proton and a neutron. They think that cold fusion with release of heat cannot occur unless neutrons are emitted and yet no neutrons are observed in the cold fusion process. So can it be that the deuterium oxide is simply converting into hydrogen oxide with release of heat? Or are we to assume that the idea that there is a neutron within a deuteron is just plain nonsense?

These are interesting issues and it is due time that nuclear physicists woke up to reality of the cold fusion developments. To help them to see the light on this subject I will now address a key question that they will inevitably raise. How can a deuteron, of lower mass than the combined mass of two protons, ever become two protons? This would defy the notion that mass has energy! It would be a process which contravenes all common sense. Energy is always conserved and all natural processes operate to shed energy and increase entropy. Well, Mr. Nuclear Physicist, in spite of all that you have to face the facts, as evidenced by the experimental findings reported in the Patterson patent. It seems that there can be fission, not just fusion, at the bottom end of the periodic table of atomic elements.

This is where Q.E.D., quantum electrodynamics, creeps into the picture and those ‘gremlins’ I mentioned earlier. Physicists need not be too wary here. I could refer to Q.C.D. instead of gremlins, meaning quantum chromodynamics, but that is all just ‘mumbo-jumbo’ talk for saying that Nature has a way of revealing its energy activity by materializing electrons and positrons and protons and antiprotons as if from nowhere. Nature is at work and it is trying to tell us something by drawing our attention to the effects which electricity can have on water, but only if that water is light water or heavy water, and not normal water!

Picture the Action!

Imagine a proton as a spherical charge form, shown in red below to signify that it is a positive charge. I have termed the ‘bare’ proton, as depicted, the ‘+H’ particle.

You see, physicists can imagine things and I can point you at a proton devised by my imagination, but Mother Nature does not thrive on imagination. She is ever active and, when she gives birth, she has a way of creating positive or negative particles with equal probability, just as with male and female issue in the birth of humans. So I could expect Mother Nature to create a proton and an antiproton with equal probability, unless I could suggest a reason for proton dominance.

Let us picture both, the antiproton being depicted as a blue sphere to signify its negative electrical charge polarity.

Now Mother Nature seems also to create other ‘life’ forms, or rather ‘matter’ forms, namely electrons and positrons and these come in pairs as well. Physically they are much larger, some 1836 times the proton size, measured as a radius. You see, the energy of a sphere containing electric charge, and so mass, is inversely proportional to the radius bounding that charge. Protons have mass some 1836 times that of the electron. I think, therefore, that we can indulge in a little imagination when we picture a cloud of those electrons and positrons enveloping the proton and the antiproton.

The negative proton will capture a positron (I denote this +e):

but the resulting neutral entity so formed will be unstable because, well, I dare to tell you, there are here three variables and only two governing equations. Charge parity is conserved, but if there is a slight perturbation and the positron radius contracts as the antiproton radius expands, energy is not then conserved, so that neutral entity must decay.

Here I must confess to an inner wisdom concerning these fundamental charge particle groups. Let us say that Mother Nature whispered something in my ear. She said:

“Look! Given that all space is a sea of energy and that energy is conserved overall, and given that the material universe has its own share of energy as it sits in equilibrium with that unseen energy possessed by space, surely you can see that the space taken up by those spheres of charge is itself conserved. After all, the enveloping space is full of energy and has that energy distributed in a uniform way. You cannot squeeze it without displacing and compressing that energy and you must expect it to refuse to accommodate to your encroachment onto its territory.”

The message was clear. The overall volume of those spheres of charge must be conserved when discussing deployment of energy in the matter frame. So if one sphere of charge expands then another must contract and somehow the energy must be conserved. A little applied mathematics then tells us that no two spheres of charge can satisfy that condition; it takes at least three!

Three variables, three radii and three governing equations, namely one prescribing energy conservation, one prescribing volume of space occupied and one prescribing a condition of minimal energy will result in a stable physical system.

We therefore expect the antiproton to capture two positrons:

If one positron expands slightly then the other can contract by very nearly the same amount, but there will be a slight energy imbalance involved and that, along with the space adjustment, can be taken up by the antiproton. However, as can now be seen, the particle with the negative H particle as its core unit has a positive charge overall. It is, in fact, a proton. The version with the positive H particle in its core unit is coupled with an electron and a positron:

but it has a positive charge overall. The ultimate picture which emerges is one in which the proton can exist transiently in three different states as energy is exchanged within the form of each of the two three-particle states and as between these states and the isolated single particle proton state (that +H particle):

These are denoted proton A, B and C and I will later discuss the energy deployment between these three states, but for the moment it suffices to say that state C is a very transient state, whereas states A and B dominate, each for approximately half of any period of time. The real proton, as we detect it, is constantly flipping between these three states. When created initially it is a bare proton, a state C +H particle, but then, to survive, in the particle jungle it develops its transition characteristics as a three-state particle form.

I remember a paper rejection, some 30 and more years ago, when I was developing these ideas of electrons and positrons clustering with H particles to form protons, deuterons, neutrons etc. I was told by a referee of a paper I had submitted for publication to one of the mainstream science periodicals that my hypothesis was false, because, apart from the prospect of mutual annihilation, Earnshaw’s Theorem precluded such particle forms from forming stable clusters. Well, never mind Earnshaw’s Theorem, which is false anyway if the particles are immersed in a continuum having its own electrical properties, I am not saying that my proton or my deuteron is stable, but simply saying that it is ever restless in that it jumps around between states, interacting with the activity of the quantum-electrodynamic background, but keeping its package of energy intact.

All very hypothetical, you might say! Well, that may be true, but physicists will tell you that the make-up of a proton is three quarks, but what they can tell you about quarks is not at all convincing. We have far more to offer as we proceed, beginning with the deuteron.

Picture the Deuteron

Here we have a very good clue from the fact that the deuteron has a magnetic moment that is approximately 6/7ths that of the proton. It needed a little decoding effort to decipher what this meant, but it amounted to discovering that the deuteron also has a three-state existence. For 2/7ths of the time is has the state A form depicted below, for 1/7th of the time it has the state B form depicted below and for 4/7ths of the time it has the state C form depicted below.

I know that this is a correct interpretation because I can work out how those electrons and positrons affect the energy of each of those three forms and I can then work out the average and so the mass-difference as between the deuteron and that of two protons. I get the precise value observed from measurements, and I mean precise, at the part per million level of measurement accuracy. See Hadronic Journal article ‘The Theoretical Nature of the Neutron and the Deuteron’ [1986d].

As is evident, there is no neutron, as such, in this picture. A neutron has no electric charge, or so physicists believe, so it has no role to play in this scenario. It is irrelevant to cold fusion, but our picture above is very relevant.

In the first place, you can see that, for a deuteron to convert into two protons, it must absorb a positron from somewhere. We are interested in cold fusion as induced by the use of electrodes fed with an electric current and so our picture is one where, by Q.E.D. action, an electron-positron pair is created and the electron is drawn away by entering the flow stream of current in an electrode. The positron is transiently available as the solitary unit of energy that can effect the transmutation of the deuteron into two protons. Is that really, possible, given that the deuteron has a mass lower than that of two protons by an amount well in excess of that of a solitary positron?

Well, indeed it is. I could say that it suffices to examine a transition captured at the moment when the intermediate deuteron state, state B depicted above, applies. In that state, which is one where the transient core body of the deuteron it exhibits no positive charge to repel that positron and when it has its transient state of no magnetic moment, the neutral core of the deuteron has a mass of 1.1245 electron mass units lower than that of two protons. In contrast, two protons, one in the lower energy state (that involving two positrons) and one in the intermediate state, need overall an energy that is 0.25 electron mass units below the nominal combined mass of two protons. That addition of a solitary positron can, therefore, suffice to trigger a transmutation.

Once triggered to create two protons, the intermediate proton state can capture an electron-positron pair from the Q.E.D. environment and we have the normal presence of two protons. A modest amount of heat would be shed in this deuteron to proton transition, amounting to the energy-equivalent of 0.1255 electron mass units. The Q.E.D. energy background would be in deficit, owing to it having shed an electron-positron pair to augment the matter state.

The picture just portrayed, however, is not really fully representative of the true situation, which is far more captivating in scientific terms.

To get the gist of this picture one needs to work out the mass-energy of each of those three core unit states of the deuteron. Referring to them in the sequence illustrated above as state A, B and C, respectively, the mass-energy can be estimated as:

where P denotes the proton mass and the numbers are in units of electron mass. The relative abundance is indicated as being in the ratio 2:1:4 and by ‘Field Energy’ is meant the number of free electrons and/or positrons in immediately adjacent proximity, so as to be, in effect, a dedicated quantum-electrodynamic background component needed to sustain the transitions as the deuteron flips between its three states.

We will see later how this can all be verified by formal analysis. The point of interest, which I want to stress is that the weighted mean of those numbers indicating the mass of the deuteron core state is 2P-1.2679, whereas the weighted mean of the ‘Field Energy’ is one seventh of (1)(1)+(4)(2) or 1.2857. What this means is that the energy in that dedicated component of the quantum field background just exceeds the energy deficit as between the mass of the deuteron in comparison with two protons. In short, there is just enough energy local to the deuteron to promote the creation of two protons, with a very small amount to spare, not as much as we thought from the preliminary analysis, but enough to be meaningful in a ‘cold fusion’ experiment.

However, that is not the end of our story, because I now note that you can check that that number 1.2679 comes from computing one seventh of (2)(1.375)+(1)(1.125)+(4)(1.250), which is 71/56. Then, as I have pointed out in the main published paper of record in which this subject is discussed in detail, the paper ‘The Theoretical Nature of the Neutron and the Deuteron’ already mentioned:

The deuteron spin angular momentum is h/2(pi), so we can express the magnetic moment in nuclear magnetons simply by taking 6/7, multiplying by the usual g factor of 2 and dividing by the deuteron core mass in proton units. The formula for the deuteron magnetic moment is then:

(6/7)(2)/[2 – (71/56)/1836]

which is 0.857439. this is within one part in a million of the measured value of 0.857438 nuclear magnetons.

The measured value is based on a combination of four physical constants which have been measured to very high precision. They are:
(i) deuteron/proton spin magnetic moment ratio: 0.307012250(56)
(ii) electron/proton spin magnetic moment ratio: 658.2106880(65)
(iii) electron anomalous g/2 factor: 1.001159652200(40)
(iv) proton/electron mass ratio: 1836.152701(37)

take (iv), divide by (ii) and multiply by (i) and (iii) and you will obtain the number 0.8574384. Put (iv) instead of 1836 in the formula in the above quotation and you will obtain the number 0.8574389.

Now, believe me, this is a fantastic result! It was wonderfully satisfying to discover this simple picture of the deuteron as a particle flipping between three states so as to present a magnetic moment which one could calculate from data pertaining to the proton and the electron!

You have no choice but to accept such overwhelming confirmation of the picture of the deuteron presented above.

What about the Neutron?

Ah yes, you see that I am talking about deuterons without putting neutrons into the picture. Well, what do you know about the neutron. It has no electric charge and it is created when gamma radiation of sufficient energy hammers into the deuteron. The amount of energy needed is 1.293323(16) MeV, that figure in brackets representing the measurement uncertainty concerning the last two digits. So, what else do you know about the neutron? It is supposed to comprise quarks, as is the proton, but what else? Well, surprise, surprise, it has no electric charge but it has a magnetic moment, a very substantial magnetic moment! Surely that should not be if it really is a neutral particle that can build ‘neutron stars’!

What is that magnetic moment? Well, in terms of nuclear magnetons, it is found by measurement to be -1.91304308(54). It is as if it is nearly twice the magnetic moment that one can assign to an antiproton!

Now take your pocket calculator and suppose the neutron, meaning whatever it is that we are looking at when we fire enough gamma radiation into the deuteron to release a proton and this neutral fireball of energy, is in truth an antiproton backed by ‘Field Energy’ seated in a positron plus a statistical quantum-electrodynamic presence of other electron-positron activity. Suppose it is that antiproton which exhibits that negative magnetic moment and apply the usual g-factor of 2 to explain that near-to-two figure. You can then immediately see that here is another case of a particle having a plurality of different states, in one of which it has consolidated into a truly neutral form by absorbing that loose positron.

The deuteron was neutral for one seventh of the time. The neutron, as a gyromagnetically-reacting particle subjected to a magnetic field, is a negatively charged antiproton for – what fraction of the time? You work it out! Keep guessing numbers until you eventually try 22 parts in 23. Work out the value of (2)(22)/(23) and what do you get? Answer: 1.913043478, a result identical to the value of the neutron magnetic moment as measured, being within the limits of measurement error, which are 0.28 parts per million!

So we are learning something about the neutron. It flips between states just like the deuteron and the proton, but it does so in a way which results in a 1 in 23 period when it is truly neutral.

Now surely, to find that we can decipher precision measurement data with such results is sufficient to convince the greatest skeptic that here we have a true picture of the scenario of the proton, the deuteron and the neutron. Well, of course, given this clue based on the number 23, deciphering the neutron to determine its four states becomes quite a simple exercise. we find that it spends its time in states A, B, C and D in the ratio: 17:2:3:1, D being the state in which its core unit becomes an antiproton in close partnership with a positron. I know that from the same kind of exercise we used above for the deuteron, the overall mass-energy computation. It leads to another convincingly precise result, but I leave it to you, the reader, to refer to that Hadronic Journal article ‘The Theoretical Nature of the Neutron and the Deuteron’ for such enlightenment.

Back to Cold Fusion!

The curious result we have obtained is that a system containing protons and deuterons can have a state of equilibrium without all of those protons fusing together in pairs to become deuterons, the reason being that deuterons have a field energy accompaniment which allows them to divide into two protons on occasion. In terms of mass, the deuteron is not as ‘heavy’ as the combined mass of two protons, but in terms of mass-energy and the quantum-electrodynamic field activity that dances in attendance, there is very little difference. We saw above that it was estimated as being 0.0018 of the mass-energy of the electron per deuteron. This is the difference between those two numbers 1.2857 and 1.2679.

So, imagine you are a miniature version of a microbe sitting close to a couple of protons in a cold fusion cell. Along comes an electron fed in from an electrode. The electron has a finite chance of finding itself entering the field energy zone of the protons and it gets entangled with a proton with the result that it becomes part of a neutral entity which couples with that other proton. We have the charge cluster that we can call the deuteron and the energy of 0.511 Mev, the rest-mass energy of the electron, is present and surplus to the mass-energy of those two protons. The protons, of course, do not exist in isolation. In a plasma they would be amongst a sea of electrons affording overall neutralization. In atoms, hydrogen atoms, there are the electrons of the K-shell and, if we are to form a deuterium atom, one of those electrons is surplus to requirements. It could even be seen as a substitute for that electron we supplied from that electrode. In any event, we are dealing here in electron-mass quanta and that tells us that the quantum electrodynamic energy background is involved.

Somehow those deuterons can form from the fusion of two protons and somehow a deuteron can convert back into two protons. We need not, and probably cannot, understand all the details of the processes involved. All we can do is to be guided by the facts of experiment. We are considering cold fusion and are guided by experimental claims, well knowing that there are ‘experts’ who dispute the evidence. What they cannot dispute, however, is the fact that there is equilibrium between light water and heavy water in the world’s oceans and there seems not to be an ongoing generation of heat in the sea. I say ‘seems not’ because I assume that if the sea were to be producing heat by nuclear activity that would have been discovered, but that could be an open question.

So how can we advance further in our question to understand the transmutations of protons and deuterons? Answer: ‘Simply by deriving theoretically the ratio of protons to deuterons in normal water.’

The measured ratio is 6701:1 or 1492 deuterons per ten million protons. The theoretical ratio P/D, which can be deduced from the picture of protons and deuterons presented above, can be formulated as:

where:
S_p is the factor signifying the incidence of state when a transition can occur involving the proton (this having the value 2 because there are two equally probable states,
S_d is the factor signifying the incidence of state when a transition can occur involving the deuteron (this having the value 7 because the deuteron is in its vulnerable neutral core state for one seventh of the time,
N is the number of protons that need to be subjected simultaneously to the transition stimulus of the energy fluctuations in the environmental field background in order to secure the energy balance conditions needed to assure a transmutation,
n is the number of deuterons that need to be subjected simultaneously to the transition stimulus of the energy fluctuations in the environmental field background in order to secure the energy balance conditions needed to assure a transmutation,
Q_p is the number of protons created by collective action in a transition event, and
Q_d is the number of deuterons created by collective action in a transition event.

The values of N, n, Q_p and Q_d are 35, 8, 18 and 16, respectively. The analysis involved in proving this is presented in Energy Science Report No. 5 entitled ‘Power from Water: Cold Fusion: Part I’, See: Report No. 5. That report was published on April 26, 1994. It had been intended to issue a Part II Report on this subject, devoted to the technological features incorporated in the author’s efforts to secure patents in this field. In the event, however, the story concerning patents is now being recorded here in these Web pages. Possibly, in due course, the main substance of that Part I Energy Science Report No. 5 will be added to these Web pages.

Substitution of these numbers in the above expression, along with the values of 2 and 7 for S_p and S_d, respectively, gives the theoretical ratio:

which is 1491 deuterons protons per ten million protons. This is another very convincing feature of the multi-state proton-deuteron theory under discussion.

The time has now come when I must close this Essay. The next Essay, No. 11, will concentrate attention on the practical prospects for regenerating energy in our Earthly environment:

The Appendix on Cold Fusion incorporated in the patent specification has been presented on the foregoing Web page. This Web page presents the main body of the specification and claims of the patent. The patent was issued on March 31, 1998.

Abstract

Apparatus is disclosed in which a pair of elongated solid cylindrical metal conductors mounted with their central axes mutually parallel are connected at their ends to form a closed electrical circuit path, there being heat sinks at spaced positions along their length which serve as heat transfer means setting up a temperature gradient along the lengths of the conductors. A strong electrical current flow in the conductors creates a circumferential magnetic field in the metal directed at right angles to the heat flow and this, by the Nernst Effect, produces a radial electric field gradient in the metal coupled with the transient accumulation of stored electrical energy. The apparatus disclosed serves for the experimental testing of energy conversion and storage by thermoelectric processes occurring in the metal and the ultimate utilization of the technology involved.

THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY CONVERSION

Field of Invention

This application is a continuation-in-part of PCT/US94/05797, filed 23 May 1994 and U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/191,381, filed 3 February 1994, now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 07/480,816, filed 16 February 1990, now abandoned.

Field of Invention

The invention relates to energy conversion apparatus in which electric field effects are produced in an electrical conductor by the combined action of a magnetic field and heat flow. The magnetic field is produced by electrical current flow in the body of that conductor and the field of invention is therefore essentially in the discipline of thermoelectricity, notably involving the Nernst Effect, which relates temperature gradient, magnetic field and a mutually orthogonal induced electric field powered by the heat resource. The research on which the invention is based has demonstrated certain energy anomalies some of which are not yet well understood, but which involve apparatus having general design features based on sound and well understood scientific principles.

The invention is only concerned with specific novel and non-obvious features of apparatus to be utilized in the onward experimental research and the eventual technological applications which can exploit these energy anomalies.

This application is filed as a continuation-in-part deriving from U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/191,381 because the apparatus as described in the specification of that application and its original counterpart U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 07/480,816 was presented in the context of its suggested relevance to what has come to be termed ‘cold fusion’ and it is expressly affirmed that, though the conception of this invention may owe its origin to inspiration connected with that theme, this subject continuation-in-part application application makes no claim dependent upon ‘cold fusion’.

The invention concerns electrical apparatus aimed specifically at setting up an orthogonal interaction between a magnetic field and a temperature gradient in an electrical conductor, ostensibly for no apparent purpose since this involves power loss. However, by the Nernst Effect, there is then an electric field set up in the conductor in the mutually orthogonal direction and the consequences of this in the apparatus configuration of this invention are a basic research pursuit concerning a certain energy anomaly which gives the invention utility at least as experimental apparatus.

However, notwithstanding the fact that the claims of this specification are not specific to the ‘cold fusion’ theme, this should not be regarded as a disclaimer of rights should what has come to be known as ‘cold fusion’ eventually develop as a specific application of the apparatus covered by the claims.

As support justifying this statement and as a matter of documentary record, but without it being part of the detailed patent description needed to support the claims, a commentary is added at the end of this specification as an ‘Appendix’ aimed at providing some general scientific background. The text of this Appendix was written in October 1993 with the intention of using it as a scientific statement to support a petition to revive the parent U.S. Patent Application No. 07/480,816, it having been deemed abandoned owing to the Applicant’s non-response to an Examiner’s communication dated December 16th, 1992. The latter was presumably lost in the Christmas mail load as it was never received by the Applicant in U.K. The appended commentary has not hitherto been disclosed and so cannot be quoted by way of reference to a scientific publication of record.

Background of the Invention

There are in electrical science a number of energy anomalies which are seldom recognized in modern teaching but which ultimately will be resolved and have technological spin-off with patentable merit.

The primary example known to this Applicant is the subject of his own Ph.D. research, which dates from the 1950-1953 period. In electrical sheet steel as used in power transformers the eddy-current losses are known to exceed the basic theoretical design expectation by a factor which can be 50% in thick laminations but much higher, even as high as a ten-fold increase, in thin cold-reduced grain-oriented laminations magnetized at 90^o to the rolling direction. More familiar values are loss factors of 2 or 3.

As noted in this Applicant’s published scientific papers on the subject in the 1950 era, for those materials which overall had an anomaly loss factor of 2, research revealed that much of this rate of loss occurred over the low flux density range in a B-H magnetization cycle which operated between high flux densities.

Although the Applicant researched numerous aspects of how the loss could be affected, as by mechanical stress, excitation waveform distortion, d.c. polarization bias and especially loss rate factor at progressive stages around the B-H magnetization loop, the outcome of that research did not reveal a satisfactory final account of the hidden mysteries implicit in the loss mechanism. Indeed, the subject has subsequently become dormant and is now virtually forgotten, as electrical engineers avoid the underlying theory and take manufacturer’s specifications of empirical loss properties as their input data for computer design analysis structured on standard theory.

This introduction is relevant because the Applicant has recently come to realise why those losses in electrical sheet steels are enhanced and the reason, seen now in retrospect, is quite simple. Furthermore, there are certain new technological implications extending to the field of the subject invention.

Hysteresis and eddy-current losses produce heat. The heat must flow from the electrical sheet steel lamination and it tends to flow laterally in the plane of the lamination in its width direction to find the shortest route to the ambient cooling medium, whether that be air or oil. The laminations, if thin enough, of the order of 200 microns, and if of good electrical steel quality with large crystals, will have in those crystals what are known as magnetic domains. These are regions of the order of 100 microns across in which the steel is magnetized to saturation in one of three mutually orthogonal axial directions fixed by the body-centred crystal structure in iron. Now, when heat flows crosswise to a strong magnetic field, we know from our knowledge of thermoelectricity that it results in an electric field set up in the mutually orthogonal direction. This is the Nernst Effect and it really amounts to there being a magnetic deflection of the flow of electrical charge in its collisional activity as the transporter of heat. What happens is that the thermal motion is deflected sideways so that the heat flow is arrested by the charge stacking up at the side surfaces of the lamination to set up the electric field. Heat energy is converted into electrical energy and the magnetic field merely serves as a catalyst, acting to divert charge in motion by a well-known force law named after Lorentz. The charge is that of the heat carriers, the free electrons inside the iron.
To explain how this accounts for the eddy-current loss anomaly, one only needs then to realise that the heat will flow one way in the laminations through a succession of magnetic domains and the circuital eddy-currents induced by a.c. magnetization will cross from being adjacent one surface of the lamination to the other and so in the same directional sense as the induced electric field. The direction of polarization of a magnetic domain will determine whether an opposing or assisting electric field is provided by that Nernst Effect, but the current flow will always take the path of least resistance, meaning that it will opt for passage through the domain offering the assisting field. In short, owing to the conversion of the heat into electricity, there is an aiding EMF in the eddy-current circuital flow and this means that much higher currents will flow than are expected from basic theory. In turn, though this has involved cooling as energy is converted from heat into electricity, this electricity then adds to the eddy-current strength and regenerates heat, more heat than is expected from theory which ignores the Nernst Effect and that means an anomalous loss.
Of course, when the lamination is strongly magnetized so that the polarization of all magnetic domains tends to be in the same general direction, then the current loses its optional path and what it gains near one edge in making the traversal of the width of the laimination it loses at the other edge. The result is that the loss anomaly factor is quite small and indeed normal and close to theoretical prediction, being merely affected by structural inhomogeneities at the higher range of the B-H flux loop, as this Applicant’s Ph.D. experimental research established.

The above is an example of a hitherto unexplained heat generation anomaly, important because it affects all electrical power apparatus using electrical sheet steel, which means virtually all motors and transformers and yet one which few scientists even know exists.

In this case, however, the thermal processes affected by magnetism convert heat into electricity in such a way that more heat is generated than is expected but it all is accounted for as input electricity and, though they have not understood the science involved, our scientists have given up and accepted the loss situation without explanation. It is only now, by chance, and arising from other research connected with this invention, that this Applicant has discovered the true explanation.

This further research was concerned with conversion of heat into electricity using intrinsically magnetized materials, typically nickel, in structures which were the subject of U.S. Patents 5,065,085, 5,288,336 and 5,376,184. In this research it was realised that when heat flows in nickel laminations and is diverted at a kHz frequency within that metal by a magnetic field so as to set up EMFs in the transverse sense and through a laminar capacitor stack built from those laminations, so one can take electrical power from the structure. It sustains oscillations by developing a negative resistance powered by heat input. This utilizes the Nernst Effect primarily and certain other thermoelectric effects for functional design reasons, but is a surprising development because one is not familiar with the role of magnetism as a catalyst in converting heat into electricity. Yet, in power technology in the 1960s, before it was pushed aside by the advent of nuclear power there was a new technology for generating electrical power developing known as magneto-hydro-dynamics (MHD) by which hot ionised gases passing through a magnetic field which diverted positive and negative ions in opposite transverse directions shed heat to produce that electrical power. The magnetic field was a mere catalyst but note that the heat was flowing as part of a moving electrically conductive medium, in that case a gas.

The three U.S. Patents just mentioned describe devices in which the heat to electricity conversion occurs within metal and, of course, one might then wonder if liquid electrolytes can offer prospect of a similar power conversion. Now, it is important to understand that, though we tend to believe otherwise, it is a scientific fact, known at least to those who really understand the operation of wave guides and reflective properties of surfaces, that a metal has what one can term a dielectric constant and an electric field gradient can exist in the body of a metal.

This brings us to another form of energy loss recently encountered in experimental electric motor research by this Applicant, but in this case what one sees, at least over a period of motor start-up, is a net energy loss drawn from an input source but no apparent destiny for the energy as output.

In a university research project in 1984 the Applicant investigated the effect of spinning a solid nylon cylinder mounted on a steel shaft and enclosed except at its ends in a surrounding cylindrical electrode, there being some 20,000 volts d.c. potential applied between the shaft and the electrode. The object of that research was to verify a theoretical prediction that a radial electric field could set up an electrical displacement partially in the nylon owing to its high dielectric constant and partially also in the underlying coextensive vacuum field medium. The latter is that associated with the displacement currents implicit in Maxwell’s equations in electromagnetic theory. The theory researched by the Applicant affirmed that there would be a reaction in the form of a field energy spin which would store energy and which might be recoverable by inertial interaction.

The test rig had facilities for declutching the driving motor and allowing the slow spin-down of the nylon rotor to be timed to trace a connection with the level and duration of the voltage priming the action. In the event, the results did not meet expectation. If there was a ‘vacuum spin’ set up, it had no evident mechanical coupling with the nylon rotor.

Much later it was realised that the tests should have been performed using a metal rotor, even though only a very small radial electric field gradient could be set up in such a test apparatus. The point here is that electric charge displacement within the metal will promote a counterpart displacement in the underlying vacuum field medium and the charge would separate to form a surface charge of one polarity and a distributed internal charge of opposite polarity. By the principles of electrostatics, in a hollow and even in a solid metal conductor, the surface charge develops no back reaction field inside that conductor, and so any setting up of a radial electric field gradient within that metal rotor would transfer electrons to cause displaced charge of one polarity to be balanced at the surface by vacuum field displacement charge. The result is that charge of opposite polarity is held neutralized in the body of the metal by vacuum field displacement charge of the other polarity.

The expectation was that so long as the small radial EMF was maintained a quite significant current might flow to build-up more and more displaced charge which would defy detection by electrical sensing, but which would involve storage of energy by ‘vacuum spin inertia’ and energy could, possibly, be tapped by somehow reversing the radial EMF.

Though this was seemingly a speculative proposition, the underlying theory had recognized that a great deal of cosmology was connected with energy storage by rotation and its origin could best be linked with the setting up of radial electrical fields. An example here is the creation of a star by nucleation of protons preferentially in a neutral proton-electron plasma, compared with the electrons, owing to their stronger mutual gravitational attraction.

It was from this basis that the Applicant was able to understand something that emerged whilst testing a new kind of electric motor having axially mounted magnets in its rotor. This motor has become the subject of a pending GB. Patent Application No. 9,513,855 filed on July 7, 1995 (later published as GB 2,303,255). The corresponding U.S. Patent Application is Serial No. 08/579,991 filed on December 28, 1995.

When a magnet is rotated about its axis with its field penetrating a conductive rotor disc there is, as is well known from Michael Faraday’s research, the induction of a radial EMF in that disc. This is what is needed to set up that ‘vacuum field spin’ condition which the Applicant had tried to trace in his earlier research. The test apparatus in this case included an electrical tachometer coupled to the rotor and affording a direct measure of the speed as well as an electrical d.c. drive motor powered by a stabilized voltage supply. The voltage and current were measured, the current being the variable as the motor gained speed. What was then noticed was that the particular apparatus tested could achieve a steady running speed in a few seconds but that the current input surge to the d.c. motor would reduce to its steady state value only over a much longer time period with a decay time constant of two or three minutes. This meant that there was an input of energy which was related to the speed-up process but which did not correspond to the mechanical machine requirements for that speed. Any transient electrical power effect would be expected to be of a thermal nature affecting motor resistance, but that should have implied a decreasing speed accompanying the smaller current, given that the supply voltage was steady.

It was concluded from such tests that a motor system including axially mounted magnets in its rotor structure, given an electrically conductive rotor, has an affinity on initial start-up for an excess input of energy which seems to be of inertial character but which is not the energy of the normal rotor inertia. An estimate from one set of tests suggested that the extra energy input could be as much as 20 times that needed to spin the motor inertially at the test speed. This has, of course, no practical significance unless one can find a way of recovering that energy, which is a subject now being pursued separately by the Applicant.

In the above background summary, however, a case has been set forth that shows how charge can be held effectively neutralized in a metal by the vacuum field electric charge displacement seated in that metal and how energy can be lost or stored anomalously by setting up a radial electric field in metal of cylindrical form. Also it has been explained how magnetic fields can develop electrical fields powered by heat. This background introduces the subject invention, which has the object of providing a particular form of non-rotating apparatus which is specially designed to set up anomalous energy effects based on the radial electric field in a metal conductor of circular cross-section.

Brief Statement of Invention

The object of the invention is to provide thermoelectric energy conversion apparatus specifically suited to the experimental testing of the interaction between thermal temperature gradients and the tranversely directed circumferential magnetic fields developed by electrical current flow along the length of a metal conductor as they combine to develop an electric displacement field radial to the conductor axis. To the extent that the latter electrical displacement induces reactions which build-up a sustained ionic charge polarization in the metal, as neutralized by that displacement, the latter deriving energy from the partial arrest of the heat carriers in the metal, it is a further object of the invention to provide the means for controlling the release of that energy in a useful way.

According to the invention, thermoelectric energy conversion apparatus comprises (a) mutually parallel elongated cylindrical metal conductors disposed side by side with short bridging connecting conductor links at their ends so as to form a closed circuital loop, (b) a source of electrical input power and circuit control means for regulating the power delivered by the source to develop an a.c. voltage at a frequency less than 5 Hz, (c) an electrical transformer disposed between adjacent ends of the elongated conductors, the transformer having a primary winding connected to receive the power delivered and transform it into current in said metal conductors which are arranged to form the circuital loop as a secondary winding on the transformer, the connecting conductor link at the transformer position passing through the ferromagnetic aperture so as to constitute a segment of the secondary winding, and (d) two sets of heat sinks in thermal contact with the conductors at different positions along their length, with associated thermal transfer means for delivering and deploying heat, one set of heat sinks serving as a heat input source and one set serving as a heat output source, the a.c. current induced in the closed circuital loop being confined to passage through the elongated cylindrical metal conductors so as to develop a circumferential magnetic field about the conductor axis which interacts with heat flow along that axis to develop in turn an electric field within the conductor directed radially with respect to that axis.

According to a feature of the invention, in the apparatus there are only two elongated metal conductors connected by two bridging connecting conductor links to form a loop which is a single turn secondary winding on said transformer.

According to another feature of the invention, the elongated metal conductors are all of equal diameter and so equal cross-sectional area.

According to yet another feature of the invention, in the apparatus the circuit control means for regulating the power delivered by the source to develop an a.c. voltage at a frequency less than 5 Hz includes electronic power control circuit components which control the voltage waveform supplied to the transformer in an asymmetrical manner in which the voltage is lower and of longer duration in one polarity direction and higher but of shorter duration in the opposite polarity direction.

According to another feature of the invention, the apparatus includes two transformers aiding one another in powering the current flow in the conductor loop, these being toroidal transformers, one having a said bridging connecting conductor link passing through the central aperture of its toroidal core and the other having the other bridging connecting conductor link similarly passing through its central toroidial core aperture.

According to another feature of the invention, the elongated cylindrical metal conductors are enclosed in thermal insulation along their lengths between the heat sinks in order to confine heat flow to passage in an axial direction along the conductors.

In one prospective application of the apparatus provided by this invention, at least one of the elongated cylindrical conductors is immersed in a liquid electrolyte and forms a cathode in a circuit arranged to be supplied with d.c. power, there being a cylindrical anode and the elongated cathode conductor being located along the central axis of the cylindrical anode, whereby the electrolyte itself forms a moderately conductive medium subjected to d.c. radial electric field action but has negligible conductance relative to that of the elongated cathode conductor powered by the transformer.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 depicts the mutually orthogonal relationship between a heat flow in a conductive medium, a magnetic field and a resulting electric field powered by that heat flow.

Fig. 2 shows the cross-section of a cylindrical conductor in which a radial electric field is set up by the interaction of current and heat in passage axially through the conductor, it being noted that such current develops a circumferentially directed magnetic field.

Fig. 3 shows how electric charge, displaced radially in a cylindrical conductor can accumulate at the boundary surface of the conductor whilst compensating electric charge, has a distribution within the conductor corresponding to the electric potential sustained by the combined effect of heat and current flow.

Fig. 4 shows a contrasting situation where a parallel plate capacitor-type arrangement has charge displaced within the medium separating the plates so as to build charge distributions adjacent both plates, but with no intervening charge distribution.

Fig. 5 portrays a quantum spin field system which will be discussed in explaining why the radial electric field in a conductor can produce an unusual physical phenomenon deemed to warrant research attention using the apparatus provided by this invention.

Fig. 6 shows a configuration of heat flow from the ends to the centre of a cylindrical rod carrying current and producing an internal circumferential magnetic field, with exit of heat laterally from its middle region.

Fig. 7 shows a configuration alternative to that of Fig. 6 with the heat flows reversed.

Fig. 8 shows the apparatus including an anode cathode circuit and an elongated cylindrical conductor separately powered by a.c. as disclosed in the parent patent applications to which this subject application is related by its continuation.

Fig. 9 shows an apparatus which represents a preferred embodiment of this invention, there being a simple elongated rectangular conductor loop circuit including as its main components two mutually parallel solid cylindrical metal conductors with connected heat sinks.

Fig. 10 shows the waveform profile of a typical voltage waveform used to power current flow cyclically through the conductor loop at very low frequency.

Detailed Description of the Invention

When a thermal gradient represented in Fig. 1 by dT/dx is set up in the x direction of an x, y, z coordinate system and there is a magnetic field H in the y direction, there is, within an electrically conductive medium, a resulting electric field set up in the E direction. T is temperature. The magnitude of the field E depends upon the intrinsic properties of the medium with the field polarity depending upon the type of charge carriers conveying the heat, but the relationship:

applies, where Nc is an applicable coefficient, it being connected with the name Nernst as far as concerns metal conductors.

Typically, E can be several volts per cm in a strong field of the order of one Tesla with dT/dx as one degree C per cm. In practice, however, the problem is that of setting up such a temperature gradient in a metal conductor and finding a convenient way in which to apply a strong magnetic field. Then there is the problem of deciding how to harness the electric field, because if it is used to supply electric power through a connected circuit, that circuit affects the heat flow path adversely and thwarts one’s efforts to convert heat into electricity.

This invention aims at probing an ingenious route by which seek to exploit this source of energy.

The underlying concept is that if a solid cylindrical conductor carries a very strong current it will develop a strong circumferential magnetic field, particularly if it comprises nickel or iron. Then, given heat flow along that conductor, the radial electric field shown in Fig. 2 will develop. Of itself this may seem to be inconsequential, a condition sustained after an initial transient and deploying heat energy into electrical form only in measure related to the electrostatic charge energy stored by that E field. In a metal conductor this is something that most scientists would discount from warranting consideration.

However, assuming the magnetic field and the heat flow are sustained, that E field in a metal conductor means that electric current must flow, a very high current density even with a very low E field, and if there is no good conductor path to take from the surface of the conductor there will be a build-up of charge, eg. the negative charge depicted in Fig. 3, whilst a compensating distributed positive charge is set up in the body of the conductor. Note that if charge cannot flow out then, even though the conductor has a point of connection to an external circuit, there can be no inflow of charge either, because a balance has to prevail.

However, as the heat flows relentlessly through the conductor and the magnetic field is maintained, so the electric field persists in urging charge displacement. Now, in Fig. 4 we see what happens in a parallel plate capacitor when there is charge of opposite polarity on its separate plates. There is electric displacement even in the vacuum medium permeating the dielectric substance the intervening space. The Maxwell charge displacement is a transfer of charge in that vacuum medium with some also in the dielectric from positions adjacent one plate to positions adjacent the other. However, there is no distributed charge in that intervening space, because the parallel plate geometry sets up the uniformity of field gradient that implies no intervening charge sources.

This is not the case with the radial electric field conditions set up in the cylindrical conductor. For uniform heat flow across the cross-section and uniform current distribution, the magnetic field H increases linearly with radial distance from the central axis and so the field E must share that same relationship. It can only do this if there is a uniform distribution of charge, a uniform charge density, within the conductor. Here, then, with this unusual combination of heat flow and electric current in a solid metal conductor we have the most unusual condition of a build-up of charge inside the body of that metal. As with the situation in the dielectric between the plates of the capacitor, there has to be accompanying displacement of charge in the vacuum field medium, but any charge displaced to the perimeter surface of the conductor sets up no back-field, by the well known principles of electrostatics, so the charge of oposite polarity to that displaced to the surface region takes up positions where it can neutralize any onward build-up of charge by displacement in the metal.

This process occurs without any evident sign of its action and is a self-regulating process because any deployment of heat in setting up this neutralized charge system can only promote underlying field turbulence of some kind which sheds heat energy back again as instability sets in.

However, in looking deeper into the physics involved here, this Applicant has noted certain phenomena connected with quantum theory which imply linear harmonic properties of the vacuum field medium, suggestive of harmonious and synchronized jitter-type motion of charge seated in the vacuum. This action is connected with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the forces governing, for example, the value of the fine-structure constant, which is a dimensionless expression relating Planck’s action quantum, the speed of light and the unitary fundamental electri charge in physics. The synchronous motion of that vacuum charge seems to have a far reaching cosmic influence but superimposed on this there is the thermal and Fermi type motions once the effects spread into matter as such.

The point of relevance here is that when a spherical or cylindrical volume of the vacuum medium is affected by an electric field radial to the centre in that sphere or the central axis in the cylinder, then the harmonious jitter of the vacuum charge will lose its strict synchronism with that cosmic background. If it cannot, because it is phase-locked, then it must itself be displaced radially and at the same time its bodily distribution, meaning its lattice system, must develop a rotational motion about the centre or that central axis, albeit with some dependence upon orientation in space.

What this amounts to, so far as the subject invention is concerned, is that the quantum interactions through the space medium can bring into a focal system energy needed to set the vacuum medium in spin as governed by the need to cancel that radial electric field. There is then scope for wondering whether the switch-off or reversal of that radial electric field will unleash this energy and either result in it being shed to our material environment as excess heat or possibly becoming something that can be tapped in a controlled way to develop mechanical rotation or even electrical power directly.

So far as this subject patent application is concerned the objective is to provide apparatus by which to research the thermal theme, though the Applicant has already discovered evidence supporting what is said above in his research on electric motors.

Though Fig. 5 is merely an outline depicting what has been said above about the vacuum state, it is of interest to consider what happens if a sphere comprising such a medium rotates bodily whilst those minor spins shown all stay in synchronism. As each is seated in charge neutralized by a background charge continuum, the larger motion with the sphere will cause them to move faster when furthest away in their minor orbits from the central axis of rotation of the sphere and slower when closer to that axis, assuming the sphere rotates in the same spin direction. This means a loss of synchronism instant by instant but it can be avoided by appropriate radial displacement of the system of vacuum charge in measure related to the angular speed of the sphere. This is a very fundamental process which assuredly underlies the reality of the physical world. One early example of the power of the theory involved here is disclosed by the Applicant and co-author Dr. D. M. Eagles in Physics Letters 41A, 423 (1972).

The essential point is that the setting up of a radial electric field within a conductive medium can induce a spin reaction in a coextensive spherical or cylindrical volume of the vacuum field medium and this involves both Maxwell-type electric charge displacement and the ingress of energy from the quantum underworld of space itself. That energy can remain hidden and be inaccessible unless we can devise ways of releasing it as by heat, but there is a way because this source of energy undoubtedly is the priming source for many natural phenomena on a cosmic scale.

Although this invention is not directed at the ‘cold fusion’ theme it will be understood from what has been explained above that the anomalous generation of heat claimed by those involved with ‘cold fusion’ research and the presence of a positive charge distribution within a metal conductor when heat and electric current flow combine in a certain way are suggestive. The existence of a positive ion charge balanced by vacuum charge displacement on a microfine scale implies the possibility of two positive ions easily merging owing to the aethereal nature of the negative charge that neutralizes their mutual force interactions.

This will explain why this patent application is linked by continuation with an original patent application filed shortly after the ‘cold fusion’ scenario was initiated.

Fig. 8 is reproduced from that first application and it depicts an electrolytic cell in which an elongated conductor serves as a cathode enclosed within a cylindrical anode. The a.c. power source 1 supplies a high a.c. current through the cathode 2 by connection to the secondary winding of transformer 3. The cell housing 4 is filled with electrolyte 5 and the anode 6 is supplied with a low d.c. current from power source 7 which makes connection at terminal 8 to one end of the cathode 2. Since the a.c. output from the transformer is connected between terminal 8 and terminal 9 at the other end of the cathode, the d.c. and a.c. currents are confined to separate circuits. The electrical resistivity of the electrolyte, if of a typical salt solution, is about one ohm-cm compared with a resistivity of the metal cathode that is smaller by a factor of 100,000, so very little a.c. current will bypass the metal cathode by flow through the electrolyte. This means that a very strong current could flow through the cathode as a.c. to condition the cathode for its effect on any positive ions adsorbed into its metal body and the applicant saw this as meritorious and of relevance.

However, here the subject is in no way concerned with the processes underlying what is termed ‘cold fusion’, but applies essentially to apparatus useful in research aimed at exploring heat energy anomalies.

More specifically, the subject invention is concerned with the apparatus shown in typical form in Fig. 9.

Here there is emphasis on the structural feature of making the condctor circuit of minimal resistance, which requires a relatively thick conductor section elongated to give more operational length, but having in mind that parallel orientation of the conductors is essential for optimum effect.

There are two elongated solid cylindrical metal conductors 10, typically of nickel, which is ferromagnetic and has a high Nernst coefficient, and there are short bridging connecting conductor links 11 passing through the apertures in the two toroidal transformers 12. These have their primary windings connected to a source of a.c. power duly regulated electronically in a manner familiar to those skilled in the art of using power mosfet semiconductor devices. This source is not depicted in the drawings because it can take any form which assures a very low frequency input. The reason for this is that the very low resistance of the conductors 10 needs very little voltage to assure a current flow measured in hundreds of amps and owing to the thickness of the conductors, typically of one cm diameter, and the high magnetic permeability there is the need to avoid skin effects distorting the conduction properties. More important, however, there is the overriding need to allow time within the cyclic period for the radial electric field-dependent vacuum field spin condition to develop before reversing the action.

By keeping the frequency below 5 Hz, but preferably lower at less than 1 Hz, there is scope for sustaining a high current, notwithstanding the limit imposed by the transformer on the voltage-time integral which relates to the maximum magnetic flux condition of the transformer cores.A quite low voltage of 5 volts applied to a toroidal transformer with a 60 Hz primary rating of 300 volts will operate at 1 Hz and by switching the voltage of the power input electronically in the manner indicated in Fig. 10 the apparatus can be activated with a view to researching the possibile presence of anomalous heating.

Evenso, the apparatus cannot function unless there is some heat priming because, without the temperature gradient in the conductors 10, the current supplied by the tranformer will not produce the radial electric field in those conductors.

The heat sinks 13 and 14 are therefore provided. To minimize temparature drops in connecting interfaces, whilst assuring the electrical isolation of the conductor loop, the heat sinks have fins with large areas and are exposed to heat exchange by air or gas flow directed onto those fins. To restrict heat flow to passage through the conductors they can be lagged with thermal insulation (not shown in the drawings) but the very high rate of heat conduction in a solid metal conductor needs to be matched by a very high capacity for heat transfer at the heat sink surfaces.

In the apparatus described the heat sinks serve as the means for introducing heat priming, but should research using the apparatus result in anomalous heat generation the heat sinks become the means for utilizing that heat as a source of energy. Fig. 6 is self-explanatory in showing that heat inflow into both ends of a conductor from a source at temperature T’ an egress from a mid region of the conductor at temperature T will develop a radial electric field provided a current I flows along the length of the conductor to develop a circumferential magnetic field H.

Should the heat flow be reversed as shown in Fig. 7 then there will still be a radial electric field, given electrical current flow, but the direction of the current can affect the direction of the radial electric field. Should anomalous heat be generated within the conductor in research tests using the apparatus shown in Fig. 9, then the outflow of heat from the ends of the conductor will, with the current reversed at an increased value in a short time interval, give scope for testing a variety of control conditions using the apparatus.

In summary, therefore, the invention provides a new means for investigating energy conversion techniques based on thermoelectric action relying on the Nernst Effect, whilst bringing in sight the technological prospect of tapping a source of energy linked to the quantum underworld that regulates the physics of our environment.

This disclosure complements a parallel innovation connected with rotating machines in which the conductor spins and generates an internal radial electric field owing to the presence of a magnet axially mounted in the rotor system.

CLAIMS

1. Thermoelectric energy conversion apparatus comprising (a) mutually parallel elongated cylindrical metal conductors disposed side by side with short bridging connecting conductor links at their ends so as to form a closed circuital loop of which the elongated conductor sections are composed of nickel and the links are of any normal conductor material better suited to assuring an overall circuit of low resistance able to carry a current of at least 100 amps, (b) a source of electrical input power and circuit control means for regulating the power delivered by the source to develop an a.c. voltage at a frequency less than 5 Hz, (c) an electrical transformer disposed between adjacent ends of the elongated conductors, the transformer having a primary winding connected to receive the power delivered and transform it into current in said metal conductors which are arranged to form the circuital loop as a secondary winding on the transformer, the connecting conductor link at the transformer position passing through the ferromagnetic core apperture so as to constitute a segment of the secondary winding, and (d) two sets of heat sinks in thermal contact with the conductors at different positions along their length, with associated thermal transfer means for delivering and deploying heat, one set of heat sinks serving as a heat input source and one set serving as a heat output source, the a.c. current induced in the closed circuital loop being confined to passage through the elongated cylindrical metal conductors so as to develop a circumferential magnetic field about the conductor axis which interacts with heat flow along that axis to develop in turn an electric field within the conductor directed radially with respect to that axis.

2. Thermoelectric energy conversion apparatus according to claim 1, in which there are only two elongated metal conductors connected by two bridging connecting conductor links to form a loop which is a single turn secondary winding on said transformer.

3. Thermoelectric energy conversion apparatus according to claim 1, in which the elongated metal conductors are all of equal diameter and so equal cross-sectional area.

4. Thermoelectric energy conversion apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the circuit control means for regulating the power delivered by the source to develop an a.c. voltage at a frequency less than 5 Hz includes electronic power control circuit components which control the voltage waveform supplied to the transformer in an asymmetrical manner in which the voltage is lower and of longer duration in one polarity direction and higher but of shorter duration in the opposite polarity direction.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein there are two transformers aiding one another in powering the current flow in the conductor loop, these being toroidal transformers, one having a said bridging connecting conductor link passing through the central aperture of its toroidal core and the other having the other bridging connecting conductor link similarly passing through its central toroidial core aperture.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the elongated cylindrical metal conductors are enclosed in thermal insulation along their lengths between the heat sinks in order to confine heat flow to passage in an axial direction along the conductors.