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Wow, This VARIAN Multiplier is really cool !!

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sparky99

Wed Mar 20 2013, 09:47PM

Registered Member #1159 Joined: Fri Dec 07 2007, 02:10AM
Location: Hudson Valley of NY State
Posts: 84

Picked this up off ePay, mislabeled as a High Voltage Rectifier. Looks like a Cockcroft Walton multiplier. About 22" high and a foot in diameter, 20 lb. Not much online about this unit, just a business called NxSemi, that lists it (H1260001), but it shows out of stock. Caps in this thing are about 3" long x 1" diameter, rated at 30 KVDC, there are 34 of 'em. There is what looks like a driver transformer on the bottom, and it's fairly small. Looks like I have a bit of reverse engineering to do on this one. This also has a pair of (Actually 34 pairs) 220K carbon comp 2W resistors between stages. Also has 34 diodes and 9 unidentified components. All the components are sleeved in teflon. Based on the size of the driving transformer, I don't think it's running at 60 Hz.

I've worked with TC's and LARGE Jacobs Ladders, but never with multipliers (except when I did color TV repair) and nothing this big. Any ideas, thoughts or comments on this are very welcome.

Best Regards,
Sparky 99

Noah Hoppis

Wed Mar 20 2013, 11:07PM

Registered Member #10072 Joined: Thu Feb 14 2013, 05:12AM
Location: seattle wa
Posts: 21

WOW! how much did you get that one for? I bet that thing was for serious voltage or RF if it has all of those corona rings! That thing was designed for serious over-volting. did it say anything about what is was for?

sparky99

Wed Mar 20 2013, 11:14PM

Registered Member #1159 Joined: Fri Dec 07 2007, 02:10AM
Location: Hudson Valley of NY State
Posts: 84

It was less than $200, including shipping from CA to NY. I'll bet it cost WAY more than that, new. He said it was used for testing, but beyond that, he didn't have a clue.

Sparky 99

Proud Mary

Wed Mar 20 2013, 11:31PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

It's the voltage multiplier module from a Wallis HV Adjustable E-Beam PSU.

The outfit comprises a mains-powered (120V 60Hz) driver unit and your 8-stage VM stack. The driver comes in a standard rack mount chassis. Driver panel meters are 0 - 200 kV and 0 - 5 mA.

I believe the driver rack-mount unit is the assembly made by Varian, and the stack by Wallis.

Steve Conner

Thu Mar 21 2013, 10:06AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

I don't think the little black box is the driver transformer. It's way too small for the input voltage implied by the output voltage and number of stages.

The two large white terminals on the bottom look like the AC inputs, from a separate driver transformer that would have mounted underneath the stack.

Proud Mary

Thu Mar 21 2013, 11:04AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Here is the driver unit for Sparky's Wallis VM stack.

sparky99

Thu Mar 21 2013, 02:31PM

Registered Member #1159 Joined: Fri Dec 07 2007, 02:10AM
Location: Hudson Valley of NY State
Posts: 84

Well, I finally got the cover off what I thought might be an awfully small driver xfmr, only to find a circuit board with 4 NE-2 neon bulbs, 3 resistors one cap and a pair of zener diodes. There are 3 shielded cables and a seperate ground that go to the driver unit. Maybe two for measuring E and I, and one powering the stack. These shielded cables are small (Like the size of RG-174 coax), so I'm thinking the driving voltage can't be really high. I don't see any connection points on the inside of the feed through delrin insulators, except maybe the corona ball pictured. I guess that could be a feed point, as there is one on each side of the stack. Each side of the stack has 2 rows of caps, one row has 8 caps, the other nine caps. Same thing on the other side. From the corona ball, there is a pair of 220K resistors in series that feeds one row of caps, the other row is fed through a diode. third connection off the corona ball feeds the PC board through a diode. Ditto for the other side of the stack.

Anybody know the drive voltage / frequency for the stack?

After looking at this again, I think that Steve is correct. These RG-174 sized cables can't be the input. Later I'm going to spend some time reverse engineering the stack and that should answer some questions. Keep those ideas coming, It' starting to make some sense.

Best Regards,
Sparky 99

HV Enthusiast

Thu Mar 21 2013, 02:33PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

I would contact Varian directly and ask them to send you some documentation.

Proud Mary

Thu Mar 21 2013, 03:11PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Wallis was a specialist company located in Worthing on the south coast of England. In 1992, the trademark "Wallis HiVolt" was acquired by Farnell.

teravolt

Thu Mar 21 2013, 04:18PM

Registered Member #195 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 08:27PM
Location: Berkeley, ca.
Posts: 1111

good find, it has 17 stages at 30kv max so I think it is for 500Kv so you will need oil or sf6 to run it. You can make a power supply out of a ZVS

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