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UV triggered spark gap is working!!!

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LAN_403

Mates

Fri Oct 05 2007, 10:15PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

Hi guys,
According to your comments you was rather skeptical about the possibility of triggering the spark gap just by UV light. Here I introduce a simple system which works and has a possibility to be driven directly by transistor or semiconductor relay. It is based on 8W incandescent UV-B lamp (F8T5.UV-B) which is powered by quadrupler consisting of two in parallel and two in series 3.3uF/630V caps, four diodes and connected straight to 220V AC. This gives aprox. 1200V DC which is connected to joint electrodes on each side of the lamp. The switching is mechanical at the moment (touching the wires), but I'm working on a transistor switch to see what I can afford.

The 60KV HV source circuit and the HV cap construction used in the system I have posted recently.

Check the movie to see it working

Any questions or comments are welcomed...

Mates

Fri Oct 05 2007, 10:53PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

Just adding snap shot from the movie where you can see switching event (small spark close to my hand) together with triggering response of the gap...

cjk2

Fri Oct 05 2007, 11:28PM

Registered Member #51 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:17AM
Location:
Posts: 263

Very impressive. Someone correct me if im wrong, but I would avoid looking directly into that bulb, as UV B can cause eye damage.

ConKbot of Doom

Sat Oct 06 2007, 03:02AM

Registered Member #509 Joined: Sat Feb 10 2007, 07:02AM
Location:
Posts: 329

cjk2 wrote ...

Very impressive. Someone correct me if im wrong, but I would avoid looking directly into that bulb, as UV B can cause eye damage.

UVB is an eye hazard, however provided that the lamp is only on for short durations, I would expect it to not be a significant issure compared to the UV and IR generated by the arc.

Mates

Sat Oct 06 2007, 07:22AM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

cjk2 wrote ...

Very impressive. Someone correct me if im wrong, but I would avoid looking directly into that bulb, as UV B can cause eye damage.

Yes you right, UVB-B is pretty dangerous radiation inducing so called photoproducts (thymidine dimers) in the DNA, thus is strongly mutagenic (also your skin is affected). I'm always using sunglasses and long sleevs during my high volatge experiments involving spark gap and arcing. I recommend you to do the same!

Experimentonomen

Sat Oct 06 2007, 08:57AM

Registered Member #941 Joined: Sun Aug 05 2007, 10:09AM
Location: in a swedish junk pile
Posts: 497

IÂ´d say that bulb look like those used for pcb etching = more or less harmless.

Dalus

Sat Oct 06 2007, 09:16AM

Registered Member #639 Joined: Wed Apr 11 2007, 09:09PM
Location: The Netherlands, Herkenbosch
Posts: 512

Isn't the spark going trough the ionized uv lamp. At least that's how it looks in the movie.

Mates

Sat Oct 06 2007, 12:44PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

Dalus wrote ...

Isn't the spark going trough the ionized uv lamp. At least that's how it looks in the movie.

You meen the spark is penetrating the glass? I don't think so. There is no visible damage on the glass and I can see with my eyes (unfortunately not with the camera) that the spark goes around.

Amateur-Scientist

Sat Oct 06 2007, 04:05PM

Registered Member #1015 Joined: Fri Sept 21 2007, 06:43PM
Location:
Posts: 14

Is it the UV light causing the gap to trigger or the electric field from the lamp? It seems to me the UV intensity from the lamp is not strong enough to ionize air, but the electric field might. Most of the triggered spark gaps I've seen use an electric field and the UV ones were triggered with pulse from a UV laser. Try moving the UV lamp further away and see if the spark gap still triggers.

Mates

Sat Oct 06 2007, 11:57PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

Amateur-Scientist wrote ...

Is it the UV light causing the gap to trigger or the electric field from the lamp? It seems to me the UV intensity from the lamp is not strong enough to ionize air, but the electric field might. Most of the triggered spark gaps I've seen use an electric field and the UV ones were triggered with pulse from a UV laser. Try moving the UV lamp further away and see if the spark gap still triggers.

I actually tried also normal incadescent tube light and it didn't work... That's why I think it is mainly the UV which makes the job. However in case it is the e-field which makes the job - it is cool way of high voltage high power triggering anyway...

According to the laser triggered spark gaps: I don't know much about the construction except that the used power of the laser is huge. I think it is not only the triggering but also the efficiency of the gap which push the ingeneers to use such a strong lasers. The point is that the air or gass pre-ionisation makes it very good conductor and the loses are reduced strongly. But this is only my speculation...

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