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small tc in argon - anyone tried it?

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LAN_403

mikeselectricstuff

Sat Jul 19 2008, 09:24PM

Registered Member #311 Joined: Sun Mar 12 2006, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 253

Just had a random thought - It would be really easy to run a small (tabletop scale) TC in an argon ( atmospheric pressure) atmosphere - large jar, fishtank or even a poly bag.... anyone tried it?

Hon1nbo

Sat Jul 19 2008, 09:46PM

Registered Member #902 Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: North Texas
Posts: 1040

I've seen the top loads of TCs connected to an Argon Chamber, but never an assembly IN the chamber... I would think that the tank circuit would not fair well since strikes would be more common, but the secondary might be fine?

Also, I think it would have to be at least slightly lower than atmospheric pressure to work...

GeordieBoy

Sat Jul 19 2008, 10:44PM

Registered Member #1232 Joined: Wed Jan 16 2008, 10:53PM
Location: Doon tha Toon!
Posts: 881

I haven't ever tried it myself.

I'm guessing that things like spacing between primary turns would have to be re-thought if argon ionises at a lower potential than air. Getting a spark gap to quench properly might also be problematic if the whole TC is placed in the argon atmosphere.

Maybe an SSTC would have the advantage here. I guess those plasma globes are really just a dinky SSTC in an argon atmosphere???

-Richie,

Myke

Sat Jul 19 2008, 10:52PM

Registered Member #540 Joined: Mon Feb 19 2007, 07:49PM
Location: MIT
Posts: 969

I think the circuitry just drives a flyback like transformer and the output goes to a lead to the center of the globe. All the stuff is outside of the globe.

mikeselectricstuff

Sat Jul 19 2008, 10:57PM

Registered Member #311 Joined: Sun Mar 12 2006, 08:28PM
Location:
Posts: 253

Although it would get a lot more dramatic at lower pressures, Argon does do interesting things at atmospheric pressure when hit with a high enough voltage.
Argon1

Dr. SSTC

Sun Jul 20 2008, 12:24AM

Registered Member #1407 Joined: Fri Mar 21 2008, 07:09AM
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Posts: 222

Myke wrote ...

I think the circuitry just drives a flyback like transformer and the output goes to a lead to the center of the globe. All the stuff is outside of the globe.

thats its a flyback xformer

Wolfram

Tue Jul 22 2008, 08:29PM

Registered Member #33 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 01:31PM
Location: Norway
Posts: 971

I have been thinking of trying something like this myself, but as of now I only have access to 60bar 1l bottles of argon, and filling any reasonable-sized container from these would be very expensive.

I have tried running the output of my SSTC at low power into a thin glass tube of argon at atmospheric pressure, and the result was spectacular. Thick blue arcs snaking along the inside of the glass, and sparklength increased about 5-fold.

Doing what is suggested here would, I suspect, not increase the maximum sparklength from a teslacoil, since that is usually limited by flashovers to the primary, but it would increase the sparklength from a system running at low power or one that is not able to produce streamers of over 3x the secondary length in air. It would also provide for a spectacular spark display, and I would surely try it if I had access to bigger bottles of argon.

Helium should also be interesting to try. One made with neon would probably be very spectacular, but very expensive.

Anders M.

Zum Beispiel

Tue Jul 22 2008, 09:33PM

Registered Member #514 Joined: Sun Feb 11 2007, 12:27AM
Location: Somewhere in Pirkanmaa, Finland
Posts: 295

I once connected the output of my micro TC to the inner electrode of my demo fusor and pulled a small vacuum in it. It was quite spectacular. The coil normally struggles to get 2cm of spark but this way I got a jar full of long purple streamers, much like in a plasma globe. Probably tripled the spark lenght... too bad that it is probably considered cheating

I might be getting some helium for another project, and if I do I'll be sure to repeat the experiment at atmospheric pressure.

Herr Zapp

Thu Jul 24 2008, 01:05AM

Registered Member #480 Joined: Thu Jul 06 2006, 07:08PM
Location: North America
Posts: 644

I've seen the output of a small spark-gap TC run into an acrylic box that was approx 30" wide X 30" tall X 6" deep, and the box was purged with atmospheric-pressure argon (cheap welding grade gas). The box had a feed-through electrode at the top that was connected to the TC topload, and another electrode at the bottom that was grounded. The results were pretty spectacular, as the coil was pretty anemic operating in air, but absolutely filled the box with bluish arcs as it filled with argon. The box was not hermetically sealed, and the argon leaked out within 15-20 minutes, but it was pretty impressive when operating. I'd be concerned about operating any TC primary in an easily ionized gas, but it should be possible to configure a small coil so the secondary is inside the box, but the primary is just outside the "floor" of the box.

Regards,
Herr Zapp

Coronafix

Thu Jul 24 2008, 01:48AM

Registered Member #160 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938

Not a popular man here in the past, but check out the vids.

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