The CETI Patterson Power Cell is a patented invention of the U.S. physicist James Patterson to generate heat on the basis of an assumed cold fusion. The invention was met with occasional media interest in the United States, in talk shows from ABC, Nightlife and "Good Morning America." A reception by the scientific physics is not apparent and independent replications of the alleged effect of Patterson are not known. The manufacturer CETI announced in 1997 that Patterson-cells would go into mass production within 4 years to supply the general public with it. This has not occurred.
The patent of the invention is one of few granted patents that was not denied because of the idea of "cold fusion". But for the United States patent office the feasibility of the described effect plays just a minor role. (see List of absurd patents)
Manufacturer of the Patterson cell is the company "Clean Energy Technologies, Inc." (CETI) from Dallas, Texas.[1] The company earns its money through sales of a so called "Rifex kits", experimental cells for interested people. Buyers receive a temporary permit from CETI to participate in conferences of the company and will receive newsletters. A similar kind of marketing was also implemented by the failed Irish company Steorn.
The CETI Patterson Cell
The reactor that should contain the alleged fusion processes is a non-conductive housing filled with thousands of small plastic beads coated with thin film layers of nickel and palladium. The great number of plastic beads should increase the reacting surface. The beads are surrounded by solution of a conductive salt in water through which an electric current is run. A fusion of hydrogen and deuterium nuclei is said to happen. But no fusion products or ionizing radiation could be proven.
With an input of 1.4 Watts electrical energy the cell should yield a hundred or a thousand times that energy in output in the form of heat. According to the inventor Patterson radioactive uranium isotopes which are present in the cell should be transmuted in an unknown way to non-radioactive Isotopes.
Patent
- US Patent US 5494559, James Patterson, "System for electrolysis". Granted on April 3, 1997.
Abstract:
"ABSTRACT: An electrolytic cell and system for electrolysizing and/or heating a liquid electrolyte containing water having a conductive salt in solution flowing through the cell. The electrolytic cell includes a non-conductive housing having an inlet and an outlet and spaced apart first and second conductive foraminous grids connected within the housing. A plurality of spaced beds of closely packed conductive microspheres are positioned end to end within the housing in electrical contact with the first grid adjacent the inlet. The individual microsphere beds are electrically isolated from one another in the absence of the liquid electrolyte. The microspheres are generally uniform in size and density and include a plated layer formed of metallic hydride which is readily combineable with hydrogen or an isotope of hydrogen with hydrazine to form a conductive, preferably flash coated metal layer. An electric power source in the system is operably connected across the first and second grids whereby electrical current flows between the grids within the liquid electrolyte."
Literatur
- Robert L. Park: Voodoo science: the road from foolishness to fraud. Seite 111