calling Maxwell's Daemon

[nul-points]

i thought i'd share some encouraging results with any interested members of the forum who are aware of the implications of generating electricity from ambient thermal energy

this DIY cell & circuit combination has not only been self-sustaining its charge on-load since it was constructed - it's been increasing its charge throughout that time

in other words, it appears that it's possible to make a rechargeable battery which can get additional charge just from the heat surrounding it at room temperature - ie. the system is OU in the same sense that solar & wind power are

unlike solar & wind power, however, thermal energy is all around us, day & night, indoors - either as part of the environment we need for suitable living conditions or as waste heat from other work

obviously more energy could be converted from a higher temperature input


these tests build on a few things learned from my previous experiments, as covered in the following threads here at OU.com:-

   switched cap experiments
   http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=4419.msg246787#msg246787

   anomalous 'self'-charge of capacitors
   http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=9393.0

the latest tests also include some additional features, eg. galvanic action and thermal generation of electricity

the following graph shows the on-load terminal voltage and temperature for the galvanic cell-stack versus time (in hours)

as you can see, there is a strong correlation between the daily variation of the ambient temperature and the terminal voltage - whenever the temperature rises the terminal voltage of the system increases, when the temperature falls, so does the terminal voltage

eg. a rise in ambient temperature of approx 17 degC caused an increase in the cell-stack voltage of approx 27mV (see graph readings near 190 hours) on a cell-stack voltage of approx 1.8V (a 1.5% increase in on-load terminal voltage)


however, there is more than just a direct temperature relationship...

[nul-points]

the temperature trend graph ('power regression for Tcell') shows that the average value of the ambient temperature has remained approximately constant throughout the test period - the trend slope shows only a very slight increase over the duration so far (9+ days)

however, the 'power regression for Vcell' trend graph reveals that, for at least this particular load, there is more external energy being converted to electrical energy than is being used by the circuit  - the on-load terminal voltage trend slope shows an increase with time

the stack was constructed 8 Dec 2010 and had an initial on-load voltage of approx 1.6V

so, at the time of writing, the mean on-load voltage has been increasing for over 440 hours (18+ days)


additional energy is being supplied from somewhere outside the system and the cell-stack is storing excess energy (ie. it is gradually 'charging') at the same time as powering the load

- the system is enclosed in a steel case (effectively a Faraday cage), so it's not picking up radio transmission or 50Hz power;
- the system is inside a case, and it continues to charge in an unlit room, so it's not receiving photoelectric energy;
- the system is operating stand-alone, so it's not receiving electrical energy from a PC or measurement equipment

therefore, unless the system is receiving energy from some exotic source, such as cosmic rays, then the conclusion is that the external energy which is sustaining operation (& increasing charge) is being provided by ambient heat

a standard resistor performs work while converting electrical energy into heat energy

if you can reverse this process then you have effectively created a 'negative resistor', which performs work while converting heat energy into electrical energy

the system in the experiment described here is evidently converting ambient heat into electricity

it appears that Maxwell's Demon is alive and well!


an overview of the system follows...

[nul-points]

cell-stack construction (2 cells in series):

for this experiment, i've used Zinc (Zn) & Copper (Cu) foil squares, approx 8cm x 8cm

on the top & bottom sheets (1 Zn & 1 Cu) i leave a little extra width of metal to connect a crocodile clip

each of the 2 cells is constructed like this (from top to bottom):-

+ ---- Cu
  ---- open weave linen serviette cloth,
       sprinkled with ~0.5cc honey:tap-water (~50:50)
  ---- (tissue) wrapping paper layer glued to Zn with starch glue
       ('Pritt' stick - safe children's paper glue)
- ---- Zn

the edges of each cell are covered with rubber tape which seals to itself when stretched

the middle Zn & Cu sheets (from the upper & lower cells) are first insulated from each other with a thin plastic sheet; then, in the middle of the insulating sheet, i make a hole and place a small piece (approx 5mm x 5mm) of folded copper to make the connection between adjacent cells

the cells are held together inside two outer layers of cardboard using a thin rubber band

i place two 12mm x 0.8mm diam. Neo magnets on top of the cell stack; the Neos are parallel and their N-S axis is at 90 deg to the current flow through the 2 outer cell +/- tags (both S poles towards same edge of cell)

[nul-points]

as far as i know, this particular circuit used here as a load is not critical to the behaviour of the system

however, it is important to achieve a sufficiently high impedance load on the cell-stack so that the thermal energy input is sufficient to sustain the cell charge whilst it's operating the circuit

the current draw of the circuit is of the order of a few uA


circuit operation:

the load across the cell-stack is an LED flasher circuit;
the components were selected for a flash rate of approximately 0.25Hz

- the cell-stack charges up capacitor C2
   via the leakage current of D1;
- the voltage on C2 reaches the trigger level of the
   'discrete' SCR arrangement of Q1/Q2/C3/D3;
- transistor Q3 is pulsed on,
   current is discharged from C2 through inductor L2;
- as Q3 switches off, the field-collapse energy from
   L2 is directed via the LED to the 'ballast' capacitor C1;
- C1 is connected back to the cell-stack, via inductor L1,
   helping to maintain the stack voltage

[exnihiloest]

A Maxwell's Daemon is one of the most credible possibility for free energy.
Nevertheless self-charging capacitors are not a proof when electrochimical capacitors are used, because there are chimical reactions at the surface of the electrodes which can increase the voltage for conventional reasons.
Self-charging capacitors are not observed when the capacitors are not polarized and are of low capacity. It is a specificity of electrochemical capacitors. Therefore the origin of the capacitors self-charge can't be explained by a common phenomenon due to the environment.