More grist for the mill .... something for to chew on over the weekend.
Some very interesting quotes that support some suspicions I've harboured for a while, and what has kept me leaning to the "less-than" sceptical side. My contention has been from looking at Rossi's set-ups, demos, behaviour, etc is that he is just, only just keeping this thing under control. This is pretty much confirmed now
During recent testing Rossi himself has been the manual controller during the self-sustaining periods of all the demonstrations of the E-Cat done to date, but he has said that in mass produced E-Cats, the control of the E-Cat reactors would need to be done automatically.
http://www.e-catworld.com/2011/11/natio ... at-plants/
Temperature control is not technically that difficult, time constants are slow ... but getting the math into the controller of his reactor's behaviour has probably been outside his "skill-set" and development budget so he just watches the darn thing like a hawk and hits the emergency button whenever it looks like taking off.
Another comment made somewhere (can't find it now) is that he has exploded 37 of these things already during his testing. Another comment was during the extended Levi test it initially took off, temporarily producing 130 kW (factor of 10 surge) and Rossi became frantic, agitated, angry. (I'd say he is afraid of it's power and doesn't understand it fully (who does?)).
I have a hunch he is scared of these things and this explains a lot of his apparently paranoid behaviour when other people are around during fire up. He realises it is marginally safe but knows he is onto something and is desperate to maintain control but has limited funding so he cuts corners everywhere. Elaborate control tech., instrumentation and safety have gone out the window .... he is going for broke!
This what flying a fusion reactor by the seat of your pants while trying to bring it to market on shoestring budget looks like. It's messy, unsafe, controversial but stories like these just can not be concocted by man alone.