While we don’t have very much detail on the issues involved, Andrea Rossi has been reporting on the Journal of Nuclear Physics on some problems that have come up in testing the QuarkX reactor (the latest and smallest version of the E-Cat so far)
There are two specific events he has referred to recently. The first was on August 20th where he stated:
“Lost the power, not knowing why. Eventually we understood and resolved the problem. F8.”
Shortly after, he reported:
“The problem was in the control system. The electronic engineer resolved it.”
Then, on August 24th he reported:
“We have problems to resolve and we are working on them very hard.”
When asked about the type of problem this was, he said that this was a different problem, and later that it had been resolved:
“Now, at 10.42 P.M. ( Miami time) we have resolved the problem and the QuarkX is going well. The Team can go to sleep… me too. It was a problem of stability.”
Another questioner asked Rossi “Rating from 1 ( lowest) to 10, which is the rate you deem proper right now for the behavior of the QuarkX?” Rossi’s answer was “6.”
So it sounds to me like there are still issues to be worked on with the QuarkX. Rossi’s team is still in the R&D phase with it, and that it is not yet suitable for a commercial product. I think his is to be expected with a brand new technology that is still immature, and these reports can maybe help us set realistic expectations with regard to commercialization of the QuarkX.
