Can all our energy needs be met through nuclear energy? A Hyderabad-based start-up, Hylenr, says it has come up with a low-energy nuclear reactor (LENR) that can be kept on a tabletop and can produce enough energy to meet a household’s needs. The company says that it’s the world’s first cold fusion technology to generate clean energy.
The product was launched in Hyderabad by Padma Shri Dr Prahlada Ramarao, a distinguished missile scientist who was the project director for the Akash missile system, Dr Varaprasad who is the chief scientific officer at Hylenr, Ram Ramaseshan, the chief strategic officer, and Siddharth Durairajan, the chief executive officer. This innovation has received a patent from the Government of India for its low-energy nuclear reactor technology.
Hylenr says its product can amplify heat through nuclear fusion, the same process that takes place in the sun. Hydrogen molecules combine to produce excess heat, which can be used for heating rooms across cold regions, induction heating for domestic and industrial requirements, production of steam, and various other applications.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Ramarao said, “I know that the very name of nuclear fusion evokes fear among people. However, here, we are doing nothing but combining hydrogen, nickel and palladium to make excess energy. The body of the reactor is made of stainless steel. There are zero emissions or radioactivity in the process.”
LENR uses low-energy nuclear reactions to generate excess heat. By applying a small volume of electricity to stimulate these reactions, LENR can produce significantly more heat than the input energy, making it a potentially game-changing technology for power generation.
In a live demonstration during the launch of the product, the reactor achieved a consistent 1.5x heat amplification (150 watts equivalent heat) from 100 W electrical input. “This impressive heat amplification ratio has been the product’s defining feature during its long development process. The ratio remains the same in the hundreds of trials that we have done over the years. We had called scientists from IIT Guwahati, IISc Bangalore, and Amity University to test the product in their labs. They too received the same results,” said Dr Ramarao. The input cost behind every reactor is Rs 1 lakh.
“Our team has invested the last 10 years into developing the patented technology and we plan to further invest and raise funds to commercialise the product in an accelerated mode. The advanced research and development facility of HYLENR is located at T-HUB, Hyderabad. One more development centre is located in electronic city in Bengaluru,” Durairajan informed.
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