Today, Leonardo Corporation, led by Andrea Rossi, inventor and developer of the one-megawatt cold fusion E-Cat plant, signed an agreement with National Instruments (NI), to have them make all the instrumentation for the E-Cat plants, which began commercial sales on October 28, following the successful test in Bologna, Italy of the first 1 MW heat plant to the first customer.
The 1 MW plant, which is the size of a small shipping container, and said to produce about as much power as a small locomotive, is made up of around 100 modules, each containing three reactors acting in parallel that combine hydrogen and nickel (a special micro powder preparation) into copper in the presence of a proprietary catalyst and a radio frequency stimulator, beginning at around 450 degrees Celsius. The initial heating is supplied electrically from resistive heaters. Once the nuclear reactions commence, the start-up electrical energy source can be disconnected, and the self-sustaining reaction can be controlled by the amount of hydrogen pressure supplied to the chamber.
No nuclear waste is emitted, and no radioactive elements are required in the reaction. The gamma radiation produced during operation, which results in the copious heat generated, is shielded by two layers of thin lead.
According to Rossi, NI will be creating the controls to monitor and regulate this process.
He said that their stipulation for the agreement is that all the instrumentation for the E-Cat plants have "by National Instruments" and logo on the instrumentation panels.
National Instruments is a major industrial player. Sure sounds like ready for prime time to me. To read more, click here.