generally, if you get out more than you put in, it's a good thing...
Posted on 07/23/2012 5:54:35 PM PDT by Kevmo
DARPA Nanotech Projects -$34 million investigating cold fusion and excess heat was found
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DARPA 2013 budget justification is out and it updates progress on DARPA projects. (336 pages)
1. Fundamentals of Nanoscale and Emergent Effects and Engineered Devices - IE Cold Fusion Investigation
Funding FY2011 $16.745 million FY2012 $11.65 million FY2013 $5.5 million
This is the project where DARPA is spending about $34 million to investigate cold fusion on the nanoscale. They have found and generated excess heat for at least 2.5 days.
Description: The Fundamentals of Nanoscale and Emergent Effects and Engineered Devices program seeks to understand and exploit physical phenomena for developing more efficient and powerful devices. This includes developing devices and structures to enable controllable photonic devices at multiple wavelengths, engineering palladium microstructures with large deuterium loadings to study absorption thermodynamics and effects, enabling real-time detection as well as analysis of signals and molecules and origin of emergent behavior in correlated electron devices, and developing stabilization and scale-up methods to fabricate high pressure crystal structures at low pressures. Arrays of engineered nanoscale devices will result in an order of magnitude (10 to 100 times) reduction in the time required for analysis and identification of known and unknown (engineered) molecules. This program will develop novel nanomaterials for exquisitely precise purification of materials, enabling such diverse applications as oxygen generation and desalination, ultra-high sensitivity magnetic sensors, and correlated electron effects such as superconductivity. This program will compare the phenomenology of various biological, physical and social systems and abstract the common features that are responsible for their properties of self-organization, emergent behavior, and physical intelligence.
This looks like they are trying to investigate the science of cold fusion / low energy nuclear reactions
FY 2011 Accomplishments: - Demonstrated a 50 percent yield for the fabrication of the magnetic sensors based on multiferroic composites, in a lot size of 10 units which have outputs (volt/tesla values) within 10 percent of the specification. - Demonstrated a 50 percent yield for the fabrication of the magnetic sensors based on atomic vapor cells, in a lot size of 10 units which have outputs (volt/tesla values) within 10 percent of the specification. - Demonstrated a multiferroic magnetic sensor with an optical circuit read-out. - Determined the requirements for a unified theory for a non-biological system to demonstrate biological-like physical intelligence and showed how it is consistent with thermodynamic and other physical principles. - Using a combination of simulation and real system hardware, conducted limited demonstrations of self-organizing electronic and chemical systems imbedded in environments of limited complexity and responding to environmental pressures. - Formalized preliminary model systems and evaluated the initial physical intelligence theory's ability to describe the candidate electronic, physical, and chemical systems. - Refined analytical tools to measure intelligence and demonstrate them on complex, real world systems and their associated data, such as human subject data and social networks. - Developed more complex demonstrations with multiple stimuli and feedback considerations and extended the theoretical and analytical tools to more complex systems. - Continued quantification of material parameters that control degree of increase in excess heat generation and life expectancy of power cells in collaboration with the Italian Department of Energy. Established ability to extend active heat generation time from minutes to 2.5 days for pressure-activated power cells..
FY 2012 Plans: - Verify the initial unified physical intelligence theory and justify its underlying assumptions in the context of model systems that supports the emergence and evolution of novel structure. - Expand the theoretical effort to include casual entropy and address correlated effects such as self-organized criticality, renormalization, scaling, and punctuated equilibrium. - Demonstrate the spontaneous, abiotic evolution and complex spatial and temporal organization in electro-chemical-physical systems in response to structure and resources from the environment. - Quantify the emergent hierarchical structures that evolve from the demonstrated electro-chemical-physical systems. - Demonstrate the ability to design an evolving electro-chemical-physical system and direct its evolution toward specified objectives in the form of a challenge problem or application. - Initiate development of computational tools to formulate processing pathways to stabilize and scale up high pressure crystal phases. - Establish scalability and scaling parameters in excess heat generation processes in collaboration with the Italian Department of Energy.
FY 2013 Plans: - Initiate efforts to identify and characterize metastable solid phases of gaseous materials that have superior mechanical / functional properties. - Initiate development of synthesis techniques for producing extended solids at temperature and pressures amenable to scale up
Separate Project - Atomic Scale Materials and Devices - Goal 100 attojoules optical switches
Funding FY2011 $16.030 million FY2012 $9.563 million FY2013 $2.0 million
Description: This thrust examines the fundamental physics of materials at the atomic scale in order to develop new devices and capabilities. A major emphasis of this thrust is to provide the theoretical and experimental underpinnings of a new class of semiconductor electronics based on spin degree of freedom of the electron, in addition to (or in place of) the charge. A new all optical switch capability will also be investigated. It includes a new, non-invasive method to directly hyperpolarize biological tissues, leading to novel quantitative neurodiagnostics. New materials and prototype devices will be developed to demonstrate a new class of optoelectronics that operate with ultra-low energy dissipation (~100 atom-Joules (aJ)/operation).
FY 2011 Accomplishments: - Demonstrated production of antiferromagnetically ordered states in 2-D optical lattices. - Studied and characterized supersolid behavior in multi-spin Bose condensates. - Experimentally produced phase diagrams of strongly interacting fermion gases in less than twelve hours. - Realized synthetically charged atoms and artificial magnetic fields in preparation for studies of fractional quantum Hall effect physics. - Demonstrated all-optical switch based on optically-induced absorption. - Demonstrated total energy dissipation for an optical switch of 2.3 attojoules per operation, and best case signal loss of less than 0.1 decibel (dB), excluding waveguide losses before and after device, at a temperature of 27 Kelvin. - Demonstrated all-optical switching using two photon absorption with organic molecules (7C TCF cyanine, 2PA (two photon) cross-section of 750 GM (Goeppert-Mayers) when measured in processed film on silica), inverse Raman scattering with organic molecules and Zeno chi (2) effect crystals. - Demonstrated and independently verified visible light with Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) induces 1.5 percent nuclear polarization equivalent -- to a 2000 tesla magnet. - Endowed a 12.8 kilo electron volt X-ray beam with OAM=40 -- the highest OAM value imparted for that X-ray energy. - Demonstrated X-rays with OAM induces 0.15 percent nuclear polarization -- 200x larger than current state of the art.
FY 2012 Plans: - Load polar molecules into optical lattices to study long-range character and ordering inside the optical lattice. - Produce phase diagrams of frustrated quantum antiferromagnets. - Produce phase diagrams of 2-D Fermi-Hubbard model at near half-filling; determine presence or absence of superfluid phase. - Demonstrate all-optical switch (or equivalent device) based on optically-induced absorption for a 25 nanometer range in input wavelength. - Demonstrate total energy dissipation for an optical switch (or equivalent device) of less than 100 attojoules per operation, and signal loss of less than 0.05 dB, excluding waveguide losses before and after device, at room temperature. - Initiate development of high efficiency X-ray optics appropriate for broadband, bench top X-ray sources.
FY 2013 Plans: - Demonstrate switch fabric of at least 2 concatenated all-optical switches, each with less than 100 attojoules total energy dissipation (not counting waveguide losses).
The Cold Fusion/LENR Ping List
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/coldfusion/index?tab=articles
What’s interesting is the involvement with the Italian Department of Energy.
Note this accomplishment for year 2011:
> - Continued quantification of material parameters that control degree of
> increase in excess heat generation and life expectancy of power cells in
> collaboration with the Italian Department of Energy. Established ability to
> extend active heat generation time from minutes to 2.5 days for
> pressure-activated power cells..
And what is planned for 2012:
> - Establish scalability and scaling parameters in excess heat generation
> processes in collaboration with the Italian Department of Energy.
The original document is available here:
http://www.darpa.mil/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2147484865&ei=ggz-T9OQHoLjrAG8vIGMCQ&usg=AFQjCNF5FYEcO9HPUxK1Hsr1vV-q1KmmPQ
The relevant section starts from page 50.
OK, for us non-scientist, what does this mean?
Is it good that it produces more heat, or bad?
generally, if you get out more than you put in, it's a good thing...
Excess heat is the signature of a cold fusion event. Here’s a good place to start for the beginner:
A Student’s Guide to Cold Fusion
Edmund Storms
KivaLabs, Santa Fe, NM
http://lenr-canr.org/acrobat/StormsEastudentsg.pdf
Doesn’t that break a law of thermodynamics?
Thanks for the simple answer.
So more heat is what they are looking for.
it did when i went to school... but DARPA says different so what do i know? in a Nuke explosion you get much out much more than you put in, that's why i said generally
Isn’t a nuke just converting potential energy to kinetic energy?
All seriousness aside, will this, like, lead to a faster Droid????
yeah you're right, but isn't this the same idea? they are liberating potential energy and that's why it isn't self sustaining??? i guess i'm only looking at small in more out regardless of the process, but you are right about the potential energy release
It would be great if they could have a viable cold fusion energy source. I’m just doubtful. I’d love to be wrong.
There’s a LOT more here that’s of interest than just the relatively modest funding by DARPA and the Italian government of a joint, ongoing investigation of LENR. Modest that is in comparison to the billion$ spent over three decades on the politically correct building of dead-ended hot fusion Tokomaks.
Consider the implications of DARPA’s stated plan for 2012: “Demonstrate the spontaneous, abiotic evolution and complex spatial and temporal organization in electro-chemical-physical systems in response to structure and resources from the environment.” In sum, it looks like someone is trying to create some form of self-evolving lifeform outside of the domain of computers, out here in the “real” world.
For what purpose, DARPA?
I don’t think I’d like to experience ‘a new, non-invasive method to directly hyperpolarize biological tissues, leading to novel quantitative neurodiagnostics...’
Sounds too much like what they’re working on out at UC Riverside...
From http://www.fiatlux.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=108
Ozkan’s contribution to the development of high throughput cellular microarrays opens opportunities in bioengineering applications, including tissue engineering and drug discovery. Her research interests include the development of novel biomedical microdevices and applications of nanotechnology for future developments in bioengineering.
No telling what them thar microdevices are capable of having a person do. Or not do.
Opinion expressed is based solely on my familiarity with political agendas, not science.
definitely be a game changer
In a word, no. No more than does the energy from running the starter motor in your car. You put in a little electrical energy (and a continuing trickle if you aren't driving a diesel) to convert a lot of chemical energy into motion and heat.
LENR is precisely analogous. You put in a little electrical energy to start things up (and maybe a trickle of electrical energy as it runs) and get much more heat (and hopefully electricity, eventually) out. The sole difference here is that the "fuel" is derived from fusion of atoms rather than the burning of chemicals.
No thermodynamics principles are violated.
Understood. So far though, this is just theory...right? They don’t have an actual viable source do they?
but like EEGator said, isn't it liberating potential energy?
Nobody knows if this "excess energy" gets beyond the margin of error. The only specifics in the DARPA report are how much taxpayer money they are going to spend.
another case of follow the money...
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