Patterson Power Cell

The CETI Patterson Power Cell is a power cell invented by James Patterson which some have claimed to be generating more energy than it uses. It is one of several cold fusion cells which have been the subject of some media interest but no independent, objective testing.

The cell is composed of a non-conductive housing filled with thousands of small plastic beads coated with thin film layers of nickel and palladium, as well as a solution of a conductive salt in water through which an electric current is run. Its proponents claim that the device uses about 1.4 watts and yet is capable of generating hundreds or thousands of times this amount of power which is released as heat after a brief "warm-up" period. This supposedly happens as hydrogen or deuterium nuclei fuse together to produce heat through some form of cold fusion, although Patterson himself avoids the term.

However, the byproducts of nuclear fusion have not been detected from this device, e.g. a tritium nucleus and a proton or an 3He nucleus and a neutron, leading a vast majority of experts to conclude that no such fusion is taking place. Scott Little and Hal Puthoff made an independent test and they were unable to measure any excess heat from the cells, but they didn't publish their results outside of their website.

It is further claimed that if radioactive isotopes such as uranium are present, the cell somehow enables the hydrogen nuclei to fuse with these isotopes, transforming them into stable elements and thus 'neutralizing' the radioactivity. This claim has not been verified and, to date, this effect has only been achieved through intense neutron bombardment in a nuclear reactor or large scale high energy particle accelerator. The public demonstrations didn't check if the beads had become radioactive after the test, which would mean that they had simply absorbed the uranium ions.

This is a very promising form of technology, it could lead to further more impressive technology.

On February 7, 1996, ABC News shows Good Morning America and Nightline featured stories about the Patterson Power Cell.