Experimental Investigation of Excess Thermal Energy Production from Air–Fuel–Water Mixtures in Tomoiu Internal Confinement Fusion (TICF) Reactors
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Controlled nuclear fusion remains a primary objective in advanced energy research, traditionally requiring massive external energy inputs for plasma heating and confinement. This study presents an empirical investigation into Tomoiu Internal Confinement Fusion (TICF), a hybrid chemical-thermonuclear approach designed to generate and confine transient, high-temperature microplasmas within a localized hydrogen-air-water environment using internally self-generated acoustic, magnetic and electromagnetic energies without requiring externally supplied electrical power. Systematic experimental testing of multiple reactor configurations—including the Gamma-series architecture—was conducted from 2019 to 2025 across multiple academic and accredited institutional facilities, including the City College of New York (CUNY-CCNY) and the University of Maryland (UMD). Calorimetric measurements and thermal-energy balances demonstrated sustained thermal output-to-input ratios (Q-values) ranging from 2.0 to 8.0 for several reactors configuration. Comprehensive diagnostics tracked reactant mass-flow rates, reactor/exhaust temperatures, exhaust enthalpies, and transient microplasmas electrical signatures. To investigate and isolate the mechanisms responsible for the observed excess thermal energy production, a series of control experiments were conducted. These experiments included varying the water-injection rate, replacing water with inert gases, using deuterium- and boron-depleted water, and substituting the hydrogen fuel stream with carbon monoxide (CO). The addition of water to air-fuel mixtures correlated with anomalous increases in reactor core temperatures and product enthalpies under conditions where the calculated adiabatic flame temperature based upon the respective heat and material balance have decreased. In CO-fueled configurations, where hydrogen was absent, excess thermal signatures persisted, identifying injected water as the primary source of protium. Experimental results demonstrate sustained net-positive thermal energy generation accompanied by the production of positively charged particles. Measurements performed with a Digilert-50 radiation meter detected no gamma radiation, and no indications of neutron-induced activation or structural degradation were observed on reactor components after several hundred hours of operation. The lack of neutron activation and gamma emissions, combined with the observed charged-particle production, is consistent with the hypothesized aneutronic Protium–(_1^15)N fusion channel operating within the TICF reactor.
Source: Preprints.org
Author: Constantin Tomoiu
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214722483