If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #1596
Joined: Fri Jul 18 2008, 08:43PM
Location: USA
Posts: 65
Hello everyone!
So I decided to make to an EHT secondary myself. I finally found pictures of dissected potted flyback as well as of a modern ignition coils and it looks like their bobbins consist of multiple sections, separated by donut shaped walls. So the whole coil is like a bunch of smaller coils connected in series.
Here are some question I might want to know the answers to:
1. Have anyone here designed the similar coil? what is the best way of pulling the wire from one section to another?
2. How to compute a required thickness of insulation? i.e. what thickness dielectric should I use to insulate secondary from the core, primary, etc
3. The coils I saw had fatter and deeper sections in the middle. why? Does it give any benefits to have less turns closer to the sides?
4. Is it any different if I put primary under the secondary or on the side?
Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
If you make the multi-segment bobbin, you MUST put HV high speed rectifying diodes between the individual segments (and there should be more than 4 segments), otherwise the AC corona will eat the insulation between last (highest voltage) sement and core.
If you don't want to use the diodes, you can wind the secondary in "stacking layers", each layer separated by a sheet of insulation material. This is how the older AC flyback transformers are made.
-J.M.
EDIT: "4. Is it any different if I put primary under the secondary or on the side? " Yes it is. With the primary under secondary, you'll get very low leakage inductance which means more external inductance will be needed for ballasting. If you put it on the other side, leakage will be quite high and less external inductance will be needed. However it is possible the leakage will be so high that the required output current won't be reached, in this case you'll need to put the primary closer to the secondary (physically closer on the core).
Registered Member #1596
Joined: Fri Jul 18 2008, 08:43PM
Location: USA
Posts: 65
I will pot it with epoxy under vacuum. Will corona be still an issue?
I was planning on full bridge rectifier. If I use diodes, how the current/voltage waveforms are going to look like on the output?
Btw, I came up with some crazy idea of excentrically machinned grooves, so then i pull the wire from one section to another, they dont have to cross, and starting point of each section never goes close to the end point of the same section, just smoothly translates into the next segment. Should work out very well. Just got the cores and over 1Kv per mil rated CPVC for the bobbin today :)
Does 1kV/mil dielectrical strength means 20 mils is enough to insulate 20kV? That does not sound right !!!
Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
baleworker wrote ...
Does 1kV/mil dielectrical strength means 20 mils is enough to insulate 20kV? That does not sound right !!!
As i said, at high frequencies many insulators do not behave as insulators anymore. It depends on how lossy your dielectric is and how high is your frequency. I guess for 24kV at 50khz, you will need at least 10mm of actual insulation material between the last secondary section and any other grounded object (core,primary). The strength you quoted is for DC. If you include the diodes like i said, you will need a lot less insulation material.
Registered Member #1596
Joined: Fri Jul 18 2008, 08:43PM
Location: USA
Posts: 65
Here are two bobbins I made, I know the sectional one is not wound up to the standards, but what can you do? Its like first 3-4 layers are nice but then it just gets very messy. May be put a layer of mylar film after every other layer?
Anyway, i hope after vacuum potting, each section (3x4 mm copper crosssection) will be able to hold at least up to 1.5-2kV. Will consider connecting sections thru diodes if this design gives any problems.
Registered Member #152
Joined: Sun Feb 12 2006, 03:36PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 3384
Oops, looks like you didn't regard my advice, how thick is the bobbin between the last (highest voltage) segment and the core? I will be really surprised if the coil as you wound it now will stand more than some 10kV without flashover between last segment and core. Otherwise the bobbins look nice.
Registered Member #1596
Joined: Fri Jul 18 2008, 08:43PM
Location: USA
Posts: 65
There is no primary, it goes right underneath on a separate bobbin. So you have core->bobbin->primary->bobbin->secondary. At the thinetst point insulation between secondary and primary is 3mm CPVC + 2mm potting compound.
I dont understand how can it arc if there is no air at all? You gotta have air to have corona! sgments are insulated by 1.5mm CPVC, that should be more than enought for 1.5-2kV difference, I am more worried about arcing inside of the segment itself.
If I put diodes, how the output waveform going to look like? I want to have a full bridge rectifier, but its not gonna be possible if I put diodes between the segments.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.