New result of anomalous heat

production in hydrogen-loaded
metals at high temperature
Ni-H Research Group
China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing, China
Written by Songsheng Jiang
E-mail: jiang@ihep.ac.cn

Abstract
The experiment set-up is given in Figures 1-6. The
amount of powder fuels (Ni + 10%(in weight)LiAlH4) is
20 g filled in a nickel celllocated in the stainless-steel
reaction chamber. The existing heater is made of
nichrome wire, which is wound on a ceramic tube. A
stabilized DC power supply is used. The heater is
surrounded by MgO thermal insulation material, which
is filled in an aluminum hollow cylindrical jacket with
inner-diameter of 55 mm, outer-diameter of 25 cm and
40 cm long. The temperature is measured by stainlesssteel shielded K-type thermocouples. The thermocouple
T1 is located on the outer surface of the stainless-steel
reaction chamber, T2 is placed in contact with outer
surface of the nickel cell and T3 is inserted inside
container in contact with the fuel powders.

(Continued)
The experiment was carried out in 4-8 May, 2015, lasted 96 hours. In the
first day, the reaction chamber was vacuumed to 10-4 mbar, and then was
heated up. The LiAlH4 was degassed, and the upper pressure in the chamber
reached 400 kPa at temperatures of 150-300 0C or so. Then the pressure went
down to -90 kPa in subsequent 18-hours. In the next day, when the
temperature of thermocouple T3 was increased to about 950 0C by tuning
electric power to 900 W, the temperature of thermocouple in the fuel cell
increased rapidly. Unfortunately, T3 was damaged at this time. However, T2
still was working well (it is justified by the later exponentially cooling curve),
and T2 (the temperature near fuel cell) was also increased to be higher than
T1(the temperature near heater) rapidly. When T2 temperature reached a
temperature over 1300 0C for 10 minutes, the power was turned off for
protecting T2 from damage. The self-sustaining heat effect appeared and
lasted about 20 minutes, then the T2 temperature went down rapidly. When
the temperature decreased less than 1000 0C, the power was turned on to 900
W, and an excited state of the anomalous heat production appeared again
because T2 was back to be higher than the T1 again. In the most of running
time, T2 temperature was kept less than 1200 0C by controlling the electrical
power. A typical result of temperature variation of T2 and T1 versus input
power on 8 May is shown in Figures 7a and 7b.

Figure 1

Reactor chamber
Diameter: 36 mm
Length: 250 mm
Thickness: 3 mm

250 mm

Figure 2

The nickel powder and LiAlH4 powder

are filled in a Nickel cell (20 cm long, 14
mm high and 14 mm wide)

T2

The K-type thermocoupleT2 is touched the cell wall,

and T3 inserted in the container , near the fuel powder.
Figure 3

Ni-H reactor chamber inserted in the heater,

and connected with vacuum system or
hydrogen bottle.

Figure 4

Stabilized
DC power

Digit pressure meter

Figure 5

Data logger

Ni-H reactor

Computer on-line displays the temperatures of thermocouple

T1, T2 and T3, and pressure, power voltage and current.

Figure 6

T2
T1
T3 after damage

Power voltage
T4

Pressure

Figure 7a

Figure 7b

Summary:
The anomalous heat production in the Ni+LiAlH4 fuels has been
observed repeatedly. The heat production can be controlled by input
power and can last for a long time. The T2 temperature placed on the
outer surface of the fuel cell is about 405 0C greater than the T1
temperature, T1 is placed on the outer surface of the reaction chamber
and near the heater. An estimate power of excess heat is about 600 W. The
ratio of excess heat of 600 W to input power of 780 W is 0.77. Considering
self-sustaining effect, the input power might be significantly decreased if a
chopper supply can be used to keep excess heat production. How to
calculate the ratio of total produced heat energy to electrical input energy
remains a question in present work. The consumption of nickel container
and Ni + LiAl4 powders is checked to be less than 1 g after experiment. The
calculated energy density is 4 orders of magnitude greater than the value
of gasoline. Therefore, the origin of excess heat cannot be explained by
any chemical energy. The isotope abundances of nickel and lithium in the
fuels after experiment will be analyzed by mass spectrometry technique.
A further experiment will be carried out.