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Registered Member #952
Joined: Mon Aug 13 2007, 11:07AM
Location: Finland
Posts: 388
Hi!
In the summer I experimented with ion motors. (For those who don't know what's an ion motor look here) I got a silly idea: "Hey, why couldn't an ion motor be used for a rotary spark gap?" So I tested it. I took one strand from a multistrand wire and put it on the spark gap's other end which goes to the cap. I powered up and the strand started rotating. Then I brought the other end of the spark gap next to the rotating wire. Everytime the rotating strand went past the other end the gap fired. So this could be a way to make a rotary spark gap without a separate psu! The only problem is to get it running reliably enough.
I attached a pic I quickly drew with paint. Hopefully that explains more. I will also take some pics and maybe video of the setup.
Registered Member #567
Joined: Tue Mar 06 2007, 10:55AM
Location: Singapore
Posts: 147
I tried that once, though not for a tesla coil, just for fun.
Some problems I found: -Slow, inconsistent speed -It slows down when the arc strikes(!) -Slow acceleration, may have to be hand-started (Admittedly mine was based off a big heavy disc with wires sticking out, but oh well. -You really need some 10s of kV to get a nice speed.
Registered Member #89
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145
Yes, you need much more power and rotor momentum for consistent firing.
I once tried t make a gap using a small brushless fan; while transformer was on it was OK, but as soon as I put it to tank circuit it was just stuck in position vibrating randomly and power arcing.
I don't think it was any kind of interference in the fan since they worked well near the gap and sparks.
I'm not completely sure why this happens. Arc always tends to elongate itself magnetically, which could be significant because current is large, plus there is simply large thermal expansion of the air around the arc which tends to push the lever around.
If it stalled a DC fan I'm pretty sure ion motor is not going to work for anything practical.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
Actually, this wouldn't work well for several reasons. Firstly, the tank voltage of your standard tesla coil is not high enough to produce sufficient corona to create an ion motor. And also, when you have high current, it will have the tendency to pull the electrodes together, so you'll need lots more force to separate them.
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Ion motor rotary spark gap - new idea
