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Registered Member #160
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938
Has anyone done any testing using a static spark gap ander vacuum? I'm just wondering what the pros and cons of this would be. Seems that it would be fairly simple to build one.
Registered Member #177
Joined: Wed Feb 15 2006, 02:16PM
Location: Munich, Germany
Posts: 214
Is it? Unless you have good vacuum 'source' at hand that will prove difficult. Just pumping out lots of air an leaving behind a lot pressure gas, won't make a good spark gap.
Even if you could, x-rays could be a major issue here.
Registered Member #75
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:30AM
Location: Montana, USA
Posts: 711
Nope, an old fridge compressor would be _very_ far from sufficient. Even a $2000 two-stage rotary vane pump hardly gets you down to "real" vacuum where you begin to get x-rays, for a serious hard vacuum you need a two stage vacuum system with a turbomolecular (figure $5000) or similar pump. You will run into lots of issues with contamination, and you will have to bake the system (oven, another couple of k$) while pumping it down. Expect to spend several $1000 even if you buy used or make your own equipment.
That being said, vacuum gaps make excellent HV switches, and I have come aross them several times in a railgun context. Similar to big thyratrons they can switch 100s of kA and are very fast. I don't quite know how they work, but I expect some of the metal from the electrodes evaporates to produce a conductive plasma.
Registered Member #160
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938
SpyrosF wrote ...
Vacuum is not conductive, except of course thermionic emissions.
We are talking electron transfer, and I'm not wanting to produce x-rays anyway, just improve the efficiency of the static spark gap. Maybe I should have asked the question..."Has anyone used a static gap under a partial vacuum and if so, are there any noticable benefits?"
Registered Member #160
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938
now thats what i'm talking about!! that one looks adjustable, but I don't know how that would work and keep a good seal. I read somewhere of someone getting 50% effeciency, but no details were mentioned.
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vacuum spark gap
