WO1994028197A2 - Hydrogen activated heat generation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to research the generation of heat by promoting the fusion of protons or deuterons adsorbeb by a host metal, the apparatus provides a structural configuration by which the direction of heat flow through the metal is transverse to the direction of an applied magnetic field. Thermal priming means, which may include pre-cooling on the heat output side or electrical heating of the host metal, provide the initial temperature gradient triggering fusion. Alternating current activation of the magnetic field, the intensity of which may be enhanced by using nickel as the host metal, combined with a non-uniformity of the magnetic field and/or heat flow through the metal, assure the abnormal presence of a residual negative electron population in the metal. Such charge nucleates the merger of positive charge and enhances the fusion process.

Description

HYDROGEN ACTIVATED HEAT GENERATION APPARATUS FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to the generation of excess heat in metals which have become activated by absorbing hydrogen and is filed as a continuation-in-part application of patent application serial no . 08/191 , 381 , itself a continuation of patent application serial no. 07/480,816.

This is a field which is generally classified as 'cold fusion' because it has been claimed that anomalous generation of heat is occurring in electrolytic cells having deuterated cathodes and this heat has been attributed to fusion reactions involving deuterium, a heavy isotope of hydrogen .

However, the field may also be classified as that of the technology of the 'water fuel cell' for which several US patents have been granted on the basis of demonstrated evidence that the electrical dissociation of water can occur with far less electrical power input than corresponds to the combustible energy of the hydrogen produced .

The common denominator in these two technologies is the activation of current flow in a metal cathode with generation of an electric field at right angles to the cathode surface deriving its potential energy from a thermal gradient in the cathode . This involves the physics of the thermoelectric phenomenon known as the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect and it is the object of this invention to provide apparatus having specific novel structural features which are conducive to the enhancement of the anomalous energy processes involved when water, and particularly deuterium oxide or even deuterium gas , interfaces with a metal cathode in which there is a temperature gradient and a electrical current that produces a strong magnetic field . BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well established that water dissociates naturally into its ion constituents , but to an extent limited to one part in several million. This is an ongoing activity powered by the thermal background . It is also well established that , though the bare proton or deuteron form of ion does not exist in isolation in water, owing to the formation, for example, of hydronium H₃O , the process of dissociation and recombination does involve the bare proton or the the bare deuteron being transferred from one molecular ion to another . Furthermore , by analogy with the action in a hot plasma , such as that occurring in hot fusion reactor research or a magneto-hydrodynamic generator, the bare proton or deuteron does exist within a host metal, where it is then in company with free conduction electrons that assure the normal zero electric potential balance.

The Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect in metal is one by which heat energy carried by those free conduction electrons is converted into electrical action producing an EMF at right angles to the heat flow. This is an action attributable to the Lorentz forces which deflect charge in motion when there is a magnetic field in the mutually orthogonal direction . There is always such a field in metal if that metal is carrying current .

The action is one that conserves energy because there is cooling in the metal drawing on the heat supplied. Therefore, so long as there is a source of extra heat in a metal cathode, there is the possibility of drawing on that heat to produce the EMF and power output that can affect the ionic state of water in contact with that cathode , meaning the dissociation and recombination process , or also affect how deuterons adsorbed into the cathode respond in their ability to dissociate and combine within that cathode .

If, as in the water fuel cell technology by which anomalous energy processes involve hydrogen production, there is an anomalous source of heat by which the Nernst-Ettinghausen EMF is used to promote ionic dissociation, so that chemical dissociation will absorb all that heat and the cathode will stay cool. On the other hand, if the free ion population within the cathode is disposed to form nuclear bonds which generate the excess heat whilst the thermoelectric action deploys that heat to power chemical dissociation in water at the cathode interface , so , depending upon the condition and design of the apparatus , that nuclear activity can overpower the cooling effect and result in excess anomalous heat as the output power of the device .

A background reference to the technology of the water fuel cell is that entitled 'Free Energy for Ever?' by Frank Ogden, Editor of

Electronics World & Wireless World, January 1991 issue, pp . 10-12. This refers to the findings of the U. K. scientific team which inspected the working water fuel cell demonstrated by Stanley A. Meyer.

This report claims that the cell was successfully demonstrated before a U. S . Patent Review Board. No patent identification is given in the report, but it may be that U. S . Patent No. 4,826,581 is the one that applies .

The report describes how electric pulses at high frequency build up a 'rising staircase' d. c. potential across the electrodes of the cell until a point is reached where the water breaks down and a momentary high current flows . Then the power supply removes the pulse power for a few cycles, allowing the water to 'recover' . The report further stated that: "Within seconds of splitting water in this novel way, Meyer lit a flame at a gas burner fed from the cell" and "The most remarkable observation is that the water fuel cell and all its metal pipework remained quite cold to the touch, even after twenty minutes of operation. The splitting mechanism clearly evolves little heat in sharp contrast to electrolysis where the electrolyte warms up quickly . "

It is not intended here to endorse in any way the veracity of these water cell experiments , in that they are mentioned only as background to what is of known public record at the time of filing this subject continuation-in-part patent application, and the applicant seeks to disclose what he sees as possibly being of some background relevance to the physics underlying the invention to be described .

The background that relates to the nuclear fusion scenario is that familiarly known as 'cold fusion' and, though this is now very extensive, its relevance in a general sense is restricted by virtue of the apphcant's claim to a priority date of April 15 1989.

At this point, it is extremely important to take note that the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect mentioned above demands as its essential basis that there should be a temperature gradient inside the metal. Any experiment which searches for anomalous excess heat and which deliberately sets out to measure that heat production with high precision by using calorimeter techniques that are isothermal in the sense that the test apparatus is enclosed so as to keep its temperature uniform throughout will, of necessity, fail to detect the phenomenon! Accordingly, all experiments which fall to cater for the onset of a temperature differential cannot trigger any action that relies on the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect. This is important in the situation where, as is normal within a metal, a zero electric potential prevails because there are as many positive ions and negative ions and yet one seeks to find a way of causing two positive ions within that metal to come close enough together to unite by absorbing a beta minus particle or emitting a beta plus particle in overcoming a Coulomb potential barrier .

Experiments performed by reputable research establishments recognised as such by the U. S . Patent Office that have sought to verify the 'cold fusion' claims have either relied on the neutron signature as essential evidence of fusion or have used calorimeters that have choked off any chance of there being a sustained priming temperature gradient in the host cathode. Indeed, where traces of excess heat have appeared in such experiments, these have been seen as spurious upon eUmination by assuring a better regulation of the uniform temperature in the calorimeter. Experiments involving the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect have been performed in connection with the energy conversion technology discussed in U . S . Patent No. 5 ,065 ,085 and U. S . Patent No. 5 ,288 ,336. Here the provision of a temperature gradient between opposite edges of a bimetallic lamination was shown to provide electrical power in a direction lateral to the planes of those laminations . By allowing transverse current oscillations to develop across a dielectric interface which blocked the lateral flow of heat but allowed the flow of current , albeit displacement current in the dielectric, so it was found that electrical output power was produced from melting ice as the governing input . The test report on such experiments, as performed by this inventor, is of record at the U. S . Patent Office in the file docket of U. S. Patent No. 5 ,065 ,085. Bearing in mind that the non-salinated water used in water fuel cell technology has a high dielectric constant and, in spite of the natural free ions present , can sustain quite high electric potential gradients , there is therefore good reason to understand how deployment of heat from a metal cathode interfacing with water can enhance the dissociation of water into its component ions .

In summary, therefore, as a background introduction to this invention, the provision of means to prime the temperature gradient in a metal cathode which interfaces with a fluid containing isotopes of hydrogen, combined with the passage of a current which sets up a magnetic field does, by virtue of the Nerst-Ettinghausen Effect, trigger action conducive to what may appear to be an anomalous process of energy conversion. This unusual combination_/physical circumstances in an electrical cell, linked with a lack of general awareness of what is, in thermoelectricity, a well-established phenomenon, serves to explain why there are problems in understanding the energy processes involved . The applicant has , in the parent application of which this is a continuation-in-part , disclosed structure by which a strong electric current is caused to flow through a host metal cathode that is deuterated by forming part of a heavy water electrolytic cell . That current was one circulated around a circuit path that allowed most of the current to flow by taking a short-circuit route through the cathode and not traversing the path through water and the anode. Being a strong current this means that a strong magnetic field is introduced into the cathode metal and also that heat is generated in the body of the cathode, which means that, in a priming sense, there is a temperature gradient as well as a magnetic field . The Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect is therefore at work in this structure.

The Applicant is not aware of any prior disclosure which discusses the effect of a temperature gradient in setting up electrical potential in the cathode of a water fuel cell or in the cathode of what is now commonly known as a 'cold fusion' cell. The Applicant has, only recently, and long after the priority date of this patent application, under the title 'Out in the Cold' mentioned the significance of such a temperature gradient in a published communication to the Editor of Electronics World & Wireless World at page 996 of the December 1993 issue.

Although it has been questioned whether nuclear fusion is really occurring in water cell experiments , owing to the limited evidence of neutron production, the circumstances by which deuterons may be caused to fuse when adsorbed through the surface of a host metal are very different from activity in hot plasma within high energy reactors . However, it is known from nuclear reactor research that the fusion products of two deuterons may be the tritium nucleus plus a proton. Neutrons are not essential by-products and it seems that their absence characterizes what may be occurring in what has come to be known as 'cold fusion' . Whether this means that a true fusion reaction can proceed in a host metal by actions governed by different statistical rules than apply in hot fusion research or whether this means that some process other than nuclear fusion is a source of anomalous heat generation is not of essential relevance to the understanding or the implementation of this invention.

It suffices to take note of what has been observed and what can be replicated once a temperature differential in a metal cathode interfacing with water exists in a mutually orthogonal relationship with a magnetic field and the direction normal to that interface .

The invention does not concern the specifics of the process involved and merely concerns improvement of structure and apparatus by which to enhance this physical combination.

Given that all references to precision calorimeter tests that did not provide a priming temperature gradient in the cathode are irrelevant to operability of this invention and that such references , in any event , being of work reported after the priority date of the parent application of which this is a continuation-in-part, none of these need be mentioned specifically as background .

It is appropriate, however, to refer to the following. It is known from the report by W. Lochte-Holtgreven, 'Nuclear fusion in very dense plasma' , Atomenergie-Kerntechnik, Vol. 28, p . 150 (1976) that a fusion reaction can be produced in liquid solutions containing deuterons . The passage of 1 , 000 amp currents through 1 mm diameter liquid filaments of a concentrated solution of lithium in heavy ammonia, Li(ND₃)₄, are known to generate reactions that evidence fusion. It is further known from experimental data reported in the International Patent AppHcation (PCT/EP90/01137 or WO 91/01036) filed by Shell International (Inventor: J. J. J. Dufour) as published on 24 January 1991 that a recoverable heat power output of between four and five times the input operating power can be generated in deuterated cathode cells when high voltage pulsating signals apply charge to capacitor plates surrounding the cathode.

Evenso, there is, prior to the disclosure of the invention to be described below, no clear understanding of the processes by which 'cold fusion' can occur within metal containing protons or deuterons . The fact that these atomic nuclei can be separated from their atomic electron once absorbed into the body of a metal such as palladium or nickel offers no clue as to how positively charged particles can come close enough together to undergo fusion with the consequent generation of surplus heat.

This applicant has recognized certain fundamental properties of deuterons in his researches, as reported, for example, in the paper 'The Theoretical Nature of the Neutron and the Deuteron' , Hadronic Journal, Vol. 9, p 129 (1986) . The fact that the deuteron is subject to cyclic changes of state involving vacuum energy fluctuations has been seen as relevant to the invention claimed in this apphcant's prior granted patents GB 2231195 and GB 2251775. The first of these is a counterpart application to the parent case of which this is a continuation-in-part . These U. K. patents disclose electrical activation means whereby high currents can be discharged through the deuterated metal cathode whilst keeping the ohmic heating losses to a minimum . These prior disclosures suggest that activating the flow of electrons and deuterons may enhance likelihood of a fusion reaction occurring. There is also a gain factor by which, under certain conditions, there is a very substantial escalating transfer of energy from the electron current to the current carried by heavy ions , a result which depends upon research reported by the applicant in 1969. This is the subject of the paper 'The Law of Electrodynamics' , Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 287, p . 179 (1969) .

The applicant saw the confirmation of this in the later published work of J. D . Sethian, D . A. Hammer and C . B . Wharton, Physical Review Letters , vol. 40, p. 451 (1978) . Indeed, in their words , they reported having found :

" . . experimental evidence for an anomalous electron-ion energy transfer in a relativistic-electron-beam-heated plasma that is 1000 times faster than can be predicted by classical processes . "

It warrants mention also that the applicant, in a lecture paper at the meeting of ANPA (Alternative Natural Philosophy Association) , delivered in Cambridge, England in September 1993, reported on a new theoretical discovery that the natural abundance ratio of protons and deuterons, leading to the part- deuterium-oxide and part-hydrogen-oxide content of normal water, is one which depends upon an ongoing equilibrium activity that can be said to involve a mixed process of cold- fusion-cum-cold-fission . Such equilibrium activity is restrained under normal circumstances where protons and deuterons as such are not free ions . They are normally bonded to other atoms to form molecules or molecular ions and the electron activity which surrounds their proton or deuteron core charge then prevents them from settling in new stable states . If protons were to transmute to deuterons in an electrically neutral environment and do this without producing neutrons there would be a build-up of surplus positive charge which presumably acts to preclude the change. However, should one contrive to cause this action to occur inside a metal then the transmutation activity must be less restrained, but the ideal conditions for such activity are those of a negatively charged environment, meaning one that is not at uniform potential, which is far from being a natural characteristic inside a metallic conductor. The object of this invention is to set up conditions in that metal conductor which assure that there is a finite negative potential in the body of the metal . The operabihty and the utility of this invention depends solely upon this condition being met, inasmuch as a thermo- magnetically sustained negative potential in the metal means that pairs of positive free ions admitted into that metal body can be brought into union by becoming nucleated by surplus negative ions . BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, heat generation apparatus comprises a metal core unit which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a heat sink positioned adjacent a heat transfer surface of the metal core unit and serving as a means through which heat generated in the core unit is supplied as useful output, the heat sink serving in conjunction with thermal priming means to set up a temperature gradient in the core unit, magnetizing means arranged in the proximity of the core unit to produce a magnetizing field through the metal directed transversely with respect to the thermal heat flow along the temperature gradient and a hydrogen supply source connected to the metal core unit to cause hydrogen to be adsorbed by the metal. According to a feature of the invention, in the apparatus the elementary sections of the metal core unit into which hydrogen has been adsorbed have three orthogonal axes , x, y and z, and the structure of the apparatus provides the x axis for heat flow, the y axis as the flow path for the hydrogen supply source and the z axis as that of the magnetic field . Alternatively, the elementary sections of the metal core unit into which hydrogen has been adsorbed have three orthogonal axes , x, y and z, the x axis being the principal direction for heat flow, and the z axis being the principal direction for the magnetic field, whereas the y axis provides an electric field axis which is bounded at one surface of the metal core unit by electrical insulation which precludes electric current flow and provides at the opposite surface an entry path for hydrogen. According to a preferred feature of the invention, the magnetizing means has a current excitation winding and the configuration of the metal core unit is shaped to ensure that heat conducted through the core unit passes through a magnetic field of progressively different intensity in relation to the intensity of heat conduction. According to a further feature of the invention , the metal core unit is of tubular form having heat transfer surfaces comprising the inner and outer tube surfaces, and the current excitation means causes electric current to flow through it in an axial sense, whereby a circumferential magnetic field of diminishing strength with increase in radial position is produced, thereby setting up a magnetic field transverse to the radial heat flow.

According to another aspect of the invention, heat generation apparatus comprises a metal core unit which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a heat sink in the form of a fluid medium having contact with a heat transfer surface of the metal core unit and serving as a means through which heat generated in the core unit is supplied as useful output , the heat sink fluid medium serving in conjunction with thermal priming means to set up a temperature gradient in the core unit, magnetizing means arranged in the proximity of the core unit to produce a magnetizing field through the metal directed transversely with respect to the thermal gradient and a hydrogen supply source connected to the metal core unit to cause hydrogen to be adsorbed by the metal. The thermal priming means may comprise means for pre-cooling the heat sink fluid before it is admitted to regions of contact with the heat transfer surface of the metal core unit. Alternatively, the thermal priming means may comprise current supply means for electrically heating the metal core unit.

According to a further feature of the invention , the magnetizing means has a current power input to a conductor in which the current excitation produces the magnetizing field through the metal core unit which serves also as a source of heating for thermal priming means supplying to that metal core unit heat input across a surface not in contact with the fluid medium through which heat is supplied as useful output .

According to a preferred feature of the invention , the metal core unit is composed of the metal nickel, whereby to enhance the effect of the magnetizing current in producing a strong magnetic field through the metal core unit . It may be noted that the ferromagnetic property transition at the Curie temperature provides a threshold temperature at which the magnetic field is much reduced and this could serve as a regulating control to preclude runaway heating in the apparatus . According to another preferred feature of the invention , heat generation apparatus comprises a metal core unit of circular cross section which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a containing housing for a fluid in which the metal core unit is immersed , the fluid serving as a source for the hydrogen adsorbed by the metal core unit and also serving as a means through which heat generated in the core is supplied as useful output , magnetizing means arranged to supply electric current through the core unit to produce in it a magnetizing field directed circumferentially around the circular axis of core unit and so transversely with respect to the temperature gradient set up by transfer of heat through the metal core unit along its axial direction and fluid control means for guiding the fluid flow over the surface of the metal core unit in an axial direction, whereby to estabUsh the temperature gradient by extracting heat from that surface at successive positions along its length .

According to another aspect of the invention, heat generation apparatus comprises a metal core unit which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a heat sink positioned adjacent a heat transfer surface of the metal core unit and serving as a means through which heat generated in the core unit is supplied as useful output, magnetizing means arranged in the proximity of the core unit to produce a magnetizing field through the metal directed transversely with respect to the thermal heat flow along a temperature gradient developed by heat generated within the metal core unit and a hydrogen supply source connected to the metal core unit to cause hydrogen to be adsorbed by the metal, the elementary sections of the metal core unit into which hydrogen has been adsorbed having three orthogonal axes , x , y and z , the x axis being the principal direction for heat flow, and the z axis being the principal direction for the magnetic field , whereas the y axis provides an electric field axis which is bounded at one surface of the metal core unit by the provision of electrical insulation which precludes electric current flow and provides at the opposite surface an entry path for hydrogen . According to yet a further aspect of the invention, heat generation apparatus comprises a tubular assembly of tubular housings separated by heat insulating gaskets adapted to be filled with a fluid from which hydrogen isotope ions can be adsorbed into a cathode sleeve located within each housing, a rod conductor serving as an anode and positioned along the central axis of the tubular assembly, magnetically inductive heating means responsive to electrical current oscillations in the anode conductor and located within each housing and positioned at one end thereof in thermal contact with one end of the cathode sleeve , a thermally conductive interface within each housing connecting the other end of the cathode sleeve with an conduction path to the external heat sink surface of the housing, and means for supplying electrical power to the apparatus which (a) provides the a. c. current inducing the heat in the heating means whereby to set up a temperature gradient in an axial direction through a cathode sleeve, (b) sustains an electric current in the anode rod conductor which produces a polarizing magnetic field in a cathode sleeve directed circumferentially around the axis and (c) sustains a d. c . bias potential between anode and cathode which serves as the electrolysis agent in promoting adsorption of the hydrogen isotope ions into the cathode .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of electrolytic apparatus in which a metal cathode adsorbs hydrogen whilst a strong a. c. current circulates in a single turn secondary winding series-connected through the cathode .

Fig. 2 shows a more extensive schematic version of the apparatus presented in Fig. 1 with provision for generating steam by heat extraction through a hollow cathode conductor.

Fig. 3 shows a modified arrangement in which the electrolyte is replaced by hydrogen- containing gas under pressure with a high voltage used to develop corona discharges at the cathode surface as a source of ions to be absorbed by the cathode.

Figs . 4 and 5 show the geometry of orthogonal axes for heat flow, magnetic field and induced electric field in a metal considered as an element of a cathode hosting protons or deuterons .

Fig. 6 shows a tubular cathode structure incorporating features of the invention by which heat is guided through a magnetic field in the manner required by Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 shows an enlarged section of the structure of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 shows how the apparatus of Fig. 3 can be adapted to operate in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 9(a) , (b) and (c) depict cross-sectional views of the cathode portion of a unit component of tubular apparatus shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10 shows a half- sectional elevation view of a tubular component of an assembly that can be used for test purposes in implementing the invention .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is possible to calculate the abundance ratio of deuterons and protons on the basis of the vacuum energy fluctuations occurring naturally. This was briefly summarized in a recent issue of Fusion Facts, vol 4, December 1992, pp. 44-45. The observed ratio of 1492 deuterons per ten million protons , as evidenced by the mix of light water and heavy water compares with the theoretically derived proton/ deuteron ratio of

9(16/7)⁸, which is 10 million divided by 1491. Analysis shows that, if only two protons could react to assure charge parity by creating a beta-plus particle in the reaction :

P⁺ + P⁺ = D⁺ + β⁺ there would be fusion with substantial excess heat generation . The beta- plus particle would soon be captured and annihilated by a beta-minus particle in the form of free conduction electrons in the host metal cathode to produce even more heat . An equivalent reaction is one which involves the input of a beta- minus particle which merges with the two protons to thereby produce the deuteron. This uses the beta-minus particle as the bonding agent or influence which, given that the particle is situated between the two protons in a host metal , can attract them both into a union which results in an aggregation of all three components to form a deuteron .

Now, why does not this already occur in that host metal cathode when ordinary water has been absorbed and dissociated into protonic form? In researching this , the inventor has determined that much depends upon the nature of the charge balance that keeps the metal electrically neutral overall. Note that the high electrical conductivity of a metal precludes the build-up of electric field gradients inside that metal. Without such gradients there can be no excess of charge population to provide charged sites in the metal that are able to nucleate two deuterons and bring about fusion. There can, of course, be surface charge effects and some fusion activity might occur under those circumstances , but as the deuterons are mainly seated within the body of the metal, this can, at best, be a weak and spurious condition. Even if one such fusion reaction were to occur the by-product is a residual beta-plus particle which is the anti-particle to the catalyst needed to bring about a second combination that could result in fusion.

One could induce pulsating or current discharges through the metal in order to activate transient effects that serve a similar purpose , but that is not the most direct mode by which to address the problem of causing there to be a sustained net charge density in the body of a metal.

The inventor has, however, discovered a way of achieving this condition as a result of independent research on a thermoelectric project which evidences some very interesting anomalous features . This invention brings that experimental discovery into the technology of cold fusion .

The requirement is to set up a temperature gradient in a metal body so that heat is conducted along an axis in the x direction whilst a strong magnetic field exists in the z axis . Heat carried by the conduction electrons and their motion, whether owing to what is known as the Thomson Effect or certain quantum-electrodynamic activity, can cause electric current activity along the x axis . A magnetic field acting in the y direction, whether produced by a current supplied through the metal, an external winding or intrinsic the the domain structure of the metal, if ferromagnetic, can, by suitable design of the metal body, then result in a graded magnetic polarization varying in the y axis. These x, y and z axes are mutually orthogonal axes .

What occurs is that the electric current is subject to Lorentz force acting transversely on that current flow and this promotes charge displacement which is resisted by build-up of charge at the surfaces of the body . This latter charge sets up a field gradient in the body of metal and the conduction electrons in the body of the metal are acted upon by balancing forces that set the electric field action against the magnetic field action . If then the magnetic action is graded in intensity owing to the magnetic field or the heat flow not being uniform, there will be a surplus or deficit of charge in the body of the metal. Such charge can nucleate the merger and possibly the fusion of two deuterons .

This invention provides a combination of features in a structure which enhances the action just described . Figs . 1 , 2 and 3 are as presented in the specification of GB Patent

No. 2231195 and the above referenced parent application of this continuation-in-part . They illustrate apparatus in which hydrogen can be adsorbed through the surface and so absorbed into the body of a host metal cathode through which a powerful electric current circulates owing to the cathode being, in effect, a single turn secondary winding on an a.c. current transformer.

Figs . 1 , 2 and 3 , as illustrated , do not reveal the adaptation needed for the apparatus there shown to implement the subject invention. The needed adaptation can, however, be understood in view of the following explanation by reference to Figs . 4 and 5.

In Fig. 4 a metal body is shown to have a rectangular section. It is assumed that a magnetic field of intensity B exists within the body perpendicular to the rectangular form depicted. It is also assumed that one side of the body has a temperature denoted T and the opposite side has a lower temperature T , so that heat will flow through the body at a throughput rate W proportional to δ(T_h~T_c) /δx.

It is a physical fact, known as the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect, that under these circumstances an electric field of strength E, proportional to W and B , is set up in the y axis . The magnetic field acts , in effect, as a catalyst in causing the heat flow W to power the electric field of intensity E . Now, under normal circumstances, this electric field will be uniform throughout the metal body, with a uniform rate of heat conduction W and a uniform magnetic field intensity B . It will arise from the charge displacement from one surface of the body to the other. There will be no charge source setting up any net action caused by electric flux lines originating within the metal, because the metal will be electrically neutral internally as each free charge is kept in a general state of equilibrium by the balance of the action of E and the magnetic action on its transverse motion . However, this invention exploits a situation which can be created once the B and W intensities are non-uniform. Thus, in Fig. 5 , the temperatures T_h and T_c are shown to depend upon y and , even with B uniform, this means that W will vary in strength across the y range . In turn this means that the field intensity E will vary with y and this implies that there are unpaired charges seated within the body of the host metal. These charges can be positive or negative in polarity depending upon the nature of the metal and the polarities of W and B and their axial direction of variation. In order to encourage the fusion of two deuterons , each seen as free positively charged ions capable of migrating through the metal body, remembering that they each have a normal electrical attraction affinity for negative conduction electrons and are normally loosely paired with such electrons , one can see that it is essential to have the added presence of surplus negative charges .

This condition can be established in the exceptional manner just described by arranging for a non-uniformity of W or B in their orthogonal configuration and it is this that is the essential design objective of apparatus implementing this invention. The circuit shown in Fig. 1 comprises a source 1 of a. c. current feeding a series loop comprising a closed circuital cathode conductor element 2, via a current transformer 3. The cathode is immersed in a cell 4 containing heavy water 5 which is undergoing electrolysis by virtue of a steady d . c . low voltage source 7 connected between platinum anode structure 6 and palladium cathode element 2. Deuterons are thereby fed as an ion current into the surface of the cathode . The a . c supply can be powered intermittently in a controlled manner to supply overload currents through the conductor with consequent intensification of the negative electron current flow in one direction and also a corresponding positive deuteron flow in the opposite direction.

Because the conductor 2 is virtually a short-circuit load on the current transformer 3 it can, as an all-metal circuit of low electrical conductivity, carry a high current with very little ohmic power loss . The current strength can be greater by a factor of at least one hundred times that of the current in the anode-cathode circuit through the electrolyte. It is the free conduction electrons in the body of the cathode that can serve as the bonding agent by which two deuterons are caused to combine in a stable union to form tritium with release of nuclear energy as heat . Whatever vacuum energy fluctuations may create conditions conducive to such a fusion reaction, the eventual outcome of such a reaction has to be one that conserves charge parity. Hence the role of the beta-particle , which is really an electron or its positive counterpart , the positron or so-called 'hole' that one is introduced to in conduction theory .

The heavy water used in the apparatus shown in Fig. 1 may comprise a commercially available form of deuterium oxide of a purity in excess of 99% containing a very small amount of ionizing solute rendering it suitable for electrolysis . This can be circulated via input and output ports in the containing cell 4 connected to heat exchangers external to the apparatus shown. Thus surplus heat generated in the apparatus can be deployed into useful purposes .

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 the cathode conductor has two terminals 8 and 9 located outside the cell 4 and these provide connections in the all-metal circuit for the controlling current . Means not shown in Fig. 1 , but of a design familiar to those skilled in the electrical engineering art , provide the power supply for the a. c . current . This supply is preferably intermittent in that it either comprises short duration single pulse surges or trains of a. c. oscillations which are controlled either by adjusting the period between these events or the amplitude of the voltages involved or both. A schematic representation of such controls is shown in Fig. 2 by the adjustable control of the primary turns of transformer 3 and the switch 10 in the primary circuit. Switch 10 may be an electronic device in the form of a pair of silicon controlled rectifiers which serve to gate the current supply to current transformer 3 and include means for adjustable control of the operation of these rectifiers . In this way the rate at which the fusion process proceeds , based on the population level of deuterons absorbed by the conductor can be regulated.

As shown in Fig. 2, the cathode conductor can provide a tubular conduit for cooling fluid used to extract the heat generated . The heavy water in cell 4 can be at a high pressure at which the boiling point is elevated well above normal. Thus ports 11 can serve as channels for extracting gaseous by-products at a high regulated pressure and the controlled admission of replenishment heavy water at the high pressure . This allows the temperature within the cathode conductor to be higher than the boiling point of heavy water otherwise in passage through it as a coolant at lower pressure, but yet the pressure is sufficient for the steam so produced to power a turboelectric generator system 12 in which the heavy water is recycled via condensers at 13. The chamber 14 acts as a separator in which steam can collect above the water and the recirculating pump 15 draws water from this separator and the condenser at rates controlled to sustain the balance of flows involved . In order to adapt the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 so that it incorporates the subject invention, there has to be provision which ensures in substantial measure that the direction of heat flow in the cathode is transverse to a strong magnetic field . Furthermore , to the extent that this produces an electric field inside the cathode, this electric field must not be dissipated by promoting current flow, as otherwise there will be inadequate build-up of the standing electric charge which is needed to nucleate the reactions . To this end, therefore, preferred embodiments of this invention will provide an electrically insulating barrier which traps this standing charge and holds it under the combined pressure action of the heat flow and the magnetic field.

To illustrate this a tubular cathode structure will be described by reference to Fig. 6, but the description will concern an inverted implementation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2. Instead of extracting heat generated by a flow of fluid through the bore of the tube constituting the cathode, the structure of Fig. 6 will apply where the heat output is fed through cooling fins 20 spaced along the axis of the cathode structure 21. The tubular bore of the structure provides a conduit channel 22 for the flow of heavy water from which deuterons are adsorbed into the palladium or nickel cathode elements 23. These elements 23 are located between the fins 20 and insulated electrically and thermally by annular spacer elements 24 and sleeves 25. This arrangement is shown in more detail in Fig . 7 , where the arrows depict the flow of heat generated in the elements 23 and show how that heat flow is guided into the fins 20.

Fins 20 are of a metal that is impervious to the deuterons that have been adsorbed into the elements 23. The sleeves 25 serve to deflect the heat flow in the manner described but more particularly serve as an electrical barrier which ensures that the back EMF representing the field E of Fig. 4 and so the standing residual charge condition can be established without being dissipated by electrical current flow. In order to produce a magnetic field and an anode for the electrolysis process , a central conductor 26 is positioned along the axis of the conduit channel 22. This contrasts in design with the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 1 . The latter used the cathode as the high current channel connected as a single turn secondary winding on a current transformer. In Fig 6, the anode provides the single turn path for high current excitation by the transformer and the small d . c . voltage needed to activate the electrolytic circuit is applied between the conductor 26, as anode, and a cathode electrical circuit (not shown) which links the fins 20 electrically and thereby, owing to the conducting interface between the fins 20 and the elements 23 , grounds these to the cathode potential.

It is assumed in the embodiment of the invention here described that there is no specific provision for high current electrical activation of the cathode. Thus the current in the conductor 26, denoted I in Fig. 7, flows to set up a strong magnetic field of intensity B directed circumferentially about the axis of the structure. The flow of heat, being directed in a unidirectional sense along that axis and through the cathode elements interacts with this circumferential magnetic field , to which it is transverse, and thereby produces the electric displacement field E in the mutually orthogonal direction . This is radial with respect to the axis of the structure and so the residual charge is contained in the cathode elements by virtue of the confinement action of sleeves 25. To secure optimum advantages in heat generation efficiency the use of transformer excitation, as opposed to d. c. , is preferable in setting up the magnetic field . This means that the polarity of the residual charges which are to nucleate the reaction in the host metal cathode elements will change between negative and positive in successive half cycles at the a. c. power supply frequency. Thus the activation of the reaction will be limited to the half cycles in which the residual charge is negative and so can act to attract deuterons into a closely bonded structure that is conducive to the heat generating reaction.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art of designing and assembhng high energy electrical apparatus that the design features of Fig. 6 can be inverted so that the cathode is, as shown in Fig. 1 , coaxially located within an enveloping anode structure . Then the passage of a high current through the cathode will serve as the means for developing a graded magnetic field within the cathode and also serve in activating charge motion that may be conducive to a more rapid merger of two positive and one negative charges . As noted by reference to Fig. 5 , there must be a measure of non- uniformity in the product (WB) of heat flow rate W and magnetic field strength B in order that the electric field should have a gradient and thereby imply the presence of residual charge in the cathode elements . This is assured in the structures described, because the magnetic field around an axial current varies radially to a substantial extent.

To secure sufficiently strong magnetic fields the metal of the cathode can be nickel, rather than palladium, in that though the deuteron adsorption capacity of nickel is less than that of palladium, the ferromagnetic properties of nickel more than compensate by virtue of the strong magnetic flux density obtainable with a smaller magnetizing current .

Futhermore, though the invention has been described on the assumption that deuterium is the isotopic form of hydrogen that is adsorbed by the cathode, there is now evidence that protons can generate excess heat by the cold fusion process, especially when adsorbed into nickel. This , therefore, implies that the magnetic effects, the subject of this invention, can play a role in fostering proton fusion as well. The invention, therefore, offers the means to enhance the excess heat generation by such a process should such a process prove to be viable.

The use of nickel cathodes to foster a cold fusion reaction involving light water (protons) is described in the book 'Cold Fusion Impact' by Hal Fox, published by Fusion Information Center, Inc. P.O. Box 58639, Salt Lake City, Utah 84158 , USA (see pp. 1-10 to 1-11) . The invention in its preferred implementation incorporates another feature, which is that of priming the apparatus to initiate the thermal gradient condition, which in turn sets up the residual charge population in the cathode to serve as the fusion catalyst.

The means for achieving such thermal priming can take a variety of forms . The preferred technique involves using the electric current source that activitates the magnetic field as a simple heater. Thus, initially when the apparatus is switched on, or periodically during continuous operation by intermittent control , the current supplied to the conductor 26 in Fig. 6, can be caused to be abnormal. It may be abnormal in the sense that, whilst the current amplitude is much the same as that of steady state operation , its a.c. frequency is elevated to a value which will concentrate eddy-current heating into the hydrogen- containing metal elements 23. This will result in heat flow to the fins 20 and the onward cooling of those fins as heat flows as output from the apparatus will set up that heat flow rate W. If the implementation of the invention were to be one for which the anode cathode system is inverted, in an embodiment based on Fig. 2 as adapted in the manner described, then the electric current amplitude could be increased to generate ohmic heating directly in the cathode.

An alternative would be one including provision for circulating the electrolyte solution and, at start-up or to reinitiate the reaction activity after arrest , pumping a refrigerated supply of the electrolyte through the apparatus . Alternatively, as in apparatus using the principles of Fig. 2, the cathode could be pre-heated by pumping pre-heated liquid through its tubular form . The cathode structure in Fig . 6 provides for the extraction of useful heat by virtue of fins 20 which can interact with a flow of air or other gas used that might be pre-cooled to initiate the reaction process . There are, therefore, many optional ways of implementing the invention to secure the thermal priming action and these are deemed to be obvious to a skilled heat engine designer, once the non- obvious aspect of the invention concerning the function of such thermal priming is understood . The description of the invention has so far concerned apparatus in which the hydrogen supply is a liquid solution in contact with the host metal cathode. Fig. 2 provides for extraction of heat using liquid at high pressure. The invention can, however, also be applied to apparatus in which the hydrogen input to the host metal cathode elements is drawn from gas that is ionized in the vicinity of these elements .

Referring to Fig. 3, apparatus is shown which includes two variations from the Fig. 1 system, either of which can be adopted separately from the other. One is that the cathode conductor element 2 is now closed on itself electrically within the cell . It no longer provides a throughput conduit for external flow of a cooling fluid, because heat is to be extracted from the fluid inside the cell by channelling that in and out of ports 16 and 17. The other is that the cell 4 is now a high pressure gas cell containing hydrogen or deuterium gas as a fluid .

The merit of the closed ring form of cathode structure is its ability to carry substantial currents at high temperature with no coupling problems to electric power circuitry. The gas in the cell can therefore have such high temperature and the excess heat generated by the fusion reaction can, therefore, be used to generate electricity more efficiently than is possible with a low pressure water cell. The apparatus shown in Fig. 3 includes a concentric anode structure 6 enveloping the ring cathode . Its purpose is to set up a corona discharge confined to the cathode region. To this end the steady d. c. voltage source 7 has a high voltage measured in tens or hundreds of kilovolts, depending upon the gas pressures used and the scale of the apparatus .

Fig. 3 depicts an arcuate segment of a closed ring annular system drawn as presented to make comparison with Fig. 1 easier.

In operation, the excitation of the corona discharge assures a supply of positively ionized hydrogen or deuterium atoms in the near vicinity of the cathode to which they are attracted by virtue of the negative potential of that cathode . Thus protons or deuterons are adsorbed into the cathode. The current transformer configuration exciting the circuital discharges around the all-metal ring cathode conductor is represented by the magnetic core 18 and the primary winding 19.

To adapt the apparatus shown in Fig. 3 to the form needed to exploit the primary feature of this invention and assure heat flow in the cathode in a direction transverse to the magnetic field, the modifications shown in Fig. 8 will now be described.

The anode system is divided into segments 27 which correspond to compartments 28 in which the ionized gas is isolated . These compartments each have their own input and output ports 29 for the replenishment and circulation of gas , but the gas flow through these ports is not intended to serve as the heat output means.

Intervening gas compartments 30 isolate segments of the ring cathode which provide heat output surfaces exposed to the fast flow of circulating gas entering through ports 31 and exiting by port 32. The heat generated in the apparatus is then contained at its maximum temperature in the centres of the segments of the ring cathode 2 located in the compartments 28. Heat flow from these cathode segments is around the ring segments of the cathode to the cathode surfaces in the compartments 30. The electric current excitation of the ring cathode develops the non-uniform magnetic field circumferentially and so transversely through the path of heat flow in the cathode . The residual electric charge then set up in the cathode by the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect results in an electric field radially directed from the central axis of the cathode ring cross section. No electric current flows in that radial sense owing to the symmetry of this arrangement , thereby leaving the negative residual charge population in the ring cathode to serve in nucleating fusion reactions between proton or deuterons , according to the nature of the ionized gas used in the apparatus .

Note that the current flow through the cathode is in the heat flow direction and so does not deploy power from the electric field E induced by the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect, but this current flow, which is powered from external sources supplying transformer primary winding 19 , will increase the chance of close encounter between the protons or deuterons and so contribute to the overall function of the apparatus . Whereas this invention is intended to provide an improved structure by which to enhance the combination of ions within metal in the expectation that this may liberate excess and useful heat, a primary objective in the present embrionic state of development of this technology is simply that of providing apparatus which, in the first instance, can serve as a test means from probing the phenomenon involved . To this end a specific structural implementation will be described by reference to Figs . 9 and 10. Although depicted in a horizontal position the tubular component form of the apparatus shown would be normally mounted vertically in a test rig, so that the water in its bore can allow any steam or gas bubbles to escape to the surface .

A tubular body section 33 of a non-ferromagnetic metal such as aluminium has flanges 34 , 35 by which bolts connecting adjacent similar components can be used to assembled a long tubular unit . A flexible heat resistant annular gasket 36 is located at the one end of each body section. Internally there is an inner tubular layer 37 which provides electrical and heat insulation and, at the other end, an annular component or washer 38 of a ferromagnetic material such as nickel or steel, the latter sealed within a thin plastic coating to protect against erosion. Between this and the internal flange portion 39 there is a tube or sleeve of close packed metal wire or mesh that is to serve as the cathode member 40 in this tubular body section. This metal has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen ions in their bare isotopic form and it may , for example , comprise palladium or, preferably, owing to its ferromagnetic properties, nickel. Within the tubular unit formed by assembhng several of these tubular body sections in line, there is a central rod conductor 41 of copper plated by a coating of a good interfacing metal suitable for electrolysis , such as platinum. This forms the anode. Bearing in mind that the cathode is intended to serve as host by becoming hydrated or deuterated by adsorbing protons or deuterons there is some advantage in such free charge being held by the enveloping electrode . Free charge within a metal tends to surface at the outer perimeter owing to self-repulsion electrostatically and so penetration into the cathode is aided if the cathode is concentric with the anode and in the outer position. The functions of the component structure just described are now explained. The bolt and flange arrangement for connection (bolts not shown in fig. 10) facilitates dismantling the apparatus to replace the cathode members . By being of wire mesh, these members have the flexibility to cope with expansion upon adsorbing ions from the water and , further , can be compacted between the annular washer component and the metal conductor surface of the inner flange and the annular washer component to provide an electrode connection earth path through the outer parts of the metal tubular component . The washer component is ferromagnetic and this allows the washer to be the seat of induced eddy- current heating when an a. c. current is passed through the conductor rod forming the anode. Thus, the heat so produced has a dissipation route through the cathode in the axial direction and onward passage from there through the flange to the outer convecting surface . The structure therefore provides a means for setting up a priming temperature gradient in an axial direction though the cathode .

In addition the current in the anode will set up a circumferential magnetic field around that cathode member , a field which , for a nickel cathode , is enhanced by the magnetic permeability of nickel and so produces the action needed to bring the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect into play. The result is a radial electric potential gradient in the body of the cathode , which gradient is directed inwards or outwards according to the direction of the current flow.

The Nernst-Ettinghausen EMF acting inside the cathode involves a seat of surplus charge within the metal, as already explained, and the presence of this charge in its negative form provides good reason for expecting pairs of positive ions to come together nucleated by each such unit of negative charge . Natural electrostatic attraction will account for combination in a quasi-neutral state and the thermal motion or general migration of the positive ion will by normal statistical change bring about the encounter which completes the union, inasmuch as there is no electrostatic repulsion to stave off contact.

It follows that, if the merger of ions can lead to a fusion of particles which releases heat, so the structure described powered in the manner suggested must enhance that process .

Fig. 9(a) shows the cathode section and Fig. 9(b) and 9(c) depict a notional full metal body representation with the magnetic field directed in either of its two directions . Given the axial temperature gradient the resulting Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect will mean a surplus of positive or negative charges inside the body of the cathode . This arises because of electron depletion, as shown in Fig. 9(b) , or a surplus electron population as shown in Fig. 9(c) .

The structure shown in Fig. 10 must function for the test purpose described, given that the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect is a recocognized phenomenon that is long-estabhshed in science . The technology by which to supply the electric current to the anode is also well known and , though the process is not claimed as part of this invention, it would be understood by an artisan in electrical engineering how an initial surge of a. c. power could prime the thermal state of the ferromagnetic ring washer and, if this were to trigger the excess heat production in the hydrated or deuterated cathode, thereby allowing the a. c. to be switched off, how d. c. of the desired polarity at a lower power input rate could then be fed into the anode circuit to sustain the appropriate field conditions in the cathode . It is submitted, therefore, that notwithstanding the uncertainty which surrounds the 'cold fusion' scene at this time, this disclosure is an enabling disclosure by which apparatus can be assembled and operated with the object of testing the phenomenon under conditions where the host metal cathode is subjected to a temperature gradient. As a research tool, this in itself serves a useful technological objective in the field of invention especially in view of the enormous research interest being shown in this subject.

It is also noted that the use of nickel as the cathode in the structure provided by this invention has particular merit in that its Curie temperature imposes a limit on the operating temperature . Given that , once the temperature gradient is established, the magnetic polarization activating the Nernst-Ettinghausen Effect controls the electric potential gradient within the cathode and so the number of nucleating charge sites, so, if there were to be a runaway heat generation situation, the loss of f erromagnetism at the Curie temperature would suppress the action .

Claims

1. Heat generation apparatus comprising a metal core unit which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a heat sink positioned adjacent a heat transfer surface of the metal core unit and serving as a means through which heat generated in the core unit is supplied as useful output, the heat sink serving in conjunction with thermal priming means to set up a temperature gradient in the core unit , magnetizing means arranged in the proximity of the core unit to produce a magnetizing field through the metal directed transversely with respect to the thermal heat flow along the temperature gradient and a hydrogen supply source connected to the metal core unit to cause hydrogen to be adsorbed by the metal.

2. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the elementary sections of the metal core unit into which hydrogen has been adsorbed have three orthogonal axes , x , y and z , and the structure of the apparatus provides the x axis for heat flow, the y axis as the flow path for the hydrogen supply source and the z axis as that of the magnetic field .

3. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the elementary sections of the metal core unit into which hydrogen has been adsorbed have three orthogonal axes , x , y and z , the x axis being the principal direction for heat flow , and the z axis being the principal direction for the magnetic field , whereas the y axis provides an electric field axis which is bounded at one surface of the metal core unit by electrical insulation which precludes electric current flow and provides at the opposite surface an entry path for hydrogen.

4. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the magnetizing means has a current excitation winding and the configuration of the metal core unit is shaped to ensure that heat conducted through the core unit passes through a magnetic field of progressively different intensity in relation to the intensity of heat conduction .

5. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the metal core unit is of tubular form having heat transfer surfaces comprising the inner and outer tube surfaces , and the current excitation means causes electric current to flow through it in an axial sense , whereby a circumferential magnetic field of diminishing strength with increase in radial position is produced , thereby setting up a magnetic field transverse to the radial heat flow.

6. Heat generation apparatus comprising a metal core unit which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a heat sink in the form of a fluid medium having contact with a heat transfer surface of the metal core unit and serving as a means through which heat generated in the core unit is supplied as useful output, the heat sink fluid medium serving in conjunction with thermal priming means to set up a temperature gradient in the core unit, magnetizing means arranged in the proximity of the core unit to produce a magnetizing field through the metal directed transversely with respect to the thermal gradient and a hydrogen supply source connected to the metal core unit to cause hydrogen to be adsorbed by the metal.

7. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the thermal priming means comprise means for pre-cooling the heat sink fluid before it is admitted to regions of contact with the heat transfer surface of the metal core unit.

8. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the thermal priming means comprise current supply means for electrically heating the metal core unit.

9. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the magnetizing means has a current power input to a conductor in which the current excitation produces the magnetizing field through the metal core unit which serves also as a source of heating for thermal priming means supplying to that metal core unit heat input across a surface not in contact with the fluid medium through which heat is supplied as useful output .

10. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the fluid medium consitutes the hydrogen supply source.

11. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the metal core unit is composed of the metal nickel, whereby to enhance the effect of the magnetizing current in producing a strong magnetic field through the metal core unit.

12. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 6, comprising a metal core unit of circular cross section which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a containing housing for a fluid in which the metal core unit is immersed , the fluid serving as a source for the hydrogen adsorbed by the metal core unit and also serving as a means through which heat generated in the core is supplied as useful output, magnetizing means arranged to supply electric current through the core unit to produce in it a magnetizing field directed circumferentially around the circular axis of core unit and so transversely with respect to the temperature gradient set up by transfer of heat through the metal core unit along its axial direction and fluid control means for guiding the fluid flow over the surface of the metal core unit in an axial direction, whereby to establish the temperature gradient by extracting heat from that surface at successive positions along its length .

13. Heat generation apparatus comprising a metal core unit which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a heat sink positioned adjacent a heat transfer surface of the metal core unit and serving as a means through which heat generated in the core unit is supphed as useful output, magnetizing means arranged in the proximity of the core unit to produce a magnetizing field through the metal directed transversely with respect to the thermal heat flow along a temperature gradient developed by heat generated within the metal core unit and a hydrogen supply source connected to the metal core unit to cause hydrogen to be adsorbed by the metal, the elementary sections of the metal core unit into which hydrogen has been adsorbed having three orthogonal axes , x , y and z , the x axis being the principal direction for heat flow, and the z axis being the principal direction for the magnetic field , whereas the y axis provides an electric field axis which is bounded at one surface of the metal core unit by the provision of electrical insulation which precludes electric current flow and provides at the opposite surface an entry path for hydrogen .

14. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 13, comprising a metal core unit of circular cross section which has an affinity for adsorbing hydrogen, a containing housing for a fluid in which the metal core unit is immersed , the fluid serving as a source for the hydrogen adsorbed by the metal core unit and also serving as a means through which heat generated in the core is supphed as useful output, magnetizing means arranged to supply electric current through the core unit to produce in it a magnetizing field directed circumferentially around the circular axis of core unit and so transversely with respect to the temperature gradient set up by transfer of heat through the metal core unit along its axial direction and fluid control means for guiding the fluid flow over the surface of the metal core unit in an axial direction, whereby to estabUsh the temperature gradient by extracting heat from that surface at successive positions along its length.

15. Heat generation apparatus comprising a tubular assembly of tubular housings separated by heat insulating gaskets adapted to be filled with a fluid from which hydrogen isotope ions can be adsorbed into a cathode sleeve located within each housing, a rod conductor serving as an anode and positioned along the central axis of the tubular assembly, magnetically inductive heating means responsive to electrical current oscillations in the anode conductor and located within each housing and positioned at one end thereof in thermal contact with one end of the cathode sleeve, a thermally conductive interface within each housing connecting the other end of the cathode sleeve with an conduction path to the external heat sink surface of the housing, and means for supplying electrical power to the apparatus which (a) provides the a.c. current inducing the heat in the heating means whereby to set up a temperature gradient in an axial direction through a cathode sleeve, (b) sustains an electric current in the anode rod conductor which produces a polarizing magnetic field in a cathode sleeve directed circumferentially around the axis and (c) sustains a d. c. bias potential between anode and cathode which serves as the electrolysis agent in promoting adsorption of the hydrogen isotope ions into the cathode.

16. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the cathode sleeve comprises a compacted mesh of a ferromagnetic metal .

17. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the cathode sleeve has a nickel composition whereby it is rendered ferromagnetic .

18. Heat generation apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the cathode sleeve is located within but thermally insulated from the main body of a metal tubular housing metal by an intermediate sleeve of thermal insulation .