Inteligentry and Manufacturers Gearing Up for Noble Gas Engine Roll-out
In a 1.5-hour interview, John Rohner describes the latest progress in their technology and in their business plans to bring the technology to market, perhaps by this September. Within three years, the 2-cylinder engine that produces 400 HP (300 kW) could cost as little as $275.
 Four test engines prepared for the manufacturers' meeting. (Click on image for enlargement.) | ||||
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 Inteligentry Conference Room | ||||
by Sterling D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
After several attempts to mesh two busy schedules, I finally was able to hook up with John Rohner, CEO of Inteligentry, on Thursday to interview him about the latest developments in his "Plasmic Transition Process", noble gas engine technology.
My overall impression after talking to him is that his company is further along than I had thought. He's aiming to have the public announcement of the first batch of mass-produced products (thousands) ready for purchase by September or sooner.
Review
For those of you not familiar with this technology, it is an engine that runs on what John calls a "plasmic transition" process using noble gases to create the plasma, with a coil around the cylinder to control the plasma, and a high voltage spark (actuator) to initiate the process. The fuel is essentially free, both because so little is consumed over time, and because the fuel is inexpensive. Also, because it has fewer moving parts and its power density is greater, the engine itself is much less expensive to build than the engine it would be replacing.
We're talking an engine-driven generator technology that would not only be clean, but more affordable than energy that comes from the grid, enabling off-grid, distributed, concentrated, and portable power applications touching on nearly every energy need in today's society, while also enabling applications that hitherto were not feasible, such as buildings and communities that float in the air, and flying vehicles. It also makes energy deployment entirely feasible to places where power is currently unavailable, such as the third world.
You can see why I've had them in our Top 5 Exotic Free Energy Technologies listing.
I was going to attend his recent meetings down in Henderson, Nevada, in which his manufacturing groups were getting together, followed by a shareholders' meeting. But my recent move made that implausible. So I was anxious to interview him to find out how that went.
The interview lasted an hour and a half, and touches on both the technology and the business roll-out.
Manufacturers
Inteligentry has allocated five regional companies in the U.S., each gearing up to be master (no limits) manufacturers of the engines. The regions are Northwest, Southwest, Central, Northeast and Southeast. The Northeast and Southeast are recent-comers, being in Atlanta and Michigan, joining the existing manufacturers in East Texas, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. The new pair are just starting the qualification process.
The three motors that had been built from the 3D drawings used for the 3D printed parts, in preparation for the recent meeting in Henderson, Nevada, were a hodgepodge, with each manufacturer building the same subset of the parts. These were fitted into block and cylinder carrier castings, machine by one [?]. The manufacturers were then critiqued on what they did right and wrong and any changes that were made to ease manufacturing and reliability.
The three of these manufacturers (who are presently ready to proceed) were given raw castings and two bottom ends. They are now tasked with building two full engines, each. They will bring these to Las Vegas, NV in 4 weeks, by May 1, to be fitted with electronics, operated, certified in their manufacturing technique, and tested. Once accomplished they can proceed into full manufacturing to start building up a stockpile for when the OEM product makers require engines, used as training engines and "ready stock" for when they and the company announce product publicly in September. Once they are in production, each manufacturer will be expected to build at least 10,000 engines a month.
In gearing up, the manufacturers have had a challenge adjusting their thinking from the internal combustion engine to the “Plasmic Transition Process” engine. Though there are some similarities, the differences are challenging to comprehend. I had a hard time understanding as John attempted to describe the process to me. How could there be just a 1 atmosphere of static pressure in the chamber while it is putting out hundreds of Foot Lbs of torque?
John said six physicists have worked together with him to come up with a scientific explanation (within existing laws of physics) of how the engine works. This explanation has now been submitted as a recent patent application, which they will disclose at a later date, probably when the engine goes public.
Inteligentry is looking to license foreign companies to become master licensees, as well. They feel that someone that lives in and therefore understands a country, or region, could license in that area and will be more successful getting engines out and used than Inteligentry would.
Licensee training will begin as early as May 15 or maybe June 1, based on how much gets accomplished getting the US Master Engine builders complete and started building engines.
To accommodate the rate at which they are growing, John said that in the next couple of months they will be moving from their 1400 square feet facility to a nearby 8000 square feet location.
They recently purchased a 3-D printer in order to build the proper pipe sizes on
which to wind the coils that go on their cylinders (and to play around with).
The 3-D printers only cost $5000. "I remember back when we paid that much for a
regular copy machine," he said. It also will be able to create the samples for
the parts that will be injection molded plastics, maybe the piston and other
parts.Working Prototypes
I asked John why (from my limited perspective) they are going into mass production prior to doing alpha and beta testing of the devices to make sure they will hold up in the marketplace. I referred to the recent scenario we saw with the South African company who started out thinking they could bypass alpha and beta testing, then finally decided to do alpha testing, where they discovered that the deep-cycle batteries were hammered after just 3-4 months of continuous running, making it unsuitable to introduce to the market until that is addressed.
John is familiar with that situation, and he assured me, with his 40 years of product development experience, that Inteligentry has done significant alpha and beta testing. "We know more about the engine that is going into manufacturing than anyone needs to know." He said the focus of the "last 7-8 months has been to get production engines [which are] reliable, economical, and easy to build."
Juxtapose this with a negative report we published last year in which, according to our sources, it appeared that John may have exaggerated the extent to which they had done continuous-run testing, wondering if he had even achieved any run time at all with even one of his engines. He said he let that report go without significant challenge because it is their policy to not disclose publicly the extent to which they have had running engines until they are ready for public announcement of units ready for purchase. "A lab experiment is not a product. Everyone knew it worked from the lab experiment videos from 1982/3. No reason to reprove the obvious." As much as that report put his company in a negative light, in a way, he appreciated it because it quieted things down for them and reduced expectations.
He made several statements in the course of our interview Thursday that were indications that they have had operational systems, and have collected extensive data from those. For example, he said they "have driven [a] 500 kW [generator] at 1800 rpm, with no problem, on a two cylinder engine." He later informed me that they have in stock two 18 kW and two 28 kW generators that have also been used. And he said, "An earlier engine with a Pappish approach, worst case, runs 4 months or better [without refuel]. The newer engines are so much more efficient (patents pending); one has run past a year and 8 months; and it still doesn't look like it needs a refill." The evolution of the engine has created much better economy and stability (300 to 600% or more).
Engine Specs
Speaking of refills, John said that a manufacturer is working on creating a canister the size of a paint gun: 4 inches long, and about 1.25 inches in diameter; to sell in a supermarket for $7 each. It will hook up to a refill valve on the engine, and could last as long as seven years under continuous running.
He said: "The actuator controllers watch cylinder electronics for
degradation in 'event' signature; and when it drops, the actuator controller
tells the master controller to give a 'squirt'; to bring the gas levels back up
to normal."At the beginning, Inteligentry is focusing on two engine sizes: a 2-cylinder and a 6-cylinder, the latter essentially being three of the 2-cylinder versions combined on 120 degree offsets. The 2-cylinder allegedly has a limit of 275 horsepower or around 205 kilowatts equivalent generating capability. In practice, a generator would need to be attached to provide that, with some losses. To give you a frame of reference, a house could be run with 10-25 kilowatts, which could handle peak load, when "everything" is turned on during the busiest time of day.
The 6-cylinder engine is 1100 HP or around 820 kilowatts -- nearly a megawatt. That's about as much power as one of those typical large wind turbines at optimal speed; from an engine 36 inches square and 12 inches tall -- the size of a kitchen table top.
John said that they found out recently that if the input/output shaft is heat-treated, then the 2-cylinder engine load limit could be as much as 400 HP, though they would probably cap it at 325 HP.
However, John explained that the "HP" rating is a bit misleading because it is based on the internal combustion engine paradigm, where you get a short explosion, near top dead center; whereas in the Plasmic Transition Process engine, the push is extended over a longer duration; so the overall, effective power is much greater, even though the instantaneous "HP" rating might be lower than the actual power available. John compares it to the steam engines that took our pioneers West, which only produced 10 HP, but massive torque. That is when John pointed out that the Inteligentry 2-cylinder engine ran a 500 kW generator at its rated 1800 rpm, which should have been impossible according to its HP rating.
He said they are working with company whose main product is auto dynamometers; and they are developing a special testing dyno for this engine so they can come up with better numbers for the real output. These would also be used by all manufacturers to verify end-of-line operational characteristics.
Though the plasma pulse stage generates heat, the contraction phase extracts heat at essentially an equal proportion, so the net effect is that the engine runs just slightly elevated from room temperature. The process is balanced thermodynamically.
One down-side to the engine as configured at present is that it is designed for continuous output, not governed output. However, John described a way that the engine could be made to respond very accurately to changes in output requirement, following the load; but at present, it isn't configured this way. I would imagine that the different OEMs would just tell the manufacturer what level they need an engine to be set at. Future iterations are likely to be governable on the fly.
However, John described that the engine could be made to respond very accurately to changes in output requirement, following the load; since it has a 0.25-degree rotational accuracy as a native element. So the engine can be controlled for a wide range of speeds: "From an A Pad to a potentiometer," is how he put it in a subsequent email. The master controller is interlinked with a CAN bus that can interface with many other elements as well. It also will hold whatever speed wished to within .01% accuracy as load changes. It's very flexible and very stable. It is governable on the fly.
John is not sure what the initial units will cost -- that will be determined largely by the manufacturers. However, the company goal is to get the 2-cylinder engine price down to $275 within three years. That is inconceivably cheap considering the energy it puts out.
My usual disclaimer: As good as all of this sounds, if I were getting directly involved in this venture, putting in substantial capital, I would first require some kind of demonstration of the technology -- under NDA, would be fine. Or at least I would want to see the reports made by others who had seen such a demonstration.
Inteligentry
Inteligentry presently has around 120 shareholders and is not in debt. Nor are they looking for additional investment. The ability to buy stock will end May 15 or June 1.
John, who turns 71 in a week, is not motivated by money, but by presenting a real energy solution to the planet that customers will appreciate. "Success is happiness."
He also plugged PES and encouraged people to chip in with donations, as he has, to help keep our operation running.
Follow-up
On April 16, 2012 9:26 AM MDT, John wrote:
"Low Fees"
I may not have mentioned this but the reason for the low license fees is these are "early adapters" who in my book should get the break as they have the guts to dream. After we go public with the engine, licenses will probably revert to a "best offer" for masters or maybe normals[?] just to keep from licensing two in the same block. Tighter restrictions as well.
But in my book those that take the risk should get the best possible support.
Also you will note, from the licensing page, www.ptplicensing.com, that we now apply the Masters (country) license to an agreement between them and us about their market, not some arbitrary "up front" number. If the engine is going to be successful everyone involved must also be.
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