Steorn's Orbo http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/ Dispatches from the Future en Copyright 2012 Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:56:32 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Can we nail the coffin shut on Steorn yet? last time I wrote about Steorn, nearly two years ago, they haven't proven their Orbo free energy device to the world. They haven't even attempted another public demonstration. To the contrary, they shut down their online forum and development club, stopped releasing updates on their site, and Sean McCarthy (uncharacteristically) started keeping quiet. Their own hand-picked jury of international scientists gave up on Orbo, claiming they were shown nothing that indicated it generates energy. Steorn redesigned their company website, taking some of the emphasis off Orbo and moving it on to something new, a water heating technology called HephaHeat. The HephaHeat page mentions nothing about Orbo or free energy, appearing to present itself as only a modestly more efficient water heater. So, the great mystery was left hanging: Did Steorn have a revolutionary free energy technology? Or were they simply mistaken, due to a mix of shoddy measurements and wishful thinking? Worse yet, were Sean McCarthy and perhaps others at Steorn perpetrating a nefarious con, bilking first naive investors and then engineers worldwide through their development club? As time stretched on with no new Orbo developments from Steorn, I was slowly climbing down the "fence" separating the believers and skeptics, and concluding that Orbo was at least an incompetent mistake, and possibly a scam. It seemed that Sean McCarthy & Co. may have finally realized that their goose was never going to lay its golden egg, and had moved on to some more pedestrian heating technology so they could continue paying the bills. But it suddenly seems that this conclusion may be premature; it may be too early to climb off that fence. Recently Sterling Allen of the site pesn.com completed a worldwide tour of companies that claim to generate energy through unorthodox means. On this trip Sterling stopped by the Steorn offices in Dublin, and what he found there wasn't the defeated remnant of a company that I expected he'd find, busying itself with incremental innovations after having set aside its spectacular delusions. What he found was Sean McCarthy and company, testing white hot Orbo burners, and sitting on signed contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to provide their energy-out-of-nowhere to the largest water heater manufacturers in the world. Sterling Allen's full report on his interview with Sean McCarthy can be found here. According to Sean, once they had developed the solid state, electromagnetic versions of the Orbo (as opposed to the original, mechanically rotating version that they could never keep stable long enough to demonstrate), a major problem was that the device would generate a lot of heat. It required a power source, but then would put out a lot more energy than it took in, with a significant portion of that energy being put out as heat. This was seen as an obstacle to be overcome, because Steorn's focus was on producing mechanical energy that could be used to generate electricity. But then they made the conceptual leap of deciding to utilize the excess heat, rather than working to eliminate it. This new approach was developed into their HephaHeat technology. A HephaHeat water heater would plug into a standard power outlet, but would transfer several times more heat energy into the water than it uses in electricity. Does HephaHeat work? Steorn isn't showing their new devices publicly, but Sterling Allen was shown signed contracts with two companies, the largest water heater manufacturers in North America and Europe (whose names Steorn will not announce yet). These contracts together are worth 25 millions Euros per year to Steorn, plus royalties on the sales of products. When will these products be hitting the market? Sean estimates 18 months to 3 years from now. Once again, Steorn's story is, "amazing things are coming. Just wait a while longer." All the options remain on the table; they may be delusional (though maintaining this delusion for 8 years now would be quite a feat), or scamming investors, or they may still be working on something revolutionary. Only time, eventually, may tell.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2012/10/can_we_nail_the_coffin_shut_on_steorn_ye.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2012/10/can_we_nail_the_coffin_shut_on_steorn_ye.html Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:56:32 -0500 Build your own Orbo... for only $550 Energetic Forum and MoleTrap) as well as a video posted by Steorn, one or more engineers may have followed Steorn's build instructions well enough to produce a device that shows the same pattern of scope traces that Steorn has shown off in demos, which they interpret as representing energy gain (an interpretation that others contest). But the real test, the only measure that matters to anyone other than argumentative engineers, is whether the Orbo can do work. That means light a light, warm a radiator, or lift a weight — anything that actually uses more energy than the device itself started with. As far as I know, no one has claimed to build an Orbo that can do this, yet. That is why I haven't posted to this blog for several months; lots of people have been blowing smoke, but we have yet to see an Orbo do something. This week Steorn is pulling back the curtain even further — or renewing their efforts to separate hopeful engineers from their money, depending on how you'd like to look at it. They are now offering for sale the Orbo Evaluation and Development System, an all-inclusive do-it-yourself free-energy starter kit that will let you (if you are an electrical engineer, that is) "prototype and develop products driven by Orbo Technology". It even comes with a year's membership to the SKDB, all for the low, low price of only €319 (about $550). Every few months since 2006 there has been some big new event in the saga of Steorn. But they all really just fall into two patterns. Before April 2010, the story was always "We'll reveal Orbo — soon." Since April, the story has been "We'll reveal Orbo — for a price." But we still haven't seen any evidence of Orbo actually doing anything that proves free energy has been produced. In my opinion Orbo will be worth talking about only when, and if, the story changes.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/11/build_your_own_orbo_for_only_550.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/11/build_your_own_orbo_for_only_550.html Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:32:35 -0500 Steorn finally reveals all (for a price) developers' club (the Steorn Knowledge Development Base — SKDB) to the public, and have reportedly released to club members more information on how to build and test Orbo devices. All of this comes for a price however; joining the SKDB costs €419.00 ($613.00). Possibly the more interesting development is the reveal of a new, third type of Orbo device, the solid state Orbo (ssOrbo). This follows the original permanent magnet Orbo (pmOrbo, the failure of which caused the July 2007 demo to be canceled) and the the rotary electromagnetic Orbo (eOrbo) which was shown (flaunting its required, and controversial, D-cell battery) in the recent Waterways public demonstration.

Steorn's newly revealed solid state Orbo has no moving parts.
The ssOrbo is said to be based on the same principles as the other two Orbo implementations, but is potentially much more convenient both to develop and to package with products, because it involves no mechanical motion. Instead, it "gains energy via control of a material's inductance and domain rotation". Further development of the ssOrbo is described as the primary goal of the SKDB and its members. Finally, Steorn released various papers and test results, including information on calorimetry testing of the eOrbo and a more detailed explanation of how the original pmOrbo works than any we (outside the SKDB) have received yet. According to this paper, what separates Orbo from other attempts at building magnet motors is what's called "asymmetric non-linear MH". The paper describes (and shows) exactly what this means in terms of how the magnets are arranged, and compares this type of configuration with other configurations that lack these properties (ie., that are either symmetric or have linear MH), showing test results that purport to demonstrate that only the combination of these properties results in the output of excess energy.

The effect underlying the original perpetual motion Orbo is said to require specific configurations of 3 magnets (of two different types).
It seems to me that this is the day that Steorn really introduces itself to the world. The Economist ad, as well as years of conversation, promises, demos and flashy videos, might as well have never happened. Today is when they make their case, and leave it up to independent developers to validate or disprove their claims. The events put into motion this April 1st will soon show us who's been played for fools: Steorn and the people who took them at their word, or the skeptics who've dismissed their claims out of hand. What happens — or fails to happen — in the coming weeks and months will either mean the end of the road for Steorn, or the beginning of a new road for humanity.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/04/steorn_finally_reveals_all_for_a_price.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/04/steorn_finally_reveals_all_for_a_price.html Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:04:19 -0500 February update Part 1 Part 2. What happens next? As usual, Steorn has set deadlines for themselves, only to then push them further and further back. The current calendar is as follows: February 1 — 28: — The Orbo is available through the 26th for third-party testing by anyone who has booked an appointment to do so. — The SKDB has been opened to a select group of potential developers. — Calorimetry testing of Orbo by an independent group continues. March 1st or later (probably later, given Steorn's track record): — The SKDB will be opened to anyone willing to pay €419.00 ($613.00) to join. — Calorimetry and other test data will be publicly released, as well as information about successful replications that have supposedly already taken place. It's become increasingly apparent that Steorn itself is not going to prove that Orbo produces free energy. Once again, this could be taken in one of two ways: Either as evidence that Orbo doesn't produce free energy, or as acknowledgment that no matter what kind of spinning contraption they show, even if it didn't involve a battery, there would still be room to doubt their claims. Instead, if Orbo does put out more energy than it takes in, it will be up to an army of engineers to prove it, as they develop Orbo for commercial applications. As usual, the more that's revealed the greater the mystery becomes. Steorn may have already demonstrated free energy, we just won't know until it's repeatedly verified over the coming months (and maybe years), or once this verification fails to occur. For now, the only perpetual motion Steorn's shown is the ability to perpetuate this process indefinitely.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/02/on_january_30th_steorn_finally.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/02/on_january_30th_steorn_finally.html Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:10:50 -0500 Steorn to prove free energy today? home page and will be available later on their YouTube channel.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/01/steorn_to_prove_free_energy_today.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/01/steorn_to_prove_free_energy_today.html Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:22:27 -0500 Steorn plans to demonstrate overunity today site. The title for this talk is "Orbo Electromagnetic Interaction COP > 1". COP refers to the "coefficient of performance", the ratio of the energy output from a system over the energy input to the system. By proving that Orbo's COP is greater than 1 (or "overunity"), Steorn hopes to show that they've developed a way to get more energy out than was put in — that is, to generate free energy. This is the most important claim being made by Steorn, and how seriously they will be taken depends entirely on how well they can demonstrate this claim.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/01/steorn_plans_to_demonstrate_overunity_to.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2010/01/steorn_plans_to_demonstrate_overunity_to.html Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:02:36 -0500 Sean McCarthy to discuss Orbo online tomorrow site, and an e-mail update they've been sending out to those of us who've subscribed (on their home page), Sean McCarthy will be presenting a talk about the principles that make Orbo work, tomorrow at 5pm GMT (noon eastern time, 9 A.M. pacific in the U.S.) at the Waterways building in Dublin. The talk will be streamed live on Steorn's channel 1. The title of the talk is "Introduction to an Orbo Electromagnetic Interaction - Part 1", and the description is "Sean McCarthy, CEO of Steorn, will discuss and demonstrate cancelling Back EMF in Orbo electromagnetic interactions." In other news, several sites and media outlets have published stories relating to Steorn's demo over the past few days: About-Knowledge.com Rupert Goodwins at ZDNet Engadget PESN.com U.K. Press Association SiliconRepublic.com Wired Steorn also ran its recently released ad on the Arab news network Al Jazeera, perhaps hoping to attract wealthy Arab investors who don't want to be left out in the cold in the post-oil economy: Orbo ad on Al Jazeera Speaking of which, in the opinion of some, the most stimulating revelation to come out of Steorn's demo so far has been the song used in their ad. Turns out it's called Hallucination, by the Dublin-based band Delorentos. ]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/sean_mccarthy_to_discuss_orbo_online_tom.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/sean_mccarthy_to_discuss_orbo_online_tom.html Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:38:12 -0500 <![CDATA[Steorn's demo begins — but seeing isn't believing]]> Steorn's homepage. For those interested in seeing Orbo up close and personal, the exhibit will be open daily from December 15th to the 23rd and from January 5th to the 31st, between the hours of 10am to 7pm. Information and directions can be found here.

Two men inspecting a spinning Orbo, live from Dublin.
For over three years, since Steorn first went public with their free energy claims, the company has acted as a sort of Rorschach test; different observers interpret what they're doing in vastly different, and often opposing, ways. Every action they've taken can be interpreted as part of a massive fraud, or as following from a prolonged delusion that they have something fantastic when all they really have is measurement error, or as an earnest step toward launching a genuine technology so revolutionary that the normal means of bringing a new technology to the attention of others capable of developing it further, simply fall short. Today, however, is the big reveal — a spinning Orbo can finally be viewed up close by any Dubliner who wishes to wander by, or by anyone else on the planet with a web browser. This should be the moment that changes everything, right? Wrong. Amazingly, today's demo doesn't clear up the picture one bit. The reason for the continued ambiguity is a simple battery. The Orbo device being demoed today is not the same as the version that was (almost) shown in the aborted July 2007 demo. The 2007 Orbo was made up of a simple arrangement of permanent magnets, that supposedly resulted in a perpetual motion machine. Orbo 2009 is similar in its basic design, but the outer ring of magnets are now electromagnets rather than permanent magnets, and these electromagnets are fed by a battery. That battery, it is claimed, is constantly recharged by a small electrical generator attached to the spinning Orbo. The net result, says Sean McCarthy, is that the Orbo produces some three times the energy it uses. The energy that isn't cycled back to the battery is dissipated as heat. Sean's claim may be true — the Orbo may be generating three times the energy it is using, right in front of our eyes. Or, it may not be; there's no way to tell without being an experienced engineer and hooking the rig up to a lot of complex testing equipment. Because there's a battery in the loop, there's just no telling how much energy, if any, Orbo is actually generating. So Steorn may have what they claim. Or they may be lying about it as part of a scam. Or they may honestly believe they have it, but be wrong. There's still no way to tell.

Schematics of the demo Orbo, showing a generator at top to recharge the battery, at bottom.
The skeptics will be emboldened to discover that Steorn also today announced the opening to the public of the Steorn Knowledge Development Base (SKDB), a club of engineers privy to information about how Orbo works. It will be open to students, academics, hobbyists, and anyone else... who is willing to pony up €419.00 ($613.00). Sorry, no refunds. This sounds like the capstone of the scam, the part where they finally get around to cashing in on all their deceptions. But then again, how many people will have the necessary confluence of wealth, enthusiasm and gullibility to plunk down that much money on a technology that hasn't been verified? 100? 200? Even if 500 of these memberships are sold, Steorn still only makes some $300,000; chump change for even a company of their size. Even if Orbo is nothing but a scam, selling a few memberships and a smattering of testing equipment to those members can't be a profitable endgame. So, once again, nothing has changed. But then, Steorn hasn't claimed that the demo should be what proves Orbo to be real. In the future supposedly imagined by Steorn, the demo attracts attention; engineers join the SKDB and learn how to build their own Orbos. Eventually people all over the world are replicating the technology, testing it, and finding out that it really does produce more energy that it consumes. That's when Orbo is proven — gradually, over the course of weeks and months, as a distributed effort spread out all over the world.

Three Orbo devices arranged around a plexiglass column.
Today may be the most eventful day for Steorn since they introduced themselves to the world with an ad in The Economist in the summer of 2006. But for the rest of us, it ends just the same as every other day Steorn has made a great reveal — we have no clearer a picture of what Steorn is really all about, and we have a new point in the future to wait for and look forward to. On February 1st 2010 many more people will be able to learn how Orbo works. Then at some point in the weeks, or months, or years after that, someone may replicate it, someone may demonstrate that it produces more energy than it uses. Then someone else, and then someone else. Or, maybe not. We'll see.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/steorns_demo_begins_but_seeing_isnt_beli.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/steorns_demo_begins_but_seeing_isnt_beli.html Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:35:21 -0500 Steorn Demo to begin tomorrow, December 15th LiveStream.com search for "steorn" LiveStream Steorn Channel Steorn has also gone public with the brief ad video that was leaked to the web several days ago, posting it to their official YouTube channel: YouTube Steorn Channel In yet another sign that Steorn is preparing for a new wave of public attention, they have re-opened their online public forum to accept membership applications. The Steorn public forum Several members of Steorn's inner circle of 300 engineers have written blog posts anticipating the impending demo: Free Energy Truth Cras Ex Machina Hugh Deasy Finally, media coverage begins with a post on Engadget, reiterating their disbelief that Steorn has what it claims: Engadget: Steorn Invites Us to Get Real With Fairy Powered Orbo... And, Rupert Goodwins at zdnet.com is hoping to stop by and check out the demo himself: Rupert Goodwins on Steorn]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/steorn_demo_to_begin_tomorrow.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/steorn_demo_to_begin_tomorrow.html Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:39:19 -0500 First glimpse of the demo Orbo "whirring away" posted an update on the status of demo preparations in Dublin. Excerpts from the post:
OK, so I got into the room and took a look. Security is one old dude checking that everyone has a "staff" pass around their neck (no photo id or anything). In the main room they have a kind of perspex stand (could be glass) about the height of a person with three shelves coming out of it at various heights. On one of those they had one of their machines. It was whirring away, basically spinning a wheel continuously. It has no obvious connections to power, only to a kind of connector block that i assume will connect to a readout or instruments. Pic here. Sorry it's crappy but I didn't want to draw attention to myself. You can see the machine in the lower right, as well as the other shelves that will presumably hold two more machines. EDIT: to explain the pic, I'm looking down from a mezzanne that has lots of computer equipment, cameras etc. the wires you see are on the mezzanine only. You can see the magic-beans machine in the lower right sitting on the stand, and two more gray-ish shelves sticking out of the stand at 1 o'clock and 9 o'clock.

The demo rig being set up, as viewed from above. Click here for full size.
A closeup of the demo Orbo.

ArcaneTests claims to "know some people peripherally involved in the demo" who told him that Steorn will be "starting a new demo next week" at the Waterways Building in Dublin.

The Waterways Building in Dublin. Google Map
]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/first_glimpse_of_the_demo_orbo_whirring_1.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/first_glimpse_of_the_demo_orbo_whirring_1.html Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:46:55 -0500 Something's rumblin' in Dublin nolanchart.com blog entry:
While I cannot expose any proprietary technical details nor can I reveal any specific dates that I may know of from access to private communications, I do, however, have reason to believe that a significant number of us will become eye-witnesses of the Orbo effect in the foreseeable future. And so, either when Steorn chooses to launch Orbo, or perhaps shortly thereafter, there should be a number of individuals scattered around the globe who are likely to be able to confirm Orbo with direct testimony... After the ultimate Steorn public disclosure that I believe for these reasons to be imminent, virtually anyone reading these words will be able to sign on for a license to learn and use Orbo in whatever way you may see fit.
Next, in early December Hugh Deasy (another member of the Steorn 300) wrote a blog entry in which he stated:
Something sure is going on in the Dublin HQ: we in the inner forum or OS have, as have the '300' other NDA engineers, been told some details of the release event(s) planned for the next few months... Yes, this technology is only a few weeks away from exploding on the world stage. Already hundreds of forum members know how to build this device. So the knowledge is widespread. I don't think it's outside my NDA to say that this distributed knowledge will play a role in the roll-out of the technology. In 2010 the replications will start to sprout up all over the place, and the slow work of convincing the sceptics will begin.
But beyond mere hearsay, we're beginning to see concrete actions on Steorn's part that appear to be in preparation for a major event. First, they closed down their online forum (leaving most members to take refuge in this third party forum). Several days after that, the Steorn servers went down overnight, and when they came back up they were reportedly replaced by newer, faster servers — as if in preparation for receiving much greater amounts of traffic. Next, on December 10th Steorn opened their own YouTube channel. Currently the channel contains only the video released in February of 2009, showing several engineers waxing optimistic about the Orbo. However, for a brief period of time during the morning of December 11th, a second video was available through the YouTube channel. This video is described as being a sort of advertisement for Orbo, in which Steorn confronts its skeptics. The video was quickly taken down however, and may have only gone up briefly as a test. Finally, on December 10th a video was posted on YouTube from a source independent of Steorn, showing the projection of a Steorn-related presentation or advertisement onto the side of a building. Having taken place without fanfare, this may also have been a test in preparation of impending events. This video was also removed from YouTube today; Steorn seems intent on keeping the cat in the bag until the appointed moment. From this sudden ramping up of preparations, something or other appears to be imminent — this could be anything from just another slick video and a brand new deadline months further in the future, to the actual launch of a laws-of-physics-defying technology for generating free energy. My guess is that we'll find out early to mid- next week (the weekend and the holidays both being bad times to release news if you want it to get covered). I'll keep you posted as events develop. Update 12/11/09: The Steorn 'ad' that was posted briefly on Steorn's YouTube channel is available online, and can be downloaded using the link below. It doesn't show Orbo at all; it only repeats some of the harshest criticisms from skeptics, as if in preparation for proving them wrong. Now if they can only get to the 'proving them wrong' part.
Update 12/11/09: A post at reddit.com fills in some details about Steorn's planned demo:
So they're starting a new demo next week; they've rented out the old Waterways Building in Dublin and are currently projecting ads onto an old factory next door. Can't find anything about it on their site but apparently they will be streaming a "live" demo of their magic-beans-powered device. They are currently setting up a lot of lights, equipment etc in and around the building.
]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/somethings_rumblin_in_dublin.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/12/somethings_rumblin_in_dublin.html Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:08:40 -0500 Steorn shuts down its online forum online forum was shut down today. Steorn CEO Sean McCarthy made the following terse announcement:
Please note that the Steorn public forum has been closed. The forum will return at some point in the future. Regards, Sean
The forum opened in 2006 and initially was a crowded and lively venue full of intelligent scientific discussion, anticipation on the part of believers, scoffing on the part of disbelievers, and a wide range of provocative banter in between. With each failed demo and delayed announcement, and finally with the negative jury result, more and more people fled the forum. Recently some of the more outspoken skeptics were banned, and those who were left seemed to sense that the end was near for the forum, at least in its current form. Today they turned out to be right. Whether this is a step toward the disappearance of Steorn altogether, or part of the preparation for a renewed Orbo launch, remains to be seem. As recently as last month Sean McCarthy stated in forum posts that launch is still scheduled for before the end of 2009. We'll soon find out just how much Sean's word is still worth. Here are some other forums where Steorn discussions have migrated to: http://www.moletrap.co.uk/forum/ (very active discussion) http://www.fizzx.org/ (not very active) http://www.freeenergytalk.com/ If you know of other corners of the internet where forum members have found a new home, let me know at contact(at)dispatchesfromthefuture.com and I'll list them here.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/11/steorn_shuts_down_its_online_forum.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/11/steorn_shuts_down_its_online_forum.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:55:49 -0500 More promises: Now it's the end of 2009 How much farther, Papa Smurf?       —Exhausted Smurf follower Not far now!       —Papa Smurf It's become a tiresome pattern: Steorn makes promises about when Orbo will finally be unveiled. The much anticipated demo/talk/jury-validation fails to materialize. Sean McCarthy does an interview/press release/video telling us that everything's still going according to plan, and promising us a new timeframe for when Orbo will be revealed. As a refresher, let's review the latest cycle. In late 2008, revelations were promised by the end of the year. By January the date had been moved to February. In February Steorn updated their web site, posted press releases and did interviews. Was Orbo shown? No. But, they did promise that Orbo would be unveiled during 2009, through public talks given at universities first in the Middle East, then Europe, and lastly in the United States. In March and April, Sean did verifiably deliver talks at two Middle Eastern universities, but he had no Orbo to show. There's no evidence that the promised talks in Europe and the U.S. ever took place, though Sean has stated on the public forums that some smaller scale, more private talks were given at universities in those regions. Now, after the much touted jury of scientists has delivered their verdict of "no evidence for free energy" (which Sean spins as a verdict of "we were too lazy to really look into it"), Sean does another round of publicity, this time making a rare appearance on the public forum followed by a interview with the blog Free Energy Times. The upshot? Everything's going fine — Orbo will be revealed at the end of this year. This cycle has taken us through three full years so far, since Steorn first placed their ad in the Economist, promising a future of free and clean energy. So it seems hardly worth reporting this latest iteration. But, there stubbornly remains that small hope that they really mean it this time; that the end of 2009 will arrive and Orbo will usher in a new era. In service of that enduring dream, I present the meatiest excerpts from Sean's latest interview:
FreeEnergyTimes: You have said several times that there would be a public launch of your Orbo technology before the end of 2009. Is Steorn still on track to meet that timeline? Sean McCarthy: Yes ... The demonstration will involve a public display of various Orbo systems, there will be a live video-stream from the location that people can watch via our website. FET: In a statement made earlier this year you stated that before 2009, “Implementing Orbo in a reliable and consistent manner had remained a challenge for the organization” but that this year you had “had resolved the key technical problems related to the implementation of Orbo”. Can you say anything regarding the technical breakthroughs you have made? SM: One of the key problems that we have always faced in implementing Orbo are bearings. The reason is that a typical Orbo interaction involves very strong radial forces that change direction in very small angular displacements. Hence an Orbo system built using traditional bearings is like driving you car at high speed over speed bumps – you can do it, but after a small distance you car will simply break down. The key technical advance that we have made with respect to implementation is a move away from the use of traditional bearing technologies to the use of our own passive magnetic bearing technology, ZeroF. FET: Can the orbo effect be reconciled to currently known laws of science – or have you discovered something previously unknown that will require science textbooks to be rewritten, and old theories to be discarded? SM: As strange as many people find this, every single part of an Orbo interaction can be explained using classical physics, except the net result. FET: How difficult do you think it will it be for third party developers to incorporate Orbo into useful products? Does the technology have the potential for kinds of power output required for such things as transportation, construction and agriculture? SM: Perhaps one of the most misunderstood part of Orbo is power output. In an Orbo system the power output is simply a function of the rotational speed of the system. Hence power output is scalable. There are no theoretical limits to the power output that can be produced, however there will be a significant amount of engineering work. FET: On Steorn’s web site you state that “Every aspect of society from finance, economics and business to education, science and politics will have to adjust to the new opportunities being created by Orbo technology”. Why do think Orbo technology is going to have such a widespread impact? SM: The availability of free energy will change everything, the availability of free energy in the form of Orbo is even more significant since it can be engineered directly into devices, i.e. no grid connections are required. So Orbo will impact every aspect of our lives. FET: What would you say to individuals and companies who are very intrigued by your technology and who are eager to develop products that use Orbo? SM: I would say that launch is not far away, that access to Orbo will be low cost and readily available. And finally I would say never let anyone do your thinking for you – get involved!
Unless something of note takes place before then, I'll be back at the end of the year with an update. Let's hope I'll have more to report than yet another date to look forward to.
]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/09/more_promises_now_its_the_end_of_2009.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/09/more_promises_now_its_the_end_of_2009.html Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:00:53 -0500 The jury is in: No free energy from Steorn full-page ad in The Economist declaring their discovery of free energy technology, and calling for a jury of scientists to "test our technology and report your findings to the world." After nearly three long years that jury has reported their findings today, and they do not bode well for Steorn. The jury, whose identities have not been made public until today, have posted a blog to announce their findings. The announcement reads:
In August 2006 the Irish company Steorn published an advertisement in the Economist announcing the development of “a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy”. Qualified experts were sought to form a “jury” to validate these claims. Twenty-two independent scientists and engineers were selected by Steorn to form this jury. It has for the past two years examined evidence presented by the company. The unanimous verdict of the Jury is that Steorn's attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy. The jury is therefore ceasing work. The jury consists of scientists and engineers in relevant fields from Europe and North America, from industry, universities and government laboratories. Information about individual members can be found at http://stjury.ning.com/ R.I.MacDonald Chairman, Steorn Jury
Steorn soon issued a rebuttal on their news page:
Steorn today confirmed that the internet ‘blog’ stjury.ning.com had been posted on behalf of members of the Jury of scientists that Steorn had engaged to conduct an independent review of its Orbo Technology. In a statement, Steorn CEO, Sean McCarthy said that “he was grateful to the Jury members for the time and effort that they had devoted to the process.” McCarthy continued on to state that he “fully understood the frustration of the Jury members with respect to the time that the process was taking. Implementing Orbo in a reliable and consistent manner had remained a challenge for the organization, one that we had made no secret of. Due to these difficulties we had focused on providing the Jury with test data relating to the underlying magnetic effect behind Orbo. This work concluded at the end of 2008.” McCarthy concluded by stating that “during 2009 the company had resolved the key technical problems related to the implementation of Orbo and is now focused on commercial launch towards the end of this year, at which time academic and engineering validation would be released concurrent with public demonstrations”.
As I see it there have always been three possibilities for Steorn: either they truly have free energy technology, or they're a fraud, or they're mistaken and delusional. Today's development can be taken as weighty evidence that they are, in fact, mistaken and delusional. Some have suggested that the jury never existed, that Steorn had made it all up as part of a scam. This idea has been refuted, and with such clumsiness on Steorn's part that it becomes clear that they had little idea of what they were doing when they commissioned this jury. If after three years they could not present convincing evidence for this effect, then in the best case they were irresponsibly premature in announcing their discovery to the world &mdash and in the worst case, there never was a discovery at all, it was just a series of mistaken measurements. Steorn now states that they've solved the technical problems (or rather just the "key technical problems", meaning there may well be others left unsolved) standing in the way of implementing Orbo in a "reliable and consistent manner." Why had they not bothered to address these problems before announcing it to the world and signing up a jury to test it? The fact that Steorn has behaved with such unfounded confidence in the past gives me little comfort that they know what they're doing now. With this jury announcement, the clock is ticking for Steorn. Only the most foolish investors would continue to pour millions of dollars into a company that has so thoroughly failed a test that it had set up for itself. Steorn has stated, again today, that they intend to release Orbo commercially toward the end of 2009. If this does not occur, I expect that it is finally the end of the show.]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/06/the_jury_is_in_no_free_energy_from_steor.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/06/the_jury_is_in_no_free_energy_from_steor.html Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:32:27 -0500 Steorn's Oman talk took place -- but apparently without an Orbo. Yes Sir
I was there and he talked about some kind of motors that he invented.
Unfortunately I could not understand the talk very well may be because of his xent and my poor english.
One of the amazing and seems unbeleivable thins is that the motor which he proposed has an efficiency of 17000!!!!!!!!!!!
While this is only one unverified report, it sounds like Sean McCarthy did hold the planned talk in Oman, but there's no indication that he had an Orbo to show off (given that it is referred to as the motor that "he proposed"). Why on earth would he be traveling the globe to stoke interest in his incredible claims, without bringing along a single shred of evidence to support those claims? One possibility is that the current talks are seen as 'warm-ups', outside of the reach of major media, and that he doesn't believe a demonstration is required yet. Another possibility, of course, is that there just isn't anything to be demonstrated. Update: In response to a follow-up question, Mr. Al-Abri made clear the Orbo was a no-show:
No he did not show us any actual motor. It was just power point slides.
Update 2: The following was received from Arif Saeed Malik at SQU:
I have not had a chance to listen to Sean. But I asked my friend who attended it and he told me that he just talked about it. Apparently he tried to demonstrate but then said that it is not properly working due to set-up problem.
Interesting... has yet another Orbo demonstration fallen prey to 'technical difficulties'?
]]> http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/02/steorns_oman_talk_took_place_but_apparen.html http://dispatchesfromthefuture.com/2009/02/steorns_oman_talk_took_place_but_apparen.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:20:05 -0500