Andrea Rossi (entrepreneur): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 02:20, 9 November 2011
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Andrea Rossi is an Italian inventor[1] and entrepreneur. He is the creator of the Energy Catalyzer, a purported cold fusion device, as well as a process for converting organic waste into oil named Petroldragon. In the 1990s he was jailed for environmental crimes and tax fraud, serving time in prison. He was later acquitted.[2][3] He holds several patents in chemistry and physics.
Biography
Andrea Rossi was born in 1950 on the 3rd of June, in Milan. In 1973, Rossi graduated cum laude in Philosophy of Science and Engineering at the University of Milan with a thesis on Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and its interrelationship with Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology. His advisor was Professor Ludovico Geymonat.[4][5]
Business ventures
Petroldragon
In 1974, he registered a patent for an incineration system. In 1978, he wrote The Incineration of Waste and River Purification, published in Milan by Tecniche Nuove. He then founded Petroldragon, a company for developing oil from waste, which collapsed in the 1990s amidst allegations of dumping toxic waste.[6]
News of the Rossi procedure, patented in Italy, was reported by major newspapers.[citation needed] Jimmy Carter showed his interest in the technology, and offered Rossi a permanent entry visa to the United States.[4][better source needed] After ten months’ work and a financial investment of half a billion Lire, Petroldragon had a facility that produced twenty tons of fuel oil a day, transforming one hundred tons of organic waste.
In the early 1990s the company was disbanded following accusations of dumping environmental toxins, as well as tax fraud. Its assets were seized, together with Rossi's personal assets, and Andrea Rossi was arrested and imprisoned. Subsequently released, Rossi emigrated to the United States, and went on to found Leonardo Technology Incorporated. More than 10 years after his imprisonment, Rossi was acquitted.[7][8]
Electricity from waste heat
In the US Rossi started the consulting firm Leonardo Technologies, Inc. (LTI). He secured a defense contract to evaluate the potential of generating electricity from waste heat by using thermoelectric generators. Such devices are normally only used for refrigeration (Peltier effect), because the efficiency for generating electrical power is only a few percent. Rossi suggested that his devices could attain 20 % efficiency. A demonstration that he conducted at the University of New Hampshire produced 100 volt at 1 ampere (100 watt) during a week. Larger modules would be manufactured in Italy. Rossi sent 27 termoelectric devices for evaluation to the Engineer Research and Development Center; 19 of these did not produce any electricity at all. The remaining units produced less than 1 watt each, instead of the expected 800–1000 watt.[9]
Claims regarding nuclear fusion
In January 2011 Andrea Rossi and Professor Sergio Focardi claimed to have successfully demonstrated commercially viable cold fusion in a device called an Energy Catalyzer, although in an interview Rossi claimed that his Energy Catalyzer is not working on the basis of cold fusion, but weak [force] nuclear reactions.[10] The international patent application received an unfavorable international preliminary report on patentability because it seemed to "offend against the generally accepted laws of physics and established theories" and to overcome this problem the application should have contained either experimental evidence or a firm theoretical basis in current scientific theories.[11] Journalists were not allowed to examine the core of the reactor, and there is still uncertainty about the viability of the invention.[12]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2011/10/17/hello-cheap-energy-hello-brave-new-world/ the E-Cat is a cold fusion (CF) device (the inventor, Andrea Rossi, prefers to term the technology “Low Energy Nuclear Reaction” which appears to be the same thing as CF but a less contentious phrasing).
Italian Office for Patents and Trademarks "processo ed apparecchiatura per ottenere reazioni esotermiche, in particolare da nickel ed idrogeno." [process and equipment to obtain exothermal reactions, in particular from nickel and hydrogen], Patent Number 0001387256, Deposited 9 April 2008, Issued 6 April 2011, Inventor: Andrea Rossi. - ^ http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2004/novembre/27/Riciclaggio_rifiuti_tossici_Assolto_Andrea_co_7_041127020.shtml
- ^ http://www.silviaferretto.it/site/contenuti/attivita_politica/articoli/2004/04_11_27_corriere.jpg
- ^ a b "New Energy Times - Andrea Rossi's Petroldragon Story". Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ^ "Andrea Rossi's E-Cataclysm?". Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ^ Hambling, David. "Cold fusion rears its head as 'E-Cat' research promises to change the world (Wired UK)". Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ^ http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2004/novembre/27/Riciclaggio_rifiuti_tossici_Assolto_Andrea_co_7_041127020.shtml
- ^ http://www.silviaferretto.it/site/contenuti/attivita_politica/articoli/2004/04_11_27_corriere.jpg
- ^ John Huston, Chris Wyatt, Chris Nichols, Michael J. Binder, and Franklin H. Holcomb (September 2004). Application of Thermoelectric Devices to Fuel Cell Power Generation: Demonstration and Evaluation. Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois, part of Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (online pdf[1] - ^ http://newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2011/36/3626-energycatalyzer.shtml
- ^ Lisa Zyga (2011-01-20), "Italian Scientists claim to have demonstrated cold fusion", Physorg.com
- ^ Lewan, Mats (February 7, 2011). "Cold Fusion: Here's the Greek company building 1 MW". Ny Teknik.
