A US company is developing a pressured nickel hydrogen cold fusion process similar to Andrea Rossi’s energy catalyzer. Brillouin Energy Corporation was formed in 2009 to commercialize a fusion process being developed by Robert Godes. Godes serves as President and Chief Technology officer at Brillouin while Robert George III has been hired to be the company’s chairman and CEO.

This is a picture of Brillouin's cold fusion reactor

The company’s website says it intends to assemble a team of engineers and scientists to build a boiler to demonstrate Godes’ cold fusion process. The boiler would be located at the company’s facility in Berkley, California. Berkley located across the bay from San Francisco is home to the University of California. It is also located close to Silicon Valley one of the best sources of Venture Capital.

Cold Fusion Now reported that Brillouin’s first cold fusion reactor, a nickel hydrogen device that generated excess heat in an output of 100% began operating in October, last year which was before Rossi’s test in January. Godes reportedly tested an earlier device using palladium wire and distilled water in 2006.

Illustration of Brillouin's Cold Fusion Process

Brillouin has attracted interest from the US government. Cold Fusion Now says it will be working with Los Alamos National Laboratory the elite US government facility that built the first atomic bomb to replicate its research. This shows that despite the lack of interest at the US Department of Energy the US government is interested in cold fusion. Los Alamos has a long standing relationship with the University of California at Berkley so it may have been involved from the beginning.

Cold Fusion Now also reports that Venture Capitalists are interested in Brillouin’s work. Godes’ work could present problems for Rossi because he claims he’s been working on cold fusion since 1992. He also said he had filed some sort of intellectual property right on his process in 1995. Interestingly enough Brillouin’s first patent application has been rejected which could indicate a challenge.

Robert E. Godes is an electrical engineer who has worked in a number of fields. Like Andrea Rossi he does not hold a doctorate which could present problems in the scientific community, they don’t like to believe that people without PhDs can do scientific research. Godes’ expertise includes integrating mechanical design, phsyics and chemistry. Full details of his work have been posted the Brillouin website.

Robert W. George II has a background in finance, venture capital and interestingly enough robotics. He helped take Denning Mobile Robotics public (which means it can sell stock) and oversaw development of the world’s first commercial artificially intelligent mobile robot. He also has expertise in licensing and establishing joint ventures in different nations. George serves as managing director at Grosvenor Financial Partners LLC, a venture capital firm.