Andrea Rossi first unveiled his E-Cat LENR device in October of 2011. The military sponsor of the machine was pleased with the results of the test, and ordered a 1 MW plant which is, reportedly, now in use. However, is Rossi “over tweaking” the E-Cat unit?
The initial reports were that Rossi took the unit that worked in the original October demonstration, and started trying to boost the output and increase the heat of his unit. However, Hank Mills and Sterling Allan have produced a very sensible “10 Commandments for Exotic Energy” that indicate that Rossi may set himself back in the development of his invention, if he is not careful.
Rossi is an inventor. Much like Steve Jobs, he’s a “tweaker”. That mean he takes an idea and starts changing the elements to make it work better. It is said that Jobs stole the idea for the iPhone from a competitor who showed him a device that used a stylus. He said the stylus was the Achilles Heel, and developed the touch screen – which made all the difference. Rossi is doing that with the E-Cat.
He has a working model, but now he’s “messing” with it. Mills and Allan point out that many inventors “shoot themselves in the foot” with this type of thinking. The two men say that the title is tongue-in-cheek, but the advice is very sound.
The first “commandment” for Exotic Energy is – Leave it Alone. Once you have a working prototype, don’t tweak it. You run the risk of being unable to fix it back to the way it was, and if your tweak doesn’t work, you no longer have a working prototype. Their advice is to always keep the working prototype in hand for demonstrations. If money is an issue, don’t change anything until you have enough money to build a new prototype.
This is excellent advice. Of course, I’m not the one having to come up with money to build a second prototype. But the risk of ruining your prototype, with nothing to replace it, is too great. And, as mills and Allan point out, inventors have a tendency to see their products as constant works in progress rather than an end result. A scientist will achieve a certain goal, then replicate it through a separate process. This second model will be the springboard through which the scientist will change one aspect of the second prototype, to see if it improves the outcome. However, the first prototype is set aside as the genesis product, not to be damaged or changed.
Hopefully, Rossi has done that with the E-Cat.