Wayne, here's the headline...Crystal power Palmtop Nuclear Fusion Device Invented By Michael Schirber LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 27 April 2005 01:00 pm ET The nuclear reaction that powers the Sun has been reproduced in a pocket-sized device, scientists announced today. Researchers have for years tried to harness nuclear fusion to power the world. But its cousin, nuclear fission -- the breaking apart of atoms -- is the only method so far commercially viable. The latest invention is not in the same league as efforts to build complex commercial reactors. The new device creates a relatively small number of reactions, and requires more energy to operate than it produces. The Real Deal (AP) - Previous claims of tabletop fusion have been met with skepticism and even derision by physicists. In one of the most notable cases, Dr. B. Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of Southampton University in England shocked the world in 1989 when they announced that they had achieved so-called cold fusion at room temperature. Their work was discredited after repeated attempts to reproduce it failed. Fusion experts noted that the new UCLA experiment is credible because, unlike the 1989 work, it did not violate basic principles of physics. "This doesn't have any controversy in it because they're using a tried and true method,'' said David Ruzic, professor of nuclear and plasma engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "There's no mystery in terms of the physics.'' -- Associated Press But the configuration is so small and simple that its creators think it may inspire unforeseen applications. "I certainly find it interesting that you can heat a cubic centimeter crystal in your hand, then plunge it in cold water and it will cause nuclear fusion," Seth Putterman from the University of California Los Angeles told LiveScience. Putterman's lay description greatly oversimplifies how the compact apparatus works. Specifically, Putterman and collaborators heat a pyroelectric crystal, lithium tantalite, from minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit to plus 45 in a matter of minutes. This generates an electrical charge -- 100,000 volts -- across the tiny crystal, which is housed in a chamber filled with deuterium gas, a heavy form of hydrogen. The high voltage is focused onto a needle-thin tip, which strips electrons from nearby deuterium nuclei and then accelerates them at a solid target containing deuterium. When two deuterium nuclei collide together at high speed, they fuse to form helium. The Sun also fuses atoms in thermonuclear reactions that create light and heat. The byproduct of the newly discovered lab reaction is a particle called the neutron. The scientists detect about 1,000 neutrons per second. Because neutrons are so penetrating, Putterman said that a hand-held neutron source might one-day be used to do geologic surveys or to look into cargo containers for nuclear devices. "Current neutron generators are extremely cumbersome," Putterman said. "They are about as big as a dentists X-ray machine, so you canÂt carry them into the field." Pyroelectric crystals could also provide a beam of ions for use as a microthruster in a miniature spacecraft. The research is described in the April 28 issue of the journal Nature.

Busy day - Macbook has been crashing, got that post out in between crashes. Worked with Apple Care on the phone, think they fixed it. So yes, IR Scan during blower door test. I'm sure I will get all the details, but he said it's not uncommon, but because of the drafty house, he could not get the fan up to a certain level. Forget what that number was or the value of that number. So the house did not get that cold either. The blower was running for a long time, and the house cooled down from 70 to about 63. I expected much worse after you guys wrote about it in here. I think I expected the inside to feel like outside. Anyway, he pointed out the edges of all walls, at the corners and top rails where you can see there is no insulation. I think you can clearly see that the walls are insulated ok. Attic access panels are killers. We dont even try to fake it here, just a thin wood or sheetrock panel, we have 3 access points. He suggested buying a can of Mastic, spread it on the back and press on insulation, it would help. He suggested sealing any recessed lights, and using the spray fluffy insulation in attics. For one of the attics that has an air handler, he suggests creating a conditioned attic space by insulating the walls, but I dont think I agree with that. For the Crawl, he first suggests I stop any water entry, yes there is right now, might be hard to fix. I have two Sumps down there, but somehow water gets in, and just hangs out on the floor, never more than 1/16 inch deep, but spreads out. Then he says insulating the walls of the crawl to make it air tight, no venting. Or the other approach is to insulate the ceiling or main floor - floor. It's insulated now, but he says it's not doing anything, Its installed backwards, and only a few inches thick . He said I could go with a spray foam, a little pricey, or a real thick high R value insulation. I will share the report when it comes. Was nice having the house warm over the last 24 hours, but I used well over 300 KV in that time.

Several comments 1. The typical operating temperature for Led diodes is much wider i.e. most should operate between -40 to +140 degrees celsius. Real example The max junction temperature for a Cree XM-L Led diode is ~ 150 celsius or 50 above the boiling point of water. 2. There is a wide selection of LED diodes on the market with a wide range of color, efficiencies, current drive, voltage, ... 3. A LED lamp's longevity is affected by how the lamp/ fixture designer design decisions for example- i. Over driving the current at the expense of lifespan. ii. Which LED components to use - more efficient vs greater max output vs cheaper (given the anticipated production run), ... iii. The quality of the other necessary components - capacitors, resistors, ... iv. The quality of the manufacturing process. SMT (surface mount technology) consistently beats the quality of manual soldering and individual wires. 4. Active cooling (i.e. - fan) is no longer used - not effective or cost efficient, prone to failure and reduces the overall efficiency. The use of the motherboard as a heat sink/ spreader is preferred. The Switch lightbulb utilizes an inert liquid and convection circulation to sink the heat produced. 5. The pricing will drop more when the the LED diode costs are reduced as well as when lighting device designers figure out how to reduce the BOM (bill of materials) cost and simplify the manufacturing process. FWIW, the L prize bulb is not competitive with the Cree bulb (or even the newer Philips LED bulbs) from both a manufacturing and end user consumer standpoint. 6. From an electrical standpoint, the E26 connector is no less efficient than a GU24/ bi-pin connector / wire nuts. 7. The more advanced LED deployments today are done in aircraft, automotive and custom home designs where cost is less of a concern. 8. For the rest, it will take a while before more and better fixtures/ lamps designed with LEDs in mind appear since most folks are used to the traditional glass forms ( bulb, tubes).

Kelly- Packless provides a nice design for water cooled heat exchangers. A lot of HVAC OEM's today use Packless heat exchangers or similar in their watersource heating and cooling designs. Pool Heat pump OEM's also use a design similar to Packless with special coatings/materials to survive pool water chemistry. The use of these heat exchangers to pre-heat potable water works well in low and medium temp refrigeration systems such as those used in walk-in coolers and display cases found in grocery stores. These refrigeration systems already have sophisticated refrigerant metering devices that properly control the metering of liquid refrigerant into the evaporator and provide adequate superheat returning to the compressor to prevent liquid slugging which will cause compressor failure. In high temp applications such as residential HVAC, the use of watersource heat exchangers prior to the condensing coil will work but will require a lot of sophisticated controls to be added to provide the right amount of subcooling and superheat to the system for reliable refrigerant metering extending the life of the system. After considering the cost of adding the needed refrigerant metering control devices and head pressure control plus being only able to heat the pool water only when the AC system is in use appeals to only a small number of clients. Not a large market at all for a product such as this. There is actually a DOE funded project going on right now called "net zero engergy" homes. The concept is the home should be able to produce enough power to meet the homes energy requirements hence net zero energy. The HVAC systems in these prototype homes use water cooled heat exchangers for hot water heating. Even with the small load of hot water heating in these homes, the HVAC technology limits are being pushed. Heating a pool would require much larger amounts of heat to be practical in every day use when combining HVAC systems and pool heating. Of course, those who like to tinker and have available assets and hardware to play with will benefit from the additional heat provided by these AC system heat exchangers but the risk of a compressor failure go up considerably when these head pressure controls and refrigerant metering devices fail down the road. There are high efficient HVAC systems available today that use water to cool the condenser. These systems are called closed-water-loop geothermal HVAC systems and are very efficient because the cooler water is used to reduce the condensing temps which considerably reduced compressor head pressure and operating power. These watersource closed loop HVAC systems have been around for a long time and could possibly be adapted to heating a pool easier than the proposed method of using an existing air to air HVAC system and retrofitting a water cooled heat exchanger to it. This would also save a lot of coin on your heating and cooling costs as the heating and cooling efficiency will be a lot better than your existing air to air system. Not sure what pool water chemistry would do to these water cooled heat exchangers but listening to those in the watersource HVAC industry, water chemistry is the biggest contributor to heat exchanger failures on these watersource HVAC systems. Hope this helps!